JEWISH AND MOORISH INTELLECTUAL ADVANCE FOLLOWED BY PHYSICAL DECLINE--THIS DECLINE THE CAUSE OF THEIR DOWNFALL--THE SPANIARD AGAIN RULER OVER SPAIN--THE INQUISITION ESTABLISHED--TO ESCAPE IT JEWS BECOME "NEW CHRISTIANS"--CHRISTIANITY NO HELP TO THE JEWS--THOMAS DE TORQUEMADA--THE TORTURES OF THE INQUISITION--A PUBLIC BURNING. Physical decline follows mental advance. The nation that is devoted to learning is not the nation that worships a military life, or the pursuits of warfare. When the Mohammedans started on the enterprise of acquiring vast territorial possessions, there were few nations, if any, that could stand before them; when they were bent upon making intellectual acquisitions, there was no military body in Europe so poor that could not overthrow them. The military and patriotic virtues of the Arab-Moors had slowly passed away. Their original simplicity had been replaced by the extravagance of Oriental luxury, and their early devotedness to the Moslem faith had suffered much from their philosophical and scientific researches.[38] Internecine wars among themselves hastened their decline. Faster and faster their once invincible power slipped from their hands. Faster and faster advanced the Spanish hosts. Arab-Moor and Spanish Christian met at last on the plains of "Las Navas," (1213) and the great defeat which the Moslem army sustained here marked the beginning of the fatal hour. City after city, province after province, they were forced to yield. At last, all was lost, save the city of Granada, which stood alone to represent the Mohammedan dominion in the peninsula. And, for a time, it seemed as if that noble city, the city of the Alhambra, the pride of the Moors, would not only represent the Mohammedan dominion, and stay the victorious advance of the Spanish hosts, but also regain all that had been lost. [38] Coppee's "Conquest of Spain," Vol. 1, Chap. V, pp. 441-442. But the ancient valor was aroused too late. Ferdinand, of Aragon, had married Isabella, of Castile. Two of the most powerful crowns and armies were united, and unitedly they marched against the city of Granada. Granada surrendered. On the second day of January, 1492, the last and ill-fated king of the Moors, Boabdil (Abu Abdillah,) met Ferdinand and his party at the entrance of the Alhambra, and presenting the keys of the city, thus he spoke in a loud voice and in sad accents: "We are thine, O powerful and exalted king; these are the keys of this paradise. We deliver into thy hands this city and kingdom, for such is the will of Allah: and we trust thou wilt use thy triumph with generosity and clemency."