and they sent again to him to inform him of the danger they were in and that, if he did not come down to them with his men and heroes as promptly as the circumstances demanded, their movable possessions would be carried off and they themselves humiliated in their state and condition because their foes surrounded them [pressing on] from right and left in enormous numbers. Whereupon he apologised for his delay on that day and promised to come on the second day with auxiliaries and allies. (P. 99) So their hearts cheered up and their anxiety abated, and they manifested their gladness and joy, and felt happy in [anticipation of their] victory and success. But on the second day, which was Monday, the eighteenth of the month of June, 128 the Druzes closed in upon them from all sides and places, confronted by the Christians with hearts of flint, man dashing against man. And the fight between them was desperate, death hovering near and the earth quaking with the clash of heroes and the noise of the gunpowder which almost shook the mountains. And they did not cease to charge and counter-charge, and to rush and push on, each anticipating the other's attack, until men and horses became tired out and the loss of life and punishment [inflicted] grew terrific. And the smoke of the gunpowder enveloped them, changing the day into night. And the action continued like this for the space of four hours of the day (P. 100) [during which] they [were engaged] in a battle hotter than the blaze of flaming fire. And still the people of Zaḥlah put their trust in the advance of Yusuf Bey Karam, according to his appointment. So they did not attend to the proper watching of the side from which he was to arrive with his force. And this came to the knowledge of the Sheikh Khaṭṭār al-'Amad who took a troop of his bravest men and spread out [waved] in front of it Christian flags which certain Druzes had taken from Christians whom they had overmastered in some fashion. And as he approached [in this manner] on that neglected flank, they thought 128 The consular reports confirm this date as that of the final tussle for the possession of Zaḥlah. But it is erroneously stated to have been June 29, 1860, in the Druse Account of the late Events in Lebanon, presented to Her Majesty Queen Victoria with a Petition from the gentry and the commonalty of the Druze nation of Mount Lebanon, dated August 17, 1860. And far from the Druzes being the aggressors, closing in upon the Christians from all sides and places, we find it there averred that the latter took advantage of an armistice arranged by a certain Sheikh Mahmud al-Id, with a view to reconciliation, to fall upon some Druze horsemen "picketed in the lands of Sa'd Na'il at about an hour's distance from Zahlah," which led to the general mêlée that decided the fate of the town. that [it was] Yusuf Bey Karam who came [to their aid] with men and ammunition. So, reviving their hope of being relieved, the good news circulated among them and they concentrated their attention on the other side. And while they were like this [cherishing this illusion] the fire [of war] broke out in the high quarter of the town on the side of the place of [appointed for the] (P. 101) meeting [with Yusuf Bey Karam]. And the clamor of men [forcing their way] rose with the noise of the gunpowder. And when they found that the sky showered men upon them from outside and inside [the town], and that Nury Bey had turned hostile to them with that gang and those nomad tribes, they drove their families before them [sought safety in flight for their women and children], defending them against them [their enemies], and abandoned their homes and habitations. And they took the road to Biskintā129 and neighboring villages of al-Matn, and some of them reached by degrees the seashore. And the whole number of those who were killed in this onslaught was of the Druzes about hundred and of the Christians eighty-five men, and [even] more it is said.130 And when the inhabitants of Zaḥlah left [that town], those tribes [the Druzes with their Arab, Kurd and Mutawaly confederates] entered, burning and carrying off the personal property and treasure it contained, killing the Jesuit religious with five teachers and all the students in the French college.131 129 Near the border of Kasruan. (P. 102) 130 "A Druse present at the attack (on June 19th, after the skirmish of the 18th) reported that they lost, in killed and wounded, about forty, and the Christians less; but how many have perished in the conflagration, or may have been massacred after the town came into their possession, he did not know." Letter of June 26, 1860, from Mr J. Brant, British consul at Damascus, to Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer. 131 A letter, dated June 20, 1860, from Mr N. Moore, British consul-general at Bayrūt, to Sir Henry Lytton Bulwer, speaks of 1500 Druzes and 700 Christians killed or wounded in the Zahlah affair, while the first reports, still to be verified, mentioned that the Druzes, after penetrating into the town, "murdered a priest and some women in the Jesuit church; that thereupon both besiegers and besieged dropped their fire-arms and resorted to swords and daggers;. Father Rousseau, a Jesuit missionary, wrote from Sidon, under the date of July 4, 1860, to the Union Franc-Comtoise, quoted in the London Times of July 25: "I lost [at Zaḥlah] Father Billotet, who belongs to the Franc-Comtois as I do. Three of our holy brethren were murdered near him,. . . . . . . Twenty-one nuns are stated to have been dishonoured by the Turkish soldiers and the Druses in a house in which they had assembled. I cannot, however, positively guarantee this fact, as I do the others. Two of the nuns were killed." There was, to say the truth, a good deal of exaggeration and Mr Brant, nearest to the spot and commanding the best information, confines himself to stating in the letter quoted in the preceding note: "The Druses entered the town and And after this the inhabitants of Zahlah dispersed in all directions [taking] the mountain-roads along the deep and long ravines, measuring [suffering] heat and cold and hunger and thirst, and other trials and sorrows. Nevertheless, because of their strength of soul and dignity, they did not wish [scorned to avail themselves of] any of the charitable gifts which arrived from France, and went on to exert themselves [in gaining] their livelihood as they had done before misfortune befell them. And the taking of Zahlah was an event of importance for the Christians in every place [throughout the land] because it had been their main support, and [now] it was [an element of] power to their foes because it inspired them with a desire for [the possession of] all their cities and towns. (P. 103) SEVENTH CHAPTER Concerning the massacre at Dayr al-Qamar, which was pitiless and did not [seem to] cease. Dayr al-Qamar is a town with fine mansions and houses,132 situated to the South of Bayrut at a distance of about seven hours from that city. Its population, consisting of Christians and Druzes, reaches in all about seven thousand souls. It possesses shops and buildings of a beauty not found in any other locality of the Mount.133 And its after removing the property left behind, which they say was considerable, set fire to many of the houses, but they respected the Convent of the Jesuits at Zahlah and their church at Moalaka.... The Druzes soon retired to their homes in the Hauran and I believe will quietly attend to the gathering in of their crops. They have always spared women and children, but they seldom spared a man who fell into their power. A few women have been killed in trying to save men, but it has been by accident." CHURCHILL, The Druzes and the Maronites, p. 186, mentions that at Zaḥlah "amidst the din of battle, the voice of Druze criers was distinctly heard 'Spare the women! by order of our chief, Hottar Amad: whoever touches a woman shall be shot!' A Druze escort was rapidly organised to conduct them safely out of reach of danger." 132 Dayr al-Qamar, already a place of some importance in the time of the great 'Amir Fakhr ad-Din al-Ma'ny, owes its later significance as a political centre to the moving thither from Haṣbayya of the 'amīrs of the house of Shihāb, and its prosperity to its silk industry while it also produces a good deal of wine and cotton stuffs. Indeed, in its textile products it rivals even Damascus. 133 DE LAMARTINE, describing Dayr al-Qamar as he found it in the 'thirties, says that it did not look like a town at all, still less like the capital of an important district: "cela ressemble parfaitement à une bourgade de Savoie ou d'Auvergne, à un gros village d'une province éloignée de France." Voyage en Orient. people are bold and strong in adversity, 134 a trait not found in many men. And up to the year twelve hundred and twenty-three135 since the Flight, it was the seat of the government of the country,136 in the days of the Ma'nite and Shihabite princes. (P. 104) Thereupon the Amir Bashir ash-Shihāby chose to reside at Bayt ad-Dīn and so he built there a large saraï and resided in it until the year twelve hundred and fifty seven,137 when he departed from the country on account of [his relations with] the Egyptian government since the province [of Syria] reverted [then] to the Ottoman Empire. And at the first disturbance in the Mount, the Druzes had [no more settled] purpose [than] to destroy that town [Dayr al-Qamar]. So they lost no time in hurrying up to it and invested it for twenty-three days until they took it by [thanks to] its surrender when it had become the abode of starvation and great misery. And after its surrender the Druzes entered it and pillaged and burned and killed. 138 And it passed under the authority of the Nakadite chiefs, who also did the evil that might have been expected.139 And in course of time the townspeople broke loose (P. 105) from the rule of the Druzes. They said it is 134 Also very turbulent, as they proved during the disturbances of the 'forties, when it was only by disarming them that peace could be restored. 135 Which commenced on the 28th of February of the year 1808 of the Christian Era. 136 I. e. of the Lebanon. 137 Which commenced on the 23rd of February of the year 1841 of the Christian Era. It was however on the 12th of October, 1840, that the 'Amir Bashir Shihab, having been deposed by the Sultan, embarked at Sidon on the British man-of-war which conveyed him to Malta. 138 The circumstance that on this occasion as on others the United Greeks sided rather with the Druzes than with the Maronites, is quite characteristic of the relations between the Christian sects in Mount Lebanon. The pillage and burning and killing was put a stop to by the Druze chiefs themselves at the request of the British consul-general at Bayrut and if the Druzes did not follow up their victory with a more signal humiliation of the Maronites, it was thanks to the moderation of their principal leader, Na'man Janblāṭ. Cf OPPENHEIM, op. cit., I, 160. 139 The Nakadite chiefs, namely, did not allow the Christians to do just as they pleased, which they resented. The Druze house of Nakad was of old strongly rooted in Dayr al-Qamar and its members considered the Shihābites when these moved thither, as no better than intruders. But the advent of the powerful strangers made their influence dwindle and, still trying to assert their rival authority, some seven of them were put to death about the end of the eighteenth century, at the orders of the 'Amir Bashir Shihab. After his changing his residence to Bayt ad-Din and especially after his removal from office, the Nakad family came to the front again and had a hand in the disturbances of the early 'forties, being careful to safeguard themselves by establishing friendly relations with the Turkish Commissioner Shakib Effendy; of DE LA JONQUIÈRE, op. cit., p. 523. not right that we should be governed by them, wherefore they wished to pass under the standard of the illustrious [Ottoman] Empire.140 And the Empire granted their request and appointed over them a governor accompanied by a detachment of regular troops, the Nakadite chiefs being driven out. And they remained under the shadow [protection] of the Empire, confident of ease and security. So when the second disturbance arose, they stayed [as mere lookers on] in their place [at home] and prevented their fools141 [the irresponsible zealots among them] and their [lightly inflammable] young men from moving about because in their [system of] administration they had become separate from the rest of the district. So they did not meddle in the proceedings the others meddled in [unlike the others they did not occupy themselves with what was going on]. And they did likewise [followed the same line of conduct] during this third agitation, so that no event [worth mentioning] is recorded of them. And they took moreover the utmost pains, exerting themselves (P. 106) to put down riots and quarrels. And [on a certain day] a number of the notables of the country came to confer with the Sheikh Bashir Nakad142 because he was a man whom they trusted and upon whose word they relied. And they agreed that each of the [two contracting] parties would try hard to repress war and strife, and disputes and discussion. And that if this could not be [accomplished] in all the land, nevertheless between them and him no evil and mischief would occur. And they departed from him bent upon keeping their covenant, having prevailed over him in [arriving at] this agreement. And they began to exert themselves to the utmost of their endeavor to stop contention and hostility, wishing peace for all the people; and to avoid every cause which militated against the general interest, and to refrain from everything that might occasion excitement and trouble. And consequently quiet and calm did not cease until the Druzes killed one of their men, whose name was Wahabah (P. 107) Sham'un. And when this news reached the people of Dayr al-Qamar, their anxiety increased and they burned with anger and rage. And they 140 Petitioning for the boon of direct Turkish rule to be able to chase the Nakad family from what it considered its ancestral appanage. 141 A pun seems to be meant on the word juhhāl, plural of jāhil, ignoramus, fool, also used to designate the uninitiated among the Druzes. 142 Bashir Bey Abū Nakad, the Druze governor who, at their request, had been dismissed. |