The Mountaineer. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1859-1861, 1860-10-06
WHO ARE THE DRUsEsl


FRoM the tone Of the public Journals
In England and the debates in Parliament.
ms well rs from the preparations for inter
Eention 10 Turkey which are being made
by France, Great Britain, Russia and
the other Christian Powers, it Is highly
probable that the land of Islam win soon
become the scene 81 new crusade. The
massacre by the Druses of the Maronite
Christians is the cause Of this new move
nlent against ''the sick man" But il
will be found on inquiry that the DruseS
are rs much siBned against ns SHINING,
and that they were not the aggressors in
this war Of religion. Twenty years ago,
in the struggle between Mehemet Ali and
the Sultan, the Maronites espoused the
side Of the Turkish Emperor. The
MarOnites were ordered to levy troops
90, nrHonn 70 Drnrr1 Hnt tho latter
refused. and lie Mafodites then wa9ed
war against them, which then, for the
first timein their history became re.
Iigious war 1t has been renewed at in.
tcrrals since, and the enmity then created
has never died AWAY. Beyrout, whose
Christian inhabitants are now so full With
terrors, was DESTROYED in 1910 by the
Anglo Austrian feet because Meheuiet
Ali, who then swayed that country,
would accede to the propositions Of the
Sultan and the four allied Powers. All
Christeudom seems now 10 be tllirsting
for the blood of the Druses and tile
Turks, TO whom they are tributary, aud
.would nneharitably send them,all 10 the
bdttomless pit, with their sins aud their
errors on their heads. .,:. =. ...~:@
/ 1t is a curious fact III the history of the
.Drn$es, that two centuries ago they awilk-
ened the sympathies Of all Chrtstendom
as warmly us they now excite its ihdigRa.
lttioH aud wrath At thattime the inielli.
gertee reached Western Europe that bold
/ aud gallant race in the mountains Of Syr-
=, ia: Was maintaining. a desperate struggle
against the oyerw beimiHg forces, Of The
Ottoman Empire: II was known that they
did not belong to the followers of Mo-
! hamnled, whcBcc il was enormously con.
Eclutlci that they mtfst be Christians, Tie
origin OF the .HaTle Drnses became n sub
ieet OF investigation, and afforded ample
scope for conjecture At length an iiige-
mons etyfnofagist suggested that they had
descended from the followers Of the Count
de DreTx, who was supposed to have set
tied in Palestine during the first Crusade.
Fakhrrddm, the able chief of these stur-
dy mpuntai1eers, taking advantage Of this.
tlelusiop, iabored hard TO propagate ii, in
the hope Of gaining assistance from En-
rope He visited Italy, and represented
himself as allied by descent to the power
ful kodSe Of. Lorraine. The Norman orr
gin. Of the nruses was instantly received
throughout Europe as an established
fact. tits even introduced into the graph
fc description of this interesting peqple
given in Bishop Heber's poem Of '.Paies-
timer --
Fierce, hardy, proud, IN conscious freedom
bold, u" ~ - ~ ~. :. : 5.-
Those stnrmy seats the warrior pruses hold:
From Norman blood their lofty lines they trace
Their lion courage proves thetr generous race,
7 hey, only they. while all around them kneel
In sullen homage TO the Thraciau steel,
Teach their pale despot's waning soon to fear
The patriot terrors Of the mountain spear.
1t was soon proved that the theory Of
their Norman origin was fable, and that
they were a remnant of the widespread
Isnaelians. They call themselves Unita-
rians, asserting that they alone rightly
understand the doctrine Of the Divine
Unity. The chief difference between
them and the other Ismaelian sects is the
authority they attribute 10 their prophet,
Al Hakem, for, though they believe 10 the
Koran, they are so far from rtYereHcing
MOhammed that they never pronounce
his name without eursing his memory.
They are divided into the initiated and
prefane, and all the ceremonies Of their
religion are studionsIy enSeloped in mys.
terry. Their Helras, or lodges, are isola.
ted, usually built on the tops Of hills, and
none but the initiated are admitted to
them. AlIwriters complain Of the diff
Guilty OF getting accurate Information
about them, and their Turkish nSighbors