The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1856-07-28

the citizens and the civil authorities By day and
by night they paraded in the streets large bodies Of
AIMED men and San Francisco presents continually
the appearance Of city in the possession OF q
known that the Vigilance Committee have armed
and blred large body OF foreign mercenaries TO
shoot down the officers end citizens of the State in
discharge OF the duties cast upon them by the laws
and their oaths Of Office.
Notwithstanding that the French Consul has or
deied all French subjects to withdraw from their
present reasonable attitude, several hundred Of
them, in defiance Of the laws OF their own country
remain with al in their hands iD open rebellion
against the government Of this country IL proper
to say that there few, any Of the respectable
French residents amongst them; many of them are
convicts who have been Transported for crime and
most of them kept in order in their own coun-
try only by force OF arms. Such are the men pre-
pared to be turned loose upon American citizens and
American property.
Men who have committed such crimes as these
against the State are naturally hurried by fear and
desperation. Before them is the abyss of revolu.
ton and SECESSION behind the halter They dare not
return under government of honest judges, with
prospect Of fair jures who viii administer the laws
without the commission of perjury lisa fact worthy
Of notice that during this whole movement hcentions
as the press is the district Judges in San Francisco
the highest Judicial officers of the city both as to
civil and criminal jurisdction-have not even been
assailed Their purity is not questioned To escape
from the consequencesof Of trial before these officers
members OF the Vigilance Committee, through their
for their resignation. They have demanded also the
resignation of the Mayor, the Sheriff, and all other
city and county officers, on the avowed ground
that the Vigilance Committee could not dis
band with safety until those offices were I'LL
ed with creatures of their own. Failing in this
object, they see no safety but in revolution.
Knowing that the Executive despatched by the last
steamer requistion on the President of the United
States for the necessary means to put down this in
surrection, and perfectly that the President
under the constitution and the acts of Congress- has
no discretion, but is bound to furnish not only arms
but to employ all the land and naval forces Of the
United States for that purpose, they perceive that
their punishment Is inevitabe-that Il ia q mere
question Of time, unless they throw off the au-
thority OF the Union, and tear California from the
constellation of States. They see that under the
laws Of this State there is no limitation Of the time
within which they may be prosecuted for murder;
that so long California is in the Union and they
exist and remain within its limits, they are liable TO
prosecution and the ignominous penalty of the gal
lows. They have no safety therefore, but in draw
ing all their fellow citizens after them into anarchy
and disunion. They seek to put all down to q com
mon infamy Of crime.
1t is doubtless true that up to the time of the re-
fusal of General Wool to grant farms to the State
had he complied with the requisition, they would
have disbanded within four days, and order would
have been restored without the firing of gun. But
the knowledge that the State was comparatively
destitute of is the key to all their recent high
handed measures, outrages and crimes. They use
their momentary power to gloat over, insult and
Lr6mple upon the people OF the state.
1t is difficult to understand what ADEQUATE motives
there can be alleged for all this violence, commo-
ton and crime. The two most prominent reasons
given by the Vigilance Committee are the uncer
tainty o. the punishment Of crime BY the judicial
the officers Of election. crime Is not punished in
San Francisco it s not for the want of able and up
right judges. II s owing to the corruption Of the ju.
San Francisco has not always been remarkable for
its purity. But whose fault Is this That of the
very merchants and shopkeepers who now mainly
constitute the Vigilance Committee. They decline
lous pretext. II is well known that distinguished
Judge in that city not long since adjourned his
court for the day, alleging that he was sickened
with hearing business men commit perjury In swear
an evil which the members OF the Vigilance Com
mtee might easily have corrected by the simple
discharge OF their duty as citizens, and the reform
would have produced pure and efficient administra-
ton OF justice. The evil is not likely to be made
less by supeiseding as Judges, such men as Judges
Norton, Hager and Shattuck by the creatures OF
the Vigilance Committee II business men would
discharge their legal obligations good citizens
there could be no necessity for Lynch law and revo
ution. But the greatest monstrosty of all is that
some Of the very who, jurors refused to con-
cur in verdict for the conviction Of Charles Cora,
subsequently as members of the Vigilance Commit.
As to election frauds-bribery and ballot box
stuffing-there is no doubt that il has been a mon.
strous evil in San Francisco. These crimes have
been resored TO to fhghtful extent by all political
parties; but the punishment has fallen exclusively
upon the offenders in one. Some of the most no
torous perpetrators of election frauds are prominent
members Of, and sympathizers with, the Vigilance
Committee. They are honored and protected mem
bers of that reasonable association. Since they
have created q new punishment, unknown to the
law-that OF fundamentally do they not mete
out equal justice TO the offenders OF all parties2
Again the Legislature at ts last session has passed
mn rta Nv tn Guu hxxr ov,tr
several gentlemen Of character, selected from all
parties, to appoint the judges and inspectors of
elections. Is mere revenge in Furnishing past frauds
on the ballot box sufficient motive for all this re-
be1on and civil commotion? The crimes which the
Vigilance Committee have committed against the
laws and society are Of much blacker dye, and
more injurious to society In their consequences than
the offences Of those men whom they have sent into
exile. To make the remedy complete and purify
society they should follow the men they have ban
ished and leave their country for their country good.
The doctrines they proclaim can never be produc-
tive of anything but disorder and anarchy. They
inculcate openly that majority Of the citizens Of
any single city may overthrow the government of
that locality and supersede its officers although that
government has been ordained by the people Of the
whole State, and its officers appointed under con-
stitution established by the people of California.
They assume to enact q new criminal code, and ap-
point new Judges, under which, and by whom, the
citizens OF any county In the State accused of crime
in San Francisco may be arrested and sent 10 exc
sution.
They ignore the existence Of the people of Califor
MIA, and in effect, declare that the merchants and
shopkeepers Of San Francisco only the State,
but the only people in II who have any OF the rights
Of the governing class. They insult all other por-
tons Of the State and treat the people Of the other
counties as their vassas.
Neither can these men escape scrutiny into5their
motives They not purely those Of the public good.
There in thevigilance Committee some merchants
Of wealth and business integrity, There are host OF
others the verge Of bankruptcy There are men un-
BILE to make remittances before this commotion be
gan, and who are now urging its prolongaton, be-
cause 1t affords them plausible excuse for not send
ing per mail funds which they unable TO remit.
No one wishes TO take out an attachment or fore
close mortgage against an influential member OF
the Vigilance Committee. As 10 him the courts are
practically closed. Capital s timid, and shrinks
from nsurrecton, civil commoton and the conflict
of arms but man who trades on borrowed capital
and in an untried hour Is little affected by the
oaees Of his creditors and landlord than the barri
cade Frenchman whom be hires TO devastate the
city. An ocean Of fame burns nothing that he can
cal his own.
What right have such men TO kidnap one Of the
Judges Of the Supreme Court, gentleman who il