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TTIHIIE POLYNESIAN PUBLISHED WEEKLY, AT HONOLULU, OAHU, SANDWICH ISLANDS. . JARVES, Editor. SATURDAY, MAY 29, 1841. Vol. I.-IYo. 31. SELECTED. From Blackwood's Magazine. JERUSALEM. JTast as is the period, and singular as the changes ol huropcan history since Christian era, Judca still continues to the most interesting portion of the Id. Among other purposes, it mav for the purpose of fixing the general upon this extraordinary land, that it hecn periodically visited lv a more iking succession of great public calam- s than perhaps any other region. With l to attract an invader than any other spicuous land of the East, it has been tantly exposed to invasion. Its ruin the Romans in the first century did prevent its being assailed by almost ry barbarian, who, in turn, assumed precarious sovereignty ot the neigh- ft . J incr Asia. Alter aires o obscure mise- ,y w a new terror came in the Saracen in- i t a A ion, which, under Amrou, on the con st of Damascus, rolled on Palestine. siege of four months, which we may Jl conceive to have abounded in hor k izave Jerusalem into the hands of Kaliph Omar. On the death of Omar, h died by the usual fate of Eastern iices the dagger the country was to the still heavier misgovemmcnt of Moslem viceroys a race of men cs tiallv barbarian, and conunutinir their J ' o " iies tor their zeal in proselytism. The )ple, of course, were doubly tormented. A new scourge fell upon them in the Jasion of the Crusaders, at the begin g of the 12th century, followed by a )g succession of bitter hostilities and llic weakness. After almost a century this wretchedness, another invasion m the Desert put Jerusalem into the tids of its old oppressor, the Saracen ; i in 1104, lamous oaiauin, cxpeil- the last of the Christian sovereigns. k possession of Palestine. After an- er century of tumult and severe sufl'er- occasioned by the disputes of the raccn princes, it was visited by a still bro formidable evil in the shape of the rks, then wholly uncivilized a nation all the rudeness and violence of moun- neer life, and spreading blood and fire ough Western Asia, rrom this date pH7) it remained under the dominion the Ottoman, until its conquest, a few inrs ago, by that most extraordinary of ft m i ... - Mussulmans, the Pacha of Eivpt. a kary period of 500 years, under the pst desolating government of the world. is equally impossible to read the Scrin- ral references to the future condition of Viestinc. without d v m m v w plainest and most powerful indica- pns, that it shall yet exhibit a totally WtVk MM. H A A A I A t . ncni uspcci irom mai 01 its present te. Enthusiasm, or even the natural terest which we feel in this memorable ition, may color tho future to us too "ghtly; but unless language of the most lemn kind, uttered on the most solemn -casions, and by men divinely commis- :ned for its utterance, is wholly unmean- & we must yet look to some powerful, questionable, and splendid display of evidence in favor of the people of rael. I The remarkable determinations!! Euro- , . : . .11 Ml DOIItira trtwnrrlo Acio M nA U. 4 ypt, within these four years ; the not less unexpected change of manners and customs, which seemed to defy all change ; and the new life infused into the stagnant governments of Asia, even by their being flung into the whirl of European interests, look not unlike signs of the times. It may be no dream, to imagine in these phenomena the proofs of some memorable change in the interior of things some preparatives for that great providential restoration, of which Jerusalem will yet be the scene, if not the centre ; and the Israelite himself the especial agent of these high transactions, which shall make Christianity the religion of all lands, restore the dismantled beauty of the earth, and make man, what he was created to be only "a little lower than the angel." The statistics of the Jewish population are among the most singular circum stances of this most singular of all pooplc. Under all their calamities and dispersions, they seem to have remained at nearly the same amount as in the days of David and Solomon, never much more in prosperity, never much less after ages of suffering. Nothing like this has occurred in the his tory of any other race ; Europe in general having doubled its population within the last hundred years, and England nearly tripled hers within the last half century ; the proportion of America being still more rapid, and the world crowding in a con stantly increasing ratio. Yet the Jews seem to stand still in this vast and gen eral movement. The population of Judea, in its most palmy days, probably did not exceed, if it reached, four millions. The numbers who entered Palestine from the wilderness were evidently not much more than three ; and their census, according to the German statists, who arc generally considered to be exact, is now nearly the same as that of the people under Moses about three millions. They are thus distributed ; In Europe, 1,916,000, of which about 059,000 are in Poland and Russia, and 458,000 are in Austria. In Asia, 738,000, of which 300,000 are in Asiatic Turkey. In Africa, 591,000, of which 200,000 arc in Morocco. In America, North and South 5,700. If we add to these about 15,000 Sa maritans, the calculation in round nu mbers will be about 3,100,000. This was the report in 1825 the num bers probably remain the same. This extraordinary fixedness in the midst of almost universal increase, is doubtless not without a reason if we are even to look for it among the mysterious operations of which have preserved Israel a separate race through eighteen hundred years. May we not naturally conceive, that a people thus preserved without advance or retro cession ; dispersed, yet combined ; broken, yet firm ; without a country yet dwellers in all ; everywhere insulted, yet every where influential ; without a nation, yet united as no nation ever was before or since has not been appointed to offer this extraordinary contradiction to tho common laws of society, and even to the common progress of nature, without a cause, and that cause one of final benev olence, ui.iversal good, and divine grandeur? Twas eve on Jerusalem! Glorious its glow On the vine-cover'd plain, On the mount's marble brow, On the Temple's broad grandeur, Enthroned on its height Like a golden-domed isle In an ocean of light; And the voice of her multitudes Rose on the air, From the vale deep and dim, Like a rich evening hymn. But whence comes that cry 'Tis the cry of despair! What form stands on Zion? The prophet of woe! His frame worn with travel, His locks living snow. His hand grasps a trumpet; The heart's-blood runs chill At its death-sounding blast: All the thousands are still All fixing their azc, Where, like one from the tomb, The shroud seems to swim Round the long, spectral limb, And the lips pour in thunder The terrors to come! "Thou'rt lovely, Jerusalem! Lovely, yet stain 'd; Thou'rt a li n's whelp, Judah, Yet thou shalt be chain'd. Thou'rt magnificent, Zion! Yet thou shalt be lone; The pilgrim of sorrow Shall see thy last stone. " Hark, hark to the tempest What roar fills my ear? 'Tis the shouting of warriors, The crash of the spear. The eagle and wolf On that tempest are roll'd Twin demons of havoc, To ravage thy fold. "They rush through the land As through forests the fire; Woe, woe to the infant, Woe, woe to the sire! Rejoice for the warrior Who sinks to the grave; But weep for the living A ransomlcss slave. " But veil'd be mine eyeballs! ' The red torch is flung, And the last dying hymn Of the temple is sung! The altar is vanish'd, The glory is gone; The curse is fulfill'd, The last vengeance is done! "Again all is darkness; Year rolls upon year; I hear but the fetter, 1 see but the bier. But the lions are coming! They roar from their sand; 'Tis Amrou and his Saracens Curse of the land! "Like the swamp-gonder'd hornets, They rush on the wing By thousands of thousands, With death in their sting, Like vultures, they sweep O'er Moriah's loved hill, And the corpse-cover'd valleys By Kedron's red rill. " Where, where sleeps the thunderbolt; Heaven! hear tho cries Of the Ishmaelite slave To his prophet of lies. Hear the howl to his demons, His frenzy of prayer; Mix'd with Israel's lament Of disdain and despair. " It has come! and the throne Of the robber has rcel,d; . And the turbans are floating In gore on the field. I sec the proud chiefs Of the West in their mail; And my soul loves the standard They spread to the gale. ,, Stay, vision of splendour! On Jordan's rich marge They rush to the battle, Earth shakes with their charge. Like lightning the blaze From their panoply springs; I see the gold helms And crown'd banners of kings. " Yet evil still smites thee, Thou daughter of tears! No trophy is thine In the strife of the spears. The stately Crusader And Saracen lord, But give thee tho choice Of the chain or the sword. " Again all is silence! The long grass has grown Where the crossbearer sleeps In his rich-sculptur'd stone; And the land trod by prophet And chanted by bard, Is left to the foot Of the wolf and the pard. " But who ride the whirlwind! The drinkers of blood! From the summit of Lebanon Rushes the flood; 'Tis the Turcoman ravening For slaughter and spoil: Oh, helpless gazelle! Thou art now in the toil. " King of kings! on our neck Sits the slave of a slave, As wild as his mountains, As cold as our grave. All his sceptre the scourge, All our freedom his will; Yet thy children must linger Must agonize still. " Fly swift, ye dark years! Still the savage is there The tiger of nations Is couch'd in his lair. The field is a thicket, The city a heap, And Israel on earth Can but wander and weep. " King of kings! shall she die? Hark! a trumpet afar It thrills through my soul, Yet no trumpet of war. I hear the deep trampling Of millions of feet; And the shoutings of millions, Yet solemn and sweet. "Now the voices of thunders Are rolling on high; . The pomp has began, The redemption is nigh. I see thy crowned fathers, Thy prophets of fire, And the martyrs, whose souls Shot to heaven from the pyre. 4 Who comes in his glory, Pavilion'd in cloud? Judah, cast off thy shame! Israel, spring from thy shroud! Thy king has avenged thee He comes to his own, With earth for his empire, But Zion his throve !" Morning Star.