the supposition is enough for the association, and failing this there is nothing else to account for it. We could not take grounds as supporting their independence, for two reasons. First, that they do not want our help; secondly, that England does not support independence in any people. If such were her disposition, the Circassians afford her a field, but no English consulate spreads its benign influence from Anapa. One concluding observation suggests itself. It has been a labour of care and anxiety to find and form Woods and Stratford Cannings, Moores and Roses. Such men were rare incidents in the nation. But the time will come when they will not be rare incidents. The whole British nation cannot be Ambassadors, Consuls, and Companions of the Bath, yet the whole British nation will become Woods and Cannings, Moores and Roses. Then some Sheik Beshir, Consul at Manchester, in furnishing his quota to a Turkish Blue Book on the "rights and privileges of the Roman Catholics and Dissenters of Great Britain," may have the regret to express himself in these terms: "I must consider the moral condition of England as very low." * Reply of Mr. Moore in Dr. Bowring's Report. CHAPTER XXII. CHRISTIANITY OF THE LEBANON. THE scheme above detailed rests entirely on the maxim, that a Mussulman shall not rule in this Province of the Sultan. This maxim has been established as a corollary to another; namely, that the Lebanon is the stronghold of Christianity in the East. The argument is thus stated: I know of no individual in this country who unites the qualities requisite for the office of a Prince of Mount Lebanon. If he is a Maronite, the Druses will not bear his rule, and if he is a Druse, he will not be tolerated by the Maronites, and it would not be desirable that a Mahometan Prince should rule over a country which is the stronghold of Christianity in the East.* Again: The very peculiar circumstances of the Mountain population, whose industry, poverty, and impatience of restraint are alike known to all Europe, and amongst whom the religion of Christ has found for ages a precarious, yet noble asylum, towards which the hopes of the good and the devout of more than one country have of late been turned with peculiar zeal.+ * Colonel Rose to Lord Aberdeen. Syrian Papers, Part II. p. 108. Sir S. Canning to Lord Aberdeen. Syrian Papers, Part I. p. 53. II. 2 F Here is the introduction of an international maxim alarming to the world; and peculiarly terrible in its application to Great Britain. The Maltese are Maronites, and France is their protector. The Canadians are Roman Catholics; so are the Irish. The Ionians are Greeks, and Russia is their Protector. The Cingalese are Buddhists, and China is their Protector. Thirty millions of Indians are Mussulmans, and the Sultan is their Protector. The Hindus will find a Protector, as cognate as are the English to the Druzes. This maxim admitted, the human race becomes a society of wild beasts, preying upon each other, not by satiable, but by insatiable lusts. The Christianity put forward for such ends by the English Government, is not the established religion of Great Britain; the patronage afforded by that Government is at this very time, to the rival sect of this so-called "Christianity." This Christianity is not a germ planted in the East by England, or by the other Powers. It has been found there, existing under the Turkish sway; and peaceably existing up to the moment of their interference. Now let us see what this Christianity is. The Blue Books contain a specimen. "The Catholic Bishop of Zachlé, to the Christians of the same place. "We have exceedingly and extremely praised you your activity, but have been backward in your not burning the village of Merepté. The proper mode was to have burnt it. Hereafter, take good care, when you obtain a victory, turn not back from burning and destroying to the end. Only, we command you, beloved children and honoured brethren, to abstain from touching the females. But everything else, such as burning, murdering, plundering, you can do, and do not spare anything. Continue your prayers and confessions, for this is a holy war."* Sir Stratford Canning may not err in saying that "the good and devout of many countries" have been turned to such Christianity with " peculiar zeal," and those countries also call themselves Christians. It is an awful charge to make, but Sir Stratford Canning is justified in making it. I quote the document, not in reprobation of the Maronites, but of those who have made the Maronites what they now are. For 800 years religious rivalry, and religious rancour were unknown; these have been introduced by the European Governments, not through fanaticism, but putting on the mask of fanaticism to veil their designs. When the letter of the Maronite Bishop was transmitted by Colonel Rose to Lord Aberdeen, it gave rise to no comment, not a word in reprobation, and no induction as to the task of the rulers of such * Syrian Papers, Part II. p. 113. |