MASSACRE OF CHRISTIANS IN SYRIA.

Marlborough Press, Volume I, Issue 45, 10 November 1860, Page 3

MASSACRE OF CHRISTIANS IN SYRIA.

[From the Illustrated Times, July 14.] Events are now occurring in Syria which must at once bring the Eastern question again before the world. The interference of the French is certain, and England must herself aid in repressing atrocitieswhich surpass anything that' has of late years been perpetrated, even by the animosity of race and religion: indeed, each Government has already sent two men-of-war toßeyrout to afford protection to the sufferers. The scene of these horrible tragedies is the range of the Lebanon and the numbers and audacity of the murderers are such that Damascus on the one side, ahcl ! Beyrout on the other, are not safe. In-the neighbourhood of Mount Hermon whole villages have been destroyed and their Christian inhabitants put to the sword. Catholics, Greeks, and the little communities of Protestants have shared the same fate. In some cases the butchery has been in cold blood; in others the villages have been surprised at night and every male slaughtered. Here is a terrible story. It reached us from Beyrout: — “ As the Austrian steamer to Trieste was leaving this on the 16th instant (June) a boatload of men, wearing not blood-stained but blood-saturated garments, arrived from Tyre. These individuals, only thirty-four in number, are all that remain of the Christian male population of Hasbeiya, a village at the foot of Mount Hermon, which a week before could muster nearly two thousand fighting men. These poor creatures were the first to bring to Beyrout detailed and true accounts of the bloodthirsty ruffianism of their Druse enemies, and of the fearful treachery of the local Turkish authorities. The tale I give you is taken from the very words of the men themselves, examined separately by a first rate Arabic scholar. Hasbeiya is a beautiful village at the foot of Hennon, and close to the source of the Jordan. It contains, or did before the massacre, a population of 5,000 Christian souls, chiefly of the Greek “orthodox” Church. The Protestants numbered in this village upwards of 200. They had a native pastor and a regular church of their own. Of that Protestant community two men now live to tell the tale of their butchery; whilst of their 4,000 Greek fellow-Christians but thirty three, men have survived, and the fate of their wives and children is worse than uncertain. The village was attacked by an overwhelming body of Druses on Saturday, the 2nd of June. The Christians armed to repel them, and for two days held their own, on the 3rd driving back the enemy. Hitherto the Commander of the Turkish troops had stood aloof, although—as was the case at Sidon, at Deir-el-Kamar, and at Raslieiya— he had troops enough at his command to repel and defeat the Druses had he so wished. When he saw that the Christians were gaining the day he called them back, and in the name of the Sultan ordered them to retire within the seraglio (a large building covering nearly an acre of ground, and containing the residence of the Commander as well as the barrack), and to give up their arms, as he, the local representative of the Government, -would conduct them all safe to Damascus, where they would be better than in Hasbeiya whilst the civil war lasted. The Christians obeyed him, returned, gave up their arms, which were immediately packed up and sent towards Damascus, but with so absurdly small an escort that the Druses took possession of .both the muskets and the mules that carried them within an hour of their leaving the place. The Christians asked often to be sent with their families, as promised, to Damascus. For nearly a week they were put oft' with some pretext or other, until, on the sixth day after they were disarmed (during which time the Turkish soldiers have prevented any of them from leaving the precincts of the seraglio), two Druse chiefs of great influence arrived, and had a conference of several hours with the Turkish Commander of the troops. No sooner was this conference ended than the Christians observed that the hareem (wives, woman, and children), as well as the property of the Commander, was removed from the seraglio, and that the Turkish soldiers also removed their baggage outside. Suspecting treachery, many of the Christians tried to escape from the place, but were prevented by the bayonets oi the tioops, whilsttheir women and children were ordered and and compelled to remove to the large upper Chambers of the buildings, the men being forced to remain below. By this time it was known that many hundreds of armed Druses were close to the town. The troops had hardly made the aforesaid arrangements when the Druses were admitted into the seraglio, and rushed like hungry tigers upon the unarmed mob in the courtyard. No man was spared. _ In ten minutes the very stones were inch deep in human blood. No butchery ever known in history equalled this in ferocity and cowardice. In half an hour upwards of a thousand strong men were hacked to death. Some few tried again to escape, but -were driven back by the bayonets of the Turkish soldiers (regular troops, not Bashi Bazouks) and the Druses had their revel of blood undisturbed ; mothers, wives, daughters, and young children witnessing from above the massacre of their relatives. - I could enter into more details but sicken at the task. Would to heaven that it was a table or a dream! In the slaughter some few hid in out-of-the-way chambers ; others

escaped. notice from being heaped over by the dead, and these by God’s mercy managed in the night to escape, wandered down to the coast, where one Ali Bey, a Metuali chief, protected them, and so to Tyre, where they took ship to Beyrout, and arrived here on Saturday evening, the 16th inst. Of the ; fate of the woman and children nothing i 3 yet certain, but from what is known of Turkish soldiers it is feared that the fate of the former will be one worse than death. Of the Protestant community not a man escaped, but more than one of the Greek Christian refugees bears witness how they met their fate, exhorting others to turn to the Saviour and to pray to Him in their last hour.” This is bad enough, but it is not the worst. Zahleh, a large Christian town of 10,000 inhabitants, has fallen into the hands of immense hordes of Druses, with Kurds and Arabs from the desert, who had invested the town for six days. We are told that the Christians fought bravely, but were at length overpowered by numbers, and that then the slaughter was frightful. The correspondent from whose letter we quote aboVe, says that of the Turkish troops sent to assist the Christians of Zahleh, “half halted some miles short of the place, and the remainder took part against them. But full details are not known yet.” But this was known, that there was nothing to prevent the victorious hordes making an attack upon Damascus ; and if they do so, and succeed, we may look for still greater butcheries than we have now to record. And a late telegram informs us that Damascus is already surrounded by the butchers. There w r as a general panic at Beyrout, and the Christian inhabitants were taking to flight. The French Consul is said to have been wounded by a yataghan. Besides Hasbeiya and Zahleh, 160 Christian villages are said to have been destroyed.

Mb. Cobden and the Fbench. —The Superior Council of Commerce at Paris is about to close its sitting, having nearly completed its labours. The following letter from Mr. Cobden to a firm in England is of great interest: —“ I have still no reason to doubt that matters will be brought to a satisfactory result here. Up to the present moment I have experienced nothing but candour and straightforwardness in my dealings with the French Government, while all the misrepresentations, falsehood, and difficulties which I have had to encounter have come from the English side of the Channel. Nothing disgusts me more than the cowardice and want of honest principles in our politicians. Anything for a momentary cry which may given a triumph over a political opponent, seems to be the motto of our party men. You will see that in less than a couple of years all our politicians will be eager enough to claim the merit of having always been friendly, to the French treaty. The paragraph you enclosed, giving a conversation of mine, is one of those rascally acts of eavesdropping for which American newspaper writers are notorious. There is a good deal of the paragraph which agrees with what I have thought; but whether I expressed it in private conversation is more than I could swear to, as no one expects to be responsible for private gossip. There ought to be the punishment of the pillory or the stocks revived for those who publish in newspapers the unguarded remarks which fall from a man in private conversation, when he frequently speaks merely to provoke a reply and keep people from going to sleep over too serious an interchange of views. No; I did not help the Emperor to prepare his pamphlet about the English and French armies and navies. Take my word for it, however, that there is a vast deal of systematic lying in England about the French armaments. You remember that charming old lady, Madame Wolley’s landlady, whom we visited, who remarked—‘Pauvre John Bull, quand on veut enlever son argent, on luit fait peur de nous!’ [‘ Poor John Bull, when they want his money, they make him afraid of us.’] I am quite ashamed of the childlike simplicity with which Englishmen allow themselves to he imposed on respecting anything French. You will see a great and sudden reaction in the public mind soon. Common sense, aiddd by the publication of the new French tariff, will put an end to the panic.” The attempt to recover the Atlantic Telegraph ■.Cable, has been abandoned.