An invitation from the English consul

Being thus unprotected, and the Turks from the city refusing to remain with me through the night, as the Greeks might return, I accepted an invitation from the English consul to take refuge in his house. ‘ We took joyfully the spoiling of our goods,’ and passed safely through the crowds of armed robbers to the city, where we were received by Mr. Abbott and his family with all that attention and kindness which they have shown ns on former occasions.

“ Thursday, April 6. Mr. Bird’s house now contains all the missionaries that are to be found in Syria. It is a garrison, and as such affords protection to a few houses in the neighborhood. But most of the houses without the city are desolated and greatly injured; those lovely gardens, the glory of Beyrout, lie uncultivated; the leaves of the mulberry-trees have put forth, and the silk season, which is the most busy and profitable season of the whole year, is just at hand; but the possessors of these houses and lands have not yet dared to come forth from their hiding-places, and their ruin seems inevitable, whether they come forth or continue concealed. If they come forth, it is to suffer imprisonment and stripes, and almost unprecedented extortions; and, if they do not come forth, their possessions are all sequestered by the Kehya Bey.

Interview with the Kehya Bey

Yesterday I had an interview with the Kehya Bey, the cadi, and the governor, on the subject of the robbery committed upon me. I afterwards sat two hours with the sheikh of the Bedouins among his troops, with the hope of recognizing some of the robbers; but the villains, knowing the object of my visit, thought it prudent to keep out of the way.

“ May 15. It is impossible to describe the system of falsehood, injustice, oppression, and robbery which has been in operation here for the last two months. Human beings, whose guilt is no greater than that of their proud oppressors, are condemned without a trial, their flesh trembling for fear, their religion blasphemed, their Saviour insulted, their comforts despoiled, their lives threatened, and their bodies filled with pain, and deeply marked with the blows inflicted by Turkish barbarity. Some of them were so badly beaten that they could not walk, but were carried by soldiers, as they went from house to house to obtain a trifle here and a trifle there towards paying the enormous exactions made upon them.