Evening star., 1920-01-17
TRIED TO WEAKEN
FAITH OF NICHOLAS
Kaiser, in 1893, Would Shake
Cars Confidence in
France and England
Copyright. 1920

Copyright. 1920
! Under the cloak OF writing the Car
! of RusSia-a very religious man
/ about religious donditions in the Holy
! Land the Germ am kaiser in 1898 con-
| tinued his efforts to undermine Mich
! olas' confidence in France and Great
Britain. He write a long letter from
Damascus on N\vember .. -eS. Civ
! ing his distinctSS unfavorable i'm
, preston of the external features and
! religious practices of Palestine. anG
announcing his conviction that the
I Church of the Holy Sepulcher does
! not cover the actual grave of the
F! Savior. Having discoursed at length
! on this subject. he devotes the latter
! half of his letter to diatribe against
! the French-with whom the Russians
/ had now become allied.
! The incident that most rolls the
| kaiser is the backing down of France
, before England in the Fashoda crisis
! For over six years France had fought
| the pretensions of thc English to SOW
| ereignty over parts of the upper Nile
in disputed region of the Soudan
| The British claimed sovereignty as
| the conquerors of the Egyptians
France pushed an expedition up the
| White Nile as far as FaShoda under
Capt Marchand. Sir Herbert Kitch
ener was in command of the British
forces. In the notes that follow ed
France contested the British title. but
when Lord Salisbury refused to call
the title into question and demanded
the evacuation of Fashoda before dis
cussing any trade concessions to
France. the French withdrew uncon-
ditionally, suffering diplomatic hu-
initiation rather than face war with
Great Britain.
Evidently Hoped for War.
The kaiser evidently had hoped for
war and naturally viewed the growth
of the British power in Africa with
alarm. He compliments the French
for the first time. for he says they
were in first rate position and able
to help us others all in Africa who
are sorely in need of strong help
Copies of the original letters were
brought from Moscow by Isaac Don
Levine Introduction and historical
notes to the letters are being written
by Harry Hansen.
DAMASCUS, November 9. 1898. =
Dearest Nicky: BY the kind tele-
gram YOU sent me to Jerusalem you
intimate that you follow our journey
with interest; this encourages me to
send you a few lines at the end of
our tour with some of my impress
sions. They are so manifold that IL
is rather difficult to fix them.
"In the first place Jerusalem has OF
course occupied our attention on ac-
count of the many places filled with
"reminiscences of our Savior. The
thought that His eyes rested on the
same hills, that His feet trod the
same ground is most stirring to one
heart, and makes it beat faster and
more fervently. But l must frankly
own that not all one sees relating
to the Christian faith is exactly
adapted for the promotion OF THIS
feeling. The manifold and dlnerent
confessions and sects of our common
70
in the way of church building, the
erection. of monasteries. chapels, etc:
on so-called traditional molly piaces'
Results in Sort of Competition.
(which has led to sort of concur
renee or race for the highest towers
or biggest churches, which do not
at all harmonic with the sites they
are erected on. In fact. one could
call it an exhibition of church
clergies of the different churches,
who have a pleasure in intrigues and
political designs fostering hatreo
| instead of love, and leading TO 1ree
fights and battles in the churcheS IN
stead of psalms and friendly inter
course.
created a worship of stones and
wood, forbidden in the second OF the
| ten commandments, instead OF the
Divinity itself. A Frenchman char.
acteristically said to me; ;, es,
dfsant saints, don't la saintete ne
neut etre garantie, ct la Divinite
n.yest pour Rienr CIT is the worship
| of stone of so-called holy places OF
; which the holiness cannot De suaI
anteed and the Divinity STANDS toi
tressinr to our Christian feeling
( VERY naturally this-1. beg your par
don-fetish alteration has created a
snnreme contempt for the Christians
| with the Moslems. ,
! Doubts Authenticity OF Sepulcher.
| "Mv personal feeling in leaving tn
| Holy city was that | felt profounol!
ashamed before the Moslems and ina
If I had come there without any re
ngion at all l certaniS Moura a,;aio, nae
| turned Mahometan! The way rensloi
is understood in Jerusalem, 1T VII
never lead to the conversion of SIN
pIe Moslem or the growth or a slnsl
tree or the digging of single neV
well. am. afraid that religion II
clergies as a cover for politicai oe
! vices and designs. and that Is yer.
wrong and does Christianity a yer.
| great harm. as the MoSlems have lont
ago perceived this and treat US ac
cordingly. I return home with reel
| inES of great ulsliiusioh anu
i irm convictions that our savior
grave quite certainly is not beneatl
that Church of the st. Sepulcher (hol,
| senulcher). which in it's appearance
and decoration compares very badl'
with the Mosque of Omar in its Slmpl
and awe-inspiring grandeur! Alas
The most interesting and the fines
| town from the oriental point Of view
lis no doubt Damascus. Beirut, wit
its lovely villas, gardens and glades
reminding one more OF town IN IN
south of Italy or in Sicily. The Hol
Land is simply terrible in it's ari
dryness and utter want of trees an
water. But here everything is change
as if by magic. The great Rive
Rarader gives life and GOODNESS an
fosters vegetation of the finest de
scription. The town is situated in tn
midst of vast gardens and shad
glades all watered by small rivulets
giving them the aspect-when see
| af ior f2