The Massacre In Syria

The accounts receivcd yesterday from ' tbc ooast of Syria have realized our worst fearg. On the 9th of this niouth the city of Damascus was attackcd by the Drusas, and 5Ö0 Chrislians are said to ha e perished. The Oorsulates, with the exception of the English, were barnt down. In short, the whole phioe seems to have been at tho meroy of' the I ding army, the Turkish authorities having shown tlieir usual complicity with the aggroisors. The frightful event must res move tho crupiés of the most cautioupolitician. Instant action munt tuke place to save the world fvom crimes which v.'ill lic a roproaoh to it fiar ages. No ope can teil what auother weck may bring forth. Tho next mail from ]3eyrout may inform us that Aleppo has shared tho fate of Damascus ; that at Jerusalom Christians of evory nation and ciiur'cU, including a number of Protestant Englishmcn, have been put to the sword. Whatever may have boen tho beginning of this movement, thcre can be no doubt that it has assumed a inost formidable charactr. Yesterday it was a feud betweun two mountain tiibss; to-morrov it may bc the ouslaught of the Mussulman races on the Ghristians, whom recent eveuts have caused them to look upon with increasing hatred a;id draad. Beforu succor can arrive, before the Turk can be made to feel that Europe will stand no trilling in t'.ii? matter, it may be that every villa Syria, nay, in the whole of Asm, ta iv bc stained with blood. Haces wll'ch have lived in i?ccurity for centuries; under the protection of the Etjropèan Povvcrs, may be swopt from the eirth by this neren outbrealc of fanatiöism, au' Htipcs of a bettei future may be destroycd, and the rciroiieTatiou of these urdiáppv lamí-; made ini no.ssiblc forcver hy a single nionth of ünoheoked lawlessness. Wlion too lato, it tnay be disc-overod tliat civilization has beeu onco more ovorwbeliped bv a deluge as it wan beginuuig to blossotti uud to give hopos of bringing fortb fruit. It is strange tliat a land wliicli was the eradle of Christianity should continue, as;e after age, to bo tbc place of ita ïUarpest trial, it wojuld aluiojt seom a-i if a spsll hung ovor that ronowncl and holy cornor pi Aia, and oondemnedit tokoep foreyar its foraier likeaess, to furniuh persecutors and martyrs, frenzied multitudes demandíng blod, and timid Oovcrnors giving up the gniltlesa 1o death. vSinoo tho days when the Patriarchates of Antiodi and Jorusalom wout down ander the tirst shiek of Arab invasions, tho Oln'istians of Svria and Palsstine have beeu the most ill-usoi] subjects of the m wt fanatical part of Lslam. f:te has scmiewhat resernbled that ot' the tribes wlioin Israel, ages bet'ore, found in tho same land, Th yhSTê-bcen cxtenn-natcl reduoed to tho condition ot' slaves, or foreed to conform to the v'wtorious fnith. The small number of Ohrist.ians now to Syria and Egypt, compared with the vast multitudes whoni the first Ciliphs found in tlioso countrios, shows huw active hare boon all thosa causas of dopopulation. - In the earlier perïods of the conquest tho slaughter was prodigious. In latter times misery bas done the work of the sword. - The populatiou bas died out, or merged iuto the dominant races. Whcn our ancèstors engaged in tbc CrusadcS thoy had a real justifioation iu the evils endüred by their fellow-Christians, and probably fraftl those days to these there luis nevor been a timo whon tho religious spirit wJiieh proinptcd sueb adventures oould uot have fdutid a pretext in saine act of cruelty. - inEaropo aud in Asia Minor the Ohristian lias liad only to do with the Turk, whose bigotry bas been terupared by bis qualitres as a politieian and a ruler. Nowhero in the western paris of the empire have Sclaves or Grcefcj Latt to uudergo the habitual ilí-usage and the periodical v iolenec which bas been the portion of t he Svrian ChrLstians from thoir Arab p ersecutors. What te to be d:io with a country in which tbese things are so ofteu happening, wd iu wliicii thuy muy huppen at any hom1 ? Are we to tive up the land which has a liigher interest tlum anyothor to Iho huirían raco, that every man of our reliïoa may ba extermioated from it, and their place possessed vvholly by the most savag populations of thö Éast? Aro wo vvho have kopt tho Sultan on histhrone to acquiesce in a state of thing which will mako it as difficult iov an Englishuwn t. visit the soenos of Christian history as to penfltratü into the mosquea ol Mccca ï Are we to peiimt Aluppo, Daaiacu:--, Jo rusalem, and perhapi evory city as fur as Bagdad, to bo oloaod to Europeans ufter their nativo Uhrisliaii popujation has baen massacred or di-iven out? Are wo propai'ed to hear oí pur missionariea being put to death, or turaed oui oi the cjuutry, wilh cirderw never lo set tuut in it agata, and to ba un.iblo to venturo a ínüo (rom tlie iNfedítorranean coost without, a guaní ot Mussulma-n c mvasses ? Bat all thi munt bo cmceeded, and mora too, unless we aro ready to deul stcnily :ui'l suiuinanlv with these Druse and Arab rutlimsaad Ihe eomiving ïurkia uuthorities. it is hkely, indeed, ÜMitfor the moment tho PoVto will be i'allier trigbteood. Wc have no doubt that M. Musuras has infortned hia grovor noiént of tho tempor oí the Enjílisb iiaÜDu, and tho Ambassador iu Paria wül JoubiU-s inakj equally prewtng repi-eseniaiioiH. The troops will be dispatohed with soinethtng Itke alaorifcy to lieyr.vit, and L'uada Pasta wilt do his best tq pat O stop te the disorder. Bt what ia a Coustaatioopta peütician thftt besbouW La able to dam up tlie cuiTent of Aíiulic fanatii-.í.-ii!. wblph has now bfkon its boimds, and te tlo.idin th-j nouthern provinces oí the oiripiru ? - The pcrpistrators of theso putroge ir.r. o LitCle fespuíl íor tho cla.ss wliioh Fuad represente, and whiflh they would extermiftate with na uiuí-Ii pkasure as Üjev do the Christians. Wo do not know !io'v tai' l.he Caínmissioner itiay possew the q müties necoáaarjí tbo djaliu with nar:-oes in i Blata of freoey, liathe will cort.ainlv require t'n.-m. No kSfldof .iftóñ oiliitio'i r coasing will te oí the I aast avai!, as il ili oaly ;.;iic liu' ;nar.iiid■, high ootion of their own paea Bnd riK'.'Mi'a"" theiu to i,!iev the at taub áiiectiy the are witbdrami Only fHe most reaol'rW damea'ñoe and tbaiQOSt aclive opci alioas vvill be of -e. The Mestuin, then, ia, -. ,t' l'"nad Pnsbttj or, ide(i, inv 'J'nik, ud(ftu#d with tli' requisito eoerffV ;ind íesoues? We I.:;u' not. Tha ■! h.' hirkisli offieíT.-. - ) to indi' ate thal tbey had p rwr ner theii men. f therei roüson 1.o believe thut tho comnmnder really took part with the marandor, but generally tlie Work has gone on v.Uilo Üie troops have stolidlv kpt tu their barracks, amj tlieir offioere soom (,o havo known Uuit it was of no usu íly ■ ing to bring thern out. If this was th case witli dotaclimenta, why sliould t nol bo .so wit.h an iinny ? Who shall t?uy thut tli.ri'oroü actiog under Fuad I'üsha will show any roul uctivity ia puniflbiug outcftgeu which every true boliever in its ranka oonsider to bu a holy work? If, hovvóver, it should prova tli ut tlio Porto is incapabjeof keeping order, it vviil thun bo time to considcr wlietiier tlie Turk bas not beon iong enoogh tliore, and whethor Ohristiaa untions ought not to taka coungel as to the future of this nteresiiag and most unhappy land.