The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1860-08-28 00:00:00

SYRIA.

Advice' from Ibunuseus to the Tdh inst. state that
Foul Pubs bad surrounded the Lebanon with troops,
and threatened fire and sword if the Drum :Sheiks did
riot muiesider in tw, days. Twenty bad already been
taken, and nearly tiO) other important arrests bad bee,
made.

SEYWEIHNOS 01, THE I.3I6ISTIANH.

A terrible picture of the sufferings of the Christians
in conveyed in the following letter from Beyrout, dated
August 8
- - • • -
_

On Saturday afternoon, about six o'clock, the firs
caravan of Christian* who hal escaped trout the missals
cres in Danisaeus arrived in lleyrout ; and a inure heart
rending sight- -one which made men weep like women
filling them at the same time with an almost irreriatible
craving for revenge—was probably never beheld. They
had left Dainascus on Thursday at noun—a oilman com-
posed chiefly of women and children, and variously
estimated at from 2,000 to 3.4110 souls; for the Turkish
authorities hail provided cattle for the conveyance of
1,50 n persoits, but many travelled on tout or un beetle in
burden of their own or friends. l'arched with thirst, not
half fed, UUWILIII43I, with clothes uucliangeel for nearly •
month, choked with dust, iusi entered with flies, they
fled hither, under heavens glowing like brawl, frutu the
city, which, if it be the most ancient, will henceforth be
the most infamous in the world. There were widows
and orphans whose husbands, fathers, and brethren had
all besot slain before their cyss with every indignity and
cruelty the
whose must comely maidens haul been sold to gratify the
brutal lied of filthy -Oaks. Nearly ell were afflicted
with oplithalinin ; five vr 1111 l en ball died on the journey,
and one was taken in labAtr. m..li be teen skis,
jog to suck food from the breasts that were dried up.
Youne. children were so dirty, MI disfigured by WIVS, 011
which Gies uwttled COU:11111011Y, Sri to he loathsome to
look upon. Old own and woitieu totter.,l under door-
wayn and sank down cahausteit, heedless of the crowd
that pressed upon theta, looking like so many bundles
of dirty rags, and incapable of reaching out their hands
to take the water fur a hid', they famished, or of crawl-
ing to the shelter provided for then, by the authorities
at Ileyrout in lbws khans. The streets leading
front the Imiesseos 11,4 were thronged with
mule*, shambling horscia ane. asses, all huddled together,
mid rendering the condi of the fugitives all the more
painful. The muleteers rained liilWll blows right amid
left upon the cattle ; viol from the statements made of,
their brutality on the jouriiey it reluired no great effort
to believe that they afield have beaten the "
dugs" committed to their keeping even more lustily,
while it was difficult to my how far the curses and
execrations which filled the air were confined to the
animal., how far they were inteaded to apply to theft
of whom Moslem vengeance had been defrauded. An
the lulls between the cursing* arose the piteous cries of
babes, and here and there the wailing of women—
Christian 'Umbels weeping for their children, and
" refusing to be comforted, because they are nut."
But, generally speaking, the grief was too deelaseated,
toe hopeless, for lamentation. Those WllO had wept the
loss of their nearest and thatreat relatives had UO tears
left for their own sufferings ; and, although they had
fled froin the city of death, they exhibited all apathy
and indifference which appeared to indicate that an
which rendered life valuable hat been snatched from
them, leaving them to pewee their melancholy and
dreary pilgrimage, ever accempauied by the meniery of
the horrible secret' they had a iones,ol. The living may
be pardoutsl in this Cabe for envying the peace sod
oblivion of the tomb, bloody as may have betU illU path
to it.
Beneath the scorching su
boors' journey during the h.
amid • bustling couftwion
reniaintsl— many with a chil
others *trapped in front ups
could be got one by 010.
might be wen groups of pail
what looked very much like
• bor.. These were all tic

- --• -----•-- -
They have no protection,
charity. At hut the fugitiv4
which way be..deseribed as

,
rounded on all solos by a ty
tion of the upper door being
round the courtyard. By t
chambers ia untamed on the
lineon the upper one. 11
chambers in Oda last run.

doors and windows Ope 7
eight feet square and ten I

in of Syria, after a twelve
palest part of the day, and
,f the streets, the fugitives
lid at the breast. cud two
em the ionic—until they
the khan. Now and then
mg chibiren suspended in
orange-chests slung semis
it Tthl.tllltti of a family.

refuge save in public
, were 1,,0t into the khan,
a square courtyard, ser-
vo-storied structure, a pur-
carried on arcades running
this means • single line of
ground door, and • double
letween the two lines of
a passage, into which the
The chambers are about
set high, with a number of
ten. The few things saved
coverlet, leather water
-
• few articles of

inivates generally averaging
from pillage—a carpet, on'
bottle, and narghile,

, waited
with peni

elothiiig, are spwrescl' oist,-iin
week., the fugitives sleep i
with it Nam of safety. But

nil, for. the-irst—ii-m7for
in complete security, sail
; their ;titutson is cum.

pieta. Nothing but bread have they tasted since they
fled for safety to the Castle of Iniinaseus, now a month
ago, and even of bread they did not always get sufficient
to appease their hunger.
The fugitives are lodged in the three khans situated
in the most crowded parts of Beyrout, which I have
visited, and in a Greek convent. One of the khans,
about sixty feet square, is beside the hotel where I an.
staying. The windows of my room overlook it, and I
have only G. lift my eyes from this letter to behold the
misery, destitution, and physical sufferings of upwards
of four hundred human beings. Through the open
windows come the tries of children blinded by optlislusia,
teased by dies, mosquitoes, and vermin, and almost
maddened by sunstroke. There come also OCCUI Ily,
when food is served out, the angry and menacing ex-
postulations of Turkish officials. I trust the noise has
no other cause or accompaniment.

q I;
,
a.
eig
Mau
from
bottle,
clothing
weeks, t
milli a sett