ABSTRACT
The precise nature of the inter-sectarian system emerged much changed from the decades of Ottoman-Egyptian rivalry of the nineteenth century. But inter-sectarianism did, after twenty-six years of strife, prevail. Furthermore, it provided a climate in which a veritable cultural renaissance flowered in Lebanon. That fact in itself provides an important pointer to the hardiness of the inter-sectarian idea in Lebanon. Exceptionally for the Druze, the Lebanese Jumblatts came to be accepted as members of their sect. Prince Bashir II Shihab had done much, at various stages in his rule, to further the development of an inter-sectarian system in Lebanon. But he had also sown the seeds of his own downfall, when he totally alienated Mount Lebanon's Druze. Each qaim'maqam was to have a council to advise him, consisting of representatives of all the significant sects, not just the Maronites and the Druze.
