Morning herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1837-1840, 1840-02-08

York by the various important questions that agitate
the country from time to time, still there is no sub
ect which they pay little serious attention, and
yet which affects their best interests more than any
other topic the annual choice of hiefmagistrate
for the city With their minds harassed by the
and perplexy of business engrossed by the trans
actions of the General Gov rnment, they either post
pone all reflection, the choice of the city Chief
Magistrate till after he is nominated by clique, or
do not give the subject moments consideration,
until they are about to drop their in the ballot
box
All this is wrong The choice of our city mayor,
is one of the earliest considerations to which good
citizen should give his attention and support. The
comfort prosperity, security and happiness of every
mans family depends upon the choice of mayor
The welfare and safety of the city from fire, pest
lence riot bloodshed and murder, depend more upon
the conduct of the mayor than all the other branches
of the CITY Government combined. He is most pow
erul either for good evil for the Chief Magistrate
of this city there is middle course to pursue
easy disposition dislike to energetic measures and
an incidence and INDIGESTION of character, though not
in themselves crimes, pave the way to more real
mischief and misery than positive vices whilst the
antagonist qualities of energy and decision OF cha
racter are productive of incaculabe advantages to
the governing and the governed.
And amongst the various indv duals that have fill
ed the Office mayor this city for the last 20 years,
no man ever possessed the latter qualities in greater
perfe ton than our late Mayor, Aaron Clark. EN-
phaticaly of the people, a self made man. OF
strong mind sound judgment, quick perception, and
indomitable frmness and decision Of character, he
raised himself by his own honest and praiseworthy
exertons Just so far above the level of the crowd
tina, surrounded him, to benefit, guide, direct and
serve them, without forgetting that he was still
simple member of the great republican family ready
to retire into their midst whenever called upon by
his fellow citizens to do So
Such was Aaron Clark in himself. But in his Off
cal capacity as Mayor he was even yet much more.
He was, for the space of two years, most unques-
tionably the guardian and saviour of this city from
peatilence and riots, and most probably from des-
ruction by fire. Before he entered upon the duties
Of the Mayoralty the city was constantly the
Of riots. bloodshed and murder. From 1893 to 1896,
inclusive there was average oftwo or three most
extensive and destructive riots annually, besides
numerous smaller ones, to keep up the chain OF con-
nectiou. Who has forgotten the disgracefu scenes
of the Arsenal Riot the Abolition Riot, the Bowery
Riot the MCaffery Riot, the Flour Riot, and the
rious other riots that dsgraced the city for the four
wears Immediately preceding the election Of MIR.
Clark 10 the Mayoralty Of the city! Again. during
the present Mayoralty Of Mr.. Varian, we have been
visited with two three most disgraceiu riots, and
with the loss of several lives. stabbng, shooting,
assauting females, and violation OF all the decencies
of life. are now so common, that we no longer are
.stopisbed 10 hear Of their daily occurrence. We
are only surprised when we do not hear Of them.
Such is the state of society in the city Of New
York at this time, that female dare walk out
alone after five o'clock without making up her
mind to he insuted, attacked, by some ruihan or
other No man scarce dare venture ont late at
night without being well armed And what is all
this owing to- unless il be the gross inefciency Of
the present Chief Magistrate of the city' His po-
lice are inefficient; so are the marshas, constabes,
and eve, the entire watch department under him
His first act was to appoint low, Drawing rowdy
for preserver of the peace; his next was to follow
this up by several similar appointments. He lives
nj distance from the city, and three fourths Of the
time does not really seem to know what is going
therein We have had in short, four times many
murders during the few months Of his Mayoralty,
a. We had during the whole Of Mr.. Clark's two
terms. and ten times much property stolen and
destroyed.
Who ever heard of a Waterman being murdered
or even desperately beaten, during Mr.. Clark's
Mayoraltyl and vet this frequently the case be-
fore and has been since. And, again not the least
remarkable and valuable result of his admirable
for preserving the peace and property of
the city. was his constant and excellent survcil-
| lance Of the whole Fire Department. So long as
MIR. Clark was Mayor, so long was the Fire Depart
ment effective, valuable, and peaceable; powerful
for GOOD and impotent for evil The instant he laid
| down the reins Of power, the Fire Department, a
| II were fell into confusion and disorder; and the
result is. that property to the amount Of nearly
SIS 900 900 has been destroyed. burnt and stolen at
fires in the few months, since Mr.. Clark ceased to
be Mayor whilst during two years that he filled the
Office there was not property TO the amount of one
million destroyed. And, actually, to such lamen-
table and ineffective state has the present Mayoraty
reduce the watch police and fire departments, that
the insurance companies have had to organize a
large BODY Of fire police distinct from the city GO
yernment and even the citizens have been com
compelled. from necessity, to enrol themselves a.
light patrol to protec, their property
All this is lamentable enough. but IL is, neverthc
less true and the sooner tho present Chief Magis-
traie retres with dignity, plant cabbages out Of
town. the better for the citizens and their property
But the question is, how we to prevent rccur-
renee Of these things Certainly not BY rc-cleci-
| ing the present Mayor. Neither is IT likely that
an untried man could be efficient enough under such
critical circumstances. The only remedy for these
frightful evils is to nominate Mr. Clark for the next
Mayor lie brings his past reputation most
efficient Mayor and his valuable experience for inn