DISCORD IN JERUSALEM.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 487, 21 April 1909, Page 9

DISCORD IN JERUSALEM.

GREEK MONKS AND THE PEOPLE. BLOODSHED THREATENED.

(BY H. T. B. Diiew.) ' (Special, to' -The Dominion.)

I - : Jaffa Road, Jerusalem, , •. February 13, 1909; . In my_ last article,' I. described the series of events that had led up to the arrival of the commission! appointed to inquiro into the; deposition ;of' the ■ Patriarch. ; The commission commenced .its sitting ill a leading hotel here, just without the'city ; walls. •.'During the week things; have been moving quietly, . though underneath the' calm 'exterior thero has been a good deal .of suppressed excitement and expectancy;'among; the natives. A popular demonstration was made on Wednesday , evening', when the,'Greok 'Patriarch '. visiied''.''tho commission,' , the native Christians csoorting him in. crowds ■ to /the hotel, and filling the air with their strange and harsh cries. This was the first occasion; for a month, on toiich the Patriarch had stepped out or his palace. An Answer Demanded. ■ . 1 • . ' . Early'.jin the week'.the Patnaroh had exa' wish, .to.. the commission to' enter ins church to conduct service and pray,. a duty lie has been/ unable to perform for moro than a month.. Tliia desire ' was brought! beforo the commission, ar.d Nazim Pasha,' its' head, said that- as the Patriarch was 'Patriarch ;/until officially/deposed, .ho. possessed the' right to do as lie desired./ The pe'oplo asked for -the Pasha's documentary, statement ;that'the 'Patriarch was'' verily Patriarch, but they were then -informed' that thoiigh the; Pasha was, willing to;- give this, the Creek members of tho commission were averse. In tho meantime, tho Patriarch/had como into: conflict :with tho Greek, Consul, who /had / been siding , .with tho synod, and had • practically , ordered him not. to ; again outer the Patriachate. Tho Pooplo Impatient.* i ''• As' Sunday is| approaching, the peoplo . have, become.' impatient, •' and yesterday (Friday) "they protested loudly at tho absence .on' a decision.; They declared to tho commission that they - would escort, tho Patriarch to prayer themselves, but the venerable Father said tho church must be made ready for him, and the vestments,' :'and that the bishops- and monks must bo there to .assist/ . To-day. the impatience of the natives' culminated in an excited demonstration in front of the commissioners'- hotel. Delegates from various, parts; of Palestine, had been' called;in by .'tho'natives. ...This ; morning, a little before midday, I happened ; to. be passing down the/ Jaffa' Road, and came iipon, | tho. demonstration. About 700 'people present, . some with ; banners', . and others' with little .red flags. There was an '.'angry waving and. shaking'of hands iu the air—a peculiar habit among the Semitics—and tmual cries were directed .to the upper room in winch the commissioners were/sitting; this went on for some timo, the crowd growing larger .Efforts to get the people to disperso. failed)' and finally a speaker came to tho balcony and -promised an answer regard-' I ,o S Jp° :P ? t "^ roh ' during the afternoon. At ,lAdO p.m; the decision was communicated' through one of the;native leaders—an able 1 and impassioned orator, who spoke from the balcony.Tho decision was a -. clever compromise, and was accepted as such. Tho 1 atriarch was to remain Patriarch— which meant that the synodXhad been wronc in declaring him incapable-and he- would bo ro-yested with, full authority.. He was also .P r ° ml . s «l soldiers to the church if-he desired it. But further than thixt the commission; would not go, nor. compel the monks to play their-part. After hearing this.- the -people gradually dispersed. '. An Exciting Incident. .Expecting interesting developments in the aftorhcwii, Irepail'ed to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, early. The usual hour of .service.-i5; 2.10 .p.m. In front of 'the,church entaico.is a krge-courtyard,, walled on ono side by the church building, and on the three others by the sides of a convent. Entranco is. given, to the courtyard by very narrow apertures leading from two streets.- In this enclosure a very largo crowd had gathered though nearly: .half werp Turkish soldiers' who were drawn up in commanding' places and fully armed. Recently now Mauser rifles have been dealt, out..: Soldiers also lined the parapets of the convent, and, others looked down from tho top of the church. Obviously the people were very excited, and 0110 or two harangues. were .delivered; I, was informed that {lie Patriarch would not come to the church, because, ho said, it was useless for him to attempt to hold , servico without bishops arid monks, and without tho clutroh vestments, which tho synod hold. The, monks on • their part were afraid i to show their noses outside the iron door of their stronghold-.'/ It was an open statement '.that a massacre of them would' havo been committed thon and there had they done so. Seeing the temper of the . people, I haven't any doubt that blood would havo been shed. Tho soldiers wero present \to prevent this, ami their. large jiumbefrs testified tA tho Government's feeling on the Among tho crowd wero many Arabs, from outside tlio city, underneath whose robes ns they were occasionally br.ushed aside, one caught a glimpse once or twice of a pistol stuck in the belt, or of a knife. It is usual for an Arab to carry his knife, and occasionally a firearm, but this display -was. something special. /'" After nearly half-an-hour of waiting an exciting incident occurred. A apeakeOiad ba-

Passing the Patriarch's house a little later, in company with an Englishman who for 20 years lias represented'a missionary society here, wo observed that.the entrance to tho monk's convent contained eight soldiers where. two could comfortably have stood'. I'lioy .were all fully armed. /Tho street here is about 8- feet wide, and the monies and tlio Patriarch's, houses face each other; The arab is naturally a man of many words and threats beforo becoming a man of action, which fact must bo considered in reading an occurrenco of this, nature, but people who have lived hero for ;years were exceedingly relieved that to-day's affair passed off without bloodshed. Both patriarch and monk undoubtedly acted wisely in keeping indoors; A Curious Coincidence. It wr.s. a remarkable' coincidence that: just at tho timo when tho- climax was expeoted this afternoon, about 130 Russian bluejackets were conducted past the church in a tour of inspection ,of tho sights of tho city. Ihcy had arrived this morning from Jaffa', where a gunboat Jies anchored. Another two hundred are hourly' expected hero. The bluejackets,:of course,, brought no arms, but their presence alono • and that' of their officers, is significant, as wilr bo easily concluded from!the position Itussia fills in the FudS n to' 9UarrCl ~ Wh ' 0h 1 baV ° already al " .To a freq Britisher: the interesting question regarding tho .whole: trouble (of which the present, emeute is but a:i offshoot).is:';Will r ll6 nghts of the people triumph? Turkey's new. constitution; is. on, its trial beforo the people. It is generally believed, that the outcome will be a compromise, one that will be.announced at Constantinople, but Turks and AraW all over tho empire will be watch- ?! - to s * e whether .the '• eguality of. citizenship, the rights of individuals are to equality iind tho general freedom, which are ( to place Turkey tn uvm' n great nations, are yet be withheld owing to considerations which tS main issu™ 0 bol "« loom W blind