The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1878-03-16

was from the outset OF Its rise, as 1t ever
has been in its history, religious enthus-
iidSne, the most powerful of human mo-
tives, which has made that place a second
Jerusalem to be crusaded for.
Constantine sat down on what is now the
second hill of the city, encamped before
the citadel of Byzas, and ere long it was
his and received the name of CONSTANT
nopolis, that is, the city Of Constantine.
Immediately he began those active meas
ures which were followed up by his sue
cessors Arcadius, Thedosius /, and Mar
clan; and which were finally completed by |
Justinian some two hundred years after,
Along the sea on the south, then called
"Propontis" or the front sea, now the Mar
mora,-along the strait on the east, then
as now called the 'Bosphorus" or Ok
Ferry, along the! creek on the north
then as now bearing the title "Kruseon
Keras' or Golden Horn, Constantine
built the famous sea wall which even now
still stands in its decay. In the reign of
Theodosius the western walls were built
which have borne his name down to the
present time.
When Constantine became an avowed
Christian. and as Christian emperor
began to rear an Oriental Christian capt.
ital, then began separation also in the
hierarchy of Christendom. The promi-
nence which in the apostles days Jerusa
lem, Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth and
Rome had possessed as afordiDg
facilities for centralizing Christian
effort, had been construed in succeed
ing ages-es especially by ambitious men,
who from selfish motives of gaining infu-
ence had crept into the church-into a
license for unlimited metropolitan DONNA
ton over Christ's heritage. As soon as
Constantinople became. the capital of the
eastern empire, bishops and patriarchs,
| Christians in name, began to contend for
the metropolitan supremacy of old and
new Rome. 1t was a contest which deep
ened and wideued through long ages; it
continued with increasing bitterness unit.
10 the year 1854, seven centuries after the
founding of CoDstantinople, Pope Michael
by his legates laid on the altar of St.
Sophia an act Of recommendation against
the Patriarch Humbert, and he in his
turn, sustained by oil the eastern bishops,
ex- communicated the Pope, and the east
i orr nd III
separated. 1t was only about forty years
later, that is, in 1906 that the first
crusading bands, led by Peter the Hermit,
began the grand struggle for the possess
ion of Jerusalem and the redemption o.
the Holy Sepulcher from the iDfde Turk
When the brilliant but ill starred expedi
, tons of the Crusaders had 6ually ceased
t aud the Turks again held uudispnted swa,
; in the Holy land, as might be expected
, the inroads of the Crusaders provoked
), Esprit of retaliatory invasion, and til,
o victorious Moslems having driven their in
s vaders out of the field, sought an oppor
tunity to revenge themselves by an in
[, vasion Of Christian Europe Carinj
e little perhaps as to what nations had reall
: been the offenders, they naturally struc
first where their blows would reach AID
# vanciug steadily through Asia Minor, il
e 1859 the Sultan Orcan had advanced t
IS the Propontis, and his son Amurath fol
n lowing up his victories, had crossed tn
e Bosphorus, entered Europe, and paSsin
>, ICOnstaHtinople, had taken Adrianople
e The doom of CoDstantinople as Christia
d city, though delayed for two or three gen
S GRAFTON, had long been sealed and its fat
approached In the year 1853 after Christ
e period of 1913 years after its re foundin
g by Constantine, this city of undying inter
# est fell into the hands of the Moslems VIII
n nov for four centuries have continued t
e possess it. Mohammed ii. led the Mosleu
d host at its conquest, and when the prout
d city had fallen, the conquerer entered ant
s on horseback rode into the sacred church
d Of ST. Sophia mounted as he was. and, i
n is said, struck with its rich decorations anC
l. solemn grandeur, then and there declared
d it to be halowed and consecrated to tn
= service of The Prophet.
y Having secured ConstantinopIe, Moham
t med II. pushed his arms further on, comiDJ
a in conflict with the Venetians ant
g others aud subduing oil Greece
;, About seventy years later, his grandson
= Solyman the Magnificent, drove the re
t nowned Knights OF ST. John from thu
o island of Rhodes; he also added Moldayii
and Wallacbia permanently to the Turkish
d empire, and, taking part of Hungary, h'
: advanced even to Vienna which was res
b cued only by the almost superhuman valo
g OF the army of Charles V. The splendol
: of the Moslem power was now at il.
S meridian height, end it continued undi
g minished till the grand naval battle of Lee
9 panto i'll 1871; that struggle terminated il
the humiliation of the Turkish power or
o the sea, and her right wing thus clipped
that vulture of the east has from that da,
o gradually lost power and territory in hel
e conflicts with other Europeanpowers, Tht
d recovered independence of Southern
e Greece was an undoubted fatal blow to The
a prestige of Turkish power The bloody
r struggle between Christian and MosIen
o began among the mountains about Jerusa
d lem and waged for two centuries there
n renewed among the hills of Greece, on tn,