The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-08-26

A port that the nation was to
81 be divided among the pow
ers. Korea's tragic sorrow
over its impending, and new tulnHeo
absorption by Japan was an unfOrget-
table spectacle. Finland and Poland
absored into greater nations but stlll
not recOnciled, excite the pity of all
students Of European history. The
dramatic persistence of Armenia's
hope for a separate existence reveals
the strength of the passion for ma
tionalism. Ireland has shown the
world how the same feTvid spirit can
live through the years. unquenched
and undiminished. The world is full
of great stories of intense devotion to
a nation blOtted out of existence. None
is more dramatic or appealing than
this one which the Sunday schools
Btudy-the extinction OF the ancient
kingdom of Judah.
A poetical patriotic, soil-loving peo-
pie. the Jews loved the land Of their
1nheritance=th Promised Land, d.
Winely given and hard won-with the
peculiar ardor of their sunwarmed
temperament. They gave to literature
Its first great poetry of patriotism.
III I forget thee. O Jerusalem,
Let my right hand forget her cunning"
So providentially had they been pre-
served and provided for that the Jews
could scarcely entertain the idea of ma
tfonal extinction. That they should be
wrested from the SOL where their
nedTl6 were rooted, Iudl the CITY Oh
David should fall, and that the temple
should be RACED. were fatalities beyond
belief. That, however, is just what
happened with horror piled upon hor-
Tor.
When War Was Unmitigated-
One way to measure the progress of
ahe race is to consider the attitude of
the world toward war. Nowadays
strong and growing body of sentime nt
So against all war and by universal
consent a body of human usages have
grown up in connection with the prac-
fice of what is called civilized war
fare" The rights of non-clm batants,
the respect for the wounded, the good
treatment of the prisoners, all are dis
finctly Christian aspects of an un-
Christian business.
But in the DAYS of which We read
when Jerusalem fell to the Babylonian
forces. after a. siege of a year and a
haif-war meant sheer, unrestrained
Eavagery. Women and children were
slain, and worse than slain. Captives
were tortured and blinded, even as in
the case Of King Zedekiah. Exile and
e1avery succeeded to the lev of tribute
and oppression Humihauons and suf-
ferinE such as are simply incredible TO
the present day We're the lot of the de-
fcated.
Consider the fate Of the perverse
and laundering king who was the last
to sit upon Davld's throne. Zedekiah
had rejected the counsels of jeremiah.
He had put himself under the sway OF
the war party. His reputation of Je-
hovah had been the eliminating factor
in the overthrow of the city Then,
when the starved inmates of Jerusalem
were unable longer to Withstand the
besiegers the king and his soldiers fed
down to the plain of Jericho, where
they were captured. Zedekiah was
taken north to Hamth. where, in the
presence of Nebuchadnezzar himself
he viewed his punishm emit His sons
We're slain before his eyes, and then
with that hideous haunting picture
fresh upon his memory, his eyes were
put out. Loaded with two chains he
was carried off to decorate the triumph
OF his conqueror at Babylon.
Palace, Priests and MOBILES Perish.
Those conquerors OF the ancient
world made a complete job of their
cruel undertak kings When Jerusalem
fell. the palaces were looted and then
burned the temple was stripped of its
treasures and all that remained OF the
Tnagnifcence of SolomOn's reign was
carried off to Babylon. while the build
ing itself was RACED by fire. The chleI
priest and his assistants, and the lead
ers of the court were slam before Ne
huchadnezzar' face. to glut his appe-
fite for blood The houses of the peo-
1le were burned, the walls of the city
broken down, and all the forms of de
etruction that Oriental ingenuity could
devise were executed against the stub
born city
Leaving only the poorest of the
country folk to help themselves to the
land and whatever they could CLEAN
after this grim harvesting. the victors
returned to Babylon with the captlYes
whom they were bearing into exile. To
this day exile remains tavorite form
Of punishment in these same lands.
Even the late Sultan Of Turkey now
lives in exile; and I have mot several
officials, new in power under the con
sfit1tfon. who have been eXiled by ADJ
dull Hamid. The horror OF 1t in olden
DAYS is incomprehensible to US; though
want no worse Interpretation or II
than 1 have seen on the races OIL oe-
fachments Of Siberian exiles.
I'm through their own dear land the
exfles were driven, laggards being
FASTENED by spear butts or spear
,.oints Across the beautiful noun
80 Of Lebanon, and irto the fertile
r-oTfev of the Orontes-the same jour
w., nav now be made by rail-where
Shev Joined Nebuchadnezzar himself al
Terbaps what is now the city OF
Iomes Thence they went across the
stony wastes, stopping possibly at 1au-
NOR. or Palmyra, the city IN the desert
-555ch IS still a wonderful ruin, and
then to the bank of the Euphrates
down which some OF them proOaoiy
aoated on goat-skin RATS. The neat
yves terrific. waxing greater as they
drew near to Babylon. TIE physical
Snffering of the exiles. and their brok-
en- spirits and the remorse that gnaWed
At their hearts. made the journey one
that tinged their thinking TOT uecaues'
Into the Great Babylon
The immigrant from rural Europe
who sees New York ami its splendors
FOR the first time is less impressed by
Its nagnifcenee than were the He
breys who entered ANONYMOUSLY into
that wonderful capital OF the world,
Babylon, with its palaces hahsinS
.-,.nnt tor,, Mes and friI1nn hal