‘The strategic importance of the Euphrates valley railway’ [‎20] (197/204)

20
say of his Dragomans. He must be able to converse freely with Arabs,
Turks, Bedouins, Druzes, Kurds, Jews, Maronites, Afghans, and Persians,
and understand their religions and prejudices. He must have his re
liable men everywhere, and know everything that goes on throughout
the length and breadth of the country. He should have a thorough know-
lege of Eastern character. He must keep a hospitable house. He
should be cool, firm, and incorruptible. He must not be afraid to do
his duty, however unpleasant and risky, and having done it, if his
Chiefs do not back him up, i.e., his Consul-General, his Ambassador,
and the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Tuikish local au
thorities know he has done his duty at his own risk ; they admire and
they fear the individual, but they despisehis Government whilst they fawn
and cringe to it. Thus the interests of England, and English pride,
are trampled in the dust. Such a man is Captain Burton, the present
Consul at Damascus, and such a man is like a loadstone to the natives.
Were he in no authority the country would flock to him and obey him
of their own accord from his own personal influence amongst them.
But this is exactly the man who does not suit the present Wali and
his creatures, upon whose misrepresentations and falsehoods the Porte
has demanded his recall; it is no secret, for all Syria is ringing with it,
and the Wali has it proclaimed in the bazaars. I may add that all
Syria is looking on with anxiety and distress lest he should be removed.
No other class of man could hold his own against the present local
Turkish authorities, and they would treat him like a kind of upper
servant. If the Porte knew its own interests it would ask to keep the
English Consul and discharge its own faithless employ^. That troubles
will follow his removal, I may safely prophesy ; and that his successor
will be insulted in the streets, and compelled by terror and sickness to
run away from his post, is very possible. That is what we may come
to. Let the name of England never more be mentioned—let her sons
be incorporated with Turkish subjects, whilst Prussians and French keep
their proper position and their national dignity.
Now that the uninitiated will have understood something of the
position of affairs, I may resume my subject. When the depo
sitions of Hajj Hassan were taken at the Consulate, Damascus,
he declared that a Moslem friend of his, named Hammud ibn
Osman Bey, originally from Latakia (Laodicea), but domiciled at
Beyrout, had suddenly disappeared, and had not been heard of
for 12 days. Presently it became knoivn that Hammud, about two
years ago, when in the employ of Mr. Grierson, then Vice-Consul of
Latakia, was drawn for the army, but had not been called upon to serve.
He was in the habit of hearing the missionaries preach, and on more
than one occasion he declared that he would profess Christianity—a
course from which his friends dissuaded him.
Hammud determined, in the beginning of 1871, to visit Beyrout,
and Mr. Grierson gave him letters of introduction to the missionaries
and to the superintendent of the British Syrian schools, requesting that