Volcano weekly ledger., 1855-12-01

loose the different flags. At this time some
of the Frenchmen who had been very much
excited. struck up the Marselaise Hymn, and
anneals for peace and violence were heard on
all sides among the crowd. A regular fight
took place over the British flag, which had
been planted on heplatform referred to ; and
in the general scrimmage 1t was torn INTO
strips amid the widest and most indlscrlbaoie
excitement. The police were prompt in inter
fering. but as soon as the difficulty was queu-
ed another took place in different part oil
the payilon the excitement hadnow become
general and the vast crowd seemed possessed
with derium The attempts OF American
citizens to tear down the national emblems OF
the English and French, were renewed. II
became evident that feeling had been excl
ted, which, while it put an end to the festvl-
ties of the day, had arrayed many of our own
citizens and the Allies in hostility towards
each other, and threatened to lead to most
serious violence.
At this iuncture Mr. c. 2. Duane, who
was in the lower part of the pavilion, propos-
ed as means to allay the excitement, to
raise the American with the English and
| French flags. and tie them together as sig
nal for harmony. With this intent, asis gen
erally believed. Mr. Duane assembled one OF
the beams that supported the canvass, with
the American colors in his hand, the design
being that the French and English flags shoe
be handed to him from below, when the beam
gave way and Mr.. Duane was prcciptated to
the ground The intent of this acton oil Mr.
Duane was evidently mistaken by the French
and English. who regarded il as an attempt
TO hoist the American colors over their ma
tiona ensigns. and the confusion and excite
ment of the crowd became aggravated in the
most indescribablc manner Cheers and yells
resounded. Attempts were made in different
narts of the pavilion to hoist the stars and
stripes of our own country to the beams from
which had been torn down the flags of the
Allies and the crowd fought madly over the
different national flags, which were torn into
strips and trampled in the dust or wound INTO
balls and thrown from one part OF the crowd
to the other. amid screams of excitement and
the most violent struggles in which the clothes
were actually torn from the backs of the prin-
cipals in the contest and blows dealt promis-
cuously on all sides.
In the midst of this general excitement
several attempts were made by different Spea-
kers to appeal to our own citizens, and pur-
suade them to desist from their attempts to
hoist the American colors in place of the flags
of the Allies 1t was impossible, however,
for these appeals to be heard at all, more
than few feet from the speaker, and then
only amid the minglng of yels, cheers and
tigers which was perfectly bewildcring.
Col. Baker eventually succeeded in occu-
pying the platform near the middle of the pa
yilion, and raised his voice to address the
crowd. 1t was impossible for him to make
himself heard amid the confusion and turmoil
that ragged around The police cleared the
platform. A number of gentlemen We'd with
each other in calling order in the loudest
tone of voice but still Col Baker exerted
his lungs to no effect He was heard to say
G entlemen,' and some minutes afterwards,
Fellow citizens, | appeal but just then
the shouts of the crowd would swallow up cv-
erything else in its immense volume of sound.
We continue from the Herald:
Mr.. Henry A. Cobb next addressed the
crowd in the vain effort to allay the excite
ment He said | tell you, gentlemen, that
it is idle for men here to attempt to excite ill
feelings towards our French citizens. They
and are just willing to do anything for their
American fellow-citizens, except getting into
little muss like this Laughter and cheers
| want you to now join with me in giving
three hearty cheers for the United States of
America, and then just quietly evaporate.'
The cheers were well responded to, when
Mr.. Cobb proposed three more for La Belle
Frame, and three more for the Old Island of
Great Britain By this time the crowd
seemed to have determined to go through
regular programme of cheering, and the Sar-
dinians, the Turks, the City of San Francisco
the Fire Department, and the Hooks and
Ladders especially, and sundry individuals,
were in turn eheered by the majority of the
multitude
The crowd commenced gradually to dis
perse little past four o'clock in the evening:
but the excitement prevailed to the last mo-
ment Preparations were made by the
French and English to take down such of
their flag as still hung from the beams of the
tent, before leaving the pavilion. Some eX
cited appeals were made to their countrymen
in the crowd to take away all their national
ensigns from the pavilion, as if they remained
] there they would be insulted and torn to
pieces by the Americans. Such appeals and
] determinations naturally aggravated the ex-
citement and the taking down of the flags
was attended with renewed scenes of vo-
lence. There was an evident determination
that the American colors should be kept up
as long as the national ensigns of the Allies
4 floated from the tent, and the tugging at the
flags and fighting over them was renewed
with unlDatlnr violence In the gtrupplne