The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-29 00:00:00

Ottnina .71nt

LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 29, 1849.

No language can express the sorrow with which
we have perused the intelligence received this morn-
ing from New York, or the profound indignation
with which we regard the fomentors of the riot and
the originators of the catastrophe. All England will
sympathise with this sorrow and this indignation.
The details of the narrative given in another part of
our impression are among the most painful particu-
lars that have ever come to our knowledge. They
afford but a miserable testimony of the civilization of
a people who are perpetually stunning us with their
vaunted superiority. They reveal a depravity of
public feeling, a predilection for despotism (even
over the tastes and amusements of their neigh-
bours), a brueality of demeanour, and a mean-
ness of disposition, such as speak but little
in favour of the humanizing influence of American
democracy. The incident, moreover, which has led
to this sanguinary termination betrays on the part of
a large division of the United States' republicans a
bitterness of sentiment towards England which, con-
sidering their descent from British ancestors, is at
once melancholy and disgraceful.
As many may feel indisposed to examine at length
the repulsive descriptions contained in our trans-
Atlantic correspondence, we will give a rapid sum-
mary of the facts as they have actually transpired.
By the last accounts received from the United
States, it will not be forgotten that we learnt
in this country of the " unprovoked indignities"
offered to the celebrated tragedian, and one whom
we rejoice, from his great abilities, to claim as our
distinguished countryman, Mr. MACREADY. It was
with peculiar disgust that the people of London in
particular heard that Mr. MACRRADY had, on the
evening of Monday, the 7th of May, been hissed, and
hooted, and driven with violence from the stage of the
Astor-place Opera house, by a gang of ruffians, in-
stigated to the outrage by a petty feeling of jealousy.
In consequence of this ill-treatment, Mr. MACREADY,
with a proper sense of the respect due to himself,
and to his honourable and intellectual profession,
came at once to the determination that he
would never again, by a re-appearance upon any
stage in New York subject himself to the possible
repetition of this insolent reception. Hearing of this
resolution, and blushing for the stain thereby im-
parted to the reputation of the first city in the Union,
several of the most eminent Americans resident at
New York signed a requisition to the great actor,
earnestly entreating him to diminish the odium
attached to their fellow•citizeas through what had
already occurred, by repeating at least, on one other
occasion, his renowned Shaksperian performances.
At the head of the names subscribed to this urgent
appeal was the honoured autograph of no less illustrious
VING. Unfortu-
R
an American
AthiaAncßlEVAADsr
yGirelodNed reluctantly to their
nately, Ur•
request put forward by those moret
ofhan justicerespec ntaablde
admirers of his genius and advocates
liberty. We say unfortunately, since it was on the
occasion of his reappearance that a tumult broke out
which ended in much bloodshed, arising from a
struggle between the military and the rioters. The
same theatre which had witnessed the previous dis-
turbance was the scene of this more dikgraceful and
fatal demonstration. Situated in a central and
fashionable part of New York, the Opera-house
became very soon surrounded on this eventful even-
ing, the 10th of May, by somewhere about 20,000
persons, besides those who had already gained admit-
tance into the theatre. Macbeth was the tragedy ;
but a more terrible, because a more real, tragedy was
enacted outside the walls of the building, almost be-
fore its conclusion. Rioting had already more than
once interrupted the actors—four of the ringleaders
among the audience being arrested by the police and
secured under the stage, where "these fiends," says
the correspondent, " collected shavings and wood,
which they set on fire," doubtless with the
intention of setting the whole structure in
a conflagration. Raving extinguished the flames,

the police speedily found more than sufficient occu- '
pation in endeavouring to suppress the growing
excitement. Brickbats and paving stones—not mere
pebbles, but large blocks of granite known among
ourselves as "pitching stones," poured in through
the windows of the edifice, severely wounding and
lacerating many of those crowded within. Other
attempts at arson and assault rendered it necessary
for the authorities to obtain a larger amount of
assistance. About half-past nine o'clock the
military began to arrive, ' and were greeted with
yells, accompanied by volleys of paving-stones.
Two companies of infantry found themselves at the
mercy of the infuriated mob; they were hemmed in
by overwhelming numbers, were fired at with pistols,
and assailed with showers of brickbats. At last, see.
ing no other alternative, the troops were ordered to
charge down upon the multitude and fire upon them.
It must not be overlooked, however, that seventy-two
of the military and police are said to have been
wounded before the authorities came unwillingly to
this determination. Previously, moreover, it must
be borne in recollection that the Riot Act had
been read to no purpose whatever. Several
volleys were then fired principally with blank
cartridge, but subsequently with ball, and after a
short interval of desperate fighting between the mob,
and the,soldiers, the neighbourhood of the theatre was
cleared, and, though at a horrible sacrifice, peace was
restored. Besides a number of sufferers among the
police and the military, there were twenty-two
killed, about thirty- three wounded, and nearly half a
hundred prisoners. Of course it is quite impossi-
ble that a catastrophe like this, so sudden, so unpre-
cedented, and so disastrous, should not give rise to a
large amount of subsequent excitement. We conse-
quently observe that on the following morning there
were inflammatory placards posted on the walls
extempore meetings holden, violent harangues
delivered, extensive orders given for musketry, and
even classes opened for drilling and practising on
target expeditions. So serious indeed appears to
have been the alarm of the mayor and the munici-
pality that the public arsenal has been guarded night
and day since the riot, and a proclamation has been
issued, in which it is sternly and resolutely an-
nounced—" The peace of the city must and shall be
maintained by the whole civil and military power
of the county." Mr. MACREADY himself, the
innocent and unconscious originator of all this
misery and disturbance, appears to have escaped un-
hurt, though with considerable difficulty, passing
through the crowd of rioters disguised in the uniform
of a soldier, and mounted on horseback, accompa-
nied by an escort, or body guard, of
several military officers. On hearing the
firing in the first instance, and being informed of the
bloodshed, he is said to have thrown up his hands, ex-
claiming, " My GoD! has my appearance led to the
sacrifice of human life ?" If in this exclamation he
intimated that any blame rested upon his
owls shoulders he spoke under a most
erroneous impression. Before every unprejudiced
man he must stand altogether exonerated from any
responsibility. If any responsibility rested upon any
one beyond the atrocious originators of the out-
break, it would rest exclusively upon the deputation
who unwittingly prevailed upon Mr. MACREADY to
repeat his performance, overcoming his objections to
do so by their earnest entreaties.

And thercause of all this brutality and bloodshed ?
With the most painful regret we are compelled to
attribute the whole of these deplorable evils
in a particular degree to one man and to his
sycophantic and ruffianly partizans. Almost
the entire odium of the catastrophe falls upon
Mr. EDWIN FORREST, known in this country as an
indifferent and seventh-rate actor. To his petty spite
and jealousy towards Mr. MACREADY very nearly
the whole of this deplorable riot is attributable. It

is preposterous for his friends to endeavour to excul-
pate him from any share in the transaction, seeing
that his letters in the public journals of the
United States have tended to foment the ill-feeling
and animosity engendered against Mr. MACREADY
as an Englishman. One of the most violent of the
ringleaders—men who are by this time notorious
throughout America by the title of Forresters—
has endeavoured to exonerate himself from
the latter imputation. His logic however is, to say
the least of it, very Milesian. "I was not hostile to
Mr. MAcanany," says this jack-pudding orator,
" because he was an Englishman, but because he was
full of his country's prejudices, from the top of his
head to his feet, fhe has any!" Here is a difference,
certainly, but a difference only resembling that which
exists between six and half-a-dozen—a difference in
sound.

It should assuredly have been borne in mind by
these marauders that it ill became any one to insult
a man who himself, in the most conspicuous manner
possible, vindicated the right of foreigners to be
received with respect in England. When the French
artistes appeared on the boards of Drury-lane
Mr. MACREADY, in the journals of London, en-
treated the public to grant a deferential hearing to
those performers. His crimes, however, with the
riotous Americans are, first, that he is an immea-
surably, an infinitely greater actor than Mr. EDWIN
FORREST ; and, secondly, that this formidable rival
of Mr. EDWIN FORREST is an Englishman. Let
Mr. MACREADY, however, console himself in the
severe anxieties of his very painful position by re-
flecting that he has the cordial sympathy of the whole
mass of his countrymen. Let him remember, as
some consolation, that he retains with Englishmen
that respect and admiration which are due to him,
not only as a great tragic actor, but as a scholar and
as a gentleman.

There is, perhaps, no question of deeper importance
to the railway interest than thatinvolved in the much-
disputed point of what sums should be charged to the
capital, and what to the revenue accounts of the
various concerns. It is absolutely essential, not only
to the present welfare, but to the permanent prospe-
rity of the several undertakings, that a proper under-
standing should be come to on this subject, that
general rules should be framed, so that while on the
one hand no additions should be unduly made
to the existing capital, which did not really
and bona fide increase the value of that ca-
pital, on the other, no unnecessary deductions
should be taken from the actual earnings fairly divi-
sible among the shareholders. In the first instance,
an apparent prosperity would be occasioned, fictitious
profits would be distributed that had no real exist-
ence, parties would be gradually but certainly de-
stroying their capital—they would be led into ex-
penses which would never be incurred if they had
formed more correct opinions as to their true
position, and too late they would be awakened
from their pleasing dreams by finding them-
selves involved in sudden and irreparable ruin.
The latter mistake, although it may be looked upon
as an error on the right side, is equally to be avoided.
If through needless apprehension large sums are
annually set aside to provide for a supposed depre-
ciation, present dividends will be improperly reduced,
property.
tenants for life and persons having limited interests
in the stock will be deprived of their just rights.
Evanluorernous
:; estimatesthe will
be
Iffo offeredrmedas to
fotrh e
sreal
,
it must be disposed of
at a price far
below that which it •
is really worth,
and great damage may thus be
•ir icted on the present
proprietors for the benefit of a future e neration. It
is therefore most desirable thatg the actual burden
should be so apportioned as to prevent the •
attain ment
of temporary advantages at the expense of future
interests, while full justice should at the same time be
rendered to the existing shareholders,without any undue
regard being manifested for their successors. This is
the great problem to be solved, and it is undoubtedly
one of considerable difficulty, the several ele-
ments of the calculation being of a variable and
fluctuating character.
The points at present most involved in doubt ap.
pear to be the allowances that should be
made for the " wear and tear" of the rolling stock of
engines, carriages, &c.,or as it is technically termed,
"the railway plant," and for the deterioration of " the
permanent way." A great diversity of opinion has
hitherto prevailed among those entrusted with the
management of affairs by the different companies, and,
as a natural consequence, there has been a similar di-
versity of practice. These differences have arisen
from the absence of clearly defined data of recog-
nised principles of action. The most honest and con•
scientious men may commit grave mistakes, either by