Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1853-1862, 1860-08-12

The City Of Damascus--Tts Great Antiquity
--Thc late Massacre of Christians there

4 he City OF Damascus--nts Great Antiquity
--Thc late Massacre OF Christians there
--Who are ths BRUISES!
The news from Syria continues to be of the most
appalling character. The late adYices report that
from 1000 to S,009 Christians have been sain and
10 villages laid waste with fire and sword The
massacre at Damascns-where five hundred Chris
tians. including the Dutch consul were massacred
and the American consul wounded-giyes renewed
interest 70 the history Of that ancient city. The
Philadelphia Bulletin supplies some particulars,
which we suboin
Damascus was an important place at least az
early the time of Abraham so that it is not less
than four Thousand years old. EtymCloQists dispute
about the meaning of the was the ancient
capital of Syria and thus the quintessence of
the quickWitled race it represented 1t is called BY
no doubt, eastern exaggeratiOn but the fact that
everything said by the orentats about this famous
capital is exaggerated, only shows how strongly its
real attractions had taken effect upon their vivid
imagination. A celebrated epistle of an ancient
writer calls It the great and sacred city Of Damas-
Gus surprising every city both n the beauty of It's
temples and tile magnitude Of its shrines as well
the timeness of its seasons. the limpidness of its
fountains the volume Of its and the richness
of its SOIL Its people call it pearl surrounded
by emeralds" OF all the cities in the East it Is
perhaps the most oriental
The descriptions of Buckingham not cOnsid- |
cred entirely reliable. But there has seldom any
thing been written with human pen more beautiful
than his picture of the plain of Damascus. He COM
pares an English seat in the country surrounded
by immense park The visitor inquiries for the fam
y and finds that they have been fora year in Italy
Meanwhile the place has been most delightfully."- I'M
kept. Its rich cultivation is everywhere partially
grown up f.; the trees untrimmee and dipping their
branches into the sparkling riVulets the roses
grown almost into trees and covered with innumer-
able blossoms Everywhere is seen rich verdure,
luxuriant growth, with but such touch of widness
as to give the finishing grace 10 the landscape.
Such, he says, is Damascus in the bloom Of the
year. tsl f-
Damascus was conquered by David, who made it
tributary After being held by Solomon itrevClted,
and afterwards at the head of thirty-and two
kings. 1t subsequently taken by Assyria and
Persia. After the battle of Issus, it fell into the
hands of Alexander the Great, and Pompey annexed
1t to the Roman Empire. After being celebrated for
its wealth and splendor under the Greek Emperors,
it was conquered by the Saracens. and became for
| a time the capital of the MOhammedan world. The
sceptre of Islam passed over 10 Bagdad, but Damas
| Gus is still famous in the history of Saladin.
| twas besieged by the Crusaders in the twelfth
century, but they failed to take il. Later STILL it
was captured with circumstances of great barbar-
ity by Tamerlane, and finally fell into the hands of
the Turks under Selim L 1t possesses, too, a high
| moral interest, for that beautiful plain 1t was
| that St Paul became ObedieDt to tle heavenly
| vision"
Among the points of interest connected with this
famous city are the Damascus blades, so maeabe
| that they might be bent to right angle without
losing their elasticity SO keen tndU Uley cOud sever
down game floating in the air, or divide iron
without destroying their edge. For ages the secret
| of their manufacture was unknown. General Amos
| soft, in the Ural mountains however succeeded in
| quite recent times, In making a sword which seem
| ed to equal the best Damascus. with a blade of
reticulated lines-such as always appeared on the
finest Damascene blades-in broad stripes, and show
| ing bright gded reflection. He cut through
gauze handkerchief in the air, aud cleft bon-s and
nails feats which cannot be reformed with the best
| ENGLISH steel y ApdpPa0n in Ms in,
Siberia states however, that the secret died with
Anossof, as these swords are not now made at Da-
mascus
Another point of interest is the famous Damask
stuhs. They are properly silk though sometimes
made of other fabrics Large quantities of silk are
still manufactured, and the Damask have lost
nothing of tkeir immemorial beauty.
There Is at Damascus a considerable trade both
| with India and Europe. From India are brought by
| the Persian Gulf, Bassora, Bagdad and AleppO,
spices, cotton goods coarse and fine muslins, and
gold stuffs. English goods come through Beyrout
and Tripol The people are Mohammedans, Druses,
Oriental Christians, Jews &c. The population is
| about one hundred thousand.
| "wH0 ARE THE DRUsEs?r r-
The question ''Who are the Druses ?" the New
| York Post answers by saying Efr
| They are principally a sect of the Mohammedans
existing only in SYRIA Their name is derived from
Darazi or Dursi, who early as 1919 came as
missionary to them from an ofshoOt of the Moslem
stock. Singularly enough, the DPuses disayow any
belief in the peculiar doctrines of the man whose
name they bear, and do not hesitate to call him
hereto and to look upon the title of 'Drusen
stigma The characteristic dogma of the sect Is the
unity of Gods being Indeed, the Druses call them
selves Unitarian. They maintain that God is in
comprehensive pure, the essence of pure
life, and can be known to his accepted children
through human manifestations only. They declare
the first born of the Deity was a spirit of Intell-
gence, which first incarnated in Hamsa, who is the
same as the Christ of the Arian theory. Tc Hamsa
| was eOnfded the creation of the world. and from
him comes all wisdom and truth, while through
him only does the Lord communicate with the hui
man family. This is simply the corrupted version
of the great Christian doctrines of incarnation and
mediation THERE'S a complicated system Of priest
hood maintained by the Druses. who like the fol-
| lowers of Mohammed, embody IN their religion
many of the traditions and persOnages of the Old
Testament. There is a Satan. lsmall, as he Is
called, who first introduced sin into the world.
10 regard to free will, the Druse theology mans
talns that the length of every mans life is OreOrdain
ed but not his individual acts They believe in the
TRANSPORTATION of souls, and say tfat the soul of
Ismail in John the Baptist, and still earlier
| in Elijah. while that of Hamsa once dwell in the
body of Jesus. Yet while acknowledging thatJesus
once existed, they do not think that he in any
| way divine as the individual soul which lived in
him and in many others did not receive divine
| power till it reached the body of Hamsa. The
Druses do not extend their TRANSPORTATION doctrines
so far as to allow that human souls ever exist IN
| the forms of animals They think thatthe souls of
men go on inhabtiRg different bOdies-with the ex-
| ceptiOn of a very few, whose excellence permits
them to exert pure spirit-until the resurrection
day, when the faithful will be resolved for eternity
into spiritual beings, but ty far the greater portion
! of mankind will be annihilated.
| If the Druses lived up 10 the seven command
ments in which they express their moral laws, they
| would not be so dreaded and cruel people, for
murder, theft cOvetOusness and cruelty prohibit
ten special crimes, and charity honesty. meek
ness aud mercy regarded high virtues-so
high, unfortunately that the DresentDruse generation
| cannot reach them. The men have but one wife
each; the form of government is patriarchal diff r
ent tribes having Sheik and agriculture is ca e
| fully attended to- No marriages are contracted OUT
side of the Sect and the Druses adhere tenaciuusy
to their religious traditions. All the male popula-
ton is trained from youth TO in war, and the
Druses have more than once revOlted against the
| Turkish government which holds nominal SWAY
| over them. Yet. of late years. they have been re-
| garded peaceful and quiet people, and were
disabusing their neghbOrs OF the traditional opIi ms
as to their ferOcity and cruelty, until the great
Christian massacre of this summer proves that their
unenviabe nOtOriety was not without just founda-
| ton.
With so many features in their own approxima-
ting to the Christian religion 1t appears somewhat
strange that the Druses should manifest such fiend
ish barbarity as they have recently done. But to
them, strong mOnOtheists they are, doctrines of
poytheism peculiarly repusIYe. In the cere-
monies of the Greek and Roman churches they per-
Il
one God; they do not comprehend the relations of
three persons in the Trinity and especially fail to
understand the Interpretation of the material SYM
bols held in such yeEeraOn in these churches. The
PPotestants of Syria whose religion does not pre-
sent these features, would probably share better if
the Druses understood more about them; but the
Professionals as well as the Greeks and Catholics all
come under the general head o. Christians, and as
such fall beneath the indiscrmnating fury of these
fanatics.
Isdoes not appear, however, that the Druses are
the only tribes engaged in the massacres. Arab
Mussulmans equally guilty. The principal cause
of the present troubles most probably arises fnom
the old feuds which for centuries lave been waged
between Druses and the MarOnites. The latter peo-
pie native Christians, followers of monk call
ed Maron, who lived in the sixth century.
THE Factions ALL SUPPORTED HM-On Monday |
Leslie Combs was voted for by the Know Nothings
in a body, by the mass of the DOuglssites and BY
the soreheads and Oficeseekers of all degrees and
Lincoln paper of position now before us ex-
pressed strong hope for his election, we suppose
the Black RepubLcans went for him tnn=L oniSlMe |