The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1856-01-26
CHE Vraurlcr.
From the New York Observer.
Holy Places in thlehem.

set with the fig and olive, have charming
appearance. In former times, when the sci
encc of cultivation was better understood and
the people were able and willing to adorn
and enrich the land, this must have been one
Of the most beautiful regions in Palestine.
and it is pleasant to mark it as so inviting a
place for the advent OF the Lord of life. In
ancient tunes, the whole country round about
this, though rocky and at present apparent
ly barren, as much of the land of Judca APP
! pears to be, was rendered exceedingly pro-
ductve 10y means of terraces, and must have
aboundcd IN grapes, figs and olives. These,
with bread, probably constituted the princi-
pal part of the food of the inhabitants, and
their living is essentially the same at this
day.
The village of Bethlehem contains from
| twelve to fifteen hundred souls these
people huve-and the Christian traveller en-
tiers its street-it is mostly on one long street
with painful reflections as he thinks of be-
ing in the city of David and the native place
of the Son of God, while the people are Who'll
ly given to idolatry, or sunk in superstition
so gross and sensual as to make their views
of the way Of life by Jesus Christ, as dark and
dangerous as if the light of the gospel had
never broken in for single moment on their
minds few years ago there were several
| families here who followed the false prophet
Mahomet, but so frequent and so fierce be-
came the difficulties between them and the
| others who bore the name of Christian, that
the Pasha took very summary mode of set
ting the disputcs-he drove all the Mahome-
tans out of the place, and tore down Their
houses. If this was a hard, it was a very
| cftcctual mode Of diSposng of troublesome
subject, and it shows to what depth Of sub
jjcction the inhabitants of this sacred country
are reduced. Now, the Bcthlchclnitcs are all
| OK them Roman Catholic, Greek and Armen-
ian Christians, living in no better harmony
of feeling with one another than they did
with the Arabs, but they are restrained by
the arm Of power from outbreaks which dis
turb the peace of the town.
They have their three converts within the
same outer walls, known by the names Of the
several scots, and each claiming the sanctity
that belongs to the possession of the Holy
| Places. In the same great enclosure also, is
vast tdificc. supposed to be the church
built by Helena. the celebrated mother of the
Emperor Constantine, though others say that
her church was destroyed by the Moslcms.
and the present temple was erected on the
same site. And this church. it is held is
hnilt on the spot where our Lord was born
| Under the church | entered the chapel in
| which they showed us the pretended Manager,
or rather one made to resemble, it, for the
original, they say, was carried to Rome, in
| which the infant Jesus was laid. A few feet
| from the Manager is an alter occupy ing the SPOT
! where the Magi stood when they offered their
gifts of gold, frankincvnse and myrrh. A
brilliant star, to represent the one which
| stood over the place "whcre the young child
yL.s ln -hnrn ic Ia. Il
that the Saviour was born.
In my travels in Italy and the East have
often found that the stables for the cattle are
| fitted up with comfortable places for beds. af-
ter the manner of the bcrths on shipboard,
and in them the men who have the care of the
| horses are accustomed to sleep. lfthc hotel
is full Of guests. any one would prefer to take
a bed in the stable where he would be pro-
| tcctcd from the night air, rather than TO lie
| out, and it was not therefore so unusual and
| trying circumstance, as it appears at first
| view, that Joseph and Mary should be COM
| PEELED to take refuge for the night in the sta
Die. The same cause, the registry of all per.
sons who belonged originally in Bethlehem
and must now resort here 10 be tared, or en-
rolled for taxation. might have brought Others
here on the same GRAND, and made the inns
nadcqua tc to furnish them beds And it is
not an unusual practice, even now, in this
same country, to use one half Of the house
for stable, and the other for the family,
while there is no sign of partition between
them. | have slept in this way myself, and
as one manager had no horse before it, Antonio
occupied it for his bed, and made no COM
plant of his lodging. The neighing of one
Of the horses awakened me in the night, but
Antonio, whose cars were much nearer to the
animals, did not hear it.
But if Joseph and Mary had been persons
of wealth and consideration, undoubtedly
room, in the inn would have been made for
them, and the fact that they were constrained
to resort to the stable, and especially under
their peculiar circumstances of tlial and peril.
shows the humiliation to which the Son of
| God become subject, in taking upon himself
| the form of man
And now We are in the midst of those
scenes which have been the occasion of con-
flicts involving not the peace of the Bethle-
hem community only, nor of this Holy Land
only, but of nations and the world. The pre-
sent war, convulsing Europe and threatening
! the stability Of thrones and dynaStcs, had
its origin in the miserable contests among
these miserable religionists about the posses
sion of these places, which they suppose are
identified as halowcd by the birth of Christ.
If the disputing parties loved the Saviour and
cherished his spirit, there would be more
apology for the pertinacity with which they
cling TO the. spot where his infant form was
laid and | confess to a strong feeling of SYM
rathy with those who are powerfully moved
when they stand on ground that is memora-
bic for such an event as this. But the quar-
rcls of these superstitous people were SO in
cessant and violent, that the government, and
Malometan government at that, was COM
PEELED to interfere, and to apportion to each
its share, strictly forbiddng all interference
Of one with the other. Thus the manager is
in the hands of the Roman Catholics and the
Greeks and the Armenians have nothing to
do with it. The altar of the wise men is
common to all, but may be used in regular
turns. The alter over the star belongs tX-
clusivcly to the Greeks and Aimcnians, the
former having the precedence. Around the
star sixteen golden pendant lamps are kept
constantly burning, of Which the Armcrians
have six, the Greeks six and the Roman
Catholics four. Into the great church, the
possession of which is divided between the
Greeks and Armcnians, these monks enter by
different doors, and maintain their separate
worship within the same walls. The Roman
Catholics have no other privilege in it, but to
pass through on their way to the chapel be-
low. But the division of the holy ground is