The political and religious events then occurring were intimately connected. The conquest of Syria by Mohammed Ali, was the apparent cause of the religious movement among the Druzes already described. The defeat of the Sultan's army at Nisib, in 1839, and the feelings of jealousy towards France and Egypt, then intimately allied, led to the determination of England, Russia, Prussia, and Austria to restore Syria and the Turkish fleet to the Porte. The consequent armed intervention made Beirut the seat of war. An English fleet bombarded the city, and the English officers, by a singular miscalculation, treated the Papal Maronites as their friends, and the Druzes as their enemies. Missionary operations were suspended. Mr. Lanneau, whose eyes had failed him, left on a visit to the United States. Messrs. Beadle, Keyes, and Leander Thompson spent the summer and autumn at Jerusalem, and Dr. Van Dyck joined them there. Messrs. W. M. Thomson and Wolcott remained at Beirut until the bombardment, when Captain Latimer, of the United States corvette _Cyane_, who had come to Beirut to look after their welfare, kindly took them and their families to Cyprus. In the presence of such mighty forces, the mission could only wait the course of events. The brethren, before leaving Beirut, had done all they could for the protection of their houses, furniture, the Arabic press, and the library and philosophical apparatus. They did this by hoisting over their houses the American flag and placing guards in them, and by an understanding with the admiral. The pupils in the boarding-school were sent to their friends. Mr. Wolcott visited Beirut during the contest, and found the Egyptian forces evacuating the town, and the British troops taking possession. He met the American consul there surveying the ruins of his house, which had been battered by the great guns and plundered by the pasha's soldiers; but the magazine beneath it, which contained most of the property of Messrs. Beadle and Keyes, had not been opened. Making his way through the ruins of the city to the mission houses, he saw the American flags still floating over them, and the guards on the ground. Soldiers had encamped in his garden, but had abstained from pillage. A few bombs had burst in the yard, and several cannon balls had penetrated the walls. The furniture, the library, the philosophical apparatus were uninjured. The native chapel in Mr. Thomson's house had been filled with goods, brought thither for safety by the natives, and these had not been molested. The field around Mr. Smith's house had been plowed by cannon balls, and he expected to find the new Arabic types converted into bullets, but not a type had been touched. Even the orange and lemon trees, within his inclosure, were bending with their load of fruit. All this was remarkable; and the goodness of Providence was gratefully acknowledged at the time, by the missionaries and by their patrons at home.