of Messrs. King, Bird, Goodell, and the lamented Asaad,
he came out with a full exposition of the points at issue between
Protestants and the Church of Rome, which attracted much attention.
An answer was repeatedly promised, but none ever appeared, and it
was thought the Maronite was himself half convinced of his error.
Wortabet's weight of character, and his perfect knowledge of the
people, made his influence at Sidon exceedingly valuable, and it was
increasing and extending. But on the 10th of September, 1832, a
short illness, supposed to be the cholera, terminated his earthly
labors. From the first attack, he regarded the disease as fatal, and
met death with a calm reliance on the Saviour.

The operations of the mission in 1832, were disturbed by plague,
cholera, and war. The ravages of the plague were not great, but
cholera occasioned intense alarm. It swept over Armenia and along
the western borders of Persia, cut off one third of the pilgrims
from Beirut to Mecca, was exceedingly fatal at Cairo and Alexandria,
and made approaches to the seat of the mission as near as Aleppo,
Damascus, Tiberias, and Acre; but from this terrible judgment the
inhabitants of Beirut were providentially shielded. They suffered
much, however, from the rapacity of the Pasha of Acre, until his
power was broken by the invading army of the Viceroy of Egypt, under
Ibrahim Pasha. With the aid of ten or fifteen thousand men from
Mount Lebanon, under the Emir Beshir, Ibrahim Pasha took Acre; then
pushing his conquests to Damascus, established the dominion of Egypt
over Palestine and all Syria.

The papal bishop of Beirut having published an answer to Mr. King's
"Farewell Letter," Mr. Bird made a reply in thirteen letters,
containing many extracts from the Fathers and Roman Catholic doctors
against the bishop's opinions and expositions of Scripture.
Preparatory to this, the mission library was furnished with the more
important works of the ancient Fathers; and what was wanting to
complete the polemic department of the library, was munificently
supplied by Mr. Parnell, of the Bagdad mission; who also presented
the mission with a lithographic press for printing in the Arabic and
Syriac languages. About this time, Mr. Temple was instructed to send
the Arabic portion of the Malta establishment to Beirut, where Mr.
Smith, who returned from the United States in 1834, was to have the
charge of it.

Mr. Smith had been instructed by the Prudential Co