The Mountaineer. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1859-1861, 1860-08-11
IMPoRTANT IRON sYRIA..

cfvIL WAR -eIxTY VILLAGES BURNED MAS.
sAcRE oFMEE, WOMEN, AND cHnDREN.
BEYRoUr, SYRIA, June 9, 1860.
Syria is now the scene Of one or the
most sangninary conflicts ever enacted Il,
this land, which has ever been the battle
Geld of the Old World land Mount lie.
banon is now one vast funeral pile.
Druses and Christians, Numbering hun
dreds Of Thousands, are now engaged i'd
wholesale murder, arson, and pillage. III
which liendish work they are aided by
Turks, MosIem Arabs, and tile people
known Us the MetawaIies. ID
From my window last week counted
from twenty 10 thirty burning villages lii.
on the mountain a few miles from Bey-
rout. whence the flash Of nusketry may
easily be seen, and the yolleys heard one
after another in rapid succession, as they
echo through The valleys. The dying md
the dead are brought daily into the town
| in large numbers, and the widows and
Etheprphans may be seen III great crowds
weeping and waili1g about the streets: Il
The barbarity Of this war Is truly shock.
ing, Men, women and children are over.
takol while fleeing for refuge and with.
ont arms, and ruthlessly slaughtered while
Epraying for quarter. /. ..,. I. b.
The Christians have thus far suffered
tmest terribly. Their villages have been
burned, their crops destroyed, and great
numbers have been brufaily murdered.
while the Druses, who are lerwarriors
and far. more courageous; are assisted by
the Turks, Moslems, and Metawalies, and
mp TO this time have proved successful.
| The bloody war which Is wageti on both
/ siles us wsr of exlermination hns IA
origin iii religious and political causes.
The Christians and Drnscs hate each otlier
with deadly hatred on account Of the
difference in their religious faith; and the
Christians hate the .Driscs with d special
hatred, becauses the Drnses airs in a great
many Of the mountain Christian DISTRICTS
fcndal chiefs and rulers over the Christian
or Maronite and Greek Catholic villages.
The more immediate causes Of tile war
tmay be traced to the bloody feuds exist.
ing between Druse and Christian tribes.
/ One Of the largest OF the Christian
.l ~, i1sitn henir. y now " state 0l
s,ege, ana great slnering Is produced by
the. want OF proflsIot's.
information mas . also been received
TINS evening thht the christmas n the
north OF Lebanon are raltylng. and have
repnlsed the Drnses, With great slaughter.
ms yet requires confirmation, as il Is
generally believed that the Christians
have become disheartened by theunion Of
the Turks With the Druses, aud are Civ.
ing up their arms. l.: It'll fl.
u has been estimated Mt the British
consulate that about sixty villages have
been burned. IT Is believed that the
European Powers will not interfere in be-
half Of the Christians In Syria, and re.
lieye them from the Turkish yoke. !. s:
Upon receiving the startling news Of
the above atrocities from the American
residents and the American Vice Consul
IN Sidon. the United States Consul, Mr..
johnson, fastened to lay the matter be-
fore his colleagues, and requested gene
raj reInonstraLcc upon the part oil the
Consular corps. This was immediately
done, and orders were sent off tile same
day from Beyrout, holding the Governor
and the military commander OF Sidon re.
sponsible for further outrages. :.
A Russian frigate arriving very oppor-
tunely the next morning, the British Con.
sui was induced to send III. b. M. steamer