The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1886-08-14 00:00:00

TM.: -BELFAS T DISTURBA.NCES.

TILE new Government; has mt r.t the outset '
Váj Ii an Irish trouble of an irritating and
serious character. The Belfast Riots, in-
stead of quieting down before the augmented
police force. have gathered violence and
E;r )r'vti more ;old more disastrous, until the
leads bAween Orangemen and Nationalisb,,
anit he frequent collisions of armed authority
with the infuriateol ruob have yielded a sad-
dening harvest of death. Belfast has for
several days been in what is nothing more
nor less than a state of civil war. Quite a
number of lives have been lost, while the

personal injuries inflicted have been numer—
ous, not to speak of the great destruction of
of property which has ensued. Party feel-
ing and religious rancour ran so high that
the town was really in possession of maddened
rioters, and doubtless resort to force became
absolutely requisite; yet, we fear, unneces-
sary lengths were gone to by the temporarily
demoralised authorities. It was surely
superfluous to fire upon the people to the
extent to which it seems this extreme course
was carried during the worst stages of the
disturbances, for the indiscriminate use of
the musket resulted in the massacre of help-
less women and children whose lives, with
discretion and that forebearance which be-
comes authority, might have been spared.
The leadert and directors of the police were
undoubtedly panic stricken, and altogether
unprepared to offer a proper and dignified
resistance to the natural outcome of excite-
ment among an excitable race. Peace might,
we argue, have been maintained, even in
Belfast, without such disgraceful and tragical
slaughter. Too late to prevent much of the
fatality, considerable bodies of troops were
ordered to the town. Had they been held
in readiness their presence would have
doubtless had such a wholesome deterrent
, effect as to have prevented the outbreak, or,
, at any rate, to have dwarfed it into compara-
tive insignificance. Surely there had been
warning enough beforehand of the smoulder-
ing bitterness which was ready almost at
any moment to burst into death-dealing fire.
The authorities most certainly played an.
other part than their proper one of trusty
keepers of the peace. Indeed, it is more
than insinuated that the importation of a
large number of policemen to Belfast from
the Catholic districts of Ireland has had
much to do with increasing the ferment.
Officers of notoriously anti-Orange sym-
pathies have, by their very presence, proved
obnoxious to the Ulstermen; and it would
be idle to contend that party-feeling has
been unknown among the representatives of
law and order. Someone is seriously to
blame for all this; and, holding that to be
the case, we do not seek to absolve from
stern censure either the Orangemen or the
Protestant mob. The conduct of both has
been reprehensible in the highest degree,
bat wherever a great riot occurs, involving
the destruction of life and property, there
is invariably shortcoming to deplore on the
part of the police. The whole matter calls
for searching investigation by an unbiassed
and unprejudiced tribunal, with the view of
preventing a recurrence of such shocking
scenes. It is held by many on the spot that
the violence of the police has been shameful.
Of course all reports transmitted at such a
heated time from so • disturbed a district
must be taken cum gran° salis, but the un-
doubted fact remains that the constables
sent to Belfast from Catholic centres inspired
such hatred, either by their bearing or by
their known hostility to Orange views, that
the alien police had themselves to be escorted
by troops, and so protected from the more
desperate of the Ulstermen. It is difficult
indeed to believe that such excesses as have
been described day by day in the newspapers
could have been committed, except with
authority utterly demoralised. The strength
of the law consists in its coolness in a crisis,
and if the authorities in Belfast are found
to have been incompetent or lacking in dis-
cretion, they should bear the full odium at-
taching to failure of duty. We do not con-
! demn them unheard, but wait the result of
the interrogations which Parliament will
shortly have to deal with on the subject;
though we confess the whole business has at
present an ugly look. A strong effort ought
to be made to keep the instruments of law
and order, the constabulary and their di-
rectors, altogether outside the range of
political or sectarian influences, for so long
as they are not, in this respect, beyond sus-
picion, there is room for mischief and ill-
feeling. Liberals and supporters of Govern-
ment should aid with impartiality in prob-
ing the cause of these disturbances for the
sake of what is beyond all party considera-
tions, the welfare of the nation. There can
be no doubt that the making of Ireland the
battle-around of political parties has caused
Irish Government, for the present, to be
mach more difficult than it otherwise would
have been; and to restore order and content
among opposing Ulstermen and Nationalists
there will have to be inter-party agreement,
as alsa action, and that decisive, in which
' Conservatives and Liberals can concur.
Meantime, authority must be vindicated at
all costs, and Government have a right to
claim the support of all loyal and patriotic
Irishmen and Britons in stamping out I he
riot spirit. At the same time force must; be
put forth wisely, not wantonly. If necessary,
though that of course is a broad figure, the
whole of the Queen's army ought to be em-
ployed rather than let disorder dislodge the
law; yet there is no need for blundering
tyranny. There must be the strength of
statesmanship with exhaustless resources,
and the country will not be slow to back up
Lord Londonderry and Sir Michael Hicks-
Beach in a vigorous campaign again fanati-
cism and rioting, if they will but display
calm determination and prompitude in deal-
ing with the difficulty which has confronted
them on the threshold of office in Ireland.

COMMENTS ON CURRENT TOPIC,.

THE preliminary business of the Parlia-
mentary session, such as the election of
Speaker, swearing-in the new members, is-
suing writs for fresh elections in respect of
Ministerial appointments, and the advance-
ment of Commoners to the Upper House, is
over, There is routine business to follow,
which will scarcely be of a controversial
character, except, it may be with regard to
the mode of quelling flagrant breaches of the
peace in Ireland, aud then we shall a proro-
gation, In the interval, Her Majesty's
Government will devote themselves fully to
the perfection of a policy for dealing with
the whole Irish question, and they not un..
naturally, and not unreasonably ask for for •
belrance and fair play while engaged upon
such 4n. important task. We need not look,
therefore, until next year for the declaration
Of the Ministerial plans, for no important
statement is likely to be made until the re-
cess is over by any member of the Govern-
ment.

A GOOD deal of importance is attnehed b,
po;itieal gossips to the meeting of the }ni-
p •rurs of Austria and Gerwany at Gzlitein,
al;d the atsenee of the Czar of ki
comineuted upon fr,ey. It is gathered that
• el.ustro-lierwanio alliance is stronger