The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1876-12-30


dor which Nero might have envled ana com
pel|ed the ambassadors Of the proudest SOW
ereigns ot Christendom to approach MN on
Blended knees. ,..,,.,.,n
The Saracenic empire was literally The oil
snrlnr of slaughter, nor did It's merciIcss
missionaries cOniinG theirtcrrlole Work 10 lhe
anam;es of Islam. Some Of the earliest fol.
Ilowrrs and dearest friends OF Mohammed,
and some of the bDldest and most successful
champions Of the Koran were SLAIN upon 'he
altar of the new church. Foremost among
these victims was lioseln, the son OF ALI ana
grandson Of tie prophet. There Is nothing
in ancient or modern history which equals
IN tragic pathos that scene where the unlOr-
Itunate aspirant to the caIIphate, surrounded
by his murdercrs, quite tired out sat down
in the door of his tent, ard took his little son
iAbdallah upon his lap, who was presently
killed by an arrow. Then lIosein took his
| had full of the chld's blood and throwing II
toward heaven, said, % Lord! if thou with
hOldest help from US, give 1t 10 those 'nat are
| better, and take vengeance on the WICKED.
| At last, growing extremely thirsty, he went
| TO the river to drink, and while he was drlhk-
ing an arrow struck him IN inc mouth
Then lifting up his two hands when were
! full of blood, he prayed very earnestly, and
so they set upon him and killed HIM with
spears, and cut off his head. And Haula the
Eext morning carried the head TO Obeldollah,
who treated it with great lndignlty, ana even
s,ruCh II over the mouth with Suck. Upon
which Zeid the son of Arkom said to him,
cease striking with that stick, for swear "
| HIM besides whom there is no other god,
have seen the lips of the apostle OF God upon
whom be peace upon these lips.
| Yet while the annals of MohammcdanIsm
are full of these crimson stains, we ought mol
to overlook It's many rcdeeming features.
The three hundred years during which the
calIphate OF Cordova lasted, constitute one OF
the most brilliant periods Of European c'vil,
ization 1t is no exaggcTatl2n 10 say tha'
from 72G to 1881, Moorish Spain was the
fountain from whence flowed the best Iilera-
ture and the best science then eXtant. Inc
priceless classics of Greece and Rome would
have persisted utterly and forever, had 1t not
been for the taste and llberality OF those
princes who drew TO COrdova the ilnest schol-
ars the world could furnish; bought manu-.
scripts for their weight in gold, anu offered a
Roman emperor captured province IN eX-
change iur the services of famous phlloso-
pher. Exercising Il wide liberation thous-
and wears before Christianity had learned toI
tolerate, they established perfect religious
freedom, and regarded knowledge as OF more
use than orthodoxy. In an age Of darkness
they kindcd glorious light; in an age OF
civil and ecclesiastical oppression they pre-.
served the spirit of liberty; IN an age when
learning was considered the exclusive pre-
perry of the clergy, they made it free to the
people; IN an age when science was looked
upon as evice of the devil for the destruc |
ton of souls, they protected and patronlzed
II: in an age when to doubt was n deadly |
SIN, they stimulated doubt in order to obtain
the truth; in an age when unquestlonng |
faith was declared to be the only passport to
eternal bliss, they accumulated the results OF
experience and observation IN an age when
the mental bias of the race was to he shaped
hv either superstition or fearless lnvestlga |
tiOn they were not afraid to investlgate-and,
taught by their example the investigators OF
succeeding generations have wrought out
noble things we see to-day in every depart
ment of scientific effort,
Having accomplished its mission, the cali |
plate of Cordova broke up into fragments,
and the last ves,ige of Saraccnic influence
upon the civilization and culture of Europe
hae vanished long before the fall OF Grenada. |
Since then we have had nothing but the dark
or side of MOhammedism, and what was once
indirectly IA positive blessing has been di- |
rect and pos tive curse. No one need mourn |
if Russia strips tie sultan of all his European
provinces and replaces the cross upon the
dome of St Sophia. The creed OF the pro.
phet Is best fitted for ASIA and Africa. 1t
has never been other than an exotic else
where, and the demands of the nineteenth
century retreat TO the native soil. II the APP
proaching war should do nothing wose than
enforce this retreat, II will receive the cordial
approval of all intelligent persons on both
sides of the Atlantic.