The southern press. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1850-1852, 1851-05-30


surpassed by the late outrages at Hoboken, per-
petratsd not only on unoffending foreigners
peaceably enjoying themselves, but also on their
helpless wives and children. The Philadelphia
Ledger (albeit not unused to the spectacle of
freesoil fghtsO is Disguised at this last and
lowest demonstration Of brutal blackguardism,
and closes its notice of this "deplorable occur
renee" as the New York prints term titus
! The Tribune says, the Germans who were
holding thS celebration went TO the city of New
York, armed themselves, returned to the scene
of the outrage formed themselves in hollow
square, in which they placed their families, and
in this manner protected them from insult and
injury in their march to the ferry What next!
Has ropdvism groom so laioless that Domen are
not safe from assault.
We have of late had frequent occasions to re-
mark, though we have foreborne to chronicle
them, through shame, the numerous outrages
upon unprotected females perpetrated on the
freesoil of the North, and have regarded it as
one of the most dangerous indications of the
rottenness of their social system for there can
be no truer criterion of the position commnn-
ity occupies in the social scale than this. Sig
ni6cant, therefore, as these repeated riots and
mob-fghts and outrages among the men may
be, these organized and premedit1esd faction
fights, where the police is powerless to preserve
the peace, and the real criminals 60 unwhipt Of
justice, still more sterny ominous of evil is this
violation of that regard for sex, which even
brute beasts possess.
The accounts in all the papers concur in the
main facts, though differing in details. We
gave the Herald's account yesterday. To-day
we append portion of the Iribune's editorial
notice of the same transaction.
"That spirit of riot and disorder 30 summarily
and beneficially quelled at Astor Place. has again
manifested itselfin fearful outrage in our vicin-
| ity. The details Of the riot as given in The
Tribune of yesterday and this morning, may
well arrest the attention Of every person con-
cerned in the order and welfare of the city.
| The facts, as far our reporters have been
able to ascertain them, are, that the riot was
provoked in the first instance, by gang of bull
lies who, under various epithets, have for some
time past infested this community, and whose
members cultivate brutality and pursue outrage
as profession and amusement On Monday
these persons beset the Germans, peaceably as
sembled at Hoboken with their wives and chill
dren, to celebrate their national festival of Pen
tecost, as they have done for several years past.
The ntruders had refreshments for which they
refused to pay and when the demand was in
sisted on, responded by breaking up the booths
at which they had been entertained. Thus as
sailed and provoked to fight, the Germans natur-
ally took the matter into their own hands and
dreadful riot ensued in which both parties seem
to have fought with equal ferocity. Neither po-
lice nor military force were at hand to stop it,
and the one or two magistrates who sought to
intervene, were knocked down and injured by
the combatants, and for some hours the battle
ragged with fury, the Germans finally proving
victorious and bringing off their women and chill
dren to this side of the river. Life was lost,
we're wounds received, and property destroyed"
The same print also makes the following ad-
mission:
1t is undeniable that there ferments IN the
bosom Of our American society, mass Of wanton
and obstreperous brutality, which either does
not exist elsewhere or is not allowed to attain
such lusty fullness of manifestation In no
country where the principle Of authority has yet
foothod would such gangs as our killers and
short boys be suffered to exist for day out of
prison. Here they defy the police, and, except
in case of some glazing crime, laugh at the ter
ror of the law. If their ranks are thinned by
calamity, or their semi-savage organizations dis
solved, they find new recruits, and straightway
reappear in new FORMS"
We object, in toto, to the generality of the
7'ribune's language. 1t is intended to mis-
lead-and is made the basis of the apology
which this conscience-stricken organ of the
higher la,cs" Of Abolitionism, Socialism, and
every other ism" that has convulsed the es-
tablished order of things, and shaken the dregs
and the scum of society to the surface, feels
bound to set up for its true disciples the short
boys" the killers" and the whole crew of dis
organizers.
"This mass Of wanton and obstreperous bru-
tally" does not /" ferment in the bosom of our
American society,"" for it is rank fungus to
f be found on :" free-soif' alone 1t springs up
and thrves only where Abolition, and Social
ism, and in6delity, and all the other great move.
ments Of REFORM" take root and flourish All
of these owe their origin, and their "lusty fulness
of manifestation" to such prints as the Tri-
bune, and to such a philosophy as that which it
breaches. All are the offspring of that higher
law" which overrides the authority of the laws
of the land-the obligations of justice-the
sanctity of oath--the teachings of Revela-
tion-and the pursuit of an equality which
would drag down all classes to the grade of
the lowest instead Of seeking to elevate all
capable of Improvement to the level of the
highest.
These riots nre but the external nantes
tations of the dangers that menace the social
system in the hireIing States" where both
life and property are held by tenure daily
becoming more uncertain and unreliable. And
it is therefore, the most shallow hypocrisy
to seek to shift the odium and the RESPONSE
bility from the shoulders on which it rests, to
the broad~' bosom of our American society"
No such orgaujzed hands of ruffiana exist in