The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-02 00:00:00

STATE OF SYRIA.

An occasional correspondent, writing from
Damascus on the Bth (long before the incident
mentioned in one of the telegrams which we pub-
lish) gives the following details

" After an absence of more than a year, on returning to
the two provinces of Beyrout and Damascus, I have much
to say as to the changes which have taken place during
that time. In the province of Beyrout all is for the better,
peace is everywhere secure, and wealth everywhere increas-
ing. The presence of Cabouli EffLndi has doubtless much
to do with this, but it is incontestible that no governor, in
this or any other province, has done so much for the public
good as Kibrisli Ahmet Pasha has done since he has teen
here. In every portion of the province his energetic and
well-directed eff as have produced ameliorations, but in the
eyes of the Arabs he has done tor Beyrout what Napoleon
111. has done for Paris. Instead of leaving felons to rot in
gaol he has sent gangs of thorn to work in every direction
in opening up roads, breaking stones, and macadamizing, and
one can now go and see his friends, to or from his place of
business, on thoroughfares inferior to none of the best kept
European cities. The police of the province has, ever
since his arrival, been regularly paid, and is now being or-
ganized on the regular system of gendarmerie, Much also
might be said about the changes in the Mountain. Daoud
Pasha has seen much of Europe; he desired to do all ho
could for the amelioration of the province which was en-
trusted to him, and he established a good government where
none previously existod—for the system which formerly
prevailed under the Druse and Christian Beys and Sheiks
could not be called a government. I arrived at Damascus,
passing through the sublime gorge of the Barada, over the
level carriage road which the French company has made.
The site of the present road was once impassable even on
foot. The river, now confined to one side, formerly rush-
ing over rocks, under piers, and bush and overhanging
trees; it has, however, lost none of its beauty, and above
and below where the rocks close in before the ravine opens
into the plain of Damascus, the road passes through orchard
groves and gardens, as well laid out and kept as those of
Lombardy. The road then passes through the green prairie
of the Merje, until it brings you to the broken pavements
and mud walls of the Damascus streets. One cannot help
thinking whether if Ahmet Pacha was vali of Damascus the
streets could not be better kept, and this brings us to thick
of the state of the province of which this is the capital.
Perhaps if Ahmet Pacha were here, he would have as
little time to thing about road-making as the present vali
apparently has ; for, from all I can learn, the time of all
the administrators here is occupied incessantly in finding
an expedient to get over some monetary crisis or another;
at one moment it is the Hadjis, at another a move-
ment of troops, at all times an inadequacy of means to
meet the expenses of Government. Why our province
should be left without the means of paying its police,
while another has a surplus, I cannot say. However, in
other respects the state of the province is better. The
Druse refugees from the Haraoun no longer come to levy
tribute in Cocto Syria as they did last year, and the whole
of the winter these Arabs have scarcely made a successful
raid. This is due in part to the effect produced by the
operations of the army in the Haraoun this last summer,
and in part and chiefly to the efficiency of the gendarmerie
which has been recently organised in this pr. vince, This
force is formed into two regiments, one mobile, and one
local, or ordinary police, the entire consisting of 18 squa-
drons of cavalry and four companies of infantry. The
moveable gendarmerie rendered great service this year in
the Haraoun—the entire of one squadron has received
medals for the part which it took in the battle in which
Beg was killed. This affair was, so it has been described
to me, one of those affairs which continually take place
along the Desert, but on a scale so magnificent as to be
called a battle. When a caravan travelling on the border
of the Desert, sees a gazer of hostile Arabs approaching,
the leader of the file of camels begins to describe a large
circle, which is gradually curved until the string of
camels are coiled up into a mass, in the centre of,which,
six or eight musketeers will, after the camels have
been made to lie down and their legs are bound, bid defiance
to a hundred Arabs. The latter having but their lances
and swords, it requires pluck and ensemble such as they
seldom possess, to rush upon and dismount and pass on foot
the living barrier which surrounds the defenders of the
caravan. The writer of this letter once found himself in
this position, when, however, two Arabs dismounted, ran
and threw themselves under the bulwark of camels, and cut-
ting the strings of seven of them carried them off with their
loads, However in the affair of which I am treating, 75
infantry, 60 of the regular cavalry and 85 gendarmes, form-
ing the escort of provisions for a detachment posted at
Mezza, seeing a cloud of Arab and Druse hersemen ap-
proaching, the infantry availed themselves of a patch of
rocky ground, and the gendarmes—entirely consisting of
Kurds--resorted to the tactics of the desert and surrounded
themselves with the camels, taking up a position, so that
their fire aided in the defence of the position of the infantry
and helped to cover the regular cavalry. In this way during
several hours they witestood the attacks of nearly 2,000
Druse infantry, some of the Bedouin tribe Waidesto, and
the flower of the Druse horsemen, refugees from Lebanon.
The latter had already found out during more than one en-
counter that the Kurds and Algerians composing the mov-
able gendarmerie do not give why quite so easily as the Chris-
tians upon whom they were accustomed to rush sword in hand,
and disperse with facility, and on this occasion as the Druses
were endeavouring to carry away their dead, the Kurds,
undaunted and raising their lances above their heads, rushed
upon and dispersed them, as they would have done the Ma-
ronites. As to the Bedouins, finding at the beginning of the
affair that the rifles:and conical balls of the Zouaves created
an unexpected danger for their mares, they became at once
mere spectators from a distance. On this occasion Hattar
Bey, the author of the massacre of Hasbeya, was killed.
Every man of the Nizam and gendarmerie engaged in this
affair received a medal and one lire gratuity, and the officers
a month's pay.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

_._,~.._

NEWARK—WEDNESDAY.
A moderate quantity of wheat offered to-day, and fine
sorts unchanged ; inferior is per qr lower. Barley was
scarce, and on the decline. Oats in favour of the buyer,
and beans same as last week.
White wheat new, 50s to 54s ' Barley, grinding.. 29s to 32s
Red do. 47s to 50s Oats, old, .. 27s o 303
Old white s9s to 62s New do 22s to 24s
Red do s3s to 57s ( Beans. 43s to 46s
Barley, malting 38s to 42s LBeans, new 34s to 38s

Peas, to 335.

HULL-TUESDAY.

A small supply of English wheat to-day, which met a
slow sale, at about last week's currency. Foreign quite
neglected. Beans steady. Barley of really choice quality
was not quotably lower, but secondary sorts Is cheaper.
Oats dull, and peas declined ls.
Wheat.... Old white per qr. sos Od to 52s Od
Old red
New white .. ~
New red .... „
Barley.... English malting 32s Od to 38s Od
Grinding 27s 6d to 29s Od
Saal and Oderbruck
Holstein and Danish 2Bs Od to 29s Od
Grinding
Oats English, old 26s Od to 28s Od
Archangel and Riga, per st osl2/d to 13d
Friesland and Dutch oBl3d to oal3id
Swedish and Danish 04.2W to osld
Beans ....English, old, per qr. 4ss Od to 46s Od
New pigeon 42s Od to 44s Cd
New tick. 4os Od to 42s Od
Egyptian .......... 33s Od to 34s Od
Peas Foreign boilers .. ........... 36s Od t.. 38, Od
Grinding .......... —s Od tc 3bs Od
Tares ....Spring
—s Od to —s Od
Indian Corn
33s Od to 34s Od
Linseed, feeding s2s Od to 56s Od
crushing
••
Linseed cakes (Hull)
Foreign Bl5 oto 9 0 0
Rape cakes 6 5 oto 610 0
Bones

LYNN-TUESDAY.

A good attendance of growers to-day, and an average
show of wheat. A slow demand at a reduction of is per
qr.
White ..50s to 52s I Barley. .....37s to 40s
RA .. 44s to 47s Grinding ..32s to 33s
I
Beans .3Bs to 42s Oats.. .22s to 24s
New 36s to 38s I Peas —s to —s