Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1862-03-26
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The DIssraoefui Mob Rt CiaclanRti.
The telegraph has already informed our
sadsEs Of the breaking up Wendell Phillips j
ecture, at Cincinnati, on Monday evening,
y mob force. To show how the act is
-ieved Ia Cincinnati, We copy from the pa
,ers Of that city, beginning with the Enquir-
II, a democratic sheet Of pTo-slsvery tendeR-
lies. The Enquirer sayE
at viii be seen, By the report In cur local
columns, shst Wendell Phillips lecture last
evening, at the 0pera-house, was broken up
by the acts Of disorderly persons, and that
mob violeuce prevented his being heard -
This we deeply regret, and we severely con-
demn the conduct Of those who have thus
outraged the prin-iplo Of liberty Of speech
and inflicted a stain upon the reputation OF
our city for adhesion 10 law, order and
general decOTum. Il is unnecessary for us |
to state how radically we disagree with Mr..
Phillips In bis views and political policy |
how greatly We think he has erred; but II |
that disagreement was q million-fold greater
than il Is, We should still insist that he had
n right TO be heard by those who chose to
attend his lecture.
uIntoleranee Of opinion and sentiment is
one of the greatest evils Of our times, and
thrsatens the most serious results. The
press and our public halls are open TO those
who desire 10 answer Mr.. Phillips-to retute
his logic and answer his assertions. he
s3ould be answered By fair discussion, and
not, as he was last night by rotten eggs and
stones.
1--WE repudiste, with the strongest feeling
Of disgust and detestadon, all mob violence,
no matter against whom It lis directed, or upon
what pretext It is made"
Wecopy from the Commercial as follows;
"Tbe city Of Cincinnati was disgraced last
night by mob. The Mayor was warned
during the day that there was q purpose on
the part Of q gang Of rufians to commit a
breach Of public order at the Opera House
in the evening, but he entirely disregarded
the warning, and when the mob was doing
its work, not policeman was at hand, as the
whole force had been carefully ordered else
where. This conduct on the part of the May
or is well understood, indeed, is not to be
mistaken.
"a policeman was hunted up by gentle
man, and requested 10 90 to the house and st
tempt to preserve order. BE replied that be
had been told by Mayor Hatch to keep away,
and not 20 near the scene of the action du-
ring the evening. The Mayor is clearly guilty
Of acquiescing in the mob, and is mean enough
to have instigated it.
"The mob was composed of the vilest
class of our population. The lowest OF the
gamblers, the pimps, the thieves-those
whose trade it is to rob the public as well
as private pilferers-the whisky bloats-the
builies in ward elections-the fOulest mouth
ed of the secesh sympathisers-were out in
full force, tickets having been procured for
them by wholesale, and distributed through
all the sink.holes of the city. We believe it
can be substantisted that five hundred tickets
were given away in places and to persons OF
the worst repute, for the express purpose Of
raising a mob.
HNear fifteen hundred gentlemen and ls-
dies paid for their tickets that they might
hear q man who is confessedly one Of the
first scholars and orators in the country, and
at the same time contribute to a noble ohari-
ty. They were insulted, grossly, indecently,
and their persons placed in peril, by gang
of coWardly miscresnts, and it is not the
fRult of our infamous Mayor and his inso-
lent police, that our beautiful opera house
was not the scene of a bloody tragedy as
well as Of a burning disgrace. It is well
known TO our readers that we do net sympa-
thize with the extreme views with which
the name of Wendell Phillips is associated,
and Of which he is the ablest exponent. It
is due him to say, however, that his speech
last night was inofensiYe in terms, and was
dispasslORate, aEsQmentstive, and patriotic.
But II Il had been as wild as any utsoTaRSe.
he ever made, he should have had a respect
ful hearing. William L. Yancey declsimed
treason and threatened Us with wal, and in
suited us as apeople with epithets, from the
same boards, and was heard with hardly
murmur Of disapprobation."
1.-THE instigatoTs and perpetrators of last
nights outrsges, and those who looked on
with Unsurpassed satisfaction, were those
who would be open traitors to their country
wretches who roared in the galleries and
lobbies, and threw stones and eggs upon the
stage, are those who are instinctively the
serfs Of the gang of cOnspiratOrs who have
dragged the country into war, and they were
as faithfully doing the bidding of their mas
ters as if they had received special orders
from JEFF. DaSis, or any of his villainous
aristOcrscy. The spirit manifested was that
of the same barbarism that otherwise has its
demonstratisns in the digging up and mutila-
ton Of the bodies of the gallant defenders of
/ the Union who fell at Manassas, or in the
scalping of the soldiers who were struck
down fighting under the old flag on Pea
Ridge. Indeed, there is reason to believe
that the mob was the direct product of q
reasonable organization"
The comments of the Gazette are in the
same tone, and are equally severe upon the
rioters. How is it with the press in this city2
The Plain Dealer gloats with unconcealed sat
isfaetion over this disgraceful exhibition Of
brute power, and the editor of the Herald
makes a draft upon his legal lore to prove
that Mr.. Phillips, and not the rioters, is re-
sponsibIe for the outrage. Were band Of
kidnsppers to enter our community and seize
some defenceless negro, and humane parties
should interfere to rescue the victim from the
hell of bondage, these editors would be among
the first to denounce such Intervention as a
i'disregard of law" and an Iunwarrantsble
exercise of individual opinion" That this
mob, which has disgraced, not Cincinnati
slone, but the State of Ohio, was the result
of conspiracy conceived and executed in q
spirit Of psrtizsn bitterness is proved by the
fact that the Mayor, a white-feather Demo-
crat instructed the police to keep alOOf from
the spot where be had been informed the riot
would occur. The people Of Cincinnati owe
it to their fair fame to purge the city Of such
reasonable corruption in official stations.