The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-06-12
Crime In the Metropolis.

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Crime In the Metropolis.
We don't really know what the country editor
would do without his New York exchanges
They not only supply him with all the matter
that fills his news column, with the excep-
ton Of his local puffs, but they give him
editorial articles, or topics for them, in pro
fusion. The country editor, however, is not grate
| full He steals, and then abuses those whom
| be bias robbed. His favorite theme is the
awful wickedOess of this great metropolis, com
pared to which, according to his account, the
sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were only venial
| misdemeanors. To read some of the newspapers
| printed in Boston, Philadelphia, Cincinnati aud
other places in the provinces, one might think
that we were utterly unregenerate, and CON-
| pletely delivered over to all manner of wicked
ness; that the chief employment of the people
Of New York is the cutting, wouuding, manning
or killing their neighbors is the pleasant founda-
ton of the country editors indignantly virtuous
"leader"
Now the fact is, that we are not half 20 bad as
our rural friends endeavor to make us out; that
the greater part of the crime committed in New
York is the work of foreigners or refugees from
some Of these very provincial places; and that
If the matter was properly analysed, we should
find that Of all crimes and misdemeanors, great
and small, the native and respectable residents
of this city can show q cleaner record than some
of the interior towns. But emitting the foreign
and the floating population, we shall find that, 10
| proportion to the population, there is
more crime in Cincinnati than in this
city. Some Of the smaller cities, such az
Troy, enjoy an uneRviable reputation
in the same line. Then, again, it must be remem-
bered that the leading journals of the metropolis
give the greatest prominence to the criminal
calendar both in their news and editorial co.
lumns; that full particulars are given of affairs
that in the old times would have been passed
by with short and unsatisfactory paragraph,
and that in the hurry which is inseparable from
the management of a newspaper which aims to
keep the public an courant to the very latest
news, errors are often made, and what are called
mares nests frequently exploited. A New York
journal ventilates every subject Of public inte-
rest without fear faver or affection and the same
thing cannot be said with truth of any other
newspapers in the world. Of course there must
be occasions when a "horrid tragedy" or an
atrocious murder turns out to be nothing more
than melancholy suicide" or "f,.tal acct
dent" But it is all one to the country editor.
He takes the first report and fires Off his battery
at it, with the fixed intention of using I'D New
York ard the New Workers so that they will
never hope again.
Just now the country editor is in his glory.
Some Of our infected districts-such as the
Fourth ward-have been unusually turbulent.
Some half breed Irish and American scamps have
been stabbing each other-some European cut
threats have been turning their steel against
each others breasts-therefore the rural
presses at Boston and elsewhere let Off
terrible jeremiads about US. Inferential-
~ they tell their readers that there
is no city in the world 20 utterly lost as New
York. On the other hand, many metropolitan
presses lament the increase of crime all over the
country, and predict the most terrible results
from it.
Now, it is quite true that crime has increased
in our cities quite as rapidly as the population,
perhaps In some Instances more 30; but there is
another view to be taken of 1t than the lugu-
brious one that is ventilated by our lachrymose
cotemporaries Crime Of all kinds is disease.
1t is morbid aggregation of the ferocious CON-
bative spirit that is implanted in every human
breast~implanted wisely, because from it flows
the instinct Of selfprotection, self preservation
and, If rightly directed, all the manly virtues
courage, faith. constancy, frmnSss, the inclina-
ton to protect the weak against the strong,
chivalry, eallantry, devotion But this instinct,
nitdirected, turns man into a wild beast, always
biting and sDarlDg at his fellow; all the worst
passions are developed, all good aspirations all
home affections, crushed out. Society makes
this man an outcast, and treats his disease as
with the actual cautery. And 80 he proceeds,
from bad to worse, bringing up with a violent
death, legal or Illegal; to his class It matters
little whether the warrant Of three Judges or
the knife Of an old comrade sends him into the
dread presence Of Him that searches all hearts.
The only outlet for such passions is In murder
on great scale, like the war which Is now going
On in Europe. That gives an outlet for all the
turbulent spirits Of all classes, whether it be the
elegant duellist Of the jockey club, the ensau-
guined ou,aier Of the Faubourg Saint Antoine,
the miSchievous go,nin Of Paris, the bloodthirsty
leaders Of the Marianne, the hungry chief of the
Csrbonari, the fierce Zouave, or the trcacherous