Page:Christianity in China, Tartary, and Thibet Volume I.djvu/285

273 DECLINING TOWER OF THE TARTARS. 273 pursued those who fled, and taught men that the Tartars were not invincible. A victory gained over the Mongols was in fact a thing hitherto unheard of in these countries, and this of the Sultan of Egypt power- fully reanimated the hopes of the Mussulmans, whilst its effects were in no less degree disastrous for the Christians. At Damascus the unexpected victory was no sooner proclaimed than the Mussulmans rushed tu- multuously to the houses of the Christians, pillaged them from top to bottom, massacred the inhabitants, and then burnt the churches of St. James and St. Mary. Symptoms of declining strength in the power of the Tartars were soon manifest at many points, and in no long time produced considerable modifications in their policy. The dismemberment of the vast empire of Tchinguiz-Khan was consummated ; and though even its divisions formed powerful states, their power was not so great as to make Europe and Asia tremble, and we shall soon see these haughty Mongols, who before would scarcely deign even to receive ambassadors from other nations, and offered only the alternatives of sub- mission or destruction, bending their pride to make the first advances to Christian sovereigns, and more espe- cially to the kings of France, who were in the East ge- nerally regarded as the most powerful of all. Houlagou, as we have seen, quitted Syria to ascend the imperial throne, left vacant by the death of Mangou- Khan ; but he came too lute, and found the place taken, Kublai, his brother, having been elected emperor in his stead, in the year 1260. This was the prince who to the north of China, already subjected by the Tartars, added the territory of Mangy, or Southern China. He VOL. i. T