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Religious Riot in Maitland 1860
Source - from the Centenary of The Diocese of Maitland 1866-1966, published in 1966 and reproduced here with the permission of Father Harold Campbell, author and former Parish Priest of Maitland.
The Free Presbyterian Church as it is today
Free Church Street, Maitland
Free Church Street, Maitland
The immediate spark of what was called at that time, the Maitland riot, was the inflammatory preaching of Rev. William MacIntyre, an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church of Eastern Australia, popularly known as the Free Presbyterian Church.
In 1837, John Dunmore Lang, the first Presbyterian minister in Australia, had split the Presbyterian Church in two after a furious quarrel with his chief assistant, John McGarvie.* Rev. William MacIntyre, then a young and recently arrived minister, joined with a number of others to form a separate Presbyterian Synod under Lang.
In 1846, William MacIntyre was a leading member of yet another breakaway group. This was the Free Presbyterian Church and its foundation took place while Mr. MacIntyre was the official minister in Maitland. Mr. MacIntyre became the leader of the Free Presbyterian Church here while other members of the Presbyterian Church recognised Mr. William Purves as their minister. Mr. MacIntyre confined most of his activity to West Maitland and Mr. Purves drifted towards East Maitland, where most Presbyterians adhered to the older branch.
On 28th February, 1860, William MacIntyre preached in the Presbyterian Church Hall in Hinton on his favourite theme, the wickedness of Rome. Each Church received, directly or indirectly, some sort of State assistance, roughly in proportion to its numbers, and in general, Mr. MacIntyre thought that the Catholics received too much and should, indeed, be cut out altogether.
"The Presbyterian Church is not opposed to the idea of State aid," declared the Rev. William MacIntyre. "The question is whether Roman Catholics should be regarded as a Christian sect, worthy of being recognised at all."
"The Church of Rome treats Protestants as heretics. I question whether we in turn should regard Popery as anything better than a form of baptised heathendom."
Many Catholics were outraged, and when it was announced that Mr. MacIntyre would give a repeat performance in Maitland itself one month later, there were many Catholics who declared they would be there. Dean Lynch is said to have had something to say in defence of Catholicism in his own pulpit.
The second lecture was advertised to take place in the Free Presbyterian Church in Free Church Street, Maitland, under the title "The Heathenism of Popery. Proved and Illustrated."
The date set for the particular address was 29th March, 1860. The lecture had been advertised for some weeks, and there was no secret about it. There was no secret, either, that many Catholics had said that the lecture would never take place. The Police Magistrate, E. Denny Day, had been warned of possible trouble.
On the morning of the 29th, Dean Lynch had an advertisement in the day's issue of the Maitland Mercury exhorting the Catholics not to allow themselves to be provoked into any violence.
"To the Catholics of the Hunter River district. As it has ever been the fond wish of my heart to promote peace and concord amongst all classes and creeds in the community, I cannot contemplate without much pain any attempt to hold up in an offensive form to the public gaze the doctrines and practices of your church. Such an attempt is calculated to disturb the harmony so long and so happily pervading in this district. You will, however, prove the efficacy of my teaching, and your warm attachment to your pastor, by not allowing any expression, however offensive to your creed, to betray you into a simple act of violence. Your cause is good and righteous, and needs not the support of any act which would deprive you of the sympathy and respect of your fellow citizens. - J.T. Lynch, Dean, Maitland, 28th March, 1860."
The Dean's appeal was not of avail however, for when the Rev. MacIntyre's carriage arrived in Free Church Street from Pitnacree where he lived, there was a very large expectant crowd awaiting him. The street and churchyard had long been jammed with huge crowd.
As soon as Mr. MacIntyre stepped from his carriage he was attacked by the mob. He was not seriously hurt, and with his wife and brother, escaped into the high school adjoining. His brother was struck several times but not seriously injured. The son of Mr. MacIntyre's brother, however, a lad of sixteen, was more seriously injured and required medical attention. He did eventually recover. The large crowd continued menacingly around the church; palings were town from the fence and every window in the church was smashed. All this occurred about dusk and when about 10 p.m. the Police Magistrate announced that the lecture would not take place a great cheer went up from the crowd still present.
There was some further disturbance about the town that night and several windows of some other houses were broken. No arrests were made but the police did take some names and subsequently summonses were issued.
The committee, responsible for the organising of the original lecture, held a meeting that same night and sent word to the executive council in Sydney protesting at the behaviour of the mob and the lack of police protection. There was some suggestion that Police Magistrate Day had connived at the whole affair. The anti-riot squad was sent up from Sydney, and in preparation for the deliverance of the postponed lecture, three hundred special constables were sworn in. The lecture was eventually given and passed off, more or less, without incident.
The summons cases against those prosecuted were heard in the East Maitland Court on Saturday, 17th August. Mr. Chambers prosecuted; W.H. Mullen and D.H. Deniehy appeared for the defence. Thomas Long, James Wensley, John Dillon, Thomas Hartigan, Patrick Halloran and Dennis Coleman were committed for trial. Tom Tierney and eleven others were bound over to keep the peace for twelve months for using threatening language.
When the case against those committed for trial was heard in the September Sessions, the jury failed to agree and the prisoners were discharged on bail to appear at the next Circuit Court. What the final outcome was I have not been able to trace.
In the meantime, the Catholics of Maitland called a meeting at St. John's School. Here several lengthy motions were carried "regretting the persistence of one individual in a line of conduct calculated to disturb the peace and to propagate the worst of all social evils, sectarian bitterness."
Archbishop Polding wrote a pastoral letter to the Catholics of Maitland urging "Peace, good order and Christian patience" as the watchword of true Christians.
"Let no one persuade you," wrote His Grace, "that any good - not even of wordly credit, can come of anger and violence."
As time went by, there were many letters in the 'Mercury'. Father Kenny, of East Maitland, wrote an answer to Rev. MacIntyre's lecture, and a little later on, Dean Lynch swung into high gear with the pen. There were answers and answers to the answers, and only the 'Mercury' showed any profit out of the whole affair. It charged for all the letters, requiring them to appear as advertisements.
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