The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-08-30
aIrDder Which King. BeZonian -

:
! Ii. bY the Methodist Book Concern.
! ..Under Which King. BeZonian
II xestard,v,s paper. we referred to the fact
! that several New York journals, commenting
! upon the outrages and crimes OF roWdyism'
| had at various times, declared that govern
mont like that of NAPOLEON would be prefer
able 10 the con tinuancc ofsuch state of things
AZ exists in the principal Northern cities. ms
/, no rash declaration, or, if made under the
excited impulses which the success of rowdy-
ism might naturally arouse, it is true never
theIess, and will receive the deliberate appro-
bation of every rejecting mind. If free insti
tutions do not secure life, property, civiiiza-
ton. we should like to know what they are
good for, or what there is in them which any
man having interests in society should desire
10 retain at the hazard of oil the objects for
which government is foi med. The state OF
things which has existed in our large cities, is
not only more ntolerable than despotism. but
it is not as secure as a savage condition, be-
cause the conservative, peaceable, substantial
and law abiding portion of the community are
rendered defenceless by their dependence for
security upon laws which there are no means
Of enforcing, which the administrators of the
law are too timd or too corrupt 10 execute,
and which, therefore, the aggressive and the
evil may violate with impunty. Even among
Indians there is more security for life than i'll
our large cities and more certainty that the
savage who murders another savage of the
same tribe will be brought to justice. Even Oh
The decks of pirate, the man who imbrues his
hands in the bloed of shipmate, or who dis
obeys the regulations prescribed for the gov
eminent of the rowing community, would be
speedily swung at the yard-arm. Or, in
complete state of anarchy, where no govern
Inent ut all is recognized, where the hand OF
every man is against his fellow and every mans
hand against him, there 1t is more secure than
where lawlessness prevails i'll 4 land OF law,
because there the only law recognized is the
law of self preservation, and under thatevery
man is armed and prepared to be his own
keeper and defender; whereas, III our large
cities, the best portion of the community is
dsarmed and the worst permitted TO be armed
to the teeth. and TO commit mu rider, rapine, ar
son and every other crime that suits their
truculent and brutal natures, with the most
perfect impunity.
Let any man read the accounts given by the
journals of these cities of the atrocities which
and which are not punished, and which can
not be punished let him observe the acknow-
lodged influence which rufhans, thieves, bull
lies and murderers exercise over the magis-
trates, over the municipal authorities, over
the ballot-box let him reflect upon the or
ganized masses of rufflanism in those cities ::
upon the army of eighty thousand lawless
men in New York. for example each and ali
of whom have the right to vote. not only for
Mayor and Councilmen, but for Justices of
the Peace and Judges, and then wonder if you
can that leading New York editors talk of a
monarchy land that law abiding and conser-
yatiye citizens seriously consider the expedi-
ency OF a Vigilance Committee. What wonder
that they should contras, their own condition
with that of Paris and London, in which the
darkest alley at midnight is safer than their
most crowded thoroughfares at MONDAY, OF
that they should expatiate upon the admirable
operation OF II Vigilance Committee in Cali
fornia, and propose to shoot down the enemies
! of society In their tracks and hang them up a,
lamp posts, and exterminate them with as lit.
| tie ceremony as they would use towards birds
and beasts of prey
! We are satisfied, however, that even In
| those States which do not possess those insti-
| tutions which make Southern communities so
orderly and secure, which render Southern
| cities quiet and peaceful that the night is
AZ safe as the day, there are means of vindi
eating the law without violating it by Lynch
Law, and of making Law and Liberty com
patible and harmonious. The only question
is, will they employ these means Will they
consent 10 strike ut the worst OF these evils
by putting an end to an elective magistracy
and judiciary, and by such an organization of
their municipal police as will make every ad :
ministrator and officer of the law, from the
highest TO the lowest, as independent of the
people as the Supreme Court of the United
States If they will consent to do that, there
will be no need Of talking of Lynch Law or
Despotism Ii they will not the Republican
experiment, so far Us they are concerned. is at
an end when the country becomes rs densely
populated as Europe, it will be at an end ey-
erywhere except in the slave States We be-
feye that the adoption of the old Constitution
of Virginia, with its freehold suffrage and iu-
dietary AMI magistracy for life, would be an
effectual remedy for all their woes That we
have not ourselves suffered much as vet from
the change OF that Constitution. is owing To
the fact that we have no such elements of law
lessness as abound in the great cities of the
North that our cities are small, our popuIa-
ton sparse, and that the present generation has
been educated in veneration of the law, and
under conservative system--not TO any vir-
tue in the changes which have been made. We
believe that the conservative and aw-abidine
portion Of every community would willingly
surrender their own privileges of voting for
everything and everybody, which, in point of
fact, they have not the time to exercise, rather
than, by retaining nominal and worthless
right, 10 sap the foundations of order, secu-
rity, justice and civilization.