The resources of Syria are inexhaustible if only properly developed. The trade in wine may rival that of Spain, Portugal, or France; the grapes are beautiful, and if they were only properly selected, and proper means taken to secure a good wine in this country, neither in Europe nor Asia is there greater facility for establishing an extensive and lucrative trade in this one department than in Syria and Palestine? The fruits are delicious; and those grown in the open air and without any trouble, rival in flavour, quality, and quant.i.ty, those of any other country, where the greatest pains are taken and great expense incurred to accomplish this.
Then, again, the articles of tobacco, wheat, wool, etc., and innumerable other articles; madder root, the beautiful dyes of Syria (the Tyrian dye is not known now); one and all may, if properly cultivated and brought into the English market, rival its imports from all other parts of the world. The immense plains could, with very little outlay or labour, give us wheat and wool, indeed supply all the world; and Syria will, I hope, yet, at no remote period, become the granary of the west.
The white wool of Scripture was up to a late period partially grown in the country around the Euphrates; and, as is suggested by Dr. Thompson in the articles already adverted to in the Colonial and Asiatic Magazine, when an improved breed of sheep from English colonies, Spain, etc., shall be introduced into Syria, we may expect to supply with its resources the markets now chiefly furnished with wool from America, Australia, Germany, etc.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE COMPARATIVE INFLUENCES OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT FAITHS IN SYRIA.
There is perhaps no country in the world which so much engages the attention of the Propaganda of Rome as Syria and the Holy Land. To possess a leading influence on its destinies, has ever been the ambition of the Pope. What could have been more iniquitous than the absurd pretensions of the Roman Catholics in the Jerusalem question? It may be necessary to go back a little, and to acquaint the reader, that France has for many years claimed a sort of protection over the Romish Churches in Syria, and in periods of commotion in Mount Lebanon has exhibited the French colours from the convents, whilst all the appearance of state protection from the Propaganda has been kept up of late years, as must be well known in Europe. Thus a perpetual excitement is created in Mount Lebanon, the Roman Catholics looking to France, the Greeks to Russia, and the Druses to England. All this must be naturally displeasing to the Turkish government, and destructive to the country itself, whilst the agents of each of these parties are exciting them to perpetual outbreaks; and most disgraceful scenes are continually occurring at Jerusalem, even around the sepulchre of our blessed Lord; so that there is presented to Christendom, the melancholy spectacle of Turkish soldiers called in to prevent Christians ma.s.sacring one another. To increase the confusion, the last French amba.s.sador at the Porte, M. Lavalette, demanded a renewal and ratification of some privileges, stated to be the substance of an old treaty with France, and so far succeeded as to obtain a promise from the ex-minister, Reschid Pasha, to comply with his wishes. Pending the negotiation, however, the French minister being absent for a time, Russia went to work and had this promise set aside. His Excellency M.
Lavalette, returning and finding this, prepared to stand to his colours, and brought the _Charlemagne_ man-of-war to sustain his demand. The grand vizier was called upon for an explanation, and as he could not defend his conduct, was dismissed from office, and the question thus remained in abeyance for months, but has now again been mooted. France has got a renewal of the original privilege, whilst Russia continues obstinately to oppose these concessions. The question is thus still at issue, and it is difficult to say how, when, or where it will end, unless England, as the only power best suited to do so, mediate between such conflicting parties. At least such is my humble opinion. {371} The Holy Sepulchre once exclusively in the possession of the Roman Catholics would indeed be a bright gem in the diadem of the Romish Church, the acme of their ambition, and a keystone to the hearts and affections of every Christian inhabitant in Syria; but though they have as yet failed in this, they have many other strongholds and fastnesses in the land. Look at their convents at Carmel, Jaffa, Ramlah, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Sidon, Beyrout, Acre, Damascus, and Aleppo, and which are daily increasing. In these, and many other towns, they are the chief point of attraction to the weary wayfarers; to these they flock for rest and for sustenance-to these the sick betake themselves for medical advice and medicine-and all is afforded them gratuitously. They have also schools for the instruction of children in Arabic, Italian and French; and though many poor members of the Greek Church would gladly abstain from sending their children to be under the tuition of the priests, did any other opportunity offer itself for their education, still, in many instances, they have now no alternative if at least they desire that their children should be instructed in the European languages. At the present day, the sea-coast towns of Syria are rising into such great importance from the rapidly-increasing commerce with Great Britain and America, that to be possessed of a smattering of foreign languages is a source of gain to the rising generation of Syria; hence, all are desirous of obtaining this knowledge; and for the accomplishment of their desire, there is no choice left but to attend the Roman Catholic schools.
There is, as I have already stated, an innate enmity between the Greeks and Latins in Syria-a deadly strife in a doctrinal point of view; still the young Syrians of the Greek persuasion, and even Moslems who, from self-interest, are prompted to attend daily these Romish schools, are also compelled to submit to their rules; and the course of instruction there consists almost exclusively of books and lessons well adapted to impress upon the young imagination the doctrines and observances of that Church. What follows from this intercourse? The teacher begins to plot against the pupil; he softens down difficulties; he wins confidence by kind words, and occasionally by small gifts, whilst a strict endeavour is made to mix up with these studies as much pleasure and amus.e.m.e.nt as is admissible with the drier pursuits of knowledge. These and a hundred other methods are adopted by the Roman Catholic priests to gain over the esteem and regard of the pupils; and as a natural result, the child, perhaps innately of an affectionate disposition, feels an impulse to be grateful-grat.i.tude warms into friendship-friendship ripens into attachment; and then the battle is won; the child is only nominally a Greek-in principle and at heart a Romanist. The parents and friends may be long in discovering the painful truths of the case (if ever they arrive at the knowledge), for in exact proportion as the child becomes imbued with his teacher"s notions, so does he imbibe that unchristian spirit of concealment and deception, which it is the great aim of his preceptors that he should be possessed of; and having reached this point, as he grows in years so he grows deeper in cunning, and becomes a powerful instrument in the hands of his instructors, "a wolf in sheep"s clothing," turned loose among the flock of his unsuspecting brethren, and whilst a strict adherent to the outward observances of the Greek Church, is a very Jesuit at heart, working out with secret but almost certain success, the utter slavery of all those that fall into his meshes. This is the existing evil in Syria-a growing danger-a picture of truth not at all overdrawn. This is the "wild beast" of the present day in Lebanon, which is "pa.s.sing by and treading down the humble and unsupported Thistle."
Hospitality is the prevailing feature of the East; it is a precept and practice handed down from generation to generation since the time of the patriarchs. Abraham, when he unconsciously received and waited upon the three heavenly messengers, was doing exactly what is practised by the wild Arabs of the desert to this very day. "_Baetic baetuc_" (my house is your house) is, with a very few exceptions, the maxim in the heart of every inhabitant of Syria, the more refined citizens of Damascus and Aleppo placing the best rooms in their houses at the disposal of the stranger, as well as their horses, their servants, the best fruits of their gardens, and even themselves. All is cheerfully given up to their guests; and that man is a black sheep of the flock who is wanting in courtesy to the stranger, be he Christian, Moslem or idolater, rich or poor.
The poor peasant, in his lowly hut in the village, and the Arab in his tent, will gladly share his frugal repast with the friendless stranger, and allot him a corner of his own cushion and portion of his own bed-covering, if he have nothing better to offer. In fact, the latter will not allow a stranger to pa.s.s without entering his tent-door and tasting the bread and salt of hospitality. A man without hospitality is looked upon as worthless and unnatural; but a people without hospitality-the idea is too monstrous for an Oriental to conceive. {375}
The Latin convent on Mount Cannel has a widespread fame in the East. The Hadgi from the far-distant sh.o.r.es of India, whom chance or speculation has brought from Mecca into Syria, has ofttimes been refreshed, and rested under the shadow of these its hospitable walls; and he naturally returns to his friends and his country full of the good deeds and the kindness of the monks of the great _deher_ (convent) of _Mar Elias_.
Another, perhaps, has been sick nigh unto death, and in his sickness was nursed, kindly waited upon, restored to health, and then sent forth with a blessing, by the _Hakeems_ of this convent. What follows? The virtues and charities of these Catholic brethren are ever afterwards the theme of his daily conversation. Again-a pilgrim, penniless and starving, has received food and raiment, with a small sum of money to carry him on his way home, from the Carmelite friars. The pilgrim, through after-life, cherishes a thankful grat.i.tude towards his timely benefactors; and this, to a greater or less extent, is the case with all the minor convents and monasteries in Syria.
Now, while the Roman Catholics have their convents, the Greeks and Armenians their monasteries; while the Druses, Maronites, and Arabs have a corner in their humble dwellings, and a crust and a sup for the penniless pilgrim and the weary wayfarer; yet, alas! not even in Beyrout can the English boast of ever so mean an establishment for the exercises of charity-charity, that golden rule, laid down by Him whom they profess to look to as their only Saviour and Redeemer, as the great Pattern and Example of their lives. When I reflect upon the enormous sums spent in sending fleets to fill Syria with bloodshed and misery, to the ruin of many of my unfortunate countrymen, I must confess my surprise is turned into indignation.
Amongst the fraternity const.i.tuting the monks of the various convents, there is always one or more somewhat skilled in the art of healing; and generally attached to these establishments, as in the instance of the convent on Mount Carmel, is a dispensary well stocked with drugs, and with the newest and best medicines recognised and used by physicians. In some few of the princ.i.p.al towns in Syria there are resident European doctors, princ.i.p.ally Italians and Frenchmen, with a sprinkling of Germans and Poles, and one or two Americans. With the exception of the last-mentioned, they are mostly in the pay of the Turkish government, and are either connected with the quarantine establishments, belong to the troops, or are attached to the court of the Pasha. Relative to these, however, I may quote what Dr. Thompson, who was for some time at Damascus on a medical mission, and who was extremely beloved and esteemed by the natives there, states, viz.,-
"That on one occasion he was requested by the seraskier, or commander of the forces for Arabia, to perform an important operation on a soldier, as the ordinary medical staff were not able or willing to do it. In the course of the operation, the medical staff one and all failed in their aid, and some of them even fainted; and the writer had to rely on his own presence of mind, and unaided, to terminate the operation. Imagine an epidemic in a hospital under such surveillance; the mortality is frightful even under ordinary circ.u.mstances. In acute cases, and in serious surgical cases, there is little or no chance for a successful result; and the soldiers and sailors seldom resort to the doctor if they can avoid it. The European renegades in the service are very little better, with a few exceptions. The monks that practise medicine as a profession have a very fair knowledge of simples, and compound their own medicines, and employ a good many recent chemicals and modern ingredients in the European _Materia Medica_; but their knowledge of acute disease is necessarily limited."
The natives, in the hour of sickness, have first of all recourse to simple herbal remedies, which have been handed down through many generations, and are chiefly held in estimation by the old people of the villages. When these remedies are found to fail, then, and oftentimes only at the eleventh hour, they bethink them of the Franks inhabiting some convent in the neighbourhood; and as all Franks are supposed to be physicians by birth, recourse is had to their healing art in preference to Italian or other quack medical professors, who are harsh in their treatment of the sick, unconscionable as to charges, and in any real case of difficulty seldom, if ever, successful. The monks are always ready and willing to avail themselves of any such opportunity of displaying their skill and charity, and it requires no second invitation before one or more of them are at the threshold of the sick man"s house, and a few minutes find them busily employed about the cure, if it be practicable.
In many instances, the patient is only suffering from severe constipation, or it may be a severe attack of ague; and in these cases a quick and almost miraculous cure is soon effected. That it should be considered a miracle, or an interposition of Divine Providence, brought about by the prayers and benedictions of the holy friars, is the main object they have in view, hence no opportunity is lost, on the first arrival of the priestly doctors, to impress upon the minds of the relatives and friends in secret the almost certainty of the patient"s demise, unless a special interposition be made by them on his behalf. If this does not ultimately lead to the conversion of the household, it shakes them in their own creed, engenders confidence towards their benefactors, and leaves a grateful impression behind for many gratuitous charities rendered. The least return they can then make, is to comply with the oft-urged request of the monks to send their children to be educated at the convent school.
Luckily for the credit of Great Britain, she sends few charlatans from her colleges; and an English or American quack is a thing heretofore unheard of in Syria, whereas charlatans of all other nations have been superabundant. An English doctor possesses an unsullied reputation in Syria. He is looked upon in the same light as an English gun, or an English watch-a thing that can only be manufactured or brought to perfection in England. Hence, if the report be spread that an English Hakeem, or even an Englishman of any denomination, be travelling in the neighbourhood, the halt and lame, and blind, and otherwise ailing of all the surrounding villages will congregate near to where his tent may be pitched, and pester him incessantly for remedies, if it be only a little white sugar weighed out by his skilful hands, to be used in cases of ophthalmia. Every sect, and even Mahommedan ladies, came and consulted Dr. Thompson, and received him at their own houses unveiled. The judicious physician is treated in the light of a gifted individual; he is looked upon as having the power of life and death in his hands: in the sick-room he is courted and treated with the greatest deference and respect; and even whilst pa.s.sing in the streets, the occupants rise to salute him. It is not uncommon for him to find himself impeded in his progress by the prostration of the female members of the family to kiss his garments, even his shoes. This has occurred repeatedly, to my knowledge, in Damascus; and the doctor was also appealed to in private matters as the umpire, and for his advice in domestic and personal affairs.
I may also here relate an incident in my own life in support of the influence which a Hakeem can obtain over the prejudices of Eastern people. During my last visit to Constantinople, whilst visiting at the house of Husseen Pasha, His Excellency, in the course of conversation, hinted to me, that the rumour of my medical studies in Europe had reached him; and after a little introductory preamble, he begged of me to see his wife, who had been confined to her bed for some days. I can hardly describe my astonishment at such a request coming from such a quarter; however, I expressed my readiness to do all in my humble power to alleviate the sufferings of the invalid. I was accordingly conducted by a eunuch through a perfect maze of dark and mysterious pa.s.sages (coughing all the way, as is the fashion, to give notice of the approach of a male, for the females to veil themselves) to the bed-chamber of the sick lady, whom I found reclining upon a mattress, laid upon a carpet on the floor.
It being announced to her, that the Hakeem Bashi was at hand, an attendant, old Dudu, came forward, and our interview commenced.
After a short conversation, in which she made many anxious inquiries relative to the Frank country and the English ladies, about whom I found she had very absurd notions, we came to the real object of my visit. I asked where the pain lay, and it will cause my readers to smile when I state her reply. She told me that I must cast her nativity according to Eastern customs, and thus discover the seat of pain myself. I told her that the system of medicine which I had learnt in England did not admit of such practices, and went on to shew her the utter fallacy of such doings. She answered me, that her own doctor in Circa.s.sia formally adopted this plan, and that, after ascertaining the star under which she was born, appropriate verses from the Koran were written upon three slips of paper: one was put in water, which she afterwards drunk; one was burnt with perfumes to drive evil spirits from the room; and the third was placed upon the affected part. After some little difficulty I discovered the seat of her malady, and that she was suffering under a tumour. I then felt her pulse, and requested her to shew me her tongue. Here another difficulty arose, as she could not shew me her tongue without unveiling; but the old lady who stood by told her that the Prophet allowed it before the Hakeem and Priest, at the same time quoting verses from the Koran in a.s.sertion of what she stated. This had the desired effect; and on her removing her veil, I was perfectly dazzled with the intense sweetness and beauty of her face. She was a Circa.s.sian, one of the fairest of her race, and had just arrived at Constantinople. After some trouble she permitted me to inspect the part affected; on beholding it, some lectures delivered by my revered Mentor, Mr. Phillips, and also by Mr. Ferguson, immediately recurred to my mind. In the lectures they said, that incision with the knife was the only remedy in such cases.
After two days I ventured to break this to my trembling patient, much to her terror; but on my a.s.suring her that I would remove it without her being sensible to pain, she at last consented, and I successfully performed the operation, putting her under the effects of chloroform, which appeared to the bystanders pure magic. They had heard tell of such things from the Arabian Nights, but could hardly believe their senses when actually beheld by themselves in the present day.
I have already endeavoured to show in how many various ways the Latins possess superior opportunities, and are in a better position than the Greeks, in having greater facilities daily afforded them as far as regards the work of conversion; but there is yet another great source of advantage to them, and one which holds out many tempting inducements to the heavily-taxed peasantry to embrace at once, and without any further hesitation, the Roman Catholic faith. This is the privilege exercised by the consular authorities, and even by the very priests themselves, of protecting from outrage or insult every one who has embraced their religion, and who gives evidence of the sincerity of their intentions by regular attendance at ma.s.s, and by the rigid observance of high-days and holy-days, feasts and fasts. They also give them employment; and they become, _de facto_, protected by the French government; their taxes are light in comparison with those levied on their fellow-countrymen, and they are entirely exempted from that grinding system so commonly practised and played off upon the peasantry by the soldiery and underlings of government-a cla.s.s of individuals that are a perfect bane to the Ottoman empire.
Before concluding these remarks, I must point out another glaring instance in which the Latins have gained a decided ascendancy over the Greeks in the East. I allude to the establishment by the Sisters of Charity of a hospital at Beyrout, in which the first medical advice there procurable has been secured. Here the poor fever-stricken natives have every attention paid to their wants in the hour of sorrow and sickness; while, side by side, on neat iron-bedsteads covered with snowy linen, we stumble across the last sad remains of the French Roman Catholic sailor, and, in the next bed to his, the Protestant British tar. Both have been equally cared for, as far as bodily concerns go, but there has been a fearful distinction between the spiritual consolation of the two. The Frenchman has received daily-hourly visits from the nuns, who have spoken to him smilingly of heaven, and lighted death"s dark pathway with the rays of cheerfulness. The Englishman, on the contrary, has felt himself friendless and solitary-no gentle lips have stooped down to whisper comfort and holy counsellings to the quickly departing soul. The reason is, that there is not at present an English clergyman or an English doctor in Beyrout.
The Sisters of Charity, and their other kindred agencies in the East, are beneficial in their way. During seasons of sickness they are all in full requisition, and deserve their meed of praise. As to these religious ladies, whatever may be their proselytising propensities-we know, that where they chiefly confine themselves to their meek and humble calling, their indefatigable zeal and never-ceasing exertions at all seasons and at all hours, are greatly to be commended. The patients visited at their own houses retain a grateful sense of the patient attention shewn them in the hours of need and in seasons of epidemic, when in the East friends desert each other. The inst.i.tutions under their control are remarkably well kept, and far more neatly and economically conducted than any hospitals or schools in England. The manner in which their internal economy and household arrangements are conducted and _efficiently_ superintended is highly creditable to them.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE REMEDY.
From the earliest days of Christianity, the blessed truths of the Gospel were almost invariably accompanied by acts of mercy and love. At first, these truths were impressed upon the memories of reckless and darkly ignorant mult.i.tudes by signs and wonders, well suited to the times and people; and miracles, resulting in immediate temporary benefit to the afflicted, were apt, though but faint, ill.u.s.trations of the incalculable boon about to be conferred on the immortal souls of the believers and followers of our blessed Redeemer-the blind received their sight-the lame recovered the use of their limbs-the sick were healed-and even the dead were brought to life again. The early apostles were physicians both to the soul and body; and those that had faith but as a grain of mustard-seed went about doing good to the sick and dying. These miracles were palpable and beyond the power of refutation; and as long as the necessity for something beyond the comprehension of man existed, such things were requisite to draw and fix the attention of ignorant and superst.i.tious idolators; but as soon as the true faith had taken root, and the young sapling no longer required outward and visible props to secure it from those tempestuous hurricanes of persecution which, through so long a period, raged with hardly any intermission, then palpable miracles ceased to be exercised on earth-the visible sign was removed-the word of command or the touch no longer possessed the healing virtue-but miracles of grace and mercy still continued to be performed, and they continue to this day the same, as palpably visible to the spiritually-minded man (who can distinguish the hand of G.o.d in every temporal blessing enjoyed by the true followers of Christ), as was the resurrection of Lazarus to those unbelieving Jews who were eyewitnesses to that marvellous demonstration of infinite power tempered with infinite mercy. In lieu of this power of performing miracles, or of witnessing them, men were endowed with a spirit of wisdom, which gradually developed itself in successive generations; and the sick and the dying-the maimed, the halt, and the blind, who had now no further hope of instantaneous or certain relief through miraculous gifts, resorted to the skill of physicians, men of more enlightened education than themselves, but in other respects their equals, co-partners of the joys and sorrows inherited in this world, and destined like themselves to terminate their earthly career in the grave. And these physicians, or at least some amongst them, laboured for the benefit of humanity.
At first, we may readily conceive that their resources were limited, and their primitive knowledge of medicines extremely scant; but the healing art never retrograded a single step. Of this we have abundant proof in the history of nations, as regards the advancement of this peculiar branch of science, though it is most true, that in countries such as, for instance, Arabia, which, in times past, was pre-eminent for its knowledge of medicinal drugs, and which may be said to have been the nursery of chemistry; this art has almost entirely disappeared whilst in the present day the medical profession may in Europe be said to have arrived nearly at its zenith; other sciences may have kept pace with it in their marvellous and beneficial discoveries, but none can so much claim the thankful grat.i.tude of mankind in general. Health is universally acknowledged to be the most precious of all temporal blessings, and, consequently, the pillars that maintain and prop up health have a prior claim to all others; and that man must be blind indeed, both spiritually and bodily, who does not see and acknowledge in this boon to suffering humanity the invisible hand of the Almighty Benefactor, as clearly intelligent to the man of G.o.d now, as were then the words, "_Arise_, _take up thy bed and walk_," to the hopeless palsied patient. In short, every cure and every relief afforded to the sick and dying, are so many miracles of mercy. A man meets with an accident-he is mortally wounded in battle-crushed by a railway accident-burnt in a fire-all but drowned in water-sick of a fatal malady lingering with vain hopes and vainer love of life-the marked victim of consumption-these all have their immediate and most excruciating tortures benumbed or alleviated by the skill of the physician; or, if there is hope of life, the whispering of that hope falls from their lips like precious balm of Gilead imbuing them with courage and patience to undergo suffering, for great beyond measure is the tenaciousness to life. If, on the other hand, the skilful pract.i.tioner believes his patient doomed, and p.r.o.nounces the last verdict, still he can proclaim to him the sweet hope of mercy-mercy eternal and boundless-for the penitent sinner, and help him to collect his scattered thoughts from wandering to that world which he must now speedily leave; he may whisper to him that there is still time for hope, and to hope for mercy, and he may a.s.sist him to spend these last precious moments in penitence and prayer.
What has long ceased to be a marvel amongst nations advanced in civilisation, is still regarded in the light of a miracle by the untutored portion of the world. Those who have penetrated into the remotest and least-known regions, have adduced evidence in support of this; and it is natural that a savage should regard with superst.i.tious awe and reverence, a man endowed by education with even such every-day attainments as would barely pa.s.s muster in England, France, or America; and it is as natural, that this awe and reverence should gradually give place to affection and grat.i.tude when, by the interposition of medical skill, the sick and suffering man experiences a speedy transition from pain and disease to the rapturous bliss of a state of convalescence,-and this transition brought about, too, by what, to him in his ignorance appears a magical influence. His faith in that man"s power is so great, that, if he only drop a word in proper season, the untutored mind of the comparative savage has sufficient natural energy to grow inquisitive about what so materially regards himself; and he soon feels persuaded that one from whom he has already received such convincing proofs of disinterested kindness can never be capable of doing him an injury; and this leads him to reflect; and reflection is the first grand foundation-stone, which, when once firmly set, can readily be built upon, and become, with G.o.d"s blessing, a house upon a rock. Throughout all ages since the foundation of the Christian faith, those missionaries who have penetrated into barbarous countries, have invariably found the great utility of being acquainted, however slightly, with a knowledge of medicines and their proper application. The very word _hakeem_ is a pa.s.sport to the Oriental heart and good-will. How else could Europeans, in the garb of monks, and furnished only with staff and wallet, have traversed those vast and unknown regions of China, Tartary, Thibet, etc., and have escaped scatheless to make known to the world their travels and adventures in lands and amongst people whose very name was a mystery to civilised Europe? That physicians are honoured by these people, and even in some instances gratefully remembered, is certain. This truth is placed beyond a doubt by the fact of a Chinese poet having celebrated the name, fame, and good deeds of a skilful European oculist in a lengthy poem, part of which was translated into English and published some few years since in London, taken, I believe, from the notes of the late Rev.
Mr. Abed, a distinguished American settled at Singapore. And it is owing to the fact of monks, professionally physicians, having been with impunity permitted to travel through unknown lands, that Europeans are indebted for the introduction of the silkworm from China into their own country, an indefatigable monk having ingeniously contrived to convey the eggs carefully packed in the hollow of his staff over thousands of miles, and through apparently insuperable dangers and difficulties from China to Turkey.
I have now, I hope, succeeded in proving to the reader the necessity that exists of incorporating the medical with the clerical profession in the persons of those good Christians, valiant soldiers of Christ, who are cheerfully willing to devote their lives and talents to the furtherance of the Gospel as missionaries in foreign parts; and I shall now endeavour to explain my views, hopes, and wishes, as connected more immediately with the spread of the Truth in Syria and throughout the East. Many thousands of pounds have been already lavished upon futile attempts to convert the heathen, and many excellent Christians are now to be found in England ready with open hands to further a good cause; but as I never intend to partic.i.p.ate in any worldly gain to be drawn directly or indirectly from what I am about to recommend to their serious attention and consideration, they must at least acquit me of any selfish motives, for my career in life is not in my own power; and though I have learned to prize England and the many treasured friends and privileges I here possess most highly, yet, I cannot forget my mother country altogether, and trust and hope I may be able, at intervals, to revisit its sunny sh.o.r.es for a while, and during my absence from it my every thought shall be how best to promote the spiritual welfare of my beloved brethren there.
The plan I propose as best calculated to insure, within a few years, the happiest results to Syria, is as follows, viz:-
Firstly.-That a society be formed in England, composed of benevolent ladies and gentlemen, who shall have for their aim the establishment of a charitable hospital and schools at Beyrout, and that, for the furtherance of this object, subscription-lists be opened at some of the princ.i.p.al banking establishments all over Great Britain.
Secondly.-That the donations thus collected shall be paid into the Bank of England.
Thirdly.-That when the sum subscribed shall have amounted to about two thousand pounds, a pious, experienced middle-aged medical man, be sent to Beyrout, accompanied by a chemist; there in co-operation with some intelligent native (such as Asaad Kayat, the present English consul at Jaffa, who has so materially benefited his country), to purchase a promising piece of land in a healthy and elevated position an hour"s ride from the town of Beyrout.
Fourthly.-To build there a hospital, and in the town a dispensary for out-door patients. The cost of this ground and buildings would not exceed one thousand pounds. Separate private rooms, attached to the hospital, would be very desirable for travellers, who needing medical aid or nursing, and being able to pay for the same, would prefer being thus lodged to going to an hotel. This would be a great boon, especially to the English, who might thus feel greater confidence and security in their visits to this interesting country; knowing that, in case of illness or accident, they could there receive proper medical treatment, and every care necessary to ensure their recovery. The physician attached to the inst.i.tution might, when called in to attend opulent European or native families, be permitted to charge a small fee, which could be regulated by the committee, and which fee, or half of it, might go towards the hospital expenses.
Fifthly.-If funds continued to permit, to build, in connection with this hospital (but in the town), schoolrooms for boys and girls, where they might be thoroughly taught their own language, and in it go through a course of Christian instruction, learn needlework and household duties.
Sixthly.-I propose that the requisite medicines, surgical instruments, furniture, bedding, and materials for school use, be supplied by voluntary contributions, such Christian or charitable tradespeople as feel disposed to support such inst.i.tutions contributing their mites thereto in lieu of paying money.
Seventhly.-It would be very desirable, when the hospital was constructed, if the physician there would take in as many Syrian pupils to educate as the funds permitted; to be sent, when deemed by him fit, to England to improve themselves at the hospitals here, and to increase their Christian knowledge; afterwards to be employed in the hospitals or dispensaries, which, it is to be hoped, will soon, from so excellent a commencement, increase all over Syria; for it would be desirable that eventually all posts connected with these inst.i.tutions should be occupied by intelligent natives, who could afford to be employed at much lower rates of salary, and who would exercise a greater influence over their fellow-townsmen if only from their superior knowledge of their mother tongue.
I have now endeavoured to shew that, with an outlay of two thousand pounds, very commodious inst.i.tutions might be established, and a large piece of ground be purchased at Beyrout, if a Society were formed for their establishment in Syria. Meanwhile, I have reckoned upon the charitable disposition of the cla.s.s of annual subscribers; and in this Christian land, where money is so cheerfully granted for the promotion of good and alleviation of suffering, I may safely reckon on this bounty attaining about five hundred pounds per annum, not one fraction of which but may, with judicious arrangement, safely treble the amount in the course of a very few years.
I have as yet made no allusion as to the uses to which the land purchased in Beyrout might be applied besides the erection of a hospital upon it.
Any surplus land could, at a very trifling original outlay, be planted out with mulberry-shoots; and these, if properly managed, would, in the course of three years, be fit to rear the silk-worm. After the final erection of the proposed establishment at Beyrout, and when it had been working a year, I should recommend that the society, in lieu of permitting the surplus funds on hand to remain idle, should vote the same to the purchase of some tract of land in the immediate neighbourhood of Damascus or Beyrout, and to have plantations in the fertile district of Antioch, where land and labour are excessively cheap. Thus, an outlay of one thousand pounds in landed property would, if it were all planted with mulberries, yield, in the course of a few years, an annual revenue (if the silk were sold in the Syrian market), of about two hundred pounds per annum; if reeled for European purposes, nearly double that amount. And this revenue would go on steadily increasing as the trees became older and yielded more leaves for the nourishment of a greater number of worms, and as, with the profits of the silk, additional grounds might be purchased and cultivated, I could safely guarantee that, were the society"s efforts judiciously supported by efficient agents, in from fifteen to twenty years this and similar inst.i.tutions would not only be enabled entirely to support themselves from the revenue of their estates, independent of any succour from the society, but they would even have surplus funds for the establishment of like minor inst.i.tutions in the interior.
At the first outset, the cultivation of the lands acquired in Beyrout might devolve upon the parents or dest.i.tute relatives of such of the poorer boys as were receiving a gratuitous education at the schools attached to the inst.i.tutions, and the poorer cla.s.s of girls educated at the schools, if permitted, might, during one month in the year, be occupied in reeling off the silk produced by the coc.o.o.ns on the Inst.i.tution"s estates.
It is my idea, that the system of education should consist of two distinct schools or cla.s.ses for both boys and girls; the upper or high school to be appropriated solely for the superior education of the sons and daughters of such wealthy and respectable natives as have the means and inclination of advancing their children in after life, and on whom languages, drawing, music, various species of needlework, and other like accomplishments, would not be uselessly lavished; while, on the other hand, the lower school should strictly confine itself to orphans and children of the labouring and poorer cla.s.ses, who might be instructed to read and write their own tongue with ease and facility, at the same time that they were initiated into useful trades and professions, and the girls of this cla.s.s taught plain needlework, and no useless accomplishments. As regards the diet and care of this latter cla.s.s, strict attention should he paid to _cleanliness_, regularity, order, _truthfulness_, and other good habits; at the same time that their food and raiment should, though sufficient, be neither superabundant, nor consist of such articles as might induce them in after-years, when left to battle their way through the world, to have a hankering after dainties and luxuries wholly beyond the compa.s.s of their slender means.
But to ensure success to the proper working of such a philanthropic medical mission as is here contemplated, intemperate zeal or harsh bigotry must be carefully abstained from. I quite agree with Dr.
Thompson, who, in a letter addressed to Dr. Hodgkin from Damascus, says, "I believe all who know the East, and particularly Syria, will freely admit that it is only through medical agency that a change in the religious views of the people can be effected; but even a medical man must work for years among them, and first acquire their confidence; and I believe I am not too sanguine that then, by cautious and judicious steps, he may and will do more than pure missionaries can expect to accomplish for a quarter of a century to come." "It is at the bedside of a sick person, where are always a.s.sembled all the friends of the patient, that a medical man can do the good work, and where he may do so with impunity, especially if there be a slight prospect of recovery. The most fanatical I have found raised no objection under these circ.u.mstances, even, strange to say, among the Moslems."
I may now quote the following lines from Mr. Cuthbert Young, in his "Notes of a Wayfarer," he says:-"No means are more likely to smooth down prejudices and recommend true Christianity than the spirit of benevolence that emanates from it, and that breathes in this inst.i.tution. Compulsory means for proselytising never have been, and never will be, effectual in the case of Mahommedans; but what can withstand self-denying kindness?
And what may not happen when we know that free access is obtained by Christian physicians, even to the harems of Moslems! The same vices that are so destructive in China-infanticide and abortion-prevail here; and, I believe, the use of exciting stimulants, such as opium, is also general; but the wretched patients, when placed under the superintendence of a faithful Christian physician, though they may not be prepared to embrace Christianity, may yet drink in to some extent of the Christian spirit."
The amount of good, and the favourable impression made on the people by medical missionaries, cannot be overrated. We need only refer to China.
There is no more efficient way of rendering a people, or a country, lasting advantages, than through the agency of Christian and judicious medical men.
In bringing these pages to a close, I may be allowed to express a hope that they will not prove wholly without interest to those who peruse them. My chief incentive for appearing before the public, has been from an humble desire to advocate the cause of Syria; and the patriotic will doubtless join in my prayer, that my efforts may not prove abortive. If, therefore, either directly or otherwise, I shall be the means of rousing the sympathetic energies of right thinking people, on behalf of my native land, I shall feel fully recompensed for all the time I have bestowed on this little volume. However great have been the exertions which, (as not professing authorship), it may have given me, yet the recalling past scenes and circ.u.mstances for the work has left a relish and a fragrance on my mind, and a remembrance which is sweet. I have, however, by its publication, caused a strong feeling of enmity and malice to spring up against me among my Roman Catholic brethren; and to their hostility I am reluctantly compelled to attribute a considerable change which, since the appearance of my work, has taken place in my circ.u.mstances. By fabricating reports disadvantageous to my welfare, and by using indirect influence in certain quarters, I have been made to suffer a considerable pecuniary loss; but I hope in exchange that I have gained better things.
Amongst the latter I would place the satisfaction of having candidly expressed my opinions on important subjects without regard to my worldly interests, and that by so doing, I have more effectually paved the way and pointed out the true path of improvement for my countrymen, by directing attention to the evils which exist among them, and suggesting a method by which they may be rooted out. May then those seeds of charity which have so often sprung up, blossomed, and yielded fruit for me, now do so likewise (and more also) for my countrymen. I cannot take leave of my readers without once more expressing my heartfelt grat.i.tude towards the people of this country. From all whom I have ever met, I have received that welcome and reception for which the English are justly proverbial. Even the n.o.bles of these mighty realms have deigned to honour me, by evincing an interest in the subject next to my heart. May that Omnipotent Power, to whose authority they also bend, long preserve these great and true-hearted men; and may this kingdom never cease to be the ark, the earthly resting-place of all true believers, whence, as from a vast store-house of provisions, mental or bodily, all nations under the sun may seek and find a.s.sistance.