, 1860-07-26

lBs5r Ut Juus ~ Correspondence Of London News.1
| Would that had better news wherewith tt
open my letter; BIZ. th" list intelligence wt
bare here is Of tie fa!l OF shleh, la.ge Christ
lar ..;rt u u Zen thousand inhabitants, into tue
hands Of those blood-thirsty hoIdes of Druscs
who have invested the town for six days. The
| Christians fought brave1y, but were outnum,
| bered: and Of the Turkish troops sent to assist
them, half halted some miles short Of the place
| aud the remaiudeF took part agaiust then,,
| Bu: full detuils are not known Jet, although /
muy lie able to supply them ere close this.
es the Austrian steamer to Trieste WAS leav~
! iag this place on the 10th INST, q boat load oi
zen Wearing, not bloodstained, but blood
saturated garments, arrived from Tyre, T.ss5 T..ssss45
| indiyiduals, only 81 in number, were all that
remain Of the Christian male population of
Hasbeiya, village at the foot OF Mount Her
NOR, which, Il week before, could muster nearly
2.00U fighting men. These poor creatures were
accounts Of the blood-thirsty rutiianism Of their
Druse enemies, and of the fearful t1eacbery If
the local Turkish authorities. The tale give
to you ia tuken from the very words Of tbs men
themselves, examined separately By first-rate
Arabic sc.olnr.
Hasbeira is a beautiful village at the foot Of
1Iermon, and close to the source Of Jordan. 1t
contains, Or did before tbs massacre, 4 popula-
tion Of 5000 Christian souls, chiefly Of the
Greek "orthodox" church. To Protestant
C.r:stendsm Hasbeiya should be aplace 0! the
utmost possible interest, for it was here that
the preach1ng Of evangelical truth had borne
more fruit thHn anywhere else in Syria- The
Protestants numbered in this village upwards
Of 1000; they had 3 native pastor and a regular
church Of their owu-the latter having been
built chiefly by their own contributions. Of
thu: Itrotstant community trs.cA fortnight
ugo soas "a" Of spiritual as ,pH os4a 1feriaI fit,
tsro ao'o lire TO tel The tax Of their 5utcd-
f,& 1f $h1;u r. fa4fc Sl,n:,
tians 6u: thirty three men Aare surrirfd, and the
fate Of their wives and children is worse than
uncertain.
The yillage Was attacked by On overwhelming
body Of Druses on Saturday, the I'd inst. The
christlans armed to repcl them, and for two
days held their own, on the thir. driving back
the enemy. Hitherto the commander Of the
Turkish troops had stood nloof, although-as
was the ca:e ut Sidou, At Deiliel- kamAr, aad
ut Kasheiya-he bad troops enough at his COM
mAnd to repel and defeat the Druses, hHd be
70 wished. When he saw that the Christians
were gaining the day, he called them
o4es and nd in tue e.,. name n;,.; OF The snlian
"a lar9e building covering nearly an acre OF
Krouod, AID Containing 1he residence Of the
commander, as vel az the barrack) and to give
up their aims, as he, The }Ccaf representative Of
the Government, would conduct them all safs
to Damascus, where they would be better off
The Christians obeyed him, returned, gave up
their arms, which were Immediately packed up
aud sent towards Damascus, but with 20 all
surdy small an escortthat the Druses took pos
session Of both the muskets and the mules that
carried them within an hour Of their leaving
the pluce. The Christians asked again and
again to be Rent with their families, as prom
lsed. to Damascus Fur nearly week they
were put of with some pretext or other, until,
on the sixth day after the;r being disarmed,
during which time the Turkish soldiers had
prevented any of them firm leaving the pre-
cincts Of the seraglio), two pruse shelks Of
great influence had Rrriyed, and had confer
ence Of several hours with the Turkish COM
1nander Of the troopa. No sooner was this
conference ended than the Christians observed
taat The haren,, {wives, women and children),
US well rs the property OF the commander. was
removed from the seraglio, and that the Turk
ish soldiers also removed their baggage outside
Suspectlng treachery, many Of the Christians
tried to escape from the place, but vera pre-
vented By the bayonets Of the troops, whilst |
their women and children we're ordered end |
compelled to remore TO the large upper cham |
bers Of the buildings, the men being forced to
remain below.
By this time It was known that many hun.
dreds of'arn,ed Druses were close 10 the town. /
The troops had hardly made the aforesaid ar- |
when the Druses were admitted into |
the seraglio, md rushed like hungry tyrants |
upon the unaImed men IN the court yard. No |
man Was spared. In ten minutes the yerr
stones were an inch deep in human blood. No
butchery ever known III history equalted this
in fero:itv ard 'cowardice. In balf an hour
upwards Of . thousand strong men were hacked
10 death. Some fe@ tried again to escape, but
were driven back by The bay orets Of the Turk
sh soldiers {regular troops, not Bashi- DIzouks)
and the Druses had their revel Of blood und:s-
urbed; mothers, wives, daughters, and young
'hildIen Witnessing from above the massacre
# their relatives could enter into more de-
ails, but sicken at the task. Would to heaven
hat it were fable or a dream! In the slaugh.
er some few hid in out. fthe.way chambers;
'thers escaped notice from being heaped over
y the dead, and these by Gods mercy man
lged in the night to escape, wandered dows to
be coast, where one Ali Bey, Metuali Chief,
projected them. aud 30 to Tyre, where they
ook ship to Berrout. and arrived here on Sat-
lrday evening, the 16,h lust. or the fate Of the
soutn and children nothing is Jet certain, but
ron, what is kn..wn Of Turkish soldiers it ia
cared that the tate Of the former will be one
3orse than death. Of the Protestant commu-
ny not a man escaped, but more than one cf
be Greek Christian refugees bears witness how
1eF met ths lr fate, e1horting others to turn to |
ue GAFlOur and to Dray to him ]