East Saginaw courier. (East Saginaw, Mich.) 1859-18??, 1859-10-06
A New Leaf In spanish History.

A New Leaf In spanish History. -
A feud has broken out between the
followers of the Prophet and those of the
cross. The crescent, which. for centuries
waved proudly over nearly the entire
peninsula of Spain, and for many years
bid defiance, even when circumscribed
within the narrow limits Of Grenada, to
the combined attacks of Aragon and
CASTLE, was finally at the capitulation Of
Grenada driven into Africa. The same
breeze that unfurled the banner of the
cross from the castellated turrets Of the
Alhambra, waited across the Straits of
Gibraltar the sails that bore forever the
exiled Moore from the luxuriant country
of Andalusia, back to the arid deserts of
Arabia, the traditional birth place OF
their race and religion. Gradually had
the Moore given way before the success
full cncroachments of the Christian.
These boundaries had step by step re-.
coded from the Druro and the Ebro; af-
ter bloody conflicts the Tagus and the
Guadiana were rclinquished, until that
portion Of Spain lying south Of the Sierra
Moera was all that remained 70 remind
of the glorious epoch of Saraccn invasion.
The deflcs of these rugged mountains
arrested for time the tide of Spanish
conquest, and served as a shield and bar
Fier against the marauding excursions Of
their cpcmics. Here in the eleventh
century the Moors acquired their highest
attainmepts in the arts and sciences, and
the re6nements and elegancies of life
At this period literature revived, and the
prowess of chivalry and knighthood chal-
lenged civilized Europe. The beautiful
ruins of Cordova testify to the high de-
gree of architectural taste attained by
the Moors at this era, and the old mosque
still standing, though combining various
styles of wild and grotesquc fancics of
structure, is grand and Characteristic
monument of the times. But Cordova
could not long resist the determined hos
tihty and the steady inroads made into
her territory by her aggressive and more
enterprising northern ncighbors; and at
length, when the annual tribute demand
ed Of the Moorish King by the sovereigns
of Spain, his reply that the minis of
Grenada no longer coined gold but steel,
began series of warfare, sicges and
disaster that ended in the downfall of
Grenada, soon followed by the entire
extirpation of Moorish authority in the
Spanish peninsula.
Now the old hostile feeling which has
slept or rather smothered for centuries
seems again to be bursting forth with
all its ancient deadly animosity. The
Moors have never relinquished the hope
and expectation of regaining what they
consider their rightful inheritance in
Spain. The silver lamp still burns in the
temple at Mecca, and ever since the last
crescent was hurled with sacriligious
hands from the browning parapct o.
Alhambra, on certain Fridays of Gael
. year prayers have gone up to Allah for Q
restoration to their ancestral homes in
the great valleys of Grenada. They still
cherish the hope Of seeing the sacred
emblem of their faith once more glisten
ing amid the relics of former greatness
Recent intelligence from Europe brings
the report Of the death of the King OF
Morocco on the Island of Ccuta, ferment
has broken cut into open revolt against
Spanish rule, and 1000 Moors are fight
ing day and night with fantical fury, thu
Spaniards, their old enemies. The Span
ish Consul has been called home from
Tangier, indemnity demanded of Moroc
go for outrages committed on Spanisl
subjects, and an expedition is already fit
ting out in Spain to succor their country
men and chastisc the cupidity of the ha
ted infidel.