Other Historic Riots

New Zealand Tablet, 2 August 1906, Page 10

Other Historic Riots

By an easy association of ideas, the fanatical outbreaks recorded m the last paragraph recall Ihc memorable Philadelphia riots of IMI. The Native American and Know-Not hi ng party were in the height of their agitation for the exclusion of foreigners, und oi" all Catholics, whether American or foreign, from public office and public representation. Brazen firebrands and intriguing politicians iswrt t like a storm of evil spirits- through the country , press and pulpit joined in the mad clamor of the hour , and the atmosphere was laden with insane calumny. At that time Catholic children were compelled to read the Protestant version of the Bible in the public schools. A request was made that they should be permit ted to read the recognised Catholic version of the Scriptures And then all over the country swept like a tornado the cry : ' The Bible in danger ! ' The author of ' The Olive Branch ' (an American Episcopalian e'ergyman) describes the subsequent proceedings, .so far as Philadclph.a was concerned. Jrish Orangemen and other foieign foes of ' Popery ' ' were among the most conspicuous and active membeis ' in the movement 'A d rty Orange fl.ia; ' flew over the rioters, and Catholic churches weie burned iown to the tune of ' The Boyne Water '. Here is how the Protestant eye-witness sums up Ihe results of a movement Ihat was hardly fi\e months old ' Two Catholic churches burnt, one thrice fned and desecrated, a Catholic seminary and retreat consumed by live torches of an incendiary mob, two rectories and a most valuable library destroyed, forty dwellings in ruins, about forty human lives sacrificed, and sixty of our fellow-citizens wounded ; riot, rebellion, and treason rampant on two occasions in our midst ; the laws set boldly at defiance, and peace and o-der prostrated by ruffian violence '. It was like a chapter from the history of Belfast. ♦ ' Graced with the wreaths of \ietory "" over defenceless nuns, etc., a chosen and well-armed gang of the Philadel 'hi a rioters set out to burn churches a«d convents and phindcr homes in New York. Their northern brethren prepared to rive them a gre a t reception in the City Hall Park. I n the meantime the Catholics were preparing for the onset of the wreckers from the City of Brotherly Lo\e. Bishop Hughes called upon the Mayor of New York and urejed him to ■nrevent the Knownothing demonstration in the City lla.ll Park. After a fair and outspoken preliminary statement that the Catholics were prepared and determined t o protect their own, the Mayor asked : l What, then, \vould you have me do ? : Dr. Hughes (as reported in Iris ' Life ', by Hassard) replied :—: — ' I did not come here to tell you what to do. lam a churchman, not the Mayor or New York. But if I were the Mayor, I would examine the laws of the State, and see if there were not attached to the police force a '

battery of artillery, and a company or so of infantry, and a squadron of horse. And I think I should 1 find that there were ; and if so, I should call them out. Moreover, I should send' to Mr. Harper, the Mayor-elect, , who has been chosen by the votes of this party. I should 3mind him that these men are his supporters ; I should warn him that if they carry out their design, there will be a riot ; and I should urge him to iise his influence in preventing this public reception of the delegates.' Well, the demonstration in the City Hall Park never came off. But New York Catholics had, nevertheless, to stand to their defences. The ' yellow ' reactionaries determined to destroy St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was soon after the burning down of a convemt in Boston. Henry De Courcey and' John Gilmary Shea "tell in their history how the cathedral was prepared for a siege. 'The streets leading to it were tom up, and every window was to be a point whvnce missiles could be thrown on the advancing hordes of sacrilegious wretches, while the wall of the churchyard, rudely constructed, bristled with the muskets of those ready for the last struggle for the altar of their God and the graves of those they lo\ed. So fearful a preparation, unknown to the enemies of religion, came upon them like a thunderclap, when their v a n had nearly reached the street leading to the cathedral. They fled in all directions in dismay.' And thus the threatened church-destruction ended as harmlessly and happily as did the later attempt to burn the church in llaslingden, when the late Michael Davitt and his comrades secured a 'bloodless victory over Lancashire wreckers by fining their pistols into the woundless atmosphere. So up into the harmless air Their bullets they liicl send ; And may all other duels have That upshot in the end !' It is the punning prayer of the man who sang the Song of the Shirt. Well, 't-agedy and comedy, like justice and peace, often meet ami Kiss.