The Sun.
London, England, 1861-03-30 00:00:00

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS IN THE
LEBANON:

The Illoniteur publishes the following letter from the
Roman Catholic Bishops of the Lebanon to the Interna-
tional Commission in Syria, in reply to certain accusations
brought against them in the British Parliament :
" Beyrout, March 15.
"It was with affliction and grief that we read, in the
Independence Beige of the 11th of February, the article of
which a copy is hereto annexed. If this article, based on
declarations made in the House of Commons by Lord John
Russell, in the sitting of the Bth of February, concerned
only ourselves, we should not have taken the trouble of re-
futing it; but it concerns the Christian populations, whom
it is attempted to represent as unworthy of the sympathies
which their calamities have procured them on the part of
the Sultan's Government and ofthegreatEuropean Powers
who have so generously hastened to their relief. It is there-
fore a bounden duty for us to re-establish the facts, and we
are encouraged in so doing by the conviction that we shall
not appeal in vain to the reminiscences of his Excellency
Fuad Pasha, to the good faith of Lord Dufferin, whose
thought must have been imperfectly interpreted, and to the
sentiments of justice of the representatives of the European
Powers.

" When his Excellency Fuad Pasha was about to under-
take the repression of the Muses he called around him six
Christian bishops and requested them to name such of tho
more notable Christians, conscientious men and well ac-
quainted with passing events, as might be able to give him
information respecting the guilty parties. The bishops re-
plied that the functions with which they were invested for-
bade them taking any part in a question which belonged
exclusively to the judicial authorities. Fuad Pasha ad-
mitted the justice of that observation, and explained that
he did not wish them to act in a judicial capacity, but
simply to give him the names of persons on whose in-
formation he could depend. The bishops then gave the
names of 16 most respectable Christians, all laymen, who
were charged by his Excellency to supply the information
he wanted, and who all engaged on oath to say nothing but
the truth. Some days after these notables- handed to his
Excellency a list containing the names of 4,600 Druses,
Mussulmans, and Mutualis, living in the Lebanon, the Anti-
Lebanon, and the Hauran, and chosen from among 30,000
combatants, and not from among only 8,000 Druses, as it is
pretended, at the same time indicating the nature of the
crimes imputed to each of the persons included in the list.

" His Excellency again summoned the bishops to his pre-
sence to inform them that ho well knew all the Druses to be
guilty, but that the number given was too great, and that
it was necessary to select only the most guilty. The bishops
replied that they had no knowledge either of the list or the
persons mentioned in it, and that, owing to their character,
it did not become them to take any part in the affair. But
the 16 Christian notables, when again consulted by Futul
Pasha, replied that the list they had drawn up by his orders
was only intended as information to enlighten justice, and
that neither they nor the Christian population would think
of demanding that the repression should affect so great a
number of victims. However, at the demand of his Excel-
lency, they then reduced the list to 1,200 of those .most
compromised, leaving the judicial authorities to ascertain
their guilt, and the Government to fix the extent and num-
ber of the punishments.

" The bishops have therefore had nothing to do with the
repression, and the notables only undertook to supply his
Excellency with the information he needed for his guidance.
s for the document mentioned in the House of Commons,
the undersigned bishops declare that they never signed any
such paper, and that it would be utterly impossible to pro-
duce anything of the kind.
" Such are the facts. In recalling them to the memory
of the Commission, the undersigned bishops venture to re-
quest its members, in the name of the Christians against
whom this strange calumny has bean raised, in order to
deprive them of the sympathy of civilised nations, to com-
municate this declaration to their respective Governments,
and to publish it, so that the interest of which the Syrians
are the object may not be diminished by the thought that
they have shown themselves unworthy of it.

Toßus Aoinv, Bishop of Beyrout.
" BOUTHROS BOSTANY, Bishop of St. Jean d'Acre.
" BASIL CIIAIHAT, Bishop, of Zahleh and Belka.
MALaruios, Bishop of Baalbeck and dependencies.