THE DRUSES AND THE MARONITES.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1158, 1 July 1885, Page 3

THE DRUSES AND THE MARONITES.

The enmity existing between the Druses and the Maronites dates from the 10th century, a.d. 996, and has been (says a Home paper) continued to the present year. The Maronites, a sect of the sth century, professed themselves to be Christians, though followers of one Maron. The sect spread over many parts of the world, including Rome, Palestine, and Syria ; they are now nowhere to be found but in the district of the Lebanon. About 1180 they numbered upwards of forty thousand, living in the neighborhood of Mount Lebanon, and were then of service to the Christian kings of Jerusalem. The Maronites after this became united to the Church of Rome. The Druses are a warlike people, professing the Mahometan faith of a very fanatical character; the sect arose in Egypt, from whence they fled to Lebanon to avoid persecution. They now retain very little, if any, religion at all, eat pork, drink wine, practise no baptismal rite, and neither pray nor fast. So late as the year 1860 there were quarrels between the two people, when the Druses suddenly attacked the Maronites, and massacred them without regard to age or sex. It was then, while the atrocities were committed, that Abdel-Kader, who held the citadel, opened the gates and rescued a large number of Maronites. For a month the murderous riot lasted, and then was renewed on a vaster scale at Damascus; 4000 Damascus Christians perished by the sword between July 9th and 11th, 1860, The Maronites, it is said, are not very enterprising or manly ; they are, however, veracious and industrious. The Druses are altogether a martial, war-loving people, and the great difficulty now in Constantinople is to rule these two conflicting peoples justly, by the judicious appointment of a Governor-G-eneral of the Lebanon for the next five years. Oil and water cannot mingle, neither can the Druses and Maronites. The latter are neither warlike nor enlightened, while the Druses are soldiers, and regard independence and sovereignty as their birthright.