Defending the Altars

New Zealand Tablet, 2 August 1906, Page 10

Defending the Altars

A recent biog-aMhical sketch of the founder of the Land League says of him :—: — ' It is. recorded of young Davilt that he took sturdy part m resisting the anti-Catholic bigotry which blazed fiercely in Lancashire in his early days. At th a t time there was an outbreak known as the " Murphy Riots " occasioned by the peregrinations of an anti-C a tholic lecturer of the Slattcry type. Catholic churches were threatened with attack, and Catholics i n Lancashire had to stand to arms to defend their fanes. In Haslingden Da,,itt organised his companions, provided them with re' volvers, and, with their aid, met the onset of a mob bent on wrecking the Catholic elnircn of Tlaslin c d(n With their re. olvers I) a^ itt and liis companions faced the fray They purposely fired hi«h. and so avoided bloodshed but their couraeeous attitude sufficed to terrify the mob and turn it from its purpose, so that the Latnoltc church was sa' ed. In The n-isrhborin<r towns when any Catholic church was known to be in danger of attack, DavUt and his comrades were promptly on the spot to save the sacred edifice fr o m desecration.' The disturbances referred to took place in various parts of England in 1867. They were caused by a scries of

abominable No-Popery ' lectures ' that were delivered under Orange auspices by ?.u unclean itinerant lay adventurer who gave himself the name of Murphy. An interesting account of the. disturbances is given by the. Protestant historian, Rev. W. Nassau Molesworth, in the third volume of his • History of England, 1830-1874 ' (pp. 325-7). From it we learro that the Mayor of Birmingham refused the foul-mouthed firebrand the use of the town-hall for his tirades. The ' lectures ' were then delivered in a\ woockn building; erected by the Orange and other supporters, of Murphy. The fellow's foul effusions ware printed and sold m thousands. Serious riots ensued. The military were ealhd out, the Riot Act read, and for two or three days Birmingham was in an uproar. The No-Popery adventurer and the Orange paity (says Molesworth) persisted in their 'mischievous agitation', and riots broke out, in other parts of England where he appeared (including llaslingden) ' The pamphlet,' continues Molesworth, ' was ultimately seized under Lord Cami -bell's Act for suppressing indecent publications, and many thousand co, ies of it were destroyed '. -i