Evening star., 1925-08-14
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL J. COLLINS.

| in the person of Hakem. but He is "a
| come once more as the Messiah OF
the Druses, and put all the world
under the feet of their tribe They
| do not count Mahomet as one of the
reincarnatiOnS of Deity, and do MOI
respect the Koran.
While they do not believe in Mo
| hammedanism their habit of oppor
tunism is such that if they chance "a
! be IN community of MoSlem pre-
| dominance, it is their custom to visit
the mosque and go through all forms
| or the MoSlem ceremonies: likewise
they gladly accept Christian teachine
| when amongst Christians and send
thelr children to missionary schools
| Ghe DruSe religion is so secret in
| its ceremonies and doctrines that only
small part of the people are ever
| initiated into the mvsteries-abou
$4,000 out of the total $50 900. These
| initiated are of the higher class, by
virtue OF their education and self-con.
| troll. They are called the Akkals or
guns the wise. They wear white
turbans to indicate their holy status
The others are the "Jehals' or the
ignorant. Both sexes may become
Akkals To pray to God. they deem
an lmpertlnent and wicked attempt
to interfere with the Divine will.
| The Druses depend on agriculture
and stockraising. The slopes of Mount
Lebanon are intricately terraced. and
! although the soil is not very fertile
there is sufficient rainfall and the
| farmers are industrious and moderate
| ly informed in agriculture.
| While their easy opportunism in
| adapting themselves to their environ
mentS would seem to indicate a spirit
| or non-resistance, they are far from
| being meek Quakers in character
They are sharpshooters and in their
mountain Businesses they become for
midable foes
Until 1910 the Druses and Maronites
were friendly neighbors, both antag
onfStic to the MoSlem Turks. Then q
quarrel began by Maronite father
in defending his son in a dispute with
a Druse boy. His Druse neighbors
and finally Druses from neighboring
villages became involved. Turks. in
terfered to stop the disturbance, but
eventually kept hands off and watched
! them fight it out" The outcome, by
! 1860, was terrible treachery and two
massacres of Maronites by the Druses
! in which more than 5000 Christian
Maronites were trapped and slain.
AS the victims were modified sect
of Roman Catholics, under the Pope's
protection, a European commission
was formed to avenge the outrage anC
establish peace. A French army OF
| 5000 was sent to Lebanon. Unable tc
| overtake the retreating mountaineers
the French ordered the Turkish gov
ernment to punish the leaders, both
Druse and Turks, for it was alleged
| that Turks participated in the killing
A pretense of compliance with the
| French demand was made in arrest
| ing several leaders of the massacre
| but English history states that in not
/ one instance was any culprit executed
| as pretended to the French. The Eu
| ropean Powers Commission soon got
| into a wrangle over policies, especially
when Turkey asked the Maronites to
name the leaders responsible for the
massacres, and list of 4,900 Druses
was submitted, together with a few
/ Turks. The Turks thereupon falsely
| told Europe that the Maronites were
demanding the execution of all the
! 1900 accused. That divided European
sympathy.
/ In taking a mandate over Syria the
| French assumed governorship of these
warlil<e Druses and Maronites. The
! Druses allege that the French high
! commissioner, Gen. Sarrail, promised
to appoint over them native gov
ernor, but instead he appointed a
J French military officer 4 Although the
Maronites number $4,000, the Greek