Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/241

Rh in these words: "Le clef de leur pays est dans les mains du patriarche qui habite le couvent de Kochânes. S'il revenait à l'Eglise, tout le peuple des montagnes, son troupeau spirituel, imiterait cette soumission." Two thousand francs were accordingly remitted from the aforesaid Society with the avowed object of making a proselyte of Mar Shimoon, and the most sanguine hopes of success were entertained by the papal party. After a discussion which lasted for several days, the missionaries were obliged to leave the country without having made the least favourable impression upon the Nestorians or their chief; and it is to be feared that had they not retreated in time they would have been expelled from the Tyari by force. A native eyewitness informed me that the conference was broken up by Mar Yohanan, a Nestorian bishop of Ooroomiah, and a zealous supporter of the Independent missionaries, who addressed the meeting to the following effect: "Fathers and brethren! If a Mohammedan were to come amongst us, and ask us to embrace the religion of the False Prophet, should we listen to him or bid him welcome? Even so these men are come hither to seduce us, and I beg that they be no longer entertained."

Mohammed Pasha had not forgotten the Nestorians all this time, but continued his intrigues against them, and sent frequent reports to Constantinople representing them as a race of robbers and rebels who set at nought the authority of the Sultan. He moreover directed Abd-ool-Samed Beg, the Emeer of Berwari, to write him a letter respecting the house which Dr. Grant was then erecting it Asheetha, and dictated to him how he was to describe it. This letter, which was accordingly written, informed the Pasha that a certain Englishman was raising an extraordinary edifice in the Tyari countiy measuring 300 yards square, and containing no less than 250 rooms, and that as many Nestorians were engaged in completing it. Mohammed Pasha lost no time in forwarding this lying production to the Porte, hoping that it might induce the government to place the Tyari under his supervision, and authorize him to put a stop to the building. There can be no doubt, moreover, that as he anticipated ultimate success in his projects, he was anxious that no Franks should be present when he first assumed the government of the Tyari