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Updated: June 17, 2025
King passed six weeks at Deir el-Kamr in the study of Syriac, with Asaad el-Shidiak for his teacher, a remarkable young Maronite, who will have a prominent place in this history. On returning to Beirût, Mr. King wrote a farewell letter to his friends in Palestine and Syria, which Asaad translated into excellent Arabic, and afterwards multiplied copies for distribution.
Letters were addressed from Rome to the Patriarchal Vicar of Mount Lebanon, the Maronite Patriarch, and the Vicar of Syria and Palestine, urging them to render ineffectual, in every possible manner, the impious undertaking of those missionaries.
'He is sent here, I understand, said Butros Keramy, 'to ascertain for the Queen of the English whether the country is in favour of the Shehaabs. Could you believe it, but I was told yesterday at Deir el Kamar, that the English consul has persuaded the Queen that even the patriarch was against the Shehaabs? 'Is it possible? said Rafael Farah, a Maronite of the House of Eldadah.
It was afterwards ascertained, that the Maronite bishop, having learned that the leases of the missionaries would soon expire, came to Beirût just before this invasion, with an excommunication for every Maronite who should permit his house to be hired by a missionary; and prepared by bribery and intrigue to bring also the Greek bishop and the Moslem rulers to act in concert with himself, in driving Protestant missionaries from the country.
I look up to the Maronite villages, perched on the slopes of Lebanon, with scarce a wish to climb to them, or turning to the sparkling Mediterranean, view "The speronara's sail of snowy hue Whitening and brightening on that field of blue," and have none of that unrest which the sight of a vessel in motion suggests. To-day my friend from Timbuctoo came up to have another talk.
A single sacristan walks behind him, his only retinue, and befitting his limited resources; but the Maronite prelate is recompensed by universal respect; his vanity is perpetually gratified, and, when he appears, Sheikh and peasant are alike proud to kiss the hand which his reverence is ever prompt to extend.
'Shall it ever be said that I am of the same nation as Hamood Abuneked? said Butros. 'Ah! it is very dreadful, said Rafael; 'a man who has burned convents! 'And who has five hundred Maronite horns in his castle, said Butros. 'But suppose he restores them? said Francis El Kazin. 'That would make a difference, said Rafael Farah. 'There can be no difference while he lives, said Butros.
Sir Richard Wood was born in London, a son of Catholic parents. From his early boyhood he aspired to enter the diplomatic service. The East attracted him strongly, and in order to learn Arabic he went with another young Englishman to live in the Lebanon. In Beirut they sought the hospitality of the Maronite patriarch.
From thence they proceeded to the Maronite Convent of Mâr Antonius Khoshiah, situated on the brow of an almost perpendicular mountain, where was a printing-press. Nearly all the inhabitants of that part of Lebanon are Maronites, acknowledging allegiance to the Pope. Thence they visited the Cedars of Lebanon; and then crossed the rich plain of Coelo-Syria to Baalbek, at the foot of Anti-Lebanon.
'That would be a year without rain. 'And mighty things your Maronite nation has done! rejoined Francis El Kazin. 'If there had been the Syrian nation instead of the Maronite nation, and the Druse nation, and half a dozen other nations besides, instead of being conquered by Egypt in 1832, we should have conquered Egypt ourselves long ago, and have held it for our farm.
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