The Protestants in Hasbeiya began to be troubled, early in the year, by premonitions of a coming storm. Mr. Eddy was there in May, accompanied by Mrs. Eddy and Miss Temple, who devoted themselves to labor for the spiritual good of the women in that community. Hardly had they returned to Sidon, when Hasbeiya was surrounded by hostile Druzes. They were driven off at first, but on the 3d of June the commander of the Turkish soldiers told the Christians to retire within the palace, and he would protect them. On the 11th the Druzes surrounded the palace, and the Turkish commander opened the gates, and allowed the Druzes to cut them in pieces. Some saved their lives by crawling under the dead bodies, and others by escaping over the walls. The Protestant church was partially destroyed, but not burned; its walls and roof remaining uninjured. At Rasheiya the Druzes told the Christians to give up their guns, and they would be safe. In the night, they set fire to the houses, and killed nearly all of one hundred and thirty men. More than one thousand persons were murdered in Hasbeiya and the surrounding region. Of these only nine were Protestants.
At Damascus, on the 9th of July, the wild Moslems, from one of the suburbs of the city, with Koords, Druzes, and Arabs, burst upon the Christian quarter, plundering, butchering, and burning; not opposed, but aided, by the Turkish soldiers, who could have suppressed the insurrection at any time. The slaughter continued several days, and the killed were estimated at five thousand. The whole Christian quarter of the city was plundered of its great wealth, and the houses and churches were laid in ruins.
Those who escaped these massacres fled towards Beirût and Sidon, destitute of everything. Appeals were at once made to the Christians of England and America, and the missionaries, acting for the "Anglo-American Relief Committee," were the chief almoners. The expenditure in August for food, clothing, bedding, shelter, hospital, and soup, was at the rate of about sixty thousand piasters a week, or two thousand four hundred dollars, and yet it seemed to make little impression on the mighty mass of misery. Dr. Thomson had the especial care of the clothing, bedding, shelter, and soup-kitchen, Dr. Van Dyck of the hospital and the sick in general, Mr. Jessup of the distribution of bread to about six thousand persons daily, and Butrus Bistany and Michael Aramon, two of the native brethren, had the daily distribution among about two thousand five hundred poor. The funds up to this time had come chiefly from the people of England, and English merchants at Beirût gave much time to managing the large financial business connected with so vast a charity. Dr. Thomson declares that the male children were generally murdered, and that the killed were largely mere boys; and who, he asks, were to support the thousands of widows, with their fatherless daughters? The country had no factories, and scarcely any kind of business by which such widows could gain a support. The silk, grape, and wheat harvests had been destroyed, the olive was likely to perish from neglect, there were no animals for the plough, no implements for husbandry, nor was life safe in the fields. He adds: "There was never, perhaps, a darker hour for missions in Syria; yet we are becoming acquainted with the people more rapidly than ever, and should we be permitted to visit them months hence, we shall have a most friendly welcome."
Rasheiya and Deir Mimas were burned. Cana and Alma, being far from the Druze district, were not invaded. Tripoli was undisturbed. The destroyers in the neighborhood of Baalbec were not Druzes, but Moslems and Metawales. It is a remarkable fact that, excepting perhaps in Damascus, no injury was offered to a missionary; and Protestants, when recognized as such, were generally safe. The arrival of ships of war and a detachment of the French army at Beirût, with apprehensions of an alliance of Christian powers for the protection of the Christian population, had, at first, a restraining, and finally, a controlling influence, on the Turkish government. The Prime Minister was sent to Damascus, and inflicted terrible justice on one or two hundred of the guilty there.
The direct effects of the war upon the missionary work were doubtless injurious. Immorality increased, the baser passions were aroused, and the hearts of many were hardened through suffering. But priestly and feudal power, the two greatest obstacles to the Gospel, were weakened, and new civil rights were secured to the Protestants. The respect for Protestant Christianity was increased, and prejudices were dissipated by witnessing its beneficent fruits; while multitudes were brought within the reach of the Gospel, who, but for these troubles, would never have heard its messages.
The connection of Mr. and Mrs. Benton with the Board and the mission terminated in June, 1861, though they remained in Syria some time longer.
The Arabic New Testament having been completed and published, the mission resolved to proceed, as soon as possible, with the translation and publication of the Old Testament, under the direction of Dr. Van Dyck. The British and Foreign Bible Society requested permission to adopt this version; instead of the one formerly issued by them. The result of a friendly negotiation was, that the American and the British and Foreign Bible Societies agreed to publish the version conjointly, from electrotype plates furnished by the former. The price of the reference edition was fixed at ten piasters, and of the pocket edition at five, or about forty and twenty cents, which placed them within reach of nearly all who could read.
The importance of this work cannot easily be overestimated. Imperfect translations, and type which seemed to caricature their alphabet, had done much to prejudice Arabic scholars against the Christian Scriptures. By the labors of the mission, these objections were now removed. The educated Arab finds a book printed in characters modeled after the most approved specimens of Arab caligraphy. He soon perceives the style to be that of a man who is master of this wonderful language in all its grammatical and idiomatic niceties and rich resources. As a literary work it secures his respect, and thus invites a candid perusal. If he reads it, he finds the truths of Christianity clearly and correctly stated. Its beneficial influence will yet be felt, it is hoped, not only by the Christian sects of Mount Lebanon and Syria, but by the many millions who speak that language in other parts of the world. This work alone, worth many times what the mission had cost, could not have been accomplished, except by Christian scholars residing permanently among Arabs, and for substantially missionary purposes.
The sale of the Scriptures, notwithstanding the poverty of the people, was unprecedented. In 1859, it amounted to four hundred and forty-eight copies; in 1860, to four thousand two hundred and ninety-three,—a nearly ten fold increase.
Dr. Van Dyck was preparing a voweled edition of the New Testament, suitable for Mohammedans, written in the style of the Koran, which required much care and labor. This was completed in 1863.