The Express.
London, England, 1860-10-20 00:00:00

The French troops are still is for mountains and
is the plain of (Arlo-Syria, between the range of
Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon. The headquarters are
at &Hie, on the eastern slope of Lebanon. As
yet they have sot fired a single shot, the Drones
laving on every OttahlUtl Rea before them. You
meet remember that this is exactly what I predicted
all along, as my preview letter will bear witness,
and that as in the Mee where all the wise men
of the Eat prophoued that when the French
troops lanais] the Moslem population of the whole
of Syria would rise eft **Me, so now in the Metter
of the Draws, when all the " best informed" (and
most 'wooly arrived) men in Beyrvut felt certain
they would make a most determined stand against
the French, my anticipations have proved correct.
I nietiti“ned in my last that although thirteen or
feertisui of the principal Drums Sheiks had come in
awl sc :Tendered to rued Pasha, a great number—
by far the majority—with all their personal fol-
lowers had fled, and were endeavouring to make
their way oat of Lebanon towards the Hanna,
that L.'ge district of mountains and plains of which
in little has been known until lately, and which is
bounded on the north by the Anti-Lebanon range,
awl on the eau and south by the desert. This is
put—the part--ot Sena to which the Druses have
rdways ded for shelter, using it as their fortress,
awl the Loyah as the citadel of that fortress.
In the. Hauran still exists the now village,
but fin•nier town of Edrvi, where we are told
in Deuteronomy, " the king of Bashan," re-
sided Here also were " the threescore great
cities with calls and brazen bars," spoken of in
1 AUG?, iv. The name of the "Hauran" is also
found ri holy writ, in Ezekiel xlvii, when defining
certain limits of the Holy Land. A great part of
the Hawaii is the granary of Syria, and with a
proper government and good roads might be made
to supply all Europe with wheat. Throughout the
whole district Drums and their Sheiks are para-
mount, although great parts of it are overrun by
various tribes of the Bedouins, or wandering Arabs.
It was, then, to join their brethren in the Hauran,
taking with them the vast wealth of which they had
plundered the Christians, that the Drums of
Lebanon resolved ; and to prevent this—to try
by all means to secure at any rate the chief
Sheiks who were flying—the brief campaign of '
the Turks, which has failed in its objects, wee
planned. The scheme was this. From two points on
the coast, Beyrout and Sidon, two columns—one

French and the other Turkish—were to advance
over Lebanori driving the Drums before them,
whilst at the.same time two other Turkish brigades
were to issue from Damascus, spread along the
line of the valley of Ccelo-Syria, and whilst pre-
venting the Druses from escaping towards the
Hearst., drive them back on the two forces ad-
vancing from the coast. These latter columns—
four thousand French, under D'ilautpoul, and six
thousand Turks, under Kmety—did their work
well, and as they advanced the Drums, splitting
into several bodies, drew back. Not so, how-
ever, with the Turkish brigades stationed to
prevent their escape towards the liatusn,
and commanded the one by Muetapba, the other
by Us!eeni Pacha. Between these two forces—
almost under their very noses—the Druses made
good their retreat, as the Turks never sent out ad-
vanced posts of any kind, thus facilitating to the
ntmord the escape of the enemy. Some persons say
it was don on purpose, and that the secret inten-
tion of the Turks is to allow the Drusee to escape.
Of this I cannot form a decided opinion, although
I must say 'kit such is very far from being either
impossible or even unlikely. Destroy the Druse
power—as you must before real security can reign
in this country—and you take away the only
weapon on which tbe Turks can depend should
they again wish to pull down Christian pride and
pocket Christian wealth in Syria. However, the
eountry is now perfectly quiet, all the evil charac-
ters being for the time banished or in prison.
I observe in the leading columns of a fashionable
morning contemporary of yours, • great handle
made of some arms with which the French govern-
ment are said to tare furnished the Christians of
Lebanon some months ago, the text of the argu-
ment bring singularly enough furnished by • long
'girt, defence of the Druses, which appears in
the letter of another paper's special correspondent
in Syria. I have taken considerable pains to sift
the story of this furnishing of arms by the French,
and now give it in plain terms, on authority which
I can vouch for.

Sono. three years ago, a Christian sheik on Leba-
non, who lives near the celebrated grove of cedars,
and M ctineequently about as far removed as he pos-
sibly could be whilst living on the same mountain
from tie Druaes, showed several acts of civility to'
parties of French travellers going and coming to the
Cedars, and more especially to the Consul-General
and to others connected with the embassy, who
happened to be visiting the part of the mountain
in the vicinity of his home. As travellers do in
these hotel-lees parts of the world, several persons
had from time to time put up for a night ur two
with the Sheik, and had of course put him to more
or leas expense. It was determined to make the
sun a present, and be was asked privately what he
would prefer. His answer was that be had heard
a great deal about the Minid rides, and he
should like much, if it were possible, to have
such arms for his inunediate followers and
relatives. ills wish was granted, and 100 Minid
nate, or rather carbines, of the vary short pattern
used by the French foot artillery, were sent out
from France and presented to him. Thin took
place exactly three years age, consequently two
years and a Lilt before there wee any thought
of a sectarian war, which latter, in any case, Sheik
Joseph would take but little part in, seeing the dia-
teem his residence is from the Dense mountains.
So much for the famous tale of the arms—magni-
fied by gaiibiners into many thousand stand and
two tield guns—supplied by the French government
to the Christians of Lebanon.

The Commissioners of the Five Powers are all
here, brit it appears they cannot commence work
without Foul i•acha, who is still absent wit► the
Turkish brigade in the field. What they have to
deliberate upon, or what new rule. or orders they
have to enact, respecting Syria, no one appears to
know. If, however, they do no more than change
the administration of Lebanon, their teak will
not be an easy one. For the last five years
the Mountain has been without any go-
vernment whatever, each Emir, Sheik, or
other man of power, doing exactly what suits him
best. In other parts of Syria the Turkiah govern-
ment beat enacted one part of its functions—that of
tax-gatherer—with great regularity, but in Lebanon
not even so much has been enforced, and at this
moment the Drums are nearly eight years in arrears
of their dues.

Her Majesty's ship Marlborough, 131, with
the flag of Admiral 3lartia, returnol here on the
Bth from s cruise of ten days to the northward.
She came in under sail, with the wind abaft, and