The Express.
London, England, 1860-09-28 00:00:00

ENGLAND AND SARDINIA.

The Cologne Gaulle publishes the text of a note,
addressed under date of 31st August, by Lord John
Russell to Sir James Hu(Lson, the British Minister
at Turin. The Secretary for Foreign Affairs ex-
the fear that the attacks against the Roman
State: and
t:and the kingdom of Naples may lead to an
attack upon the possessions of Austria iu Venetia.
If (says the despatch) the King of Piedmont was
at liberty not to accept the preliminaries of Villa-
franca and the treaty of Zurich, now that he has
pledged his royal word he is no longer at liberty to
attack a nation with which he has promised to live
in passe and friendship. Should such a fact occur,
Italy would again be exposed to all the chances of
uncertainty.

SYRIA.

(nom out OW"

BEYROUT, SEPT. 14.
In my last I gave you an account of the execu-
tion at Damascus, by order of Fuad Paella and by
sentence of a court-martial, of the former governor-
general of that town, Achmet Pacha, as well as of
three other military offenders of high rank. It
now tunas out that the execution was perfectly
private in the court-yard of the barracks, and the
natural consequences of so ill-advised a measure are
that it is broadly asserted Achmet Pacha was never
shot at all, but that some wretched creature already
condemned to death was made to take his place,
whilst he may be now on his way overland to
Constantinople, to Mesas, or in the very
steamer which will take this letter to Europe.
Of course these reports are so utterly
improbable that they are not worth listening
to, but still you know what power in all countries
" they say" has, and how many people who dis-
believe all other authority in the world will put all
their faith and trust in " what everybody says."
Wit Achmet Pacha was really shot in the barrack-
square at Damascus on Saturday, the Bth instant,
I have no doubt iu the world, but Fund Pasha did
a very unwise thing in not requesting some person
from each • European consulate to be present, iu
order to have the actual execution verified. As it
is, the Moslems taunt the Christians by saying that
after all has been said and done, the European
powers have beeu fooled, and that Achmet Pacha
still lives ; a great number of the native Christians
repeat the assertion, because it tells against the
Turkisk government, and many of the French or
Russian partisans believe it, because they will be-
lieve evil rather than good respecting all that the
Porte may say, or do, or think, or wish, or plan. I
know, however, that the body wax seen by his
former servant (an European now in the ser-
vice of the Russian consul at Damascus)
imme-
diately after the execution, and a Christian
government employi who was present at the cere-
mony told nie he had no doubt but that it was
Achmet Pacha himself who was shot. However,
so far as example goes, or ass means of showing that
the government are in earnest in the matter of
punishing all offenders in Syria, they might just as
well have thrown Achmet into the Btaphorus
without any trial at all, instead of mending him all
the way from Constantinople here, and then to
Damascus, where he was to be executed at the
some of his misdeeds. There is indeed too much
reason to believe that neither Achmet Pacha of
Damascus nor goorchid Packs of Beyrout acted
throughout the late events without orders, and
that these orders came from parsons of high rank
at Constantiuople. All these iniquities will, how-
ever, be one day revealed.
The mortality amongst the Christian refugees in
Beynad, and those living in the open air more
particularly, is very great indeed, and is daily in-
creasing.
The French authorities here are annoyed at
the inaction of their troops, but throw the blame
on the Turks, and on the powers who support
Turkey.
The last received number of au Arabic newspaper,
published in Paris, has some very curious views re-
specting the future government of Syria, which are
supposed t, he "inspired by imperialism," but I
must put off my notice of them until my next
letter.