Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1860-08-23
Syria..The Massacre at Damascus.

BEIRUT, July 15.-On the 18th instant, I for
warded you, via Smyrna, a telegraphic despatch,
giving an outline Of the fearful tragedy which
has Just been witnessed, and which, when the
last accounts left the place, was by no means in-
ished, at Damascus. Since then, further de-
tails of this outrage have reached Beirut from
various authentic sources.
Damascus is the real capital of Syria, and is
the largest city of Asiatic Turkey. 1t is consid-
cred by all Moslems o holy town, as from it de-
nparts and to it arrives every year the hal, or pill
grim caravan, to and from Mecca. The popula-
ton Of Damascus exceeds $50, 1000, Of which
100, 900 are Moslems, $4,000 Christians, and
6 5000 Jews. Ever since the murder of the Chris
tians by the Druscs in Lebanon commenced, and
more particularly since it became every day
more and more evident to all men that the Turk
ish Government showed partially to the Druses,
the more disreputable Moselems of Damascus
begun to be exceedingly ~insolent to the Chris
tians. These low Moslems are a numerous, O
very troublesome, and an exceedingly blgoted
race in all large Oriental towns, and are ten-fold
more in Damascus than any place know In ASIA.
Hearing how the Government had everywhere
not only sided against their co-religionists, but
how it had everywhere in Lebanon actually help
ed to betray, if not really to murder them, the
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down hearted, and frightened, as we'll they
might be, when threatened from day to day, that
the Moslems would rise and e%xterminate them.
Matters got worse, the one party becoming daily
more frightened, the other hourly more i%nsolent,
until at last, on Sunday, the 9th instant, when
the Christians came out of their various church
es, o mob of Moslem lads were busy in the
streets making crosses in chalk on the ground,
and then stamping and splitting on the sacred
emblem. But so utterly down-hearted were the
Christians, that they did not even complain to
the authorities of this wanton insult. On the
contrary, oil they did was to confne themselves
still more strictly within their homes for the rest
of the day. What must, then, have been their
establishment, on the Monday morning, to see
these same lads who had made and spat upon
the crosses on the previous day, sweeping the
streets of the Christian quarter in chains, by or.
der of the Turkish head of police. They at
once supposed that this order must have been
given for the very purpose of exciting a riot, and
they we're not mistaken. At 2 p. m, some three
hundred of the lowest Moslems of Damascus
rushed armed into the Christians quarters, cry
ing out, "Slay the dogs of Christians!" and i'm
mediately the work of plumber, burning and
murder commenced. Achmet Pacha, Governor
General and Commander in-chief of the place
a field marshal in the Sultan's army-was at
once informed of what had taken place. But,
although he had at his disposal some eight hun
dred regular troops and seven field pieces, not a
man nor o gun did he move. He never showed
himself in the street, nor took any steps what
ever to stop the massacre, declaring-the old
story of Hasbeyia, Rasheyia, Dir.el-Kamar and
Sidon-that he had not troops enough to do any
good. The Russian Consulate was almost the
first house attacked, and all those Christians who