The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-20 00:00:00

"MR. GRAHAM TO LORD DUFFERIN.
"Beyrout, July 18.
"Although many and various accounts have no doubt
appeared in the public press of the horrors which have been
committed within the last two months in Syria, and I have
sent you, from the beginning, constant reports of the pro-
gress of the war,' yet it will no doubt be interesting to you,
and to English people in general, to have a connected sketch
of the whole of this sad affair, from the commencement of
hostilities up to the present moment. Having been in the
country during the whole of the war, and having seen per-
haps, more of its horrors than any other European, and,
moreover, having had no other employment than that of
seeking after accurate information with regard to affairs, I
may feel some confidence in the accuracy of the account I
send you; and harrassing and painful as the details will
appear, nevertheless they are but too true.
" It is to be remembered that in the summer of last year
a skirmish took place at the village of Beit Mizi, two hours
and a-half from Beyrout, one Sunday afternoon. Several
persons were killed on both sides, but happily the affair had
no further consequences at that time. However, the bad
feeling which had subsisted previously to that time between
the Maronites and the Druses was in nowise improved by
two parties of them having fought it out ; and although a
perfect reconciliation was proclaimed, yet it was generally
feared that in the present year, 1860, hostilities would be
renewed, unless the Government took measures to prevent
bloodshed.
" The Druses were the first aggressors for early in May a
monk was found mut dered in a convent, half-way between
Beyrout and Deir-el-Kararear ; and although the actual
murderers were never identified, there was not the slightest
doubt that they were DIUSC4, for no Christian would ever
dare to touch a priest. The Christians then retaliated,
and killed the first Druse they found. Then two Christians
were killed by the Druses by the Damoer river, between
this and Sidon, and their relatives in return killed two
Druses, according to the law of blood-feud among all those
nations.
"At this time, had the Government used the slightest
exertions, they might have prevented this feud then spread-
ing.. I was with Said Bek Jumbled, the great chief of the
Druses at Moktarah, not far from Bleddin, the old palace of
the Emir Beshir, when things bad arrived at this stage, and
I urged him to do all in his power to stop further blood-
shed.
" On the 28th of May the war broke out in all its fury.
In the evening of that day 32 villages were seen burning
from Beyrout, and some of the most flourishing places in
Lebanon on the morning of the 29th were uninhabited and
in Luba&
The Druses even advanced to within 40 minutes' march
of Beyrout, and, in the face of the Pasha and all his camp
(for he had pretended to go out with his army in order to
stop the war), burnt, and plundered, and slaughtered peo-
ple in the rich village of Hadad, the residence of a house
of the Emirs. In this instance it is said (and there is every
reason to believe the report to be true) that the Turkish
soldiers fired upon the flying Christians.

" On the 29th of May also Hasbeya, a large town under
Mount Hermon, was first attacked by the Drusos; a Mos-
lem Emir of the family of the Shehab lived there, who had
for a long time been a great annoyance to the Pashas of
Damascus, his authority being very great there. Last year
Ahmed Pasha, Governor of Damascus, sent a detachment of
troops to occupy the towns under Hermon, and he had lately
sent a strong reinforcement under the command of 0 thman
Bek, whose name will ever be mentioned with abhorrence
by Christians. This man, on the day of the attack on Has-
beya, told the Christians that he had been sent to protect
them from the Druses, but that they must lay down their
arms, otherwise they would incur the displeasure of the
Government. They accordingly obeyed, believing that he
would keep his word. For `greater security' he invited
them all into the Serai Palace,used as a barrack, and the
men with the women and children crowded into this build-
ing. The arms they had delivered up were then put on the
backs of mules, and sent off with an escort professedly to
Damascus, but with BO small a one that it would be mockery
to call it an escort. Before the mules were well out of the
valley of Hasbeya, tke Druses (as had been intended) fell
upon them, the soldiers made no resistance, and all the
arms fell into the hands of the Druses.
"The Christians meanwhile, penned up in the Serai,
with hardly any food and water, were now in a state of great
suffering.
"On the sth of June they began to feel great alarm, for
they saw the harem of the Governor preparing to depart.
To the questions of the Christians as to the cause of this
movement only evasive answers were given.
"On the 6th many of the soldiers were seen leaving.;
then the unfortunate people, when it was too late, saw
clearly how treacherously, they had been deceived. They
rushed into the outer court and entreatedto be let out. The
signal was then given, the gates thrown open, and in rushed
the Druses, armed with any weapon they could seize, and
then commenced an indiscriminate slaughter of all the
males. Some, indeed, made their way through the door to
the outer gate, only to be seized by the Turkish soldiery;
nor were these passive only in the transaction. Many
Christians whom I b ave examined have sworn to me that
they saw the soldiers themselves taking Pert in the slaugh-
ter,c and the subsequent behaviour of these brutal troops o
the women was savage in the extreme. Prom the wounds
I have seen, both on the living and the dead, it .would ap-
pear that they went to work with the most systematic
cruelty ; 10, 12, and 14 deep cuts on the body of one
person
is not unfrequentS some of the wounds show that they were
made with blunt instruments. In short, everything was
used which came to hand, and, according to the nature of
the weapon, hands and limbs were cut off, es brains dashed
out, or bodies mangled.
" Of all the men in the Serai some 40 or 50 only escaped ;
many of these had been severely wounded and left for dead,
while some few hid themselves among the dead bodies and
made their escape by night. Some of these reached Beyrout,
their clothes literally saturated with blood from the bodies
under which they had lain.
" Women the Druses did not slaughter/ nor, for the most
part, I believe, illuse ' • that was left for Tlrks and Moslems
to do, and they did it.
" Littleboys of four and five years old were not safe ; these
would be seized from the mother and dusted on the ground,
or torn to pieces before her face ; or,
sL
if I,
er grasp was too
tight, they would kill it on her lap ; and, in some cases,
to
save further trouble, mother and child were cut down toge-
ther. Many women have assured me that
the Turkish sol-
diers have taken their children one leg in each hand and
torn them in two.
" So when the sun set on the 6th of Jsne scarcely
a male
was left• of the large and prosperous population under Her-
mon ; for on that same day, and nearly under similar cir-
cumstances, the Christians of Hasbeya
Were massacred.
" In the whole was there has been, persaps,
exception to the barbarity which has n but oiie bright
s "laded these whole-
sale murders.
" The sister of the great Druse chief,b ere') the massacre
began, advised the Christians not to go to the Serai. She
most probably knew what awaited there, and offered to shel-
ter any who came into her house. Unfortunately
number mistrusted her, but 400 creatures the greater
crowded into her
house, and when the murderers, panting so
de-
mended of her to give up the dogs of r more blood ,
Christians, she said,
' Enter if you dare and take them 1'
Rv
- • en in such a moment
the Druses would not have dared to violate the sanctity of
the harem of one of their great Princes, and with muttered
curses retired. The poor creatures as
se carefully escorted
herself to Mohktarah, whence they were despatched to Sidon,
and brought off by our men-of-war and landed at Beyrout.
" The Emir Shehad, whom I before mentioned, and
almost Lill his house, were killed, and they s s
other instance had the Druses dared y moslems. In no
to touch even the
poorest Moslems ; but these men—
teen of high rank and
Damascus standing—were enemies of the Pasha of
s person-
ally, and so they were sacrificed/—not/ it will be be
without the deputy of the Pasha havin
lieved,
fled his approbation. 6 beforehand signi-
" If we had no other evidence than
this we should have
enough to prove to us how guilty the
officers of the Porte
have been. While the unfortunate creatures who had taken
refuge in the Serai at Hasbeya wore a
uffering from hunger
and thirst, the people of Sidon who for 8 Male days previOileY
had been in a state of constant alarm/ Were attacked on the
Ist of June by the Bashi-Bazouks and other Moslems. For
several days the slaughter continued, No Christian out-
side the town was in safety, If a man or a male child, he
was cut down; if a woman, she was sure to be brutally M-
used.
" This encouraged the Druses greatly, Ybess, who said, ' After
all, the Moslems understand the workthen broke into and plundered amo "The Druses
Limiters
Sidon did not
above Sidon,
killing 16 monks, and yet the Governer
of
even tempt to interfere, although/ Sidon being a walled
'
town, he had only to close the gates and prevent any armed
Druse from entering. The Bashi-B a'4ouks escaped also with
impunity.
" I should have mentioned before that a great number of
b refussees from the villages in the mountains which had been
burnt in the first attack of the 28th of may, who were
escaping to Beyrout, and were, indeed within three hours'
walk of their goal, were fallen upon by Druses or irregular
troops, and cut to pieces. This happened
31st of May.
" On the 3d of June the first on the 30th or
great attack was made on
Deirsel-Kammar, the ancient capitalof she
Lebanon, contains
ing a population of about 7,000. The very
morning of that
day the American missionary, Mr. Bird/ ad been entreated
by the natives of two of the neighbouring villages
their relief and bring them to Deir-el-
-anamar,-es to go to
where they
lc
believed they would be in greater security, " He imme-
diately called on the Mutsellim, commander of the troops,
and asked for an escort, which, with Home
difficulty, w
given to him. He had not been gone above an hour and
as
a-half before the Druses suddenly carne down upon the
town, crying their war-cry. A tremendous fire was kept up
till night ; many of the Christians were
killecl, and on this
occasion, it is said, from
70 to 80 Druses, for the Christians
defended themselves well.
" On the following day, however, when the Druses again
appeared (they had retired after it became dark), the Chris-
tians wished to solicit peace, and Mr. Bird/ who early in the
morning of the 4th had succeeded in reentering the town,
went to the Druse chiefs as the envoy of the people. Peace,
indeed, was granted, but the Druses made their own terms.
They immediately entered the town, and for three days con-
tinuously were plundering and carrying g, off everything
they could move ; while within a stone's throw of the town
no Christian was safe, and many wanton murders were
committed. One poor old man who could scarcely crawl so
far had led his cow to the for green pasture,
and two Druses immediately pounced' upon him and cut
him down. Why the rest of the inhabitants at that moment
were spared at all I know not.
o The next great scheme was to surprise and take Zelab.
The usual population of this place is about 10,000; at that
moment (early in June) there were said to be double that
number, so many of the inhabitants of the villages round
about having sought refuge there. At the first report of
the success of the Drusos a large body of their brethren
came up from the Hauran, under the command of the war-
like and savage chief, Ismail-el-Atrash. These fellows cane
up simply from a wish for plunder, and brought with them
numbers of Arabs of the small nomadic tribes, who en-
camped about the Hauran. They all marched up the Bekaa,
as the great plain of Coslesyria, between the chains of
Lebanon and Antilebanon, is called, and halted near the
ravine which leads up to Zahloh. There they were joined by
all kinds of rabble—Kurds from Damascus and Horns, ana