New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1858-01-12

Empre would have stood chance of ouce ra.s giving
way 10 a Republic or ether FORM OF government, ;
bot in New-York-where there u yappncenao
siderable curiosity. Az pushed or Insinuated N.Y.
self ns well az could through the dense MAJ, the
rockets kept pouring up to the sky in more rapid
succ, ssiop. the uproar Of the peoples voices
sw.lled jouder and louder; and when came within
ono hundred wards of the hotel-the ~. Nicholas
found that that building was the very point Of a,trac
ton and that excited orator was addressing still
move excited auditory from ia balcony. Tricky
scattered among the multitude were griny fellows in
their irt-sleeves, who held alot blazing torches
and at each rounded period Of the orators address
waved them in the air, and signalsd the crowd 20
cheer, shou, and huzza could not Obtain admission
into nv own abode for the pressure Of the multitude
hut after quarter Of hour succeeded in getting
jpgress by the back door. Making my way to the
balcony discovered that the speaker was the Mayor
Of New.York who was addressing his constituents at
that late hour-nearly II o'clock, and soliciting at
their hands the honor Of reelection Ia the Mayoraty
that upturned of human faces needless of the rain
that beat down upon them, eagerly intent upon the
hard words that the Mayor was launching against his
political opponents-the moving, excited, surglng
roaring mass irradated il swayed Ia and fro by
the CLEAN and glare Of hundreds of torches wildly
waved in the air-forned most picturesque spec
tacle.
The Mayor had been accused by his opponents in
the press and at public meetings, OF every crime pub
lie and private, which it was possible for man TO
commit short of murder and in terms so gross aud
might have stood on end with surprise at the audacy
of the bes if brought under his cognizance for tral
bpt the Mayor, unabashed and undismayed, seemed 10
consider the charges against his character the ordi
nary tactics of party strife and contented himself with
simple retaliation and the of the broadest, most
verDacular tn quOque which il possible TO apply.
could not help expressing my fears that If the police
were not requisite in such a meeting, the hremen
speedily would be, either from the effects of the rock
cts and Roman candles, from those of the torches.
But no harm came of the demonstration; and dozen
or twenty similar meetings by torchlight have since
been held by the Mayor and his rival in other parts
Of the city. Surely population among whom such
mighty satumalia are possible without general
sault upon all the shops and stores in the city has an
innate respect for the laws of meum and tuum? But
politics the life Of this people. Every man is
Governor, Mayor, Alderman, City or State Treasurer.
the eff, Of the militia the tremen, are elected
by universal suffrage and the ballot-box.
But with all this respect for propery-if these mid.
night and torchght meetings of an excited multitude
in one of the richest streets in the world prove,
they seem to do the inherent peaceableness and re-
spect for law Of the ctzens-New-fork Is not city
where either life or property IL very secure The daily
journals team with accounts Of murder, robbery and
outrage; and this morning one of the most influential
daily papers asserts in its most prominent leading arti-
Gle that during the past three years New-fork has
been sinking in the sale of public respectabty that
citizens resort TO che eXpedents of border life, and
the habits Of mi-barbarous society, for the
preservation of their property and the safety of their
persons; that ladies are stopped and robbed in the
broad light of day that murderous ARRAYS take place
with practical IMMUNITY 10 the perpetrators within
reach of the public offices and under the very eye of
the Chief Magistrate of the city, and that decent
people 20 about their daily business armed as il an
enemy lurked in every lane and gateway of the
streets.
This it is to be hoped, il exaggeration in the in.
terest of the rival candidate for the office of Mayor;
but there cam unfortunately be doubt that the po
lice Of Newiork is not equal to its duties, and that
rbberies, accompanied with violence and murder, are
of more frequent occurrence here than in any other
city in the world OF the same -izo and population.
Whether the citizens Of NewYOrk relish the prospect
not, they will have, ere many years, to Increase
their taxes and their police force and regulate
strngeny, if they will not resort in the last exrem
iy of desperation TO the Californian substitution of
Vigilance Committee. c.s.