A correspondent of the Daily News, in whom that journal
evidently confides, draws an alarming picture of the con- dition of Syria. The Druses are said to be in revolt, and the Sultan has called out a kind of lerie en masse to put them down. Some sixty thousand Mussulmans are, therefore, in arms in Syria, with few officers and no discipline—they cannot even march—and the Christians dread that a grand massacre is intended. They imagine that the Sultan in- tends to proclaim a Holy War, and ask why all the new regiments carry the green flag instead of the usual red flag, which marks Turkish domination. Jerusalem is crowded with rough soldiers, as is also Beyroat, where credit is suspended, and the whole population waits in fear. The dread of a Holy War is, we should imagine, a result of panic; but it is quite possible that the Reserves, who only get half their pay, and are under strong religious excitement, may break loose, in which case bloodslied on a
great scale would be nearly certain. A "restoration of order" in Jerusalem, after the Turkish fashion, would excite Russian and French resentment as nothing else would, and would bring the whole Jewish population of the Empire into line with the Armenian. AU this disorder is, of course, ruining the finances.
