The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1855-01-18
THE DAILY DISPATCH.
rHvRsDAY MoRNrNo, JANUARY ID, isss.
ExrRAcRp,sAnv Movrarsr IL N. YoRK!

sauSS Meettag. demanding dtd from the Go-
rerameat ,--Parading Fifth Arenme A
most extraordinary and suggestive spectacle
has just been witnessed in New York. While
Horace Greeley is daily vomiting forth bill
ious ISLANDERS against institutions of which
he is ignorant as the babe unborn; whilst
the New York Times is scattering far an d
wide its venomous libels upon Southern sla
very; whilst fanatic Beechers are turning
the Northern pulpit into an arsenal of envy,
hatred, malice and all uncharitableness; and
female Beechers are manufacturing Uncle
Toms, to melt the Northern mind with the
imagined woes and expressions of the South;
"A monster procession of eight thousand
unemployed working men, representing, &C
cording to one of the speakers, one hundred
thousand unemployed men in New York, in
fear of starvation, marches throu yh the prin.
cipal streets of this free city, and meets in its
central Park, and demands aid at the hands
of its city government!
This vast and motley assemblage marched
silently and solemnly, without music or ban
ners. A rougher and more uncouth set, says
the Herald, never paraded in New York
The enormous crowd had eighty Marshals.-
The meeting first assembled in the Wash.
ington Parade Ground, thence it marched to
Broadway, from thence to Clinton place,
where the cry was raised: "Let us march up
Filth Avenue, and show ourselves to the arts
tocracy." The suggestion was adopted; and
says the Herald, the vast assemblage paraded
up that renowned locality, to the great aston
ishment of its inhabitants, who might be seen
crowding to the windows and staring at the
nnwashed, stern and silent workmen, as they
filed past their palace like residences. When
they reached the Park, and organized in front
of the City Hall, it is supposed there could
not have been less than twelve thousand per-
sons present. Those who are familiar with
the city of New York may form some idea of
the length of the procession, from the fact
that the crowd in the line of march were
drawn up in files of eight or ten deep, and
when the head of the column entered the
Park, the rear was in the neighborhood Of
Grand street.
This great assemblage originated from
conference of German and American work
men, who, it is stated, wished by this means
to show that they were DESTROYS of FLU
sion,' so as to influence more effectually
the Common Council in their behalf
An address ana resolutions were adopted
setting forth the views and purposes of the
working men, which were, that the Common
Council should proceed to build houses upon
the clio lands of the city, whereby en-
ployment would be given to mechanics and
Iaborers, and the houses be rented at cheap
rates asking the suspension of the law which
gives the power to the landlord of ejecting
the tenant from his premises, when such &C.
cupant, from want of employment, is unable
TO pay for the use of such shelter; and, fur
cher, that the State shall indemnify the land
cords for any loss that may accrue from said
suspension calling upon the members of the
Common Council to assist them in demand
ing from the Legislature that the lands be-
longing to the State be set apart and distrib-
uted free of charge, and that the division Of
the amount be allotted in proportion to the
number of applicants; calling upon their re-
representatives. at Washington to insist upon
Che immediate passage of a homestead bill
that will secure to the actual settler the un-
restricted use of one handred and sixty acres
of land and finally, requesting the Mayor
and City Council to join with them in calling
upon Congress for the appropriation Of -
million of dollars, and that such moneys be
proportionately set apart for the purchase of
implements of husbandry and the means for
the subsistence and conveyance of such as
may need either the one or the other and
that in addition the government shall be EN-
powered by the appropriation to assess and
hold the lands of each occupant subject to
payments at ghch stipula!e periods as may
be Just to both parties.
The language of the various speakers on
the occasion, as well as of the address adopt
ed, was strong, bitter end defiant. 'Wlll you
allow these men," 1.-THE Common Council
exclaimed Mr. Ira Davis, the first speaker,
sto treat your petition with contempt-and
the men who inhabit these palaces that sur
round you, whose storehouses are filled to re-
pletion, who perhaps have never done use
full day S labor 10 their lives, to laugh at your
misery and mock at your attempts at redress!
mo, no, no. And though we know the pro-
perry they possess is the result of our han.
diwork, yet we say to them and to our legis
lators. the time has come when this system of
plumber must in some measure be abated-
Let them keep what they have got, but they
must not oppose our seeking a REFORM
(Cheersg'
In a similar spirit is the address adopted by
the meeting. 1t declares that, whereas va.
rious editors of papers and others have taken
upon themselves to direct the action of the
unemployed in our city and its vicinity and
whereas these persons seem to think that the
people have no right to look for relief from
the municipal, State or general governments:
We, the destitute and sggrieved parties,
deny the soundness Of such theory that the
position is unsound, facts and the practice of
legislation must prove
And again: "Shan our complaints be dis
honored by those who look to the State and
general treasures of the people as their own
exclusive property? Shall those who have