The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-29

but judged in the light of the time and
place 1t was almost sublime in heroism.
These armies of mail-cfad Western war
riors. of all degrees from king to peasant.
took long and laborious Journey to meet
an unknown foe. and recover what they
conceived to be holy ground from people
who, as they thought. polluted it by walk
ing on it. The European of today &C
knowledges this idea to be absurd. but
that was the groundwork of the Crusades.
These men died by hundreds. by thousands.
in their burdensome coats of mail, under
tile scorchiug desert sun and the arrows
and javelins of the Saracen. They thought
they were dying for a principle. though
to our eyes it is nothing more than a
fancy
From the point of view of practical
Christianity this movement is also foolish.
The men who went to the Crusades got
the money for their journey by squeezing
1t out of miserable peasants and wretched.
prosecuted Jews. Every knight and baron
left behind him people living in squalid
Ignorance, often in abject poverty-the
kind of poverty that means cold. hunger.
deprivation of all that makes life worth
living. The suffering of these people--who
were fellow Christians-was of no account.
The torture of hapless beings-of English
blood-who CHANGED to be sold as slaves,
was not worth mentioning in polite So
ciety Hundreds of brave and spirited men
were driven to outlawry by unjust forest
laws and the oppression of the feudal
lords. All that was perfectly in accordance
with the Crusaders idea of Christianity. A
baron might torture and kill his vassal
or Enthusiastically if he happened to
be Continental baron; for England was
a little in advance Of other European
countries-and nobody interfered with him;
but the very flower of European chivalry
considered it their business to go off to
the benighted regions of the East and
teach the Turk how to behave himself.
Was there ever such a piece of ridiculous
PhSrisaism?
Yet with all this inconsistency there was
at the bottom of the Crusades self-de-
v1tion. a nobility of motive. which en-
mobiles the whole fantastic business. and
has cast about it a halo of glorious tradi-
ton. Some great historical movements
Stem to have occurred for the sake Of
proving certain ethical principles. and the
Crusades remain monument to the great
truth that the motive ennobles a mistaken
aet But no sort of motive would excuse that
kind of crusade in these enlightened days.
There is too much to do at home.
We have reached a higher standard of
living than that of the Middle Ages. We
have grasped the truth that we need not
try to kill man because he does not be-
lieve as we do. It will not make him love
our religion if We abuse him, and If there
is any good in his idea Of faith 1t will not
imperil our eternal salvation If we try to
see 1t. We are beginning to see that IL
this country is to be made a model Re- |
public and a bright and shining light to |
the world in general 1t will take all the |
fighting that any honest man feels called |
upon to do. When we have gotten rid Of |
ice trusts that kill babies and sick women |
for the sake of a few dollars, and of cor |
rupt politicians who sell the honor of the |
nation. it will be time enough to go out |
crusading.