The Express.
London, England, 1860-09-21 00:00:00

SYRIA.

(►HOW OUR OWN CORIUMPONDRIT.)
EXECUTION OF AOHMET PAULA AT
DAMASCUS.
BEYROUT,Strr. 10.

An express from Damascus reached Bey;:nit
to-day, to say that on Saturday, the Bth instant,
Achmet Pacha, late Governor-General of Damascus,
together with three other superior officers of the
Turkish army (all deeply concerned in the late
massacres), were shot by order of Fuad
The sentence was that of the military court-martial
by which they were tried. The three other officers
executed are, Osman Bey, the miscreant who, being
in command of the Turkish troops at Hasbeiya
when the Druses attacked the place, first persuaded
the whole Christian population of the town to go
into the Serai, or Government House, promising
them protection. He then made them give
up to him, as the representative of the
Sultan's government, all their arms, and
when this was dune—when all the Christian
inhabitants to the amount of some two thousands
were perfectly at his mercy—he let in the Druses,
by whom every man and every male child was
ruthlessly butchered in cold blood—Osman Bey's
troops helping in the fearful tragedy, and adding
to the measure of their iniquity by 'treating and
violating many of the women.
The next on the het, Ali Bey, was, like Osman
Bey, a colonel in the Turkish army. He it was
who, being in command of the troops in the streets
of Damascus on the 9th of July, when the disturb.
ence broke out, instead of using the ample means
he had to put down the insurrection, suffered his
fanatical zeal to get the better of his judgment, and
allowed his men to help the mob. The latter thus
taking courage proceeded from bad to worse, the
ruffian rabble raised the cry that the troops were
with them, and the result was, as we know, the
massacre of five thousand Christians.
The last executed was Mustapha Bey, of whom
it is enough to say that he behaved at Rasheiya
exactly the same as Osman Bey did at Hasbeiya,
and with thesame results. All three—Osman, Ali,
and Mustapha—were Turkish colonels ; all three
acted as worthy lieutenants of their infamous
superior, Achmet--and all throe have suffered
death with him.

I am in great hopes that after all great good may
come out of the fearful evil we have lately wit-
nessed in this province • and that it will be not
only good for Syria but also for the whole empire.
It would be useless to speculate now as to what
arrangements will be made for the future govern.
went of Lebanon, but the powers of Europe will
be greatly to blame if they do not put it upon- such
a footing as will make future fanatical outbreaks all
but impossible. Nor do I think that, with the
examples of Achmet Pacha and his companions
before them, any Turkish official will, for some
years at any rate, indulge in the luxury of causing
Christian murders. Moreover, the judgment of
Fuad upon the culprit Moslems of Damascus will
no doubt now be followed by equally severe mea.
sures regarding the murderous Druses and trea-
cherous Osmanlis of Deir-el-Kama. There are
now in Beyrout, under arrest, awaiting trial, the
following Turkish officials :—Koorchid Pacha, late
governor of this place ; Osman Effendi, late kekia,
or deputy-governor; Achmet Effendi, late chief
of the local treasury; Thir Pacha, late
military chief of division and the late
governor of Deir-el-Kama, whose name I cannot
call to mind. Besides these, there are several military
officers who were present at Deir-el-Kama when
the massacre took place, but did not prevent it. A
whole host of Druses—sheiks and their followers—.
have yet to be caught and put on trial, so that
Fund will neither have much idle time on his
hands nor will he get away from Syria for some
time to come.

Throughout the whole of the Druse districts,
which I have just visited, there are evident signs
that no small amount of plunder has found its way
into the villages of those people. Every Druse you
meet is dressed in a good broadcloth jacket, with
• new white muslin turban, and a waistcoat of that
peculiar patterned silk stuff which was the ape.
ciality of Asir-el-Kroner in the way of fabrics. In
every town and every hamlet it appears to be high
holiday with the inhabitants, for, owing to the ease
with which their past plunder enables them to live,
no work whatever is slime, but all classes seen' to
be taking their ease, or kief. In they village of
Abeigh, where I remained two nights with the
American missionary, Mr. Calhoun, several
sheiks of the Abou-Neked and Manaduu family
visited me, and I returned their call. It is be-
lieved that of these Abeigh sheiks nearly all will
come out with clean hands, so far as the massacres
of Deir-el-Kainar are concerned. Throughout
the whole of the disturbances they have done their
very beat to keep their village and the district over
which they rule quiet, and have in a great measure
suoceeded ; so much so, that none of the property
of the Christian peasants has beau touched, and the
American missionary as well as the Italian Capu-
chin missionary has resided in perfect tranquillity
throughout the summer. But one and all of the
Druses—aheika and peasiuns--are, as well they
may he, in a very great fright for the future. They
feel that, with few exceptions, they have called down
upon themselves the vengeance of the Christian
powers, and bitterly. openly, regret the madness
which made them Join hands with the Turks for
the extermination of the Christians. Nor do they
mince matters when they speak of the Ottoman
Government, which—as they now begin to see—has
first made use of them, and now wants to turn
them adrift. They say that if called upon to give
testimony before an honest commission, they .will
give such evidence and such proof as will yet open
the eyes of all Europe. But they make two stipu-
lations : first, that no Turkish official should he a
member of the conimissien ; and secondly, that at
least one Englishman have a voice and vote in
its proceedings. Strange to say, the Druse chief
who appears certainly the most implicated at all
those on the mountain in these fearful massacres, is
or appear's to be, a certain Sheik Syad ley
Djonblat, of Mooktara, the wealthiest landowner
in all Syria, and one who made a great profession
of being a friend of Englishmen. During the time
of the Egyptian government the father of this chief
was exiled, and he himself made to serve as a
common soldier in the Egyptian army. It was by
English influence alone that he was brought back
to Lebanon and restored to his heritage. If this
man did not join, it is certain his immense
influence could have prevented the fearful row-
sauna which have lately taken place iu and around
Lebanon. But 1 fear he is deeply in the
dirt. One of his kayiaha, or deputy-governors,
was the presiding genius at the massacre of
Deir-el-Kamar, a fiend in human shape called
Ali Boy Bainsitee, a scoundrel who fought well and
gained his title of Bey at liars. Whilst another of
Syad Bey's deputies, called 0111111/111 Yeeeph, plun-
dered and burnt the very wealthy convent of Deir
Mohalis, besides conducting the massacre at Sidon.
Both these men are up to their very china in mur-
der and plunder, yet their superior, Syad Bey
Djoublat, is trying hard to make the world here
believe that he, without whose orders neither of
these men would have dared to move a
baud, is perfectly innocent. The Druses have a
wouderful way of putting thenuselves in the right.
In makling the worse appear the better reason they
far exceed all the Orieutals 1 have ever known.
But Syad Bey's attempt to impose upon the public
here is about the sassiest piece of acting it has ever
been my lot to meet with.
Lord Dufferin, the English commisaioner, arrived
here on Sunday last, and left the next day for
Damascus, a piece of energy which astonishes not a
little both Turks said Syrians, whose idea of a great
man is one who never does to-day what he can pet
off till to-morrow. The sooner the oonunission
00112131.1110011 its sittings the better it will be for all
persona concerned, and the more easy will it be to
tlx upon the guilty parties both amongst the
Drupes and others. The Austrian commissioner is
already here, the consul-general of that power in
Syria leis g named for tho situation, but none of
the others have as yet put in an appearance.