New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1867-06-29
TIE BIRMINGHAM RIOT.

The European steamer which arrived yester-
day brings us some particulars OF the anti
Popery riots in Birmingham, of which we had
brief report by the Cable on the 10Th of June.
IL appears that the opinion expressed by us mt
the time rs to their probable cause was correct
in every particular Birmingham has furnished
another example of the mischief which can
sometimes be stirred up by the unbridled tongue
Of an ignorant zealot The man who has made
all the trouble in this instance is one w.
Murphy, an agent of the Protestant
Electoral Union of London. Lecturing
on the Errors of Roman Catholicism
ia his regular business, and many time
his hnrangues have been followed by Sc
rous disturbances, in which he seems to take
a sort of pride. When he came To Brmin CHAM,
after an inilammatory progress through the
neighboring towns, the Mayor very prudently
refused him the use of the Town Hall but his
disciples built him an immense wooden taber-
nace. and there he vowed he would have his
Give weeks say or the Papists should walk
over his dead body. He began his say
on Sunday, the 10Th of June, two or three
thousand Protestants inside the tabernacle,
clapping. shouting. laughing, screaming,
and CRYING Amen while n mob OF angry
Irishmen were hooting and threatening out
side. Nobody but religious demagogue or n
crazy fanatic would have tempted riot and
bloodshed by reviling the Papacy in the midst
of such dangerous assembly; but Mr.. Muir
phys violence of language was almost incredi-
BILE. lie offered to prove that every Popish
priest was n murderer, a cannbal, a liar and
"a pickp0cket; he called the Catholic clergy
ragamuffins;r he dared the Catholics to at
tack him. and told them that bricks and blud-
geons hurled at his head would be ayerted by
tho Almighty arm, for God was stronger than
the devil The Irish naturally wanted to test
the truth of this, and their demonstrations be-
came SO alarming that large force OF police,
armed with cutlasscs, were ordered to clear
the streets. They succeeded after severe
fight in which many persons on both sides
were severely injured. ....
All that quarter of the town in which the tab
emacle stood was now in fever of excitement
and alarm The house of prominent member
of the Protestant Association was attacked, and
all the windows were broken. The police were
strengthened. and regiment of Hussars were
ordered TO hold themselves in readiness Tor
service. Nevertheless, Murphy persisted Ill
lecturng again the same evening. Some oil the
magistrates and Catholic clergy visited the
scene OF disturbance, and urged the mob to
disperse but one might as well have tried to
put out burning gunpowder. The riot lasted
apparently all night and through the next day;
n Catholic chapel was sacked and peace was
at last restored by the soldiers after plentiful
shedding of blood and destruction OF property.
Who threw the first stone it Is idle To inquire
il is clear enough that the riot was provoked
and kept up by the ineendiary speeches OF Mr..
w. Murphy and upon his head the response
bility must rest
There have been so many religious riots that
the lesson they teach ongbt to be pretty
familiar one by this time. Belfast, Dublin,
London, Birmingham in previous years, Phila-
delphia, Montreal, have witnessed the danger and
the folly of the sort of propagandism OF which
Murphy is a prophet. We believe i'll freedom
of speech, freedom Of discussion, freedom OF
worship. We have no desire that Mr.. Murphy
should be denied a fair hearing. We may not
believe that every Catholic priest is cannlbal
or a pickpocket, but if any man can prove
such to be the case, by all means let him do
it, Vituperation, however, is not controversy
Religions enlightenment does not come OF call
ing hard names and yelling defiance to crowd
of ignorant and exctable laboreis. If
preacher viii throw mud ut his Christian
brethren, he must expect to get spattered IN
return II he darts into crowd OF lrishmen,
and doubles his fists, and dares them to come on,
it is the most natural thing in the world that he
should come out Of the crowd with black eye
and a torn coat. The fact is. all good, earnest
men admit that religion and rancor cannot
exist together. The old days of theological
warfare have passed away. Preachers now do
not think it necessary TO belabor their ecclesi-