Page:The Nestorians and their rituals, volume 1.djvu/357

Rh fired from three pieces of ordnance which had been brought hither from Mosul for that purpose, and the desert was quite enlivened with the military parade, and the gaudy coloured dresses of the Coordish chiefs, who had joined the escort at Tcil Agha. From one of these, I learned that a serious outbreak had nearly taken place between Bedr Khan Beg, and Shereef Pasha at that village. It appears that the former had come to meet the new Pasha at Tcil Agha with a force of 8,000 horsemen. All went on smoothly until yesterday, when the soldiers who had been ordered from Mosul having reached Roomeilat, and finding that his Excellency was still at Tcil Agha, went forward to join him. On the appearance of this troop, and the arrival of his spies, who also communicated to him the intelligence that there were three cannon planted at Roomeilât, Bedr Khan Beg left his tent abruptly, and was just about to leave the encampment with all his followers, when Osman Effendi succeeded in persuading him to dismount, and to return. Shereef Pasha, it is said, gave him a severe reproof for his conduct, and in the afternoon inspected the Coordish troops on foot, having previously dismissed all his attendants. I had a long conversation with his Excellency during the afternoon, when he made many inquiries respecting the Nestorian affairs, and took frequent occasion to style Bedr Khan Beg "a brute." Most truly did this monster deserve the title for his barbarous treatment of the unfortunate Tyari, which had lately been followed up by a fresh persecution of the Jacobite Christians of Jebel-Toor. It has already been mentioned how he forced these poor people to work upon his newly-planned fortifications without pay, and under the lash, since which time he had plundered many of their monasteries, and just before we left Mosul, the news arrived of his having compassed the death of the Jacobite Maphrian (Primate) of Midyât. What immediately instigated him to this atrocious crime does not appear; but it is said, that the deceased Bishop was obnoxious to him, because of his zeal in confirming his people in the Christian faith, and in persuading them to suffer any indignity rather than apostatize, which the Coords were attempting to force them into. According to the current account of this murder, Mutran Abd-ool-Ahd