The Dominion. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1917. JERUSALEM AND HER EUROPEAN CAPTORS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 58, 1 December 1917, Page 8

The Dominion. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1917. JERUSALEM AND HER EUROPEAN CAPTORS

By the strange irony of fate Germany's treacherous schemes against Britain ..in Egypt have only resulted in making Britain's power stronger there than. ever it was. This ."irony 1 of fafe "is pursuing Ger-'. many into .Palestine. The theatrical imagination of the Kaiser led him to seo .himself, through the realisation .-of his dream about an Eastern German Empire;, as King over Jersualem. Now British troops, supported by Egyptian armies, are menacing this city so coveted by the Kaiser, and in the very near Suture- Britain's victorious flag- will fly over an emancipated city. Jerusalem to-day has monuments that speak of Germany's "peaceful penetration." On Mount.Zion stands a colossal German Roman Catholic Church with a.tower that dominates the whole countryside. ,On the Mount of Olives there stands an enormous sanatorium crowned by a huge, tower, in- which a powerful wireless apparatus is set up, an apparatus which-, has been of good service to Germany during this war. This building, spoken of ais a resthouse for. missionaries, is also furnished with a powerful searchlight plant, and it is suspected to contain a-large store of ammunition. Tho building was opened with much pomp and-ceremony.the other year by Prince = Eitei. Then near the 'Damascus • Gate there is another German building known as a hospice,' but -which looks' like a fortress. This peaceful penetration of Palestine began away back in 1898, when the Kaiser, mado his historic visit to Palestine, by way of Constantinople, with the.cordial approval of his "friend" the Sultan, well called "Abdul the Damned." The illustrated papers of tho time describe with great fullness the pious posturings of the Kaiser as ho visits the "holy places" or takes a part in consecrating-a Lutheran Church or ostentatiously gifts a site to the Roman Catholics. One shrewd writer, Professor George Adam Smith, saw ' something sinister in the antics of the Kaiser, and wrote in the Illustrated London Acws: —

"The dramatio elements in his character mako it possible that ho is going to Jersualeni simply as a pilgrim or at most as a champion of Protestant Christianity. Yet, if so, why did lie go via Constantinople? Surely he has political aims in sight'who is. to put the bankrupt finance* of 'turkeyto the expense of ,1 million sterling for his visit, and who, in despite of the Christian motives he pleads in explanation of his pilgrimage, go«s out of his way to visit the greatest persecutor of Christians in our—almost in any—time."—December' 17, 1898. This, writer was right in his sur-mise'about-ihe Kaiser's political aims. His mind was then full of an 'Eastern--German■..■Empire,- and heelings to " that notion' to-day. But the British guns turned against Jerusalem have burst the bubble of the Kaiseb's kingdom in that city. This. is something to be thankfiiil for. The goal of the human race, a perfected society; is .described as a New Jerusalem; but the blood-stain-ed hands of the Kaiser arc devoted to the frustration of such an ideal.

Litfclo Palestine in ancient times was in a sense the cockpit of the old Eastern world. The little kingdom separated the old Empires one from another, and when they were at war they made her their highway or their battleground. _ The great armies of the Hittite,. Ethiopean, Assyrian, Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian,vand Parthian "Empires trampled over her roads, ruined her resources, and,, more- than once laid in ruins her capital. And yet this little laind, scorned and despised by the great (Kaisers of ancient times, has a unique glory, so that in a sense she is the' "glory of all lands." Her one glory is "her religion: her ideals of faith, righteousness, and 'justice. There pr.ophc.ts lived, who-spake, to their .t'mo.and tp all:time, .and there : .

"The Word 'had,breathy and.'-wrought AVith human hands the creed of creeds. In-love!inessjof perfect deeds, More strong than all poetic thought."

-Britain's.army .of liberation in Palestine is-not the first European army .that has .invaded the land and sought to capture Jerusalem. In 1798 the First Consul of the French •.Republic, Napoleon Bonaparte, went to Egypt to destroy English power there, and this he thought would lead to the loss of India to Britain. In carrying out his plans he invaded Palestine, and had he succeeded he would likely have taken Jerusalem. He "met disaster at. Acre largely through the dashvind genius of'"a British -.'admiral, and he retired" te> ! Egypt and then to -France. This scheme, as-well as his other scheme of fomenting rebellion in Ireland', failed to hiirfc Britain. The Kaiser to-day is repeating Napoleomjs schemes of 1798 that ended in bungling and failure. We have to go back next to the ■Crusades to sec European armies of invasion on the soil of Palestine. It wasta-scandal to.lhc'Christendom ■of the Middle' Ages, which attached a superstitious value to the soil of Palestine and to the city of Jerusalem, that an "infidel" Power should rule there, and the inspiration of this feeling led to the Crusades. ' In 1099, conquering forces, largely French, swept over Palestine, and on July 15, after a month's siege, ■ Jerusalem was captured and a Christian flag was unfurled over, the city; .The capture, however, ...was disgraced by awfml slaughter, and it was hands stained with blood that were upraised in prayer at the Holy Sepulchre. For nearly. 100 years that flag of the Latin Kingdom _ flew over Jerusalem, and then it was str-uck down once more by the Mohammedan conqueror Saladin. The Latin Kingdom died in Jerusalem because it probably deserved to' die. Its citizens threw aside the moral law and became lawless brigands. The Latin Kingdom helped forward colonisation, trade and geography, but it did little to set up a New ■Jerusalem of redeemed citizens on earth. Richard I of England and Frederick 11, Roman Emperor, had :thc.ir/-adventures in . Palestine in': the .Middle Ages:-'the former's mission was a :'failure,' .(-he lattcr's a temporary, success, for,- .though ban- J

Ncr! by tho Papacy, Frederick in Jerusalem, with his own hands, placed the crown upon his brow. We go back another thousand.years, and then we come across the great Roman" Power traversing the battletorn land of Palestine. In the year 70 of our era, on the 4th of September, Jerusalem, after one of tho most desperate defences in history, fell into the. hands of Titus, the son of the great Vksnstian. Seventy years before on Calvary the crime of crimes had been committed, and madness possessed the Jewish people in their hopeless revolts against the iron power of the Roman Empire. The Romans foutid the task of tho capture of the city no easy one. The Roman generals, father and son,' took possession of the land north, south, cast, and west of Jerusalem before they let slip their eager soldiers on the doomed city. They closed' every "'"door'of escape For 143 days the Jews resisted, suffering from {amine,' thirst, disease, and the sweltering heat of.the sun, and then tho end came. The Jewish system sank in blood and-ruin,, and the golden candlestick and silver trumpets wore taken from the Temple to Rome to he exhibited there in a "Triumph," along with captives, as spoils of victory. There is no more tragic story in history than 'this "tall of Jerusalem at the hands of the legions of Pagan Rome. Now, after the lapse of centuries, a great European conquering Power is near to Jerusalem, and the city is almost within her grasp. If the city cannot be taken without the blast 6f siege guns it may-not be taken for some time,'for Britain will not play the vandal and pound into ruin places and buildings rich in historic and religious associations. This ; will never be unless German deceit and treachery make "holy places" forts for their guns. .