The New York herald., 1872-08-20

Tho Religious skull-Cutting In Bel.
fast-A Dcplorable State Of Christian
Civilization.
The cable still brings us details of rioting in
Belfast, which gives one very gloomy idea of
the state Of civilization in that thrifty Irish
city of fine linen Catholic stones Protestant,
and Protestant drubs Catholic with the sprig
Of shillelah police barrack is wrecked by
way of entr' dcte, and then the curtain goes up
to find Protestant stoning Catholic and Catho-
lie drubbing Protestant with the sprig of shil-
lelah. Next come police and then dragons,
who keep the rioters apart After space the
dragons are supported by the Mayor, who
reads the Riot Act and threatens the rioters if
they do not disperse. They accordingly dis
perse-for fresh supply Of stones and sprigs
of shillelah, and then 60 at it again, dragons
and police to the contrary notwithstanding.
To seek for the true cause by which this ston-
ing and drubbing can be logically brought
down from the Ten Commandments or the
Thirty-nine Articles to three or four hundred
cut skulls would be hopeless task, and
we do not propose to undertake it. All we can be
certain of is that certain number of ''shoeless
and shirtless' Protestants, and similar number
of s'shirtless and shoeless'' Catholics in the
North Of Ireland stone each other, and drub
each other with sprigs of shillelah at certain
intervals through the year. Intelligent Irish
men of both faiths apologize for the matter by
dwelling on the fact of the combatants being
the "dregs of society" but they do this with
o complacency equal to the Frenchman whose
companions were devoured by cannibals, and
who generously excused the savages, on the
ground that chaque pays ses usages Ira
dition insists that cutting skulls is one of 'the
customs of the country in Ireland, and where
the skulls are thick and sticking plaster plenti-
full it may possibly rank as an amusement.
The English government, it is conceded,
does not know how to govern Ireland. Hang
ing and robbing were tried, without effect, at
the beginning Of this century, as stabbing and
confscating had been for several centuries be-
fore. Then the English took sides with the
Irish Protestants; but found their allies to be
overbearing and insolent in their loyalty,
although they cut the skulls of the
Catholics with cheerful vigor and vim.
The Catholics, however, oddly enough, did
not appreciate this, and took to shooting their
enemies with a quiet persistence. The gov
ernment next began to look with kindly eyes
upon the Catholics, and several penal laws
were repealed which interfered with them.
The Protestants began to sulk OF this The
government proceeded with its task of
Catholic concilation, but the Protestants con-
tinued cutting Catholic skulls. while the chill
dren of the Roman fold returned the compli-
ment The government was bothered, and
accordingly passed law against party pro-
cessions, which it believed was OF tho root of
the skull-cutting. This pleased nobody. The
Professionals began to talk disloyalty and the
Catholics never pretended to anything else.
Signs of late have not been wanting to show
that the English government is making an
other shift, and that the Protestants are to
meet with old favor at their hands. The Pro-
cessions act was allowed to fall through and as
q first result we have the stoning and drubbing
of the past and present week.
Now, why cannot this disgraceful murder
and manning ''for the love of God be either
quelled, as it could be, with grape and canister
impartially distributed between Sandy Row
and The Pound, or by the cheaper process of
allowing the champions of the faiths to have it
cleverly out for good and oil. The combatants
on both sides are deprecated by their respecta-
BILE coreligionists. They make their country's
name q byword and reproach oil over the
world, and the insensate seed of passion which
they SOW in bloody burrows seems to grow
in spite Of all the liberalizing spirit of the age
IL is the same dark upas tree planted there
whose shoots, transplanted here brought riot
to our free shores and caused the shedding of
much innocent blood in our streets year ago.