The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1871-12-31
The Brussels Riots.

The advanced Liberals OF bCusSeis haVo
been resorting to method o. war'e .hsn OF
selves far too fond. They have been en-.
deavoripg to eject the Ministry by street
rows and breaking Of windows. The case,
in q few words, stands thus. N. LanErand
Dumonceau, . banker at Brussels OF some
celebrity, started, few years ago, hve
joint.sto companies, to support which be
obtained the names OF several gentlemen
Of the Conservative and Catholic party.
The operations turned out to be moro
speculative than these gentlemen had any
story was that the bubble broke, Mr..
Langrand collapsed, and the gentlemen
who had given him their names were for
the most part ruined. Amongst them were
NJ. Dechamps, whose uprightness no one
could seriously doubt, and III. De Decker,
Prime Minister. The latter gentleman is
the unwilling cause of this explosion. The
Minister of the Interior had just appointed
him Governor of Limburg, an official,
speaking roughly, much in the position OF
the Lord Lieutenant of an English county.
against his probity in connection with tue
Langrand affair by a witness to whom the
Government attached no credit, and on this
ground M. Bara made o violent attack on
the Government, supported by street de-
moDstrations and n mob outside the Palace
" Iue EeSisature' Ahe moo oEoHo Va
Nothomb's windows, and those Of the
Capuchin Convent, would have broken
those of the Jesuits ii they had not been
prevented, and hooted the President of the
Chamber and the Conservative deputies.
Within the Hall of Assembly NJ. Bara
dividually, and called on them to resign,
Immediately. NJ. Jacobs, in reply, showed
considerable energy, and he had the
Chamber unmistakabiy with him. To the
apostrophe to Ministers imperiously de-
handing their resignation, he answered,
You shall not have it"; and to the ac-
cusation that Government had "compro
missed the dignity of power" he replied,
that, succeeding, as they did, to NJ. Bara
and his friends, it was quite impossible for
Ministers to lower it. The Civic Guard,
which was called out to maintain order,
appears to have done more harm than
good, and cries Of Down with the Minis
they were sometimes answered by excla-
nations of "Bara has, which, with French
intonation, has the advantage of a double
meaning. The Burgomaster, M. Anspach,
who is strong Literal partizan, seems to
have given a very half-hearted support to
ance Beige admits, nothing more than was
strictly necessary, and in his letters and
| speeches giving it to he understood that
the nomination of NJ. De Decker had been
forced on the King, and that the Ministry
would probably have to resign. A regi-
and a battery of artillery, had to be called
in to reinforce the garrison, and order was
! eventually restored. NJ. De Decker has
himself resigned his appointment, and at
the same time the official Moniteur declares
that no pressure has been put on the King
The real animus of the demon stration may
be estimated by two facts, one that among
the supporters of NJ. Bara's motion was M.
Tesch, who, if the witness on whom the
charge against NJ. De Decker rested was to
be believed, was himself equally implicat-
ed the other, that almost at the same time
q NJ. Oscar Spreux was attempting to es-
cape from the Jail at Journal, where he was
Imprisoned under a charge of theft, and that
this same individual had been brought for
ward by M. Bara and his friends for the
post of echeUin of public works ut thai
place. 1t is now rumored that Ministers,
with the single exception of M. Jacobs,
will retire, and that NJ. Theux, or NJ.
Thonissen, will be called upon to form a
Cabinet. If they do resign after all, al
though supported by a majority in the
Chamber, it will be q proof how unreal a
! GUM. 1t is disgraceful enough that even
once street mob should have more voice
than the Representatives. of the country in
the control of the country's destinies, but
| that snch portentous phenomenon should
be repeated argues badly for the political
health of any Community. Mr.. Gladstone
could hardly, in his speech at the Mansion
House, have complimented the Belgians,
as he did, ON their powers of self-govern-
ment and their respect for law, if he had
for a moment thought that the fate Of q
Government in that country depended not
| go much ON the vote of the Assembly as on
| the bowls and violence Of an organized
rabble. Curiously enough, M. De Decker,
who 10 the occasion of the present outbreak,
was at the head Of the Ministry Which, in
1857, succumbed to similar attack.-Lon-
don Tablet.
The Confessional