The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1860-08-11
Correspondence Of the London Daily News.
Infidel Outrages in syria. lz.
MASSACRE OF THOUSANDS OF DEFENCELESSJ ,
CHRIsTIAN PEOPLE BY THE TURKS. -.

news respecting this unhappy province
! Unfortunately, our prospects get darker
everv day, for each hour brings either
news of fresh atrocities committed by the
Druses ormore decided proof that the acts
of the latter are conniyed at by the Turk
ish government.
1t is now ascertained and q nominal list
of them has been made that up to last
night the Druses have burned and pilaged
no less than one hundred and tiftyone'
Christian villages since the 29th of May
last, while no less than from 10000 to SO,-
600 Christian inhabitants of Lebanon
many of whom were a month ago wealthy
men, Others in quite easy circumstances
and all strangers to anything like poverty
or want--are homeless beggars, depending
on actual charity for their daily bread
Over and above the number of Christian4.
shot in actual warfare, between 1000 and
5000 have been butchered; hacked to
death would be the filter term; as no
butcher ever used in his calling half the
cruelty of these bloo dthrsty miscrcants;
in cold blood by the DYuses And besides
this, more than 5000 widows, who, until
this Druse campaign, were happy wives
and mothers, have lost their husbands,
brothers. fathers. and all male relatives,
even to the male infants at the breast; and
sixteen hundred children are now orphans
all these figures have been carefully com
pared with others. and weighed IN the
balance OF English (local) opinion. before
given a. facts And after conyersing, com
pairing, and digesting all hear. after
/ bringing my own four years experience III
Syria to bear upon the subject. am bound
10 say that | have considerably umdcrsta-
ted the case. Moreover fifty millions ster-
I H.
hamlets. and silk factories destroyed
throughout the mOuntain.ail the proper
" Il the Christians There Is besides
iearfulv long liet Of converts. churches
and nuunerles belonging to the same peo-
pie, all of which have been piundered aud
then destroyed hy the Dyuses. In short,
what commenced as 4 civil war between
the two sects can no longer he called by
that name. For the last twenty days 1t
has been nothing less than wholesale
N sSacre of Christians by the Druses and
wanton destruction of all property be
longing 10 the former by the iatter
To ".ye YOU some idea what the Druses
are, ! Will enumcr2te few instances of
tLeir irigltful barbarity, all OF which
have heard from the unfortunate sufferers
themselves now refugees from Lebanon
One poor woman, / knew both her hus-
baud. and herself well at Den, el -kanar
where they were wealthy people, told me
that when the Dru>es attacked the town
the second time Il should mention that
IL had surrendered, and all the inhabitants
had given up their arms some "a hours
previously 10 the Druses and had been
promised protection by the sheiks,) her
husband Was hacked TO pieces before her
eyes 10y the large knives of the Druses.
who then declared that they must Kill all
the male children ia the house The mo-
ther ty!cd 10 hide her two sons, one fifteen
the other nine year, old The Druses,
however, found them out, and rs she beg
gel and prayed for their lives, and en-
deayorci TO cover them in a corner with
her person, but the Druscs hacked at the
lads over her shoulder, and gashed them
until they dropped down apparently | fe-
. less. The Ifpses- lisa .aade. oti. Aud the
nained in soy Q f66I asst I sstiiiYSi6r Tor two hours
so sar a. she could calculate. At last she
was reused 10y hearing the eldest lad call
her il a faint voice, trying 70 Assure her
that he was not yet dead On thIs she
felt Tie bDIy OF her youngest boy, and
found h. heart beating She got some
water. and after giyin. il ~ both her chil-
dI,n, % far a. she could get them u drink
it. started into the town 10 see whether
and her boys away. She got al far the
,cIa.lio, OF government house. bat there
she fuuad tnat some 800 Christians, who
lad taken refuge. were being ca; 70 pieces
ly the Druscs who had been invited TO
enirr the precincts OF the building by the
Turkish soldiers O; the garrison, these lat
l.. helping IN the bUtchery, and being SO
far worse than the DrUsos, I! at they
abused in the most infamous manner ali
the women. Seeing no help could he oh
tanned here, the poor woman turned 10 fly.
when she came across an old Druse, who
had formerly been a farm servant OF her
husband After a great deal OF ent.caty
on her part, the man consented TO protect
her aud her children down to the sea
coast, about four hours journey. on condi-
ton Of receiving an order on her brother,
a wealthy man in Beyrout, FOR 10000 pias-
tres To tbs she agreed, and they lo-
turned together to her house. She had
not been absent more than an hour, but
Che found her two children cut into pieces,
Joint ~ Joint. limb and trunk severed,
10 use her words "as butchers cut UP
Sheer" "-Lcads, legs, arms. and bodies be
iug hacked up into a shapeleSS mass Of
bloody flesh and rocking bones. Some
other poor women then joined her, and to-
gcthef they made their way 70 a mulberry
plantation outside the town, where they
passed the night At daybreak they were
discovered by party Of Druses, who, after
stripping them to find whether they had
any money on their persons, and taking
away what little they possessed, told them
thev might 60 where they liked Four OF
the poor creatures had babies, all under a
year old OF these infants, two were girls
and two boys; the former they did not
touch, but the latter they said might grow
up to be men; and bear arms against the
Dr,ses; they therefore took the poor lit
tie creatures, and before their mothers
eyes, tore them up the middle, and limb
by Hmb-"exactly," to use the poor wo
mans own expression, "as you tear up =
fowl that is to be cooked with pillan.'
Remember, all this was done not in the
heat of fighting but Deliberately, in cold
blood And ! have heard of eleven other
exactly similar cases of child destruction
by the Druscs, in nIne of which implicit
" believe, having every reason to do so
Deir-el- Kamar contained, a month ago, a
population of 5000 souls, of which aboai
1000 were men and lads, $500 women and
girls and 800 children under ten years old
OF the men, not more than $50 have es
capped; Of the women and girls, about 2,
600 have reached Bcyrout; and of the
Young children, less than two hundred are
alive Don't forget, too, that this fe.idish
massacre was parpetrated upon a popua
ton which twenty four days previously had
surrendered to the Druses, had been pro
missed protection by them, AMI were dis
armed previously to their murder.
THE ToMATo AS FooD-Dr. Bennett, a
professor of some celebrity, considers the
Tomato an invaluable article Of diet, and
ascribcs to it various important medical
properties First that the tomato is one
of the most powerful aperients Of the liver
and other organs; where calomel is indi
Gated, 1t is probably one Of the most effec