The curious religious riot which is apt to break out
annually between Mussulmans and Hindoos, has this year been again perplexing the Government of India. We reported a fortnight since the outbreak in Rangoon, and this week another is reported from Azimgurh, only suppressed by sharp firing by the military police. The odd feature in these riots is their immediate cause. This is always reported to be "cow-killing," but Mussulmans kill oxen all the year round for food, and so do the Europeans. The grievance is not that, but a display of the old feeling of ascendency on the part of the Mussulmans who, on the day of their festival, kill a cow close to a temple in token of high religious defiance. Then the Hindoos, who do not mind about the killings during the rest of the year, turn out armed, and there is a battle royal which, but for the Eng- lish, would in twenty-four hours develop into a religious war. The English, however, tell the police to fire impar- tially on both sects; and the police, though they are them- selves Mussulmans and Hindoos, do it with delight; and there is peace and good feeling for the ensuing year. If that is not a state of affairs to puzzle Englishmen, there is no such state ; but Irishmen would understand it at once. The armed police in Ireland in a " religious " row plays just the part it plays in India, only being English in discipline and armament, it takes fewer lives.
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