Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1917-03-14
BRITISH ARMY At
HOLY CITf'S GATES
Christians Mal Again Severn
Alter Many centuries.
RULED FROM 1899 TO 11o7

Nfn9ooM GSt&otSH@u W SEsesoSss -"
der Godfrey de HouiIIon Endured For
70 ysars-Fi5htino With Nsishbor-
ing Heather Tribss-christisns Who
Lived and Died BY Sword.
England was aroused to high pitch
| OF enthusiasm over the prospect of cap
turing Jerusalem. the ancient capital Of
Palestine and the city Of the Holy
Sepuicher. which was last held by the
English In the time OF Richard I.
The British forces that swept the
Turks from the Sinai peninsula were
reported at FL ChaiIl. the ancient
Hebron, about fifteen miles from the
venerable city Of David.
In the Holy Land the British, fol.
lowing in general way the route Of
the children Of Israel. passed By
Mount Sinai aud pressed upon Je-
rusalem. Along the Tigris they have
left behind the ruins OF Nineveh, flank
ed the dusty mounds Of Babylon and
are almost before the gates OF Bagdad,
where Haroun-Ai- Raschid pursued bis
nightly proving In the childhood Of the
race. And the Russians, surging down
from the Persian plateau. are follow
Ing the path Of the three wise men
toward Bethlehem.
christians Ruled 900 vsars Ago.
With the falling OF Jerusalem into
British hands the Holy City will be
ruled by Christians for the first time
since l29i,
Il was in 1000 that the crusaders.
after many hardships and bitterly
fought battles. entered Jerusalem and
went so.emnly to service In the Church
Of the Holy Sepulcher and praised God.
They made Godfrey Of BouiIlon king
Of Jerusalem. and II Is Characteristic
Of the poetry that was in some Of these
crusaders that he refused to wear .
crown. pleading 1t was unseemly that
be wear a crown Of gold In the city
where his Saviour had once worn a
crown OF thorns Godfrey ruled one
year. and II was a turbulent one. A
large number Of crusaders started
home when they had fulfilled their
vows In taking the holy city, and God
frey made a ruling that any Frankish
noble who took an estate and held II
for q year and q day should acquire
title to IT, Ills kingdom, won by war
fare. survived In the same way. In
cursions into neighboring Saracen ter
ritory brought back plumber and made
II possible to pay soldiers. and In
country which was rocky and Arid Z
living was not to be won from the soil
Nor had the crusaders come to the
Holy Land to farm. Their prowess was
the prowess Of the sword. and II they
were to endure In the midst Of Moslem
neighbors 1t was essential that they
keep those Moslem neighbour fairly
well terrorized.
Baldwin Asade King.
Godfrey died at the end Of 4 year
and was succeeded By his brother
Baldwin. Baldwin. large and hand
some man. who could never be faithful
to one wife for long. had no scruples
about wearing a gold crown. And a.
soon as he was crowned he set OF to
show the heather and his enemies that
he deserved the kingship He added
territory to his little kingdom He
ruled for eighteen years And you get
4 quaint gleam of the commercialism
that was sometimes mixed up with
holy wars" when you read that he
made a treaty with 4 shipload of
GenoeSe pilgrims at Joppa that II they
! would help him In one Of his cam
paigns they could have a third Of all
! the loot.
| A battle at a place called Ramla dur
| ing Baldwin's reign IL interesting not
only because. when the fight seemed to
be going against him Baldwin agreed
to patch up quarrel he had with the
absolution on the field. but because of
the incentive he gave his troops before
hand.
Lived and Died BY Sword.
Fellow soldiers Of the cros," be
cried. waving his lance and pennon,
"let us Fight for Chrlst's glory. II there
he towards among us who fear yonder
vast herd Of Moslem dogs tthey out
numbered him about ten to onel let them
remember before they fy that Pales-
tine has no refuge for US II we are
conquered and that France Ii very far
or"
Baldwin's last illness came upon him
while he was on an expedition into
Egypt, where be died.
The story Of the Latin kingdom Of
jerusalem" Is one that repeats itself
with slight variations. Always with
an absurdly small force to hold the
country. REINFORCED periodically when
q wave Of enthusiasm swept over Eu-
rope and sent out a new crusade, the
monarchs Of the Holy Sepulcher fought
Turks. Arabs. Greeks by turn and found
time to make war on one another in
between. Alliances between Christian
| rrillccH and M0alem emtrn wera NOT In.