The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-15 00:00:00

THE MASSACRE AT JEDDAH.

SUEZ, JULY 6.
Her Majesty's steamer Cyclops arrived here from
Jeddah on the 3d iust., bringing the remnants of
the Christian population of that port, where an out-
break had taken place, costing the lives of the
British acting vice consul, the French consul and
his wife, and that of the three brothers Sawa, of the
Greek firm of Toma Sawa; these were the leading
members of the Christian community at Jeddah,
which it appears consisted of not more than from 40
to 50 souls, of whom 22 were murdered. The official
reports of the captain of the Cyclops were forwarded
express to her Britannic Majesty's consul general at
Alexandria, the accounts of the affair, as they have
obtained currency at Suez, being but little to be
depended upon, By these, however, it would appear
that a question having arisen concerning the na-
tionality of a certain merchant vessel, the owner-
ship of which was disputed by two Anglo-Indian
merchants, the one professing to become a subject
of the Sublime Porte in consequence of the case
having been decided against him by British con-
sular authority, and, therefore, wishing to cause
the Turkish flag to be hoisted, obtained from the
local authorities permission to haul down the Bri-
tish ensign and hoist the Crescent, and did so,
notwithstanding the protestations of the owner, in
whose favour the case had been decided by a meet-
ing of merchants presided at by the English con-
sular authority. Mr. Acting Vice-Consul Page
was absent at the time ; but on his return to Jeddah
in the Cyclops, he was applied to by the rightful
owner of the vessel, and with his sanction the
Turkish colours were hauled down, and the British
ensign again hoisted by order of the captain of the
Cyclops. As, however, it would appear the Turk-
ish flag had been I oisted with the approval of the
local authority, whether rightfully or not, the na
tive merchants, or Hadramooths, attended on the
Kaimakan, governor of Jeddah, protesting against
so summary a mode of setting his authority at de-
fiance,-and calling upon him not to submit to such
treatment in the land of the Prophet. The Kai-
makan, being rather perplexed, is reported to have
said, " Why make so much fuss about a flag ; are
there not flag-staffs enough in the place to pull down?"
or words to that effect, whereupon the match was
lighted, and the flagstaffs were iminediatelyattacked,
in doing which, however, the mob became infu-
riated, and proceeded to acts of violence, entering
the houses of the French and the English consuls,
burning and destroying everything they could lay
their hands on, and murdering the inmates. The
Pasha of the Hedjas was at the time at Mecca ; he
was sent for in all baste, but did not arrive for four
days, although he could have performed the jour-
ney in 48 hours. On his arrival he communicated
with the captain of the Cyclops, who demanded that
all the Christians in the place should be sent on
board his vessel. Those remaining, some 20 in
number, were endeavouring to hide themselves,
and were exposed to the (neatest privations and
distress until removed to the Cyclops.

The houses of both consuls are said to have been
pillaged and destroyed, and the cry was that not a
Christian should be permitted to remain in the
holy land of the Prophet.

ALEXANDRIA, JULY 6.
An officer of the Cyclopß, arrived last night from
Suez, brings the following news :
" On the night of the 7th June some Christians
swam on board, bringing the intelligence that the
Mahommedans of the town, in the absence of
Namic Pacha (who had gone to Mecca with nearly
all his troops) had begun massacring the Christian
population. At daylight the Cyclops sent in her
armed boats. As they approached the beach soma
Turkish soldiers wattled them off, saying that the
town was in a state of revolt, and that the forces
were too small to give them any protection. The
boats, however, still approached, and when they
reached the shore were surrounded by a mob of
some 200 to 300 men, unarmed, who atttempted to
drag them out of the boats ; our sailors, however,
were armed, and managed to keep off the mob, killing
two and wounding severe), when in the meanwhile
they received a message from the Lieutenant-Go-
vernor that the English consul and all his family
bad been murdered the previous evening at eight
o'clock: The French consul and his family were
attacked at nine o'clock, the consul and his wife
killed, and his daughter severely wounded by a
sabre cut down her face whilst defending her father,
whose murderer she succeeded in killing. The
Lieutenant-Governor begged the English would not
land or the on the town, as he had the unfortunate
young lady and upwards of tweivy other Christians
nt his Louse, and only eight sohliers to defend
them, but requested them to wait until the Pacha's
return. This curse they adopted.
"On tho Paella's return the remaining Christians
were sent on board the Cyclops, 24 in number, in-
cluding the French lady.
" Twenty-two Christiana were said to be mas-
sacred. The Pacha says be has arrested 30i) of the
townspeople on suspicion. An Indian sheik, from
Delhi, is said to have instigated the massacre.

"As soon as the Christians were safe on board
the Cyclops, I lauded a party of men, marched
through the town, and hoisted the English and
French flags under a salute of 21 guns.
"The English consul is said to nave been hewn
in pieces and strewed about the streets."
ALEXANDRIA, JULY 6.
Befor© the present letter can reach England the
tel-graph will already have placed you iu posses-
sion of the leading facts connected with the recent
outbreak at Jeddah, where Mahomedau fana-
ticism, has enacted another tragedy, and has given
the world a fresh ins4.ance of its cowardice and
treachery.
Her Majesty's steamer Cyclops, lately sent to
the Red Sea by the British Government for the
purpose of taking a series of deep water soundings,
had been lying for about a weekin the harbour of
Jeddah, whither she had conveyed, as passengers
from Suez, the English acting consul and
his French colleague. Nothing whatever
had occurred to show that the people of the
place were animated with any. extraordinary
sentiment of hostility towards the Christian inha-
bitants. The officers of the steamer had made ex-
cursions in the vicinity of the town, and never once
met with the slightest molestation or insult, and
even on the very evening of the outbreak several
had been walking about in the bazaars until near
sunset without tne least apparent symptom of the
storm: This was on the 15th ult. In the evening
a few persona—Greek residents in the town—came
swimmiug off to the ship, and stated that disturb-
ances had arisen, and that they feared a conspiracy
had been entered into against the Caristian inha-
bitants. Everything, however, continued in ap-
pearance perfectly quiet ; not a shot nor a cry was
heard, though the savage work had even then al-
ready commenced, but the assassins had taken
the precaution to use cold steel alone. The Eng-
lish Consulate was the first point of attack, and
Mr. Page, the acting Consul, must have fallen
under the blows of a crowd of ruffians, who fol-
lowed up the murder by sacking the house and
tearing down the flag.. The unfortunate man's
body is said to have been found literally hacked to
pieces:
_ _

- Maddened with excitement the mob appears next
to have poured down upon the house of the French
Consul, M. Eveillard. Here, however, the Kai-
inakan, or governor of the town, made some feeble
attempt to interpose ; the force at his disposal
amounted to only 80 men, and, whatever efforts
they may have used, they did not succeed in saving
the life of either the Consul or of this wife. Both
were Murdered, and their daughter alone—a young
lady who, though under 20 years of age, appears to
have possessed the spirit of a heroine—was rescued
from the hands of the assassins, and covered with
an Arab cloak she was carried to the house of the
Ktimakan. Her face was laid open 'with a gash
frorn a sabre cut across the cheek, but before being
dragged forth she had avenged the murder of her
father by the death of the assassin.
Early on the following morning Cap'ain Pullen,
still ignorant of what had occurred, sent two boats
ashore. When they neared the inner reefs Turkish
soldiers were observed warning them off ; they con-
tinued, however, to advance untii they found
themselves surrounded by a crowd of about 609
men, who, from the out-jutting reefs, poured a
shower of stones upon the boats. The crews were
fortunately armed and soon forced their way back
to the ship, not, however, without having been
corepePed to pour a volley of musketry into their
& Milan t 8.

An interval of five dAya now elapsed until th©
arrival from Mecca of Narvik Pasha, the Gover-
nor of the Hedjaz, with a body of about 800 Tur-
kish troops.
The crew of the steamer entreated their officers
to be allowed to take vengeance upon the city, if
not by hying the place in ashe., at least by being
permitted t,) land, even though at the risk of find-
jug themselves, at most 200 m n, opposed to a
population of 40,000; but the K3imakan sent re-
peated messages beseeching Captain Pullen t o de-
sist from all interference, warning him that his own
house was surrounded by infutiated fanatics cla-
mouring-for the surrender of the Christians who
they knew had obtained refuge in the house, and
declaring that were a single gun fired, or one armed
man' lauded from the ship, not only the lives of the
refugees, but also his own, would to a certainty be
sacrificed. This officer can doubtless not have
yielded without a struggle, and no other argument
would probably have saved the city from its well-
merited doom. Even though it be granted that
only a portion of the inhabitants were witually en-
gaged in this massacre, none had a claim for pity
where all had stood calmly by, without stretching
forth a finger to protect a handful of inoffelpive