Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-08-04

from the foundation Of government in thu
valley of the Mississippi to this hour, the exc
cutiOn of no law has done as much for the
public morals and prosperity as that act has ac
complished. 1t has almost entirely changed
the character of the population whose ouSl'
ness keeps them on the river and It's triou'
taries or near those waters. The press of thai
era denounced il as a series of cold blood ed
murders, utterly defenceless upon any princi
ple of law, &C. All that was true; yet much
good resulted from it. that was absolutely ne
cessary for the we'll being of society there, blu,
otherwise upattainabie
So far, with the exception of the arrest Of
Judge Terry, with his bowie knife in hand
reeking with the blood Of Officer Hopkins, nc
one doubts that the measures Of the San Fran.
cisco Vigilance Committee have been directed
wholly against just such subjects as were hung
at Vicksburg by the people on the occasion tc
which we refer above, whose crimes rendered
their dispersion and banishment the plain
duty of the community so grievously afflicted
by them, under the impulse Of the first law
oI nature-selt-preservatiO
The New York Herald, which now takes
the lead in imputing to the Vigilance Com
mlttee Interior political purposes, announced
before the arrival of the last steamer, that on
the 24th ultimo they were to terminate their
labOIs, restoring the authority they had
usurped into the hands Of the State and lnu-
nicipal officers. We received similar infor-
nation. 1t came, not direct to US, but in let
ters from many well known men of character
in San Francisco to various persons here writ
ten evidently without concert. The last arri-
val brought US the key their failure to dis
solve on that day, in the unex pected and futile
effort of the Governor to raise 4 military force
to attack them under the advice of Judge
Terry and few others, and in the judge
subsequent rash act Of stabbing Hopkins, in
armed resistance to his execution of the Com i.
nittee's warrant for MullOney's arrest. But
for those two circumstances, we doubt not that
on the oath nlt. the Committee would have
dlsbanded, and the city, in the next hour,
would have known no authority or power in
its midst, save that Of the law.
The report Of Gen. Volney E. Howard to
the Governor, while its statements only ap.
pear to have generated derisive laughter in
California, has created most of the feeling ex-
listing ON this side of the Rocky Mountains
knowing the intensity of Gen Towards par
tizanship well, and that the testimony of others
concerning many things of which his report
treats is in fat contradiction to most of his
accounts of facts involved, his views by no
means affect our impressions Of the state Of
affairs in San Francisco. We have adopted
the impression of them evidently prevailing
throughout California. Else, why is it that
the recruits answering the Governors call to
take arms against the Committee are so few
and so almost wholly composed of the boon
Of the Caseys, Coras, Aldrichs,
MacgoWans, &c, &c. disposed of by the Com
nittec When the proclamati failed Of its
end, Gen. Howard undertook personal ap-
peal to the citizens of Sacramento, and while
he was hooted by the people from the hust-
lngs, police force Of the Committee, sent IN
from San Francisco, consisting of half a dozen
individuals only, were exercising in the same
city, in searching for prescribed persons and
making arrests, power equal to that they could
at that moment have exerted where their au-
thority was practically uliisputed
The fact that nine tenths of the newspapers
Of the State sustain the Committee, forces us
to disbelievc the stories saying that political
ends are at the bottom IF their acts. We
know that Know Nothings, Republicans, and
Democrats are alike sufferers through the acts
of the Committee, and that Know Nothing,
Republican, and Democratic newspapers alike
sus ain them.
On the failure Of the militia to take arms
at the Governors call, he is said to have ap-
piled to the President to interfere with the
United States military force Half dozen
gentlemen arrived here by the last steamer
from that quarter, who arc understood to have
pressed the propriety of such action on the
part Of the General GOvernment-rumor saws,
so far without avail. 1t was the duty of the
Governor rather to have summoned the Legis-
lature, than to have asked interference from
this quarter in such a family quarrel. If the
Committee had any such ends in view az are
now alleged, there can be 10 question that the
rest Of the State, acting through the Legisla.
ture, would instantly take means, if called to-
gether, to defeat and punish their authors.
If Governor johnson had not known that
the State was with the city in this matter he
would undoubtedly have made his appeal to
it; and not for the army and navy of the
United States TO put down the people by force
OF arms, which, if persisted in, would probably
lead to really fearful conflicts and bloodsbed.
In the temper Of the State, as we describe
above with reference to the acts of the Com
ini'tee, the strife to be generated by such in.
reference from abroad could hardly fail to
become general, the real people being in
VOWED IN the movement and upon principle.
They have gene too far to be turned back in
that way, even if to persist in sustaining the
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