The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-18 00:00:00

The Thlgian Visit to England.

The Belgian Reception Committee who have
made 8, St. Martin's-lane, Trafalgar-square, their
head-quarters, are now constantly and assiduously
engsged in preparing the arrangements for the
grand series of fetes to Ise given in July in honour
of the visit of the Belgian Volunteers. The cul-
minating event of the celebration will be the grand
ball at the Agricultural Hall, which is expected to
surpass anything ever witnessed during a national
demonstration in England. The King and Queen
of the Belgians will be present, and there is good
reason for believing that the magnificence of the
Sultan and suite will add largely to the splendour
and gorgeousness of the scene. The illuminations
will be as superb and their designs as artistic as the
utmost attention to decorative arrangement can
effect, and will be fitted up by the Messrs. Defries,
of Houndsditch. The walls of the immense build-
ing will be lined with mirrors, groups of flowers and
statuary will occur at frequent intervals, tiny foun-
tains will play in half-concealed grottoes, and the
great extent of the building in which the fete is to
be held will be made available to render the coup
d'ccil on the occasion as brilliant and diversified as
possible. The following is the official programme
as at present arranged :—On Thursday, July 11,
the Belgian contingents to the number of 1,000
will embark on board her Majesty's ships at Ant-
werp, and will, it is expected, reach the
mouth of the Thames on the morning of the
12th. They will be there met by the Royal Thames
Yacht Squadron and other clubs, and be escorted
to Woolwich, where they are expected to arrive
about 11 or 12 o'clock. They will be here met by
the Belgian Reception Committee and taken on
board three or four steamers, and brought
up to London. On landing at the Custom-house
they will be received by a guard of honour of
Volunteers, and escorted to the Guildhall,
where they will be entertained at a dejeuner, for
which the Corporation has voted the munificent
sum of £1,500. After this they will be escorted
to their various hotels and lodgings, and it is ex-
pected that some of the theatres will be visited
in the evening. On Saturday, the 13th, the whole
of the Belgians will be conveyed by trains to Wim-
bledon, where at noon they are to be officially
inspected by Lord Spencer, the President, and the
Council of the National Rifle Association. The
President of the Belgian Reception Committee will
then present to each of the Belgians a silver badge,
and a riband in commemoration of their visit to
England, and it is expected that these will be con-

sidered as a passport for those wearing them to all
places of public entertainment. The rest of the
day will be occupied in inspecting the camp and the
shooting points, and in the evening some place
of amusement will be visited. On Sunday,
the 14th, the Zoological Gardens will be
thrown open to the Belgians by order of the
Council of the Society. On Monday a trip will be
made to Richmond, where a variety of entertain-
ments will be provided, including a cricket match
which is being organised by the members of the Civil
Service Rifle Corps. On their return the Volunteers
will land at Cremorne, which will be specially deco-
rated in honour of the occasion. On Tuesday,
16th, they will assemble at the drill-ground of the
North Middlesex Rifles (at the Cavalry Barracks,
Albany-street), and will march thence to Holly -
lodge, Highgate, the residence of Miss Burdett
Coutts, who has devised a special fete for our Bel-
gian guests. On Wednesday " the lions of Lon-
don" will be inspected, and in the evening the grand
ball will be given in the Agricultural Hall.
On Thursday there will be a series of al fresco fetes
at the Crystal Palace, and in the evening a display
of fireworks on a scale of magnificence hitherto
unattempted in former exhibitions of a similar
character. On Friday prizes will be shot for
at Wimbledon, and in the evening a grand monster
concert will be held at the Agricultural-hall,
under the direction of Mr. Costa. On Saturday, the
20th, the grand review of the English and Belgian
Volunteers will take place, and the " citizen soldiers"
of both countries will march past his Royal High-
ness the Commander-in-Chief together. This will
conclude the celebration, and the Belgians will
probably return home on Sunday or Monday.
Under the title of an " official programme" 'a
series of very incorrect statements, with reference
to the entertainments provided for the Belgian rifle-
men, have found their way into circulation. Not
only Las no " official programme" been as yet
adopted by the Reception Committee, but the Exe-
cutive Committee are not at present iu a position to
submit one for approval. The fact that a great
naval review at Spithead has been appointed to take
place within the time of the visit of the Belgians has
given rise to a new element in the arrangement
which the Executive Committee have to consider.
Within the last few days they have been in com-
munication with the authorities at the Admiralty,
in order, if possible, to procure a ship to convey
the Belgian riflemen from Southampton to the
scene of the review. -Whether the committee will
be able to accomplish their desire in that respect
remains to be decided. Some few days ago Colonel
Loyd-Lindsay, vice-chairman of the committee,
and Lieut. Furley visited Brussels. The gallant
Colonel saw the King and the authorities of the
city. On his Majesty's part and that of
the chiefs of departments every facility will be
given to the Belgian riflemen to avail themselves
of the invitation to England. The riflemen who are
to come from the city of Antwerp will bring with
them a massive bronze centre-piece as a present to
the volunteers. The Belgians will embark in the
Admiralty transport at Antwerp, or some point on
the Scheldt, a little below that city. The authori-
ties at South Kensington have made the reception
committee a very handsome offer with a view to the
entertainment of the Belgians there ; but the com-
mittee are not quite sure yet that they will be able
to avail themselves of it. The day on which the
fete to be given by Miss Burdett Coutts will take
Place has not been fixed. With her usual conside-
ration, Miss Coutts is anxious to consult the con-
venience of her intended guests ; but until the ques-
tion of their attendance at the naval review is
settled the dates of most of the other entertainments
must remain open. It is desirable that such of the
volunteer corps and of the general public as intend
to contribute to the reception fund should do so with-
out delay. The reception committee will hold their
next general meeting on Friday next.

RIOTS IN BIRMINGHAM.

(From the Times.)

BIRMINGHAM, Monday Evening.
Yesterday Mr. Murphy, who has been described
as the " agent of the London Protestant Electoral
Union," commenced a course of lectures in this town
upon the " Errors of Roman Catholicism," which
led to the gathering of a vast crowd of people. A
great disturbance, somewhat closely bordering upon
very serious riot, took place, as described in the
Times of this morning, and for several hours it
was as much as the civil force could do to prevent
immense mischief being perpetrated.

Some weeks since Mr. Murphy intimated his
intention to visit this town, and the Mayor was
applied to for the use of the Town-hall, but, mind-
ful of the disturbances to which Mr. Murphy's
" lectures" and " exhibitions" gave rise at Wolver-
hampton, Wednesbury, and other towns in the
locality, his Worship refused to grant the hall for
this purpose. The friends of Mr. Murphy there-
upon erected a " Tabernacle"—a structure of wood,
capable of holding 3,000 persons.
Three o'clock yesterday was the time fixed for
the first service, and at that hour the place was
tolerably well filled with persons who had been
admitted by ticket. Mr. Murphy was received
with loud clapping of hands and other tokens of
applause. Outside the place the crowd were
hooting, threatening, and otherwise riotous. Mr.
Murphy delivered a long address in the afternoon,
and a sermon in the evening, both of which seem
to have been in every way in singular bad taste.
One or two extracts from a report published in a
local paper will suffice. He said :—" Popery was
the same to-day as it was in days gone by. (Hear,
hear.) If she had the power (said Mr. Murphy)
what wouldn't she do to you ? What would she do
to me ? Why, she would roast me, as she did Rid-
ley, Cranmer, and Latimer."

Further on he remarked :—" I say from this hall
to-day that if the authorities had done their duty
this work would not have had to be carried on here.
(Loud cries of " Hear, hear.") if the authorities
had not refused me the Town-hall this would not
have occurred. (Shame.) I say it was a signal
for the Papists that the authorities would not pro-
tect me ; I say, still, that the authorities must pro-
tect me with all the power which belongs to them.
(Applause.) They shall walk over my dead body
in Birmingham, or I will have my five weeks'
say." These harangues were received with cries
of " hear, hear," shouts of applause, and laughter,
with the word " amen," strangely mingled. Out-
side the " Tabernacle" during the whole afternoon
and evening the dense crowd showed every indica-
tion of a tumultuous spirit ; the Irish element--
women as well as men—was in great force; stones
were thrown in all directions ; and in several
charges the police .were all but overpowered. So
desperate, in fact, had the state of affairs become
that after much endurance the police were com-
pelled to use their cutlasses ; but it was not until
between 5 and 6 o'clock, when the police had been
largely reinforced, that they got the upper hand of
the mob. By that time many persons had been
seriously injure], several had been taken to the
hospitals, and many of the police (who behaved
admirably) had been roughly handled. Some five
and twenty of the rioters were taken into custody
in the course of the melee. The house of the
father of the Secretary of the local Protestant
Association, situate close by the " Tabernacle," was
assailed by the mob, the windows were all broken,
and some of the furniture much damaged.
In the course of the evening the Mayor and some
other of the magistrates visited the scene, as did
also one or two of the Roman Catholic priests, by
whom the crowd was exhorted to be peaceable.
Until a late hour the streets were in possession of an
excited mob.

During the whole of to-day the streets in the
neighbourhood of the " Tabernacle " have been
crowded, the magistrates have assembled en per-
manence, and every precaution is being taken lest
there should be an attempt to renew yesterday's
proceedings to-night.

Tuesday Morning,

The anti-Popery riots continue. Matters—are
becoming desperate. The Riot Act has been read
and the military called out, and more militaryhave
been telegraphed for.
Last night a soldier of the Bth Hussars was shot at
in Park-street, and a policeman, so dangerously

wounded that his life is despaired of. He now Iles
in the hospital.

Two whole streets have been sacked, and a Roman
Catholic Chapel attacked and much damaged.
Bands of men, armed with staves, throng the
thoroughfares. The streets have been in utter
disorder, and this state of things continued up till
half-past 12. The greatest excitement and alarm
prevailed.

.
,

HER MAJESTY, &e.

BAL3IORAL, June 16.

The Queen drove out yesterday morning, acconl-
panied by Princess Beatrice, and attended by the
Hon. Mrs. Gordon.

In the afternoon her Majesty, accompanied by
Princess Christian and Princess Louise, went to
Loch Muich.

Major-General Sir Thomas M. Bidduiph arrived
at the Castle.

The Prince of Wales.

The Prince of Wales, accompanied by the
Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse, and attended
by Lady Emily Kingscote, General Sir W. Knollfs,
Colonel Kingscote, Lieutenant-Colonel Keppel, and
Hofmarschall von Westerweiler, went to Aldershot
yesterday morning, and was present at a field-day
of the garrison held by the Duke of Cambridge.
In the evening the Prince of Wales and the
Prince and Princess Louis of Hesse honoured• the
Philharmonic Concert with their presence at the
Hanover-square Rooms.

During his stay in England, the Sultan will visit
the City, his Majesty having graciously accepted
the invitation conveyed to him on the part of the