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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



the declaration before that same assem- 

 blage that the Sultan had taken this posi- 

 tion, in that way giving the pledge of the 

 Koran to the legitimacy of that step. 



Not only that, but the Sultan gathered 

 together the ambassadors and ministers 

 and the representatives of all the foreign 

 powers and declared that he had given 

 his assent to the promulgation of a con- 

 stitution. 



Not only that, the soldiers were assem- 

 bled, and they in the presence of the 

 populace of the city took their oath of 

 allegiance to the new constitution. 



So every step was taken to assure, so 

 far as the future could be assured, the 

 conclusive adherence of the government 

 to this new policy. 



All this news came to Beirut during 

 those two or three days. There came 

 also the statement that the people were 

 to prepare for the election of the electors, 

 who then should elect the deputies for 

 the Parliament that met yesterday. And 

 then the city broke loose. It could no 

 longer restrain its enthusiasm. Even 

 then there were some who would not 

 believe that it was true. 



I have a very shrewd and intelligent 

 Syrian friend, with a touch of pessimism 

 in his make-up. He said to my brother, 

 who met him upon the street one day 

 in August, "If I had been told by my 

 most trustworthy friend that these things 

 were happening in Beirut, I should not 

 have believed it" ; and he continued : "I 

 myself went down to the great meeting- 

 place, before the government offices in 

 Beirut ; I myself went down to the 

 Bourge and, after all these years of wait- 

 ing, I saw with my own eyes that these 

 wonderful things were taking place, and 

 still I do not believe it is true." Men 

 were saying things that they had not said 

 during their whole lifetime. They were 

 saying "fraternity," they were saying 

 "equality," and they were saying "lib- 

 erty." If they had said those "things the 

 week before they would have been in 

 danger. Boys were hawking telegrams 

 and newspapers about the city containing 

 all the wonderful news uncensored. 



I have a friend who is editor of a 



newspaper in Beirut. A few months ago 

 there inadvertently appeared in one of 

 the advertisements of that paper an 

 Arabic word forbidden by the censor. 

 Immediately he was sent for and his 

 paper was suspended for three months 

 because of that one word. 



Now everywhere men, women, and 

 children were crying out these forbidden 

 words. What had not been allowed for 

 thirty years was in evidence all over Bei- 

 rut. Men gathered in large groups. 

 Audiences and orators sprung up like 

 mushrooms. The torrent of eloquence 

 that poured forth there was such as 

 would put Niagara to shame. 



CHRISTIANS AND MOHAMMEDANS PUB- 

 LICLY EMBRACE 



There were people mingling together 

 there who during the past years had been 

 bitterly antagonistic to each other, but 

 who now were showing their friendship 

 in public; Greek Orthodox and Moham- 

 medan priests were embracing each 

 other; branches were cut down from the 

 trees ; rugs were brought out from the 

 houses ; the streets were lined with people 

 offering their hospitality to their new- 

 found brothers ; everywhere, even among 

 the criminal classes, there were these evi- 

 dences of good fellowship. 



For the past years we have been 

 troubled in Beirut by a gang of Moslem 

 ruffians who are worse than ruffians and 

 who terrorized a certain part of the city. 

 Opposed to them was an equally danger- 

 ous gang of Christian ruffians. (And 

 permit me to remark parenthetically that 

 when I use the word "Christian" I use 

 it in the purely political sense. In the 

 Turkish Empire any one who is not a 

 Jew, Moslem, or Druse is a Christian. A 

 man was once asked by a traveler as to 

 whether there were any Moslems in the 

 town from which he came ; to which he 

 replied, "Moslems ! not a bit of it ! We 

 are all Christians. Let any Moslem show 

 his face in our village, and we will smash 

 his head for him ! We are Christians !") 



Well, there were Moslems and Chris- 

 tians in these two gangs of ruffians, keep- 

 ing, as I said, all the city terrorized. But 



