Christians being massacred by the Jewish and Arabian

auxiliaries.

We now arrive at a new and exciting era in the history of Syria, in which, from this time, Palestine may be included. Two years before the event we have just referred to, Mohammed began to preach at Mecca. His Koran was soon the standard of faith in Arabia; and the scimitars of his followers reduced the whole of the country from the borders of Judea to the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, to the dominion of the impostor. Mohammed did not live to extend his conquests; but after the lapse of one hundred years after the Hegira, or his flight from Mecca, the empire of his successors extended from India to the Atlantic Ocean,-comprising Arabia, Persia, Syria, Egypt, Upper Africa, and Spain. In the reign of Abú-Bekr, the first caliph, Caled, the Mohammedan lieutenant, distinguished by the title of "the sword of God," marched with a powerful host of Arabs into Syria; and so enfeebled had the Byzantine and Persian empires become by frequent revolutions, that no effective resistance could be afforded to the impetuous Moslems. Previous to the invasion, Abú-Bekr addressed a circular letter to the several Arabian tribes to the following effect: "In the name of the most merciful God, to the rest of the true believers. Health and happiness, and the mercy and blessing of God be upon you. I praise the most high God, and I pray for his prophet Mohammed. This is to acquaint you, that I intend to send the true believers into Syria, to take it out of the hands of the infidels; and I would have you know that the fighting for religion is an act of obedience to God." Bosra, the strong tower, as it was termed in the Syriac, the capital of one of the fifteen provinces into which Syria was divided, lying on the borders of the Arabian desert, to the east of the Dead Sea, was the first point of attack in their road to Damascus. Crosses and consecrated banners were exhibited from the walls by the inhabitants, whose zeal was animated by monks and priests; and a resolute defence would have been made, had not a party of the enemy been conducted into the city through a subterraneous passage by Romanus, the governor, who had been expelled by the Christians for proposing a capitulation. The city of Philadelphia next fell; and the Saracens, as the Mohammedans were now called, prepared to invest the ancient and strong city of Damascus, renowned since the days of Abraham, and attractive to the Moslems, on account of its accumulated treasures, if not as the school where Mohammed had studied the faith of the Syrian Christians, then unhappily corrupted by gross superstitions and Oriental fables. They were compelled however to raise the siege of Damascus for a short space of time. The Emperor Heraclius assembled at Emesa an army of seventy thousand men, chiefly consisting of cavalry, who might, as it has been observed, be indifferently styled Syrians, or Greeks, or Romans;-Syrians, from the place of their birth or warfare; Greeks, from the religion and language predominant amongst them; Romans, from the title still profaned by their emperors. The Saracens concentrated their forces, engaged before Damascus, or scattered on the frontiers of Syria and Palestine; preparing for battle, confident of victory, while led on by the resistless Caled. The answer of this stern soldier to terms of accommodation proposed by a venerable Greek, shows how resolutely the Moslems were bent upon their purpose: "Ye Christian dogs, know your option; the Koran, the tribute, or the sword. We are a people whose delight is in war, rather than in peace; and we despise your pitiful alms, since we shall be speedily masters of your wealth, your families, and your persons." The Mohammedan and Christian armies met on the plains of Aiznaddin, on the

13th July, A. D. 633, and after a desperate conflict, the followers of the Prophet were victorious; no less than fifty thousand Christians, it is said, having perished on the field, or in flight. The remains of the Roman army escaped to Damascus, Antioch, or Cæsarea; the victors, without waiting to divide the valuable spoils that had fallen into their hands, returned to the siege of Damascus. For seventy days, the citizens repulsed the assaults of the besiegers; at length, however, they capitulated on the faith of a written agreement signed by Abu Obediah, one of the Moslem commanders, to the effect that the voluntary emigrants might depart in safety, with as much of their effects as they could carry away, and, that those who became the tributary subjects of the Caliph, should enjoy their lands and houses, with the use and possession of seven churches. The gates however were no sooner opened, than Caled, less merciful than his colleague, shouted, "No quarter to the enemies of the Lord." The Arabs, obeying with alacrity, commenced an indiscriminate massacre; and when Abu Obediah intreated them to desist, the sanguinary Caled cried, "Have not I taken the city by storm?-The unbelievers shall perish by the sword.-Fall on!" Abu Obediah however threw himself between the trembling citizens and their fierce pursuers, adjuring the Moslem troops by the holy name of God to respect his solemn promise; and summoned the chiefs to a conference in the church of St. Mary. The merciful counsels of Abu prevailed; the slaughter was suspended; the question as to the future condition of the Christian inhabitants being referred to the Caliph. Several thousands of the Damascenes were permitted to depart; but a party of rapacious Arabs led by Caled, pursued them, came upon them unawares, and slaughtered both men, women, and children; one miserable female captive being alone permitted to survive.

The Saracens next invested and captured Heliopolis and Emesa. From the latter place they were summoned to meet an army of eighty thousand Romans led by the Emperor Heraclius. Caled, at first, proposed a retreat to the borders of Arabia; but having received a reinforcement of eight thousand Moslems, they awaited the enemy on the banks of the Hieromax, an obscure river, which rising in Mount Hermon, runs to the Sea of Galilee. A furious battle ensued; the Christian commander resolved to decide the fate of the East in a single battle, and the Mohammedans went to the contest with the conviction that Paradise would be the reward of those who died with arms in their hands, while everlasting fire was in reserve for those who deserted the standard of the Prophet. The troops of Caled were at length victorious, and the Greeks and Syrians were completely routed.

Jerusalem was next besieged: for four months it defied the strength of the Mohammedan army; but, being reduced to great extremities, it capitulated, on the condition that the Caliph Omar should personally ratify the articles of security. Aleppo (Berea) and Antioch were then occupied by the conquerors; the Emperor Heraclius filed, bidding an eternal farewell to Syria; his son Constantine embarked in the night at Cæsarea; the northern and

southern divisions of the Moslem army advanced along the sea-shore, till they formed a junction in Phoenicia. Tripoli and Tyre, with a fleet of fifty transports, were betrayed into their hands; and Ramlah, Ptolemais (or Acre), Sichem (or Neapolis), Gaza, Ascalon, Berytus, Sidon, Gabala, Laodicea, Apamea, and Hierapolis, submitted to their fate. The followers of the Prophet were not however yet satiated. The forests of Libanus were cut down for the construction of navies; and from the ports of Syria they sailed, chasing the Roman fleets through the Mediterranean.

After the fall of the Abbasside caliphs of Bagdad, the Byzantine emperors seemed inspired, for a short interval, with the ancient Roman spirit. The islands of Crete and Candia were wrested from the Saracens by Nicephorus Phocas; and his assassin, and successor, John Zimisces, conquered in turn Cilicia and Syria; passing the Euphrates, and menacing Bagdad itself. Scarcely, however, had he returned to Constantinople when the Saracens re-occupied those countries.

The Turks soon afterwards appear as the masters of Syria. Pouring in resistless myriads from the mountains of Northern Asia, they established their dominion in Persia, and, passing to the west, did not hesitate to attack the Roman empire. They quickly completed the conquest of Syria; capturing Jerusalem, and treating the Christian pilgrims and inhabitants with the utmost barbarity. About twenty years subsequent to these events, Peter the Hermit, a native of Amiens, in France, visited the holy sepulchre: incensed at the oppression which he witnessed at Jerusalem, and at the indignities which were offered by the Mohammedans to the places hallowed in the estimation of Christians, he implored in vain the aid of the Greek emperor at Constantinople; and returning to Rome, threw himself at the feet of the Pope, demanding permission from the pontiff to preach in favour of a crusade, by the combined armies of Christendom, to rescue the Holy Land from the enemies of the cross. Martin II., who then occupied the papal chair, approved of the project, as calculated to win whole nations to the bosom of the Church. He summoned a council at Placentia, for the purpose of discussing the propriety of invading Syria: it was unanimously resolved that a war for such an object was conformable to the will of God; and the monarchs and people of every kingdom in Europe roused with extraordinary unity of purpose, and prepared for the enterprise. The cross became the common symbol and badge of union, round which rallied with equal ardour, kings, lords, priests, burghers, and vassals. "The main characteristic of the crusades," observes M. Guizot, "is their universality. All Europe took part in them; they were the first European occurrence. Previous to the crusades, Europe had never been moved by an identical sentiment, nor had acted in the one and the same cause; there was in fact no Europe. The crusades unfolded a christian Europe. The French formed the bulk of the first army of the crusaders, but there were also Germans, Italians, Spaniards, and Englishmen. Take the second or the third crusade; all the Christian nations were engaged in each. Nothing similar had ever been witnessed." It would be inconsistent with our limits to trace minutely the progress of the adventurers from the banks of the Bosphorus where they had assembled. They took Nice, the capital of the Turkish empire, by assault; defeated Soliman in two general engagements, and breaking down the power of the Turks in Syria, quickly made themselves masters of Antioch. They next laid siege to Jerusalem; at the end of five weeks they took the holy city by storm, dishonouring their cause by the relentless butchery of the garrison and inhabitants without regard to age or sex.

1267

Godfrey of Bouillion was elected king of Jerusalem; and most of the Christian princes that survived the campaign, returned home to enjoy their renown.

The

The discord of the Turks and Arabs contributed to the stability of the short-lived kingdom of Jerusalem; but a hero now arose who quickly united the Mussulmen of Syria, Arabia, and Egypt, in opposition to the Christians. Saladin, a Curd by birth, from being grand vizier of Egypt, became Sultan of that kingdom: he was acknowledged temporal protector of Mecca and Medina; the fame of his arms spreading through Europe and Asia. His attention was, immediately on his accession, directed to Syria. Jerusalem, after a short siege, fell into his hands; and the lives of the inhabitants were spared, on the stipulation that the Franks and Latins should quit the city and instantly repair to the sea-ports of Egypt or Syria. A large body of the expelled Christian troops threw themselves into Tyre, where, being inspired by the arrival of Conrad of Montferrat, they arrested the victorious career of the Saracens. Egyptian fleet, which confidently entered the harbour, was either captured or sunk; and the impetuous sallies of the Christians compelled Saladin to retreat ignominiously upon Damascus. Encouraged by their success, the Christians laid siege to Acre; and to relieve the garrison, the Moslems of Egypt, Syria, and Arabia were summoned thither by the Sultan. This memorable siege was maintained for two years, during which time repeated battles took place beneath the walls of the fortress. At length the fiery valour of Richard Cœur de Lion, king of England, and of Philip Augustus, king of France, compelled the Mohammedan defenders of Acre to surrender. Richard shortly afterwards defeated Saladin at the battle of Ascalon, when 50,000 Saracens were killed. Cæsarea and Jaffa were recovered; and the Christian army had advanced in sight of Jerusalem, when Richard found himself obliged to conclude a truce with Saladin, in consequence of the refusal of his French, Italian, and German auxiliaries to advance to the siege. In a word, after the loss of several hundred thousand Christian adventurers, in seven crusades, beside the expenditure of an immense sum of money, the object sought to be attained was found to be utterly impracticable; the Holy Land relapsed into the possession of the followers of the Crescent; continuing to the present day a miserable province, trodden down by oppression, and distracted by the intestine feuds of those who wander over its wastes or tenant its ruins. "Good God!" exclaims the infidel writer Volney, contemplating the fallen condition of modern Syria, "from whence proceed such melancholy revolutions? For what cause is the fortune of these countries so strikingly changed? Why is not that ancient population reproduced and perpetuated?" "I wandered over the country; I traversed the provinces; I enumerated the kingdoms of Damascus and Idumea, of Jerusalem and Samaria. This Syria, said I to myself, now almost depopulated, then contained a hundred flourishing cities, and abounded with towns, villages, and hamlets. What are become of so many productions of the hands of man? What are become of those ages. of abundance and of life?" "The temples are thrown down; the palaces demolished; the ports filled up; the towns destroyed; and the earth, stripped of its inhabitants, seems a dreary burying-place." Keith pointedly remarks, that these observations of the French traveller illustrate no less than seven predictions in the Holy Scriptures: 1. "I will destroy your high places, and bring your sanctuaries into desolation." 2. "The palaces shall be forsaken." 3. "I will destroy the remnant of the sea-coast." 4 "I will make your cities

waste." 5. "The land shall be utterly spoiled." 6. "I will make the land more desolate than the wilderness." 7. "The generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you, and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say, when they see the plagues of that land, and the sickness which the Lord hath laid upon it, Wherefore hath the Lord done this unto the land? What meaneth the heat of this great anger?"

In 1798 Buonaparte landed in Egypt with a powerful army, and, having subjected that country to the arms of France, marched into Syria, affecting the utmost respect for the Mohammedan doctrine and worship, and claiming a divine commission as regenerator of the East. He laid siege to Acre; but the Turkish garrison being animated by the presence of three hundred British sailors, under Sir Sidney Smith, at the expiration of sixty days, the French general was compelled to retire, after the sacrifice of a large number of his most gallant soldiers. A powerful army of Turks, who had advanced from Damascus to raise the siege of Acre, were next attacked by Napoleon, at the base of Mount Tabor, and routed with great slaughter, thousands being driven into the Jordan. Jaffa (Joppa) fell into his hands; and, contrary to the usages of war, twelve hundred prisoners were shot, or dispatched with the bayonet. But the French campaign in Syria was of short duration. On the 15th of June, 1799, the army under Buonaparte arrived at Cairo, having traversed the Great Desert; and after the battle of Aboukir, in the following month, when 18,000 Turks perished on the field, the General deputed the command to Kleber, and sailed for France.

Syria remained under the Turks till 1830, when Mohammed Ali, Pacha of Egypt, declaring war with his sovereign, the Sultan, sent an army into Palestine, under the command of his son Ibrahim, which speedily captured Acre, Tripoli, Aleppo, and Damascus, and, defeating the Turks in various battles, crossed the Taurus, and prepared to march on Constantinople itself. The Sultan was obliged to invoke the aid of Russia against the conqueror of Syria; and 20,000 Russians, under Count Orloff, hastily landed on the Asiatic territory, encamping between Ibrahim and the Bosphorus. The Sultan then entered into negociation with the Egyptian general, and solemnly confirmed to Mohammed Ali the viceroyalty of the whole territory from Adana, on the frontiers of Asia Minor, to the Nile. The Syrians soon discovered that their new masters were not a whit less rapacious than the Turks, and several insurrections took place in Mount Libanus and various districts of Syria, in 1834. The presence of Mohammed Ali himself, with large reinforcements, suppressed for a moment the spirit of disaffection, and in the following year the Druses and Christians of Libanus were disarmed. Ground down, however, by the utmost tyranny, the Syrians again revolted in 1837; they were chastised by Ibrahim, and again reduced to subjection. In 1840, in consequence of a treaty between England, Russia, Austria, and Prussia, the seaport towns of Syria were bombarded by a British squadron; and the Egyptians being compelled to evacuate the whole of Syria, the supremacy of the Turks was once more established over the country. Syria has thus, it will be seen, been conquered by all the states that have played an important part on the earth; being, as a writer in the Revue des Deux Mondes expresses it, "An old land, occupied by all nations; a caravansera, in which all nations have lodged, with no better title one than the other."

Men of all races occupy the shore,
Obedient to its native lords no more,

The hapless Syrians mourn the country's fall,
Doomed to reproach and tyranny from all.

The present population of Syria is estimated as follows:

997,000 Mussulmans.

22,000 Ansaries (Bedouins). 17,000 Mutualis and Yezidis. 48,000 Druses.

260,000 Catholics and Maronites. 345,000 Members of the Greek Church. 175,000 Jews.

1,864,000

The following is an estimate of the number of inhabitants of some of the towns in Syria:—Damascus, 100,000; Aleppo, 60,000; Hamah, 44,000; Tripoli, 15,000; Beyrout, 12,000; Jerusalem, 10,000; Latakia (Laodicea), 5,000; Nazareth, 2,000; Bethlehem, 1,500; Mount Libanus, comprising 4,000 Mahommedans, 6,000 Mutualis, 37,000 Druses, 120,000 Christians; in all, 167,000. "Of the different classes composing the population of Syria," it is observed in the most recent report on the condition of that country, presented to the British Government, "the Mahommedans are the most numerous; they comprise, probably, three-fourths of the whole; they occupy a considerable part of the agricultural districts, are the principal inhabitants of the secondary towns and villages, and fill the high places, with very few exceptions, in the subordinate and principal cities. They no longer possess the peculiar immunities or privileges which formerly belonged to their race; in fact, the right of being enrolled in the armies of the government, which was once their greatest pride and honour, has become their greatest grievance. The Mussulman population are seldom associated with the progress of arts or industry, and though possessing the influence which belongs to the ruling authorities, are rarely instrumental in the creation of capital or the diffusion of civilization. Most of the commercial establishments are either in the hands of the Christian or Jewish population. The Mussulmans exclaim loudly against the taxes to which they are subjected, and above all against the conscription. The Christian merchants in Syria complain of the heavy imposts to which they are subjected. With the exercise of their religious usages, however openly exhibited, there is now no interference; still less is there any interference with their opinions. There are in Mount Libanus some districts which are wholly occupied by Christians. The Jews in Syria are numerous; the great majority of them are poor, but in some of the larger towns they are among the most opulent of the inhabitants. This is the case at Damascus and Aleppo, where many of the consuls belong to the Hebrew nation, living in considerable splendour, and exercising very great influence. In some of the Jewish families, the females are adorned with a profusion of diamonds, and surrounded by the delicacies and luxuries of the highest orders of society." There are a large number of Armenians in Syria, particularly in Aleppo and the towns of the north. They are among the most active of the inhabitants, and are to be found in all grades of society, from rich bankers and merchants to domestic servants and coffee-house-keepers. The inhabitants of Mount Libanus are described as an active and laborious race, who turn to good account such parts of their soil as are suited to agricultural production. Their personal bearing is far more proud and inde pendent than that of the Syrians in general. In many parts of the mountain range the land is laid out in terraces, much resembling the almost horticultural culti vation of Tuscany and Lucca. There is no part of Syria in which there is so obvious an activity, none in which the inhabitants appear so prosperous or so happy. The Arab tribes dwell, for the most part, either in the

desert or on the exterior ridge of Eastern Syria. There has, of late years, been observed among them a tendency to engage in agricultural pursuits; and it is supposed that if taxation were light, and security afforded to person and property, they would, after a few generations, exchange their predatory and wandering habits for those of the peasant. The following account of the present condition of agriculture affords a saddening contrast to its state in the days of Solomon, or even of the Emperor Julian: "The agricultural produce of Syria is far less than might be expected from the extensive tracts of fertile lands and the favourable state of the climate. In the districts where hands are found to cultivate the fields, production is large, and the return for capital considerable; but the want of population for the purposes of cultivation is most deplorable. Regions of the highest fertility remain fallow; and the traveller passes over continuous leagues of the richest soil which is wholly unproductive to man. Nay, towns surrounded by lands capable of the most successful cultivation, are often compelled to import corn for daily consumption, as is the case at Antioch, in whose immediate neighbourhood the fine lands on the borders of the Orontes might furnish food for hundreds of thousands of inhabitants. But men crowd into towns for protection and security, and leave the rural districts without labourers to sow or reap the harvest. Agricultural knowledge is generally in a backward state; the old Roman plough, drawn by bullocks, is almost universally employed. In Mount Libanus, however, where the scantiness of appropriate soil requires a succession of terraces for cultivation, spade husbandry is much used, the space being too narrow for the plough."

In 1836, the revenues collected in the different districts of Syria amounted to 696,000l. which, considering the present commercial resources of the inhabitants, is a large

The most remarkable of the modern tribes of Syria are the Druses and the Maronites, the inhabitants of Libanus, where they have for several centuries maintained comparative independence. The Druses, according to the official report already cited, number about 48,000; they must be considered as a Mohammedan sect, although it is difficult to ascertain with precision what their religious opinions are. They are divided into the initiated and the profane; their secret societies practising licentious rites in their worship; the vulgar conforming now to the external forms of the Mohammedans, and now to those of the Christians. The Druses believe in the Koran, but, with singular inconsistency, seldom mention the name of Mohammed without invoking maledictions upon him. They regard with great reverence the memory of Al Hakem, whose pretensions as one of the descendants of Ali, produced much confusion among the Mohammedans of Egypt and Syria in the eleventh century. The Druses practise neither circumcision, prayer, nor fasting; they eat swine's flesh, and marry within the prohibited degrees: they adore the image of a calf which is placed in

1269

their secret retreats. For some time it was supposed that they were Christians, descended from some of the Normans who settled in Palestine during the Crusades; but this fiction is now exploded. Inhabiting a district not easily accessible to an enemy, they have frequently defended their liberties against the Turks, exciting by their gallantry general sympathy in Europe:

Fierce, hardy, proud, in conscious freedom bold, Those stormy seats the warrior Druses hold. The Maronites are a warlike and hardy race inhabiting the country from the ridge of Libanus to the neighbourhood of Tripoli. They profess the Christian religion, deriving their distinctive appellation from Maron, a hermit of Syria, who created a schism in the fifth century. The son of Constantine, observes Gibbon, "pursued a people of soldiers, who might have stood the bulwark of his empire against the common foes of Christ and of Rome. An army of Greeks invaded Syria; the monastery of St. Maron was destroyed with fire; the bravest chieftains were betrayed and murdered; and twelve thousand of their followers were transplanted to the dis.. tant frontiers of Armenia and Thrace. Yet the humble nation of the Maronites has survived the empire of Constantinople, and they still enjoy under their Turkish masters a free religion and a mitigated servitude." The Maronites have more than once been united to the Church of Rome, by whom they were allowed the use of their ancient liturgy. But their alliance was never very sincere, and they now are said to regard their fellow Christians of other sects with strong feelings of enmity.

The name of Syrian Christians is applied to the sect of Nestorians, from the circumstance of the Syriac language being employed in their religious services. After the deposition of Nestorius by the council of Ephesus, A. D. 431, for denying the title of Mother of God to the Virgin Mary, and maintaining the doctrine of two natures in Christ, his partisans took refuge in Persia, where a powerful church was organised, which, under the caliphs, was diffused from China to Jerusalem. At one time, the Nestorians were computed to exceed the numbers of the Greek and Latin Christians. Three hundred thousand is supposed to be rather above their present number.

A Protestant Episcopal Church has of late years been erected in Jerusalem; and on the 7th of November, 1841, the Rev. Michel Solomon Alexander was consecrated a bishop of the Churches of England and Ireland in Jerusalem, by the Archbishop of Canterbury; the Queen's license assigning Syria, Chaldea, Egypt, and Abyssinia, as the limits of his jurisdiction.

For an account of the Physical Geography, and Animal and Vegetable Productions of Syria, see PALESTINE. P.

SYRO-PHENICIA. The country so called was either that part of Phenicia bordering on Syria, or probably the whole of Phenicia. The people were originally Canaanites.

The Greeks gave this country the name of Phenicia, and when by right of conquest it became a province of Syria, it was called Syro-Phenicia, and from hence the woman who applied to Jesus, and whom Matthew calls a Canaanite, is by Mark styled a Syro-Phenician, as being both by religion and language a Greek. (Matt. 7. 26.) A.