Frightful riots are reported from Amsterdam, partly as the consequence
of the attempt of the authorities to interfere with a brutal and cruel sport, traditional at this time of year, to. which the lower classes of that city have been long accustomed. A living eel is tied to stakes, and is well soaped, while the people in boats sailing past try to grasp and secure it. The wretched creature, which is one of the most long-lived of animals, sometimes undergoes tortures of this kind for severaP hours, and the Amsterdam Burgomaster very rightly ordered the police to stop it. The policeman who interfered was seized by the mob, locked up, and, when his com.:adea tried to release him, barricades were thrown across the streets, chains drawn across the canals, and a regular riot,—which it is said that the Socialists availed themselves of all the influence they had to. promote,—ensued. This happened on Sunday, but the rioting was renewed on Monday, and in a less degree on Tuesday. It is said that up to Monday night twenty-five people had been killed, and about ninety wounded, including forty policemen. Accounts differ as to whether the riot is due chiefly to Socialist intrigues, or chiefly to the prohibition of the eel-baiting and the new law against drunkenness. Probably all three causes concurred. The Socialist journals, it is said, have long been inciting the people to bloodshed; but the Socialist journals had incited in vain till other causes of popular displeasure came to their aid. There is nothing which makes the brutal more violent, than any interference with brutal pleasures.
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