RIOTS AT STOCKPORT.

New Zealander, Volume 8, Issue 684, 3 November 1852, Page 4

RIOTS AT STOCKPORT.

[From (lie "Muimiig Chionicle."] Stoekport has long been celebrated for its Sunday schools; and for a number of years, both the Protestants and Roman Catholics have been in the habit at Whitsunside or shortly after, of parading their children through the streets on one Sunday — The Protestants generally on AVhitsnndav,"and the Roman Catholics as soon after as convenient. This has been permitted to the Roman Catholics without molestation for thirty years; but a Protestant Operative Society has sprung up, and the spirit which lias been evoked by their labours seized at once upon the occasion for display afforded by the recent proclamation. The schools announced their intention of walking last Sunday ; and the Protestants directly reminded them of the proclamation ; find in terms indicating the worst feelings. The procession took place, however, and was peaceably conducted, a body of Irishmen four abreast, inarching in front as an advance, and others accompanying it as a side guard. — There were in the pi-ocession a, few crosses, but little display of any other kind ; no canonicals, no guild dresses, no banners. Sunday night passed off with quietness; but on Monday the breach of the proclamation formed the subject of conversation in the town; and at night a paity of Irishmen and Englishmen meeting at a public-house, out of which what may be termed the Irish district branches, and getting from words to blows, the Irish ran into John-street and Edwardstreet, and got a reinforcement from their countrymen. The English also sought support, and in the end the Irish were thrashed, and many very ill-treated. The discomfiture of the previous night soured the temper of the Irish ; and, smarting under it, they assembled about twenty minutes past six in Chestergate, in close proximity to another of their quarters, and soon a number of lads proceeding forward made an attack with stones upon a party of ten or twelve young men, who repelled them and drove them back into Lord-street. At a turn in that street the lads gave a signal which resulted in the rapid appearance of a body of men armed with the most indiscriminate weapons, pokers, pieces of chairs, sticks, sickles, and even scythe blades. The young men and those who had joined them, on seeing the first skirmish, ran back closely pursued ; but having escaped their pursuers, sent two stones through Alderman Graham's window, (a surgeon distinguished foy the strong- support he gives to Protestant principles) and then turning off to St. Peter's church school room, they broke all the windows in it, and damaged the building. Returning to Alderman Graham's house, they finished the work they had begun. The Protestants had in the mean time assembled, and coining down in force upon them, at once commenced an attack, which was of the most fearful description, the two parties fighting Avith the utmost fury. The resull was that the Irish were beaten back to their own residences ; but still continued the fray even at their own doors, and (it is said) ascending the roofs of their houses, to pitch missiles from thence upon their assailants, their houses were broken into, and the men searched after with an eagerness which could only be equalled by a victorious soldiery sacking a town. In some places the assailants ascended to the tops of houses, unroofed them, and gained an entrance by that means ; and in numerous houses not a single vestige of furniture remains beyond small pieces of earthenware and fragments of shelves. In Rock Row, on Wednesday morning, the street was covered some inches thick with a mixture of flock and chaff, which had formed the beds of the unfortunate residents ; and in several houses there are evident indications that attempts had been made to set fire to them. The doors were battered in and broken; the windows denuded of frame, lead, or glass; and in one instance the greater part of a wall has been razed to supply the missiles for the fearful onslaught. There was, however, a clear discrimination ; and amid the devastation several houses remained untouched upon the doors of one or two of which, on Wednesday morning, there wes chalked the expressive word "England," in large letters, as if the inhabitants were fearful of another attack, and had adopted that mode of securing themselves. The fury of the mob was not confined to Rock Row, however; parties were detached while the melee was proceeding there, and went up to the Roman Catholic chapel of St. Michael, a place not far off, and here their proceedings were of the thorough iconoclastic order. The first attack there was upon the windows, which were broken in a very short space of time, and the mob broke in the front door, another section doing the same by a side door. Uniting their efforts inside, they went at once to the altar, and destroyed the tabernacle with all its furniture, including candlesticks, figures of Christ, the Virgin, St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. Joseph. The whole of the altar with the exception of the base was destroyed. Next the pews were pulled down and thrown into the street; the seats in a large gallery shared the same fate, and an organ, worth £50, also fell a sacrifice. When the lawless mob evacuated the place, little more remained standing than the four walls. A valuable chalice, understood to be of the value of some hundreds of pounds, presented recently to tl c chapel by a French nobleman, was an object for which much search was made, as the mob had some idea that it was kept in the chapel, but fortunately it was safe in the house of the Rev. Robert Foster, M.A., the priest, who, resides not far off. About the time the first attack was made on the chapel, a body of boys proceeded into Mersey-street, and were heard consulting whether they should not break into Mr. Foster's house, which is situate in the street, but they were diverted from their purpose by two men, who assured them they were mistaken in the house; and after appearing irresolute for a Bhort time, they departed, the rapidity of their movements being accelerated by the approach of a party of the 4th infantry. "The same scenes were enacted at Eddy, with the addition that there they entered the house of the priest, the Rerv. Randolph Frith, who escaped mal-treatment by getting upon the roof of the house. They turned the furniture into the street, and set it on fire in front of the chapel, where it continued to burn for some time. The magistrates assembled, and proceeded to the place of the riots and read the riot act, the mayor performing that duty, the police arming themselves with cutlasses. They also obtained the assistance of 60 men of the 4th Regiment of Infantry, and by their aid all was quieted by about eleven o'clock. The police in the mean time proceeded to make arrests, calling to their assistance a number of the young men of the town, and, in addition to those who had been taken by them, they had apprehended 10.9, of whom 66 were wounded, some fearfully on the head and face. One of these, an unfortunate Irishman, whose name is not precisely ascertained, but who is called Darby Seahan by some people, died of his wounds in the cells at the policeoffice, having received a fracture of the skull and a cut on the head about four inches long, and into the cause of this man's death the coroner is to open an inquiry. He appears to have been killed by a blow from a pitchfork. The prisoners were kept in the court house, where they were attended to, requiring the services of not fewer than six surgeons to dress the wounds they had received. 'On Wednesday morning, the magistrates, with the mayor at their head, sat at the court-house, and had the prisoners brought before them. A more ghastly bight it is scarcely possible to conceive. Several of them had' their arms in slings, and had been beaten until their flesh could scarcely be touched, and their features witnessed to the silent endurance of physical pain. The heads of others were bound up. in handkerchiefs, sxud the majority of the re&t were plastered on the forehead and nose, and several had their shirts saturated with gore. Against a large number witnesses were produced, who

b\vore tint thoy saw them throwing stones, and fighting with hammers, scythes, spades, sickles, or other deadly weapons;, and they wove remanded to Friday. Against a great number however, no evidence was forthcoming ; the persons who had given them in charge not having come v]). That they had boon in the rows was unquestionable, from the marks that were upon them; but their accusers not presenting themselves, they were discharged on their own recognizances to keep the peace, and to appear when called on. Three of them were among the party who sacked one of the chapels. Several declared that they had only come into the town that day, and were dragged out of their beds ; and some who had severe cuts were among those who had thus unluckily made a first entrance into the arena of strife at Stockport.

Lectures 071 the Results of the Great Exhibition of 1851, delivered before the Society of Arts. Manufactures, and Commerce, at the suggestion of H. 11. 11. Prince Albert, President of the Society. London ; David Bogue 18.32. pp. 634. The object of these lectures is to present some of the general results of the Great Exhibition of 1851, with a view to render it subsenient to the improvement of art, science, and industry, For promoting this most desirable object, nothing could be better adapted than the highly suggestive statements and elucidations contained in this most interesting volume. Dr. Whewell shows " the General Bearing of the Great Exhibition on the Progress of Art and Science ;" Sir Henry de la Beche rev'ews u Mining, Quarrying, and Metallurgical Processes and Products;" Richard Owen, F. R. S., describes u the Raw Materials from the Animal Kingdom used in Manufactures;" Jacob Bell, Esq., M. r , illustrates " the Chemical and Pharmaceutical Processes and Products ;" Lyon Playfair, C. B. F. R. S., treats of " the Chemical Principles involved in the Manufactures of the Exhibition I as indicating the necessity of Industrial Instruction;" John Lindley, Ph. D., F. R. S, describes " Substances used as Food, illustrated by the Great Exhibition ;"' Professor Edward Solly, F. R. S , " the Vegetable Substances used in the Arts and Manufactures, in relation to Commerce generally;" the Rev. Robert Willis treats of " Machines and Tools for Working in Metal, Wood, and other Materials ;" James Glaisher, Esq , F.R. S , explains " Philosophical Instruments and Processes, as represented in the Great Exhibition ;" Henry Hensman, Esq., " Civil En•rlneeiing and Machinery generally ;" Professor J. F. Royle, M. D., P R. S., reviews " the Arts and Manufactures of India ;" and Captain Washington, R. N., F. R. S., " the Progress of Naval Architecture, as indicating the Necessity for Scientific Education, and for the Classification of Ships and of Steam Engines." The grand feature of the Exhibition was its comprehensiveness ; it contained specimens of every kind of product and manufacture from all parts of the world, and thus afforded a great practical expression of the state of human industry— an indication of the degree of advancement it has attained, and of the changes it is undergoing. To expound its various texts, and present the important facts embodied in them, with their bearing on future progress, is the design of the present lectures. Dr. Playfair, speaking of chemical appliances to Industry as a characteristic of advancing civilization, remarks: — " European nations, as they increase in wants, examine every material to sic if it be adapted to tbeir ministration ; ibey observe and veatigate tbe properties of esch body, so as to asceitaia bow far it may be subservient to thcr desires. In tbeseinvestigations Chemi&try offers vital aid: she, like a prudent housewife, economises every scrap. Tbe borse-shoe nails, dropped in tbe Mreet during tbe daily traffic »re carefully collected by her, and reapear in Ibe form of sworda and guns. The clippings of tbe travelling linker are mixed witb tbe panngs of hoises boofs from the smithy, or the cast-off woollen garments of the poorest inhabitants of a sister isle, »nd soon aiternards, in ibe form of dyes of brightest blue, grace tbe dress of courtly dames. The main ingredient of tbe ink with which I now writ* was possibly once part of the broken hoop of an old beer-b.irreL Tbe bones of dead animals yield tbe chief constituent of lucifer-raatches. Tbe dregs of port-wine, caiefully rejected by tbe port-wine drinker in decanting his favourite beveriae, are taken by him in tbe morning in the form of Sedlilz powder*, to remors tbe effect of bis debaucb. Tbe offal of tbe street and tbe washing of coal-gas reappear carefully pre» ■erved in the lady's smelling-bottle, .or are used by her to flavour blancmanges for her friends. This economy of the Chemistry of Art is only in imitation of what we observe in the Chemistry of Na ure. Animals live and die : their dead bodies, passing into putridity, escape into tbe atmosphere, whence plants again mould them into forms of organic life ; and these plants, actually consisting of a past generation of ancestors, form our present food." Of the "importance of the application of Science to Art, a remarkable illustration is afforded in Iron-Smelting. A high degree of heat Is necessary to this process, and the cold air, formerly used as the blast, lowered the temperature, and required additional fuel, as a compensation for this reduction. Science pointed to this loss, and now the air is heated before being introduced into the furnace ; and the result is, that in place of seven tons of coal being required for each ton of iron, three tons -will suffice, an«i the amount of iron produced in the same time « increased nearly sixty per cent. Referring to these important facts, Dr. Playfair puts the question, — •' Could Science do more V Professor Biinsen, in an inquiry in which I was glad to afford him aid, has shown that she can. We examine the furn<ices in each portion of tbe burning mass, bo as fully to expose the operation iv every part of tbe blazing structure. This seemingly impossible dissection was accomplished by the simplest means ; tbe furnaoes are ch'aiged from the top, and the material* gradually descend to the bottom ; with the upper charge a long graduated tube was allowed to descend, and the gases streaming from ascertained depths were collected and analyzed. Their composition betrayed with perfect accuracy the nature of the actions at each portion of the furnace, and the astonishing fact was elicited, that, in spite of tbe saving produced by the introduction of the hot blast no less than 81J per ceflt of fuel is actually lost, only 18J per cent being realised If, in round numbers, we suppose that four-fifths of the iufl be thus wasted, no less than 5,400,000 tons are every year thrown uselessly into the atmosphere, this being nearly one-seventh of tbe whole coal annually taked in (he United Kingdom. This enormous amount of fuel escapes in the form of combustible gtses, capable of being collected and economized; yet in spite of these well ascertained facts, there are scarcely half-a-dozen furnaces in the United Kingdom where this economy is realized by the utilization of the waste gases of tbe furnace." It has been shown, that a rapid transi tion is taking place in Industry ; that the raw m aterial formerly our capital advantage over other nations, is gradually being equalized in price, and made available to all by the improvement in locomotion; and that industry inust^n future be supported, • not by competition of local advantages, but by a competition of intellect. Dr. Playfair says: — "AH European nations, except Ei/gland, have recog nized this diet; their thinking men have proclaimed it; tbeir governments have adopted it as a principle of state ; and every town has now its schoo sin which are taught the scientific principles involved in manufactures, while each metropolis rejoices in an Industrial University, teaching how to use the alphabet of Science in reading manufacturer aright." " In Paiis we find a central College of Arts and Manufactures, into which the students enter at an average age of nineteen, years already well trained in tbe elements of Science, and going there to be tnught bow to use these elements for industrial applications. Three hundred of the best youth of France are nmiually recdiving at this College the mo it elaborate education, and the best proof of its practical value of his great demand among manufacturers for itn pupils, & diploma from it being equivalent to assured success in litn. Can you wonder at tbe progiesb making by Fiance in industry, when sbo pours every yfai an liunilreil and fifty of therie highly educated manufacturers into her \>rovnue- } A similar cduc.ition to this is tf°'"K on in almost all parts of Europe; but ,iv England only one such institution exists.*'

By such means as these, Bacon x great idea will probably be realized — " Arts and Sciences {should be like mines, icsoumiing, on all sides with new works and farther progress." Dr. Lindley's Lecture relating to " Substances used as Food," presents facts of the highest importance to mankind, the value of which the future only will be .able fully to estimate. Among wheats in the Exhibition, that from our South Australian colonies was by far the best The sample of wheat from Adelaide was thought to be the most excellent corn ever brought to markef in any country. It is a white wheat, every grain of which appears to be .alike — pump, elenrskinned, dry, and heavy, weighing seventy pound a bushel. Adelaide is said to be capable of yielding vast quantities of corn c*f this description, which takes the lead in the markets of this count I .') over all other whije wheats. Its quality is owing to local conditions — to the peculiar temperature, the brilliant light, the soil, and other circumstances which characterize the climate of South Australia. A matter of the highest interest relating to cereal crops was more distinctly brought out in the Exhibition, ih.m at any former period. The effect of " hybridizing," or crob&ing the races of animals is well known, as also that, within certain limits, this may be done in the vegateble kingdom. Gardeners have by such means produced different vaiieties of beautiful flowers, and excellent fruits Little attention, however, has> been given to tliis point as regards cereal crops ; the experiment has not been tried except on the most limited seal* . The Exhibition lias, nevertheless, shown that we may operate upon the constitutional peculiarities of wheat, in the same manner as upon those of other plants, and effect a similar improvement in regard to corn as h>,isbeen produced in those parts of the vegateble kingdom that have been so dealt with. Certain hybrid wheats, which are now cultivated in this country, have succeeded to a satisfactory extent, yield ing forty bushels an aero. One of the articles which the Exhibition has brought to our knowledge, is the Meat-Biscuit, introduced among the American exhibitions from Texas by Mr. Gail Borden. Its nutritve qualit'e^ are said to be of " a very high order." It has been used in the American army and navy, and been found to sustain, in a remarkable degree, the strength of the men to whom it has been given. These biscuits are prepared by boiling down the best fre&h beef, and mixing it in certain proportions with the finest flour. It is stated that the essence of five pounds of meat is estimated to be contained in one pound of biscuit ; and that ten pounds weight of it would bet>uflicient for the subsistence !of an active man for thirty days. One ounce of it ground makes a pint of very rich nutritious soup. Its preservative qualities have been fully tested by its being carried to California across the Plains, and from New York to Canton and back. There were in the Exhibition samples of tea from Assam and the Himalaya mountains, which represented the state of the manufacture of tea in those countries of British India. In Assam, the plant has been cultivatedsuccessfully. The tea, although not of a very fine quality, is an exceedingly good mercantile article; it is strong and useful for mixing with tea of inferior strength, is extensively consumed, and bears the value of from 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. ptr pound in ihe London market. In the Himalaya mountains, however, the experiment has been attended with perfect success. In 1847, 162 acres were occupied by tea-plantations, and the tea was selling, the green for 9s. and 10s. a pound' and the black from 4s. to 7s. The quantity of ground now laid out in the culture of the tea-tree is 656 acres, exclusiveof that in the possession of Zemindars, who are also most anxious fo form ten-plan-tations. It is considered not al all improbable that a part of the Chinese trade in this article may soon be transferred to Europeans in the north of India. Of the various woiks relating to the Exhibition that have come under our notice, the present is by far the most valuable ; and those persons who, when that great display of human industry is mentioned, aro-»»tiU ready to pnt the question, Cvi bono ? cannot do better than to give the volume a perusal.