Islam the Cause of the Massacres.

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them to apostatize. But during the six weeks, from 1st June to 15th July, more have been murdered, and more have been made renegades, than during all the seven preceding centuries."

With these facts before him, no man will be at a loss to discover the true source of Syria's miseries, and the real origin and cause of the recent massacres. Islâm is at the root of the whole. Its spirit, foul and fierce, animates alike its stranger rulers and the great body of its native population. It will permit no change, it will tolerate no reform. It will exercise unlimited, irresponsible control over the properties and lives of all subject to its sway, or it will exterminate them. It will use all agencies, it will take advantage of all circumstances, and it will employ all means to effect its purposes. It allows no feelings of gratitude, honour, or humanity to restrain or set aside its designs. It is the determined and deadly enemy of civil and religious liberty. So long, therefore, as Islâm is paramount in Syria, the case of the country is hopeless, because reform is impossible. Islâm has hitherto opposed every theory of reform forced upon the attention and acceptance of the Turkish Government; and it has effectually prevented the reduction of any accepted theory into practice. The language used by Lord Stratford de Redcliffe in a recent speech in the House of Lords, is striking and most important: "It is true the Sultan has accepted, and has even proclaimed to his people, a system of reform, which, if it had been properly carried out, might have prevented these disasters, and probably would have done so, and placed the empire on a totally different footing from what it is now on. Indeed, I must say with confidence, that had this been so, the empire would have been in a much better condition than at the present moment,-a condition of which the disasters which have occurred in Syria exhibit so prominent and striking an example. It must occur to your Lordships, as well as to myself, that a heavy responsibility rests upon the Porte, in consequence of this state of things. If we look into the question of Syria, it is impossible not to observe, in immediate connection with it, that the great Eastern question is involved; and I don't hesitate to say that that question is at this moment absolutely brought home to our doors by what has occurred in Syria. You will in vain put down what has taken place there; in vain you will staunch the blood which has flowed; in vain you will take measures to prevent the renewal of those atrocities, unless you find the means of engaging the Turkish Government to redeem their pledges, and give effectual execution to those reforms which have been so often urged upon them. Unless that is done, it is my firm conviction that you will only patch up the difficulty for the moment; and you will leave the

seeds of fresh disturbances and fresh difficulties of a still more disastrous and dangerous character."

The first step towards the permanent pacification of Syria must be the virtual renunciation by its rulers of that faith which we have proved to be the enemy of all reform. The various sects must be placed on an equal political footing. Their rights as men and citizens must be securely guaranteed to every sect, tribe, and class. When this is done, the resources of the country and the energies of the people will begin gradually to develop themselves. But the accomplishment of this will require a wise head and a strong hand. It will require more,—it will require unity of purpose and of action over the whole land, from Mount Taurus to the Sinai Peninsula, during a succession of years. To attempt it with the present system of divided authority would be vain. To attempt it under the leadership of any of the ordinary Turkish Pashas would also be vain. Turkish Pashas are generally indolent, and they are universally venal. A temporary governor has, besides, no permanent interest in the prosperity of the province; and he would, therefore, have no inducement to undertake the arduous and responsible task of remodelling Syrian society, and reducing its distracted and discordant elements to order and harmony. It is a fact patent to every man who knows anything of the East, that every Pasha sent to Syria, or elsewhere, pays for his post, and can seldom calculate on more than a year's term of office. His first and grand object on reaching his seat of government is to amass sufficient money to replenish his purse. His subordinates are forced to contribute; and such local chiefs as can afford the largest bribes are placed over the districts, towns, and villages. What system could be invented more admirably fitted to impoverish the country, promote party strife, and create rebellion! Each new governor, moreover, is to a great extent ignorant of the country, the people, and the very language; and he has neither the time nor the inclination to learn. He is at such a distance from Constantinople, and the central Government have so many other things to occupy their attention, that no watchful control can be exercised over his acts. All these facts make it plain, that if Syria is to be saved from anarchy and ruin, the status quo must be abolished.

There was one brief period in modern times during which Syria visibly revived, and appeared to give fair promise of future prosperity. That was during the rule of Mohammed Aly. His rule was stern, in many cases severe, and in some instances perhaps cruel; but it was effectual. In the eight short years of his power, notwithstanding all the opposition he encountered from Turkey, he reduced the various warlike tribes to almost complete subjection, and to a great extent disarmed

A Separate Government Indispensable.

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He

them. He rendered life and property everywhere secure. gave a blow to Muslem fanaticism, from the effects of which it never revived until within the last few months. He compelled several of the wandering tribes of the desert to settle down into peaceful cultivators of the soil, and he made them all tremble at his name. He opened a wide door for the influx of European industry, commerce, and civilisation. Mohammed Aly was nominally a Muslem; but his whole policy tended gradually to set aside the spirit and principles of Islâm from the civil government of the country.

Taking all these facts and circumstances into consideration, we believe that Syria requires, for its permanent pacification and future prosperity, a separate government, somewhat similar to that of Egypt. Should it be found impossible to obtain the Porte's consent to an independent government, its ruler might acknowledge the suzerainty of the Sultan, and pay a fixed tribute ; yet he ought to possess independent administrative power, and an army of his own. His independence, in this sense, ought to be guaranteed by the European powers; and a mixed commission might be appointed to aid in the devising and carrying out of needed reforms. The resources of the country are amply sufficient to maintain such a government; they only require development. Both soil and climate are well adapted for the production of silk, cotton, olive-oil, and wine, in addition to an abundant supply of grain. The population contain in themselves the elements of industrial and political greatness. The Western Powers have now a fair opportunity of making a noble experiment; and it is to be hoped that mutual jealousies and fears will not be permitted to interfere. There are surely enough of inducements to this work, altogether apart from the gratification of petty national vanity, or the gaining of mere territorial aggrandizement. There is the preservation of the most interesting country in the world from utter ruin, the salvation of half a million of human beings from massacre or exile, and the relieving of Europe from the almost certain prospect of a general war. Prompted by a pure desire to accomplish such great and good objects, let our own country faithfully discharge her Eastern

mission.

ART. III.-1. Autobiography of Leigh Hunt; with Reminiscences of Friends and Contemporaries. 3 Vols. London,

1850.

2. The Indicator. By LEIGH HUNT. London, 1822.

3. The Seer; or, Common Places Refreshed. London, 1850. 4. The Old Court Suburb. 2 Vols. London, 1855.

5. The Town. By LEIGH HUNT.

London, 1858.

6. A Jar of Honey from Mount Hybla. By LEIgh Hunt. London, 1848.

7. Imagination and Fancy; or, Selections from the English Poets. Third Edition. London, 1846.

8. Wit and Humour, selected from the English Poets; with an Illustrative Essay and Critical Comments. BY LEIGH HUNT. London, 1848.

9. Stories from the Italian Poets, with Lives of the Writers. 2 Vols. London, 1846.

10. The Poetical Works of Leigh Hunt. Now finally Collected, Revised by himself, and Edited by his Son, THORNTON HUNT. London, 1860.

"THE animosities are mortal, but the humanities live for ever." So says Christopher North, very finely; and no one was more ready to concur in that generous sentiment, than the old enemy of whom he was thinking when he uttered it. But it is seldom that the heartiest reconciliation can do away with the effects of war. Beat your sword into a pruning-hook as you may, and you will not heal the scars it once inflicted, nor restore the limbs it has lopped off. We fear that the literary enmities of the last generation form no exception to the general rule. In some respects at least, they may serve, as well as any other text, to illustrate the terrible tenacity of life which there is in the evil that men do. Professor Wilson, and Leigh Hunt, could well afford to forget the feuds they had outlived; the one could welcome with exuberant applause, works which, twenty years earlier, he would probably have assailed with invective as unmeasured, the other could receive the kindly criticism of his ancient opponent, with all the greater pleasure because of the quarter from which it came: but the united generosity of both could not altogether obliterate the effects of the old hostility. We have no wish to rake up forgotten quarrels. But, since we believe that Leigh Hunt's admirable genius is far less generally appreciated than that of any other writer of his own age, and of equal mark, we are bound to say that we trace his exclusion from his rightful place in the estimation of his contemporaries, mainly to the implacable pertinacity of abuse with which his

political opponents assailed him; nor does it seem to us at all unlikely, that the same cause should continue to operate, though in a different way, even in the minds of the present generation.

We are far from saying, in the teeth of Bentley, that a man can be permanently "written down," except by himself. Still less do we mean to imply the existence anywhere of the old personal bitterness of hatred, which the outspoken politics of the Examiner newspaper, brought upon its luckless editor. Hardly a remaining partisan of those days, we should imagine, would wish to be greatly outdone in charity even by the large-hearted leader whose magnificent declaration of peace we have quoted. All malicious and angry feelings have been as fugitive, we doubt not, as the wretched controversy which provoked them. But the wrong done, we say again, has been far more durable. Leigh Hunt was so long and so shamefully misrepresented, that people came almost of necessity to share in the antipathy, who had no share whatever in the original dissensions which gave rise to it. To the great body of the public his name was made familiar only in connection with accents of contempt, and indignation, and reproach. And even when, under the gentle influence of time, people who had heard nothing of him but slander, came to think somewhat better of the man, it would have been strange if the old prejudice had not retained vitality enough to make them undervalue the writings.

Mr Hunt's early writings, moreover, as it seems to us, were of a class which must suffer most from prejudice, if they happen to be exposed to it. Their claims to recognition were more apt to be defeated by ridicule and harsh criticism than those of far less valuable works. Truly original as they were, they were not such as produce an immediately powerful effect on the general mind. They excited both delight and admiration in those to whose sympathies they appealed, and who were at all willing to surrender themselves to the charm; but this was by means of such quiet beauties as force their way into no mind that is prepossessed against them. "You must love them ere to you they will seem worthy of your love;" and it is obvious how greatly the likelihood of their seeming so will be diminished, if all the power, and wit, and sarcasm of the prevailing criticism of the day are exerted to convince you that they are worthy of your contempt. This was their unlucky fate with the generation of readers to whom they were first offered. They possessed, also, certain peculiarities, which it was easy to distort. into really offensive deformities; peculiarities which, judiciously handled, were made to excite feelings much more nearly resembling personal antipathy than literary disapprobation. Mr Hunt began very early, as he expresses it in his autobiography, "to talk to the reader in his own person, and compare notes