The daily exchange. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1858-1861, 1860-10-12

ment the Druses might be in consequence of the
unparalleled atrocities by which their triumph was
signalized. The progress of the investigation into
the origin of the massacre, which is now taking
place in Syria, and the official and seml-ofhclal
accounts which have recently reached us, conilrhi
the opinions that we had previously expressed
We stated-as some of our readers may perhaps
remember-that there had been long standing
feud existing between the Maronites and the
Druses, which, for centuries past, had brought
them into frequent collision with each other, and
which partook of the nature of the blood revenges
that were once of common occurrence among the
Scottish clans. The increasing numerical strength
of the Marouites; their superior wealth, and the
consideration in which they were held by Gins
tian nations, in consequence of their protesting
modified belief in Christian doctrines, had given TO
them an influence in certain parts OF Syria which
was certainly not justified by any profound observ-
ance on their part OF Christian precepts Travellers
who have had occasion to visit the mountains OF Le
banon almost universally concur in conceding to
the Druses higher reputation for honesty and
fairdeaing than could rghtfully be accorded to the
Maronites and would have preferred to trust the
safety of their persons and property to the honor
of the former, than to the good faith of the latter
1t is, of course, no palliation of the ruthless
slaughter, by which so many Maronites have
fallen victims, to say tho they provoked the quar-
rel, and that the Druses supported by the Mussul-
man soldiery, and encouraged by officials of high
rank in the Turkish service, simply anticipated
the attack that was to be made upon them,
and followed it up by war of extermination.-
But whatever may be our sympathy for the suffer-
ers, and however profound our Indignation against
their brutal and fanatical murderers, it is but
right that the causes which led to the outbreak
should be explained, and that the Maronltes
should not be held wholly guiltless, if the docu-
mentary evidence that has been adduced should
sbstantate the fact that they themselves conspred
together to wage general war upon their heredl-
tary enemies, and were only prevented from dong
so by the superior activity of the latter in taking
the initiative The story is, at best, comph-
Gated one, and amidst the mass of contradictory
testimony that has been taken on both sides,
it is as yet, and will probably continue
to be very difficult to get at the exact truth in
relation to the affair. All that we really know
for certain, is that thousands of Maronite Chris
tians were attacked not only in their own towns
but in the cities of Damascus and Deir-el- Kamr,
and ruthlessly slaughtered in cold blood by Druses
and Turks acting in concert, and with the con-
nivance if not with the actual participation of
Turkish officers of the highest grade; that their
towns were laid desolate their property plundered
and devastated, many of their women led OF into
captivity, and that the wretched survivors are
fugtives from their homes, and are dependent
upon the benevolence and hospitality of the char
liable for the rudest shelter and for the means of
sustaining life. That there were under-currsnts
at work, stimulating both the Druses and the
Maronites to make attack upon each other we
think is very certain. In speech that was made
by Lord PALMERsToN on the Syrian question just
before the propagation of Parliament, he broadly
minated that the instruction was the result
of intrigues in quarters which he forbore
to mention, and it now appears that
double conspiracy was on foot at the same
time-the one involving aggression on the
part Of the Maronites. and the other looking to an
equally sangunary issue on the part of the Dru-
SEES. In confirmation of this theory, letter,
purporting to have been written to the Maronites
of Lebanon, by the Maronite Bishop of Tyre and
Sidon, residing at Hasbeya, has been published
in The London Times. in that letter the Bishop
vehemently denounces the Druses as corruptions
upon the EARTH and notifies the other Bishops of
the Church that instructions have been issued by
CHS Holiness, our Lord and Patriarch" exhort-
ing the Maronites Of Lebanon to make common
cause in discriminating their enemies and despoi-
ing them of their goods and possessions. The
time for commencing the work of destruction is
set down. and the object Of the letter is stated to
be- that the people of all the towns 'may be pre-
'pared with the necessary arms to overcome their
anniversaries, the Druses aforesaid" The allusion
to the instructions received from his Holiness,
'our Lord and Patriarch" has given rise to
many conectures as to what parsonage is meant
some nclining to the belief that i. refers &c the
head of the Greek Church, others 10 the Constan-
tinople Patriarch, and others to the Russian
Gear, as the Supreme head of that branch of the
Christian Church to which the Maronites profess
to belong. The authenticity of this important
document yet remains 10 be settled; but it is
said that the Druses ''look upon it as most
Essential to their Defence" contending that
thew were forced into the war to avert the
fate that was impending over them. On the
other hand it is stated that, as far back as the
commencement of the year, the Syrian Moslems
had entered into a conspiracy, instigated and
directed against the Maronites by the local agents
of the Turkish Government at the head of which
was AHMET PAoHA, the Governor Of Damascus,
his principal officers, aud the chief digniaries of
the Turkish Priesthood. 1t is further declared
that this conspiracy, which had for its object the
deliberate massacre of the Christians in Syria,
was revealed to the French Consul General at
Damascus as early as March last; that he reported
the facts to his government as they were received
by him, and that the programme of the conspira-
tors, as sketched out at that time, was finally
executed in exact conformity with the statement
that was made months previously to the French
Consul. General. The date of the letter written
by the Greek Bishop, calling the Maronites to
arms, is not given, or it might throw some light
upon the question as to which party was in reality
the aggressor; but sufficient is known to indicate
that the ancient feud between the Maronites
and the Druses was exasperated by the
intrgues of others, and that both parties
looked TO other quarters for assistance in
in the event OF their coming into conflict. That
the Turkish officials were guilty Of the charges
brought against them there can be no doubt what
ever. Their summary and condign punishment
by FUAD PAcHA substantates that fact beyond
controversy. But it has not yet been conclusvely
demonstrated that the Maronites did not, by enter
ing into a similar conspiracy, draw upon them
selves that fearful retaliatory by which so
many lives have been ruthlessy sacrificed; so much
property destroyed, and sad multitude of
widows and orphans has been thrown upon
the charity of strangers. 1t is to be hoped
that before the investigation closes, this point
will be cleared up in such manner that our SYM
patty for the sufferers shall not be restrained by
any suspicion of their completely in designs similar
to those for which the Druses and their aders and
abettors, have been most justly denounced and
execrated. 1tl
The hour of victory is commonly the season of
forgiveness and amnesty, and though old and