The Express.
London, England, 1860-07-09 00:00:00

troops and Turkish officials have to account to
Christian Europe for the cold-blooded murder of
more than two thousand of our co-religionists.
What will they say in England 1 If France and
Russia demand a reckoning for this, cas we say
them nay 1 As regards our—the English—policy
iu Syria, there has been a rumour—for the
honour of England I hope it is unfounded—
the last day or two, that true to some
obsolete policy of 1840, we shall still uphold the
retaining of the Druse feudal rule in the southern
part of Lebanon. If this be true, no language can
be too strong to express the national iniquity we
shall be guilty of in again leaving hundreds of
Christian villages and thousands of Christian men
to the mercy of so bloodthirsty a horde of lawless
ruffians as these Druse chiefs have shown them-
selves to be, and such willing instruments of murder
and rapine as they have been in the hands of the
Turks, whose natural and national policy it is at all
times to embrace every opportunity of destroying
Christians. That the Druses, under certain re-
strictions, be allowed to remain in their villages on
Lebanon would be but just, but " God do so and
more also" unto England, not only if she permit
any Druse sheik or chief whatever to ex-
ercise power on the mountain, but if she does
not insist upon the exile from Syria of every mis-
creant who ie proved to have had the slightest
share in attacking or pillaging the Christians.
And if this is carried out—as we have every reason
to believe France and Russia will justly insist upon
—there will not remain in Lebanon one-fourth of
those Druse chiefs who have for so many years
been its curse. _ _

isnow absorbed in the news about the fall
of &bleb, where five to six thousand Christians had
for five or six days been holding out against an im-
mense horde of Druses from the Hauran and from
Anti-Lebanon, as also of Kurds and Arabs from the
desert. The Pacha of Beyrout, at the urgent and
repeated representations of the five consuls-gene-
ral—representations made again and again for
the last eight days—sent off a small
force of three hundred soldiers and two
guns to drive off the Druses from Zahleh. , The
troops left this at daybreak on the 17th, and might
with ease have reached the scene of action next day
very early, the distance from this to Zahleh being
but 32 English miles, of which 25 are over an ex-
cellent road. But at seven o'clock this morning the
force was still halted at about half way to their
destination, proving that their being sent at all was
a mere blind. If Zahleh has fallen, the whole horde
of miscreants—the very scum of these regions—will
no doubt sweep down on Damascus (they would come
to Beyrout were it not for the men-of-war now here),
pillage and burn the place, after putting every
Christian in the town to the sword. But the fact
is, that the Turkish government has called into
being a devil, which they cannot now get rid of.
In their fanatical haste to strike a blow at
and if possible crush for ever the Christian popu-
lation of Lebanon, they invoked secretly the help
of the Druaes, knowing that they could not them-
selves act openly as they wished, having the eyes of
Europe upon them. This Druse weapon has served
their turn, and served it only too well, for they
now are puzzled how to lay it aside.
Three months ago all the horrors of this civil war
might have been saved by the moat ordinary energy
on the part of the Pacha of Beyrout. Urged by all
the consuls general to inquire into the murders
taking place in Lebanon—warned again and again
what must be the consequences it Druses were
allowed to murder Christians and Christians Druses
without any more notice being taken of such events
than if dogs of different breeds had every now and
then killed each other—he obstinately refused to
move in the matter, seemingly glad that Dresses
and Christians were working each other's extermi-
nation from the land, until at last the flame broke
forth, when he did all he could to help the Druses,
his subordinates in the interior doing more than
their master. _ .

The American missionaries at Dheir-el-Kamer
have been obliged to remove to their station at
Abeigh, three hours nearer Beyrout, the former
place being considered no longer safe.
A French paddle-wheel corvette arrived yester-
day, and her Britannic Majesty's steamer Firefly
left for her surveying duties on the coast. We have
now in the roads La &noble, French 50-gun frigate,
a Russian of same size, English steam-sloop Gan-
net and gunboat Mohawk, besides French steam
brig La Bentinelle, and paddle-wheel corvette above
' mentioned • in all six men-of-war, mounting about
130 gum, and having 800 seamen.
As I write a large line-of-battle ship with English
colours is coming in under sail from the north.
But we have not a man or a gun too much ; for
what between the ferocity of the blood-thirsty
Drusee, their love of plunder, rapine, and every
horror, and the obstinate determination which the
Turkish authorities have shown to help the destruc-
tion of all the Christians, we are not in a happy
position. The fall of Zahleh places Damascus at
the mercy of the Drums and Moslems. Of the state
of mind people were in there even before Zahleli fell I
send you an example, in an extract from a letter writ-
ten by au Englishman in that town three days ago to
a friend here. At Zahleh matters are quite as bad,
and we expect every hour to hear that the Prunes
have put some five thousand Christian souls to the
sword. When the news of Zahleh having fallen
reached Beyrout last night, and it was known that
the Druses were surrounding Dheir-el-Kamer, I
volunteered to proceed there with a small escort,
and bring the Christians down to Beyrout. The
English consul sent me a very civil answer, and it
is quite possible I may start to-night for the place.
Miscreants as they are, the Drums respect, orrather
fear, a European, and although no native Christian
could show his face within the limits of their
districts, I don't believe that with a suitable escort
of Moslem horsemen there would be any danger,
although nodoubt the Druses would do their utmost
to murder the refugee Christians on their way down.
But mark what I say, horrible as it is to contem-
plate, we shall yet see the Christians of Dheir-el-
Kamer murdered, although they are only seven
hours' journey from Beyrout. The English, French,
Russian, Austrian, and Prussian Consuls General,
have again and again, within the hint twenty days,
demanded from the Pacha of Beyrout an escort of
soldiers to briug the Dheir-el-Kamer Christians
down to this place, but their demand has been
each time either evaded, or directly refused.
Nay more, to my certain knowledge, some of
the Christians of Dheir-el-Kamar managed

...-
to provide au escort for themselves, and—the
D,uaes being all away from the vicinity—were
ready to start down to Beyrout. But the Turkish
governor of the town ordered them not to leave the
place, giving as a reason that if they did so the
other inhabitants of the town would be frightened,
and a panic would ensue. A panic where men's
lives had not been worth an hour's purchase for the
last two mouths ! Now, it is a hard thing to say,
but it is the simple truth, the Pasha of Beyrout
and every other Turkish authority in Syria have
from the very first shown a wish, nay an eagerness,
for the Christians to be butchered, whilst the
Druaes have throughout been the willing instru-
ments of murder in their hands.
Everyone is asking, whore will all this end ?
Even suppose the blood-shedding of the Draws
stopped, and the Turkish Government shamed, or
forced, into putting au end to this state of affairs,
what next 1 Are thousands of Christian peasants
in Lebanon to be again left to the mercy of these
murder-loving Druses, and their more guilty sheiks!
Let us suppose for a moment that instead of being
of the Greek and Roman churches these poor
people were protestauts, instead of being
under Russian or French protection they
were under the care of England. Would we
allow them to be again put under Druse rule
Or would anything justify Fritioe or Russia in not
allowing England to interfere 1 And shall we
prevent, or even try to prevent, thaw, powers from
seeing the Christians, who look to them for pro-
tection, righted 1 Moreover, let us remember that
in Ibuibeiya 200 fellow-protestauts were first dis-
armed by the treachery of the Turks, and then
murdered in cold blood by the Druses. England
is the protector of protestauts iu Turkey, just as
Russia is of the Greek Church and France of the
Papal aorta. And is the blood of thew pour pro-
testauts to call in vain for justice
One thing is certain, that the Turkish government