The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-23 00:00:00

RIOTS 1N BELFAST.

The proceedings of last night (Friday), says the
_Northern Whig, are a striking commentary upon
the real or affected confidence in the inoffensive cha-
racter of an Orange, and the long suffering meekness
of a Catholic, mob. Divided into two mobs, the
Orangemen attacked the houses of those against
whom, on political or religious grounds, their en-
mity had been kindled. One mob applied itself to
breaking the windows of Yi.r. Coyle's house in the
Ormeau-road. Mr. Coyle is a Roman Catholic--
that is the head and front of his offending. Another
mob, estimated at about a thousand strong, attacked
the Royal Hotel, in Donegall-place. The cry was
raised " To the Whig office !" and the rioters set
out thither, through Donegall-place, attacking Mr.
Hughes's bakery en route. The police, meeting them
here, prevented the destruction of the buildings
and machinery of this office. The mob, disap.
pointed, took its way round Donegall-squat'es
North and West to the house of Mr. Finlay, the
proprietor of the Whig, in Donegall.r.square
South, on which they opened a systematic at-
tack. The glass in front of the house within
reach of their missiles was speedily demo-
lished. The hall, the parlour, the drawing-room,
and one of the bedrooms are now strewed with
large stones, which cannot have been picked up on
the spot. They must have been brought from a
distance. Their appearance makes it probable that
they were taken from Peter's Hill or from OA
limestone quarries on the Antrim road. Mr. Tigin-
lay is absent on the continent ; and at the time of
the attack, the only persons in the house 'were two
female servants. Had not this been the case loss of
life, or serious personal injury, 'inst., almost un-
avoidably have occurred. The ',lumber of stones
thrown makes it next to certain, that one or other
of them would have struck any person in the front
of the house. Their size and weight ensure that a
blow from them would have inflicted serious, if not
fatal, injury. The amount of damage done to and
in Mr. Finlay's house cannot now be estimated.
There has, it is clear, been considerable destruction
of property ; but everything is as the rioters have
left it. The stones lie where they fell. All will
remain as it is until the magistrates shall have had
the opportunity of examination.
We have spoken hitherto of the outrages of the
Orange party. We regret to say that the Catholics,
contrary to the excellent and Christian counsels of
the Right Rev. Dr. Dorrian, the coadjutor Bishop
of Belfast, have suffered themselves to be provoked
into measures of retaliation of a very undiscrimi-
nating character. Protestant meeting houses have
been attacked—among them that of the Rev. John
Scott Porter, whose influence was used (unsucess-
fully, we regret to say) to induce the committee of
the Botanic Garden to rescind their grant of the
arden for the purposes of the demonstration. Mr
Porter must look back with satisfaction on the pat t
he has taken in this matter. If his advice had been
acted upon' the peace of Belfast would be still un-
disturbed.

In Bally macarrett, a great number of houses oc-
cupied by very respectable people Were attacked in-
discriminately, and whether the residents were Pro-
testant or Roman Catholic made no difference to
the mob. Where the mob came from we know not,
but they totaNy demolished the Windows that came
in their way. In other quarters of Belfast similar
disgraceful proceedings took place. In Church-
street and North-street We are informed that up-
wt.rds of twenty houses were damaged by stone-
throwers, a mob of whom, we understand, was
principally composed of mere lads and girls. Not
single local constable or policeman was near at the
time to prevent them destroying the houses of re-
spectable and inoffensive citizens, as was done by
them.

The meeting-house of the Rev. Hugh Hanna was
attacked by the Roman Catholic mob, and a great
deal of injury done. In Ali Held, Brown-street,
Carrick-hill, and other places in that neighbour-
hood, many dwelling-houses were completely
gutted ; and on the previous evening the houses of
Mr. Savage, in Boundary-street, and Mr. Savage,
in Townsend-street, were left, especially the former,
with scarcely a pane of glass in the windows.
During the evening the Rilt Act was read several
times by Mr. Danville, Dr. M'Gee, Mr. Lyons, and
others of the magistracy ; but their desire, it was
evident, was not to resort to extreme meaaures. A
great number of injuries were inflicted on constables
and civilians by the mobs of rioters, but the wounds
received were not of a dangerous character.
The Dublin Evening Mail says that, owing to a
telegraphic message received by the authorities,
.202 constables and sub-constables and four officers
of the constabulary left by a special train on Friday
night for Belfast.