Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1860-07-19
Correspondence of the Boston Traveller.
Highly Important from Syria
a Terrible Civa War-Sizty Villages
Burnt Wholesale Butchery of Men
Women and Children-We american
Missionaries Safe.
BEIRUT. SYRIA. June 6, 1860.


Syria Is now the scene of one of the
most sanguinary conflicts ever enacted in
this land, which has ever been the battle
field of the old world, and Mount Lebanon
Is now one vast funeral pile.
Druses and Christians, numbering hun
dreds of thousands, are now engaged in
wholesale murder, arson and pillage, in
which fiendish work they are aided by
Turks, Moslems, Arabs, and the people
known as the Metawalies.
From my window last week counted
from twenty to thirty burning villages up
on the mountain miles from Beirut, from
whence the flash of musketry may easily
be seen, and the volleys heard one after an
other in rapid succession, as they echo
through the valleys. The dying and the
dead ale brought daily in the town in large
numbers, and the widows and the orphans
may be seen in great crowds weeping and
wailing about the streets.
The barbarity of this war is truly shock
ing. Men, women and children are over
taken while fleeing for refuge and without
arms, and ruthlessly slaughtered while
praying for quarter.
The Christians have thus far suffered
most terribly. Their villages have been
burned, their crops destroyed, and great
numbers have been brutally murdered,
while the Druses, who are better warriors
and far more courageous, are assisted by
the Turks, Moslem and Metawalies, and
up to this timo have proved successful.
The bloody war which is waged on both.
sides as war of determination, has its ori
gin in religious and political causes. The
Christians and bruises hate each other with
a deadly hatred on account of the differ
ence in their religious faith-and the Chris
tians hates the Druses with a special ha-
because the bruises in great many of the
mountain Christian districts feudal chiefs
and rulers over the Christian or Maronite
and Greek Catholic villages. The more
immediate causes of the war may be traced
to the blood feuds existing between Druse
and Christian tribes. Last summer at
Bait Marri quarrel arose when threatened
to precipitate war in which the Maronite
Christians were victorious, having repulsed
the Druses, killing forty more, while their
OVID loss was less than one-third of that
number. Although peace was then de-
clared, the Druses have since assassinated
every Christian who came in their way,
with an evident determination TO make the
number of the Maronite loss equal to that
of the Druses. This aroused the Chris
tians, and SO exasperated them that they
made an attack upon several Druse vii
lagos. ,eF
At first they were successful, but relying
upon their numbers, they neglected to ap-
point leaders or to form any plan for the
consequently, the bruises raj
lied under their warrior chiefs, and burned
every Maronite and Greek Christian vii
lage within their reach. The provisional
authorities pronounced the invading party
the Christians-to be rebels, and the
Governor General proceeded with all his
available force to the mountains, and
brought his cannon to bear upon the Chris
tians, checking them at every turn, while
the Druses, aided by the soldiery, carry on
their work of pillage and murder in man.
ner shameful even to a North American
Indian.
The American missionaries in Mount
Lebanon have been greatly exposed, but as
yet have suffered only for the want of pro-
visions. tsr
Upon breaking out of the war, Mr.. Con-
sui johnson sen: guards for their protec-
tion, and in some cases provisions. Some
of the families OF the Mission have come
down to Beirut under an escort furnished
by the Consul, and others are daily ex-
pected. No personal danger to the Amer
leans in Mount Lebanon is apprehended, as
they are well known and well protected,
but their work is stopped by the war, their
houses become asylums for the wounded
and the fearful; in fact they are crowded
out by the people who seek their protec-
lion; for, wherever the American flag is
seen waving on the housetop, the people
flock in great numbers for admission.
The humanity shown by the Americans
in Beirut to the wounded, the homeless,
and the starving refugees from the noun
tains, will long be remembered by the ma
lives of the country.
The American Mission premises are
crowded day and night by women and
children crying for bread, which they re-
,eive with comfort and consolation from
he American Missionaries.
1t has been estimated at the British
Consulate that about sixty villages have
oeen burned. 1t is believed that the Eu-
opean powers will now interfere in behalf
If the Christians of Syria, and relieve
hen from the Turkish yoke. .5.
A correspondent of the N. Y. World,
writing from Beirut, June I'd, says:
The war is one of the most fiendish and
bloody civil wars ever known in Mt. Leb-
mon. About the 18th of May three
)ruzes were assassinated near Sidon; in
ess than forty.eight hours four Marouites
Christians) were murdered near Jezzin,
asst of Sidon.' Then followed assassna-
ions of Druzes and Maronites near Beirut
nd on the Damascus road, led on by a
blacksmith named Tannos, the Maronite
lergy having selected him as the leader.
The American consul in Beirut, ]. A.
ohnson, ESQ.,, sent a january and gov
rnment guard to all of the Americans in
lount Lebanon, with orders to the district |
.overnor to protect the Americans by all !
means. In Abeih the people fockod to
l.. La,,.o sc NJ Colbonp tha p,;a,;on.