Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1863-10-13
TUESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER Is, 1856
MAyJMUM AND TIE MOB.

1t is with great regret that we find
ourselves constrained, by public duty, to op-
nose any portion Of our fellow-citizens when
assembled in public meeting to discuss mat
ters Of great interest. But the right to dis,
cuss all questions effecting society belongs as
much to the press as to the people, and how
ever large and influential the assemblage,
what they do is a Legitimate subject Of com
ment by any other portion of their fellow
citizens. The meeting of Saturday night,
though large in point Of numbers, was yet
only q class-a particular portion of the citi-
Gems. By the report in the "Examiner"it is
designated as "a very large and spontaneous
meeting of the mechanics and working men
Of Richmond;" by the report in the "Whig,"
IAN adjourned meeting Of the mechanics. by
the Sentinel" st being an adjourned meet
ing, Mr.. Benjamin Bragg resumed the Chair"
and "Mr. Bragg said that although the meet
ings had been previously held under the
auspices offMs mechanics, that so large an Assem-
blageof all classes had been gathered together,
that be thought itshould be called a
meeting of the citizcnisof Richmond" HAL
les are ours BY the Dispatch mr.: Ben
jamin Bragg, who had presided at the two
previous gatherings Of the mechanics Of Rich
mond. took the stand and explained that
= this meeting had been convened
in order to obtain a free expression of the
sentiments of tho people generally. The
meeting was for the citizens of Richmond,
and could no longer be regarded as confined
to the mechanics AID working men," BY the
Enquirer" "on Saturday night the working
people, pursuant: 10 n call Of their committee Of
seven met" &c. From these reports Of the
Richmond papers i: will be seen that the meet
ing of Saturday nighs was not the meeting Of
the people; but Of a class, q part, a portion of
the people.
What influence the instruction Of q part, a
class Of the people should have with Il repre-
sentative, we are not prepared to say but
upon SO important a question as this law Of
maximum, representatives may well hesitate
before obeying instructions from my part,
portion OF class of the people, however large
and influential it may be. But especially
should that representative pause and reflect
where obedience may lead him if he follows
such resolutions es the following:
6. Resolved, That awakened to a sense of
the AFFECT posture to which labor and we who
labor have been reduced, and to the privi-
leges which as citizens and people the irstitu-
tons Of our country rest in US, we will net
sleep again until our grasp has firmly clenched
the rights and immunities which are ours as
Americans and men: until our just demands
have been met by the concessions of all oppo-
sing elements.
7. Resolved, That as freemen we abhnr end
detest the idea that the rich must take care Of
the poor, because we know that without labor
and production the man with his money could
not exist, from the fact that he consumes all
and produces nothing: and that such a de-.
pendence would tend to degrade rather than
elevate the human race.
8. Resolved, That it is the duty of tho Gov
eminent to take care OF the unfortunate, and
not the rich.
Resolution No. G either is empty highfa
luGlu uUisclsc, VI ~ IL Ill uIoCSOAAihS
threat of mob violence to "all opposing ele
ments." This resolution avows that those
who adopted it will not sleep again until our
grasp has firmly clenched the rights and i'm
munities which are ours as Americans and
men," Now, there is no man or men seeking
to deprive the mechanics and laboring men of
Richmond of any right" or "immunity"-e1-
sept such "rights or immunities" as those upon
which the grasp of Mrs. Jackson was firm
ly :lenched" last Spring, and for which she
was sent to the Penitentiary.
The mechanics of Richmond enjoy all the
"rights and immunities" that any and every
other man enjoys, and they will not be per-
mitted to grasp" or ''ciench" any more. We
hope the Legislature of Virginia will not per-
NIT itself to be Influenced by such minatory
resolutions to pass q law forbidden by the ex-
~perience Of all history and opposed by the
teachings Of every public economist, and which
is now opposed by some Of the ablest and wiSest
mon of their own body. The men who com,
pose the armies Of the Confederacy have, for
the last two years, permitted all their rights
sad immunities" to be most materially cir
cum, cribed, their privileges" reduced 10 the
one high and holy privilege Of shooting and
being shot for their country. These men,
without shoes, blankets, provisions, in want
and suffering with wounds, and even unto
death have nobly and gallantly borne all
these hardships, uumurmuring and uncom-
planning. What a contrast such men present
to this mob spirit of the Saturday night meet
lug, whose eternal vigilance" will not permit
them to -'sleep again" until their grasp is
"clenched," and firmly clenched." upon
what? Such airy nothiugs as rights and
immunities" will not reduce prices. Upon
what are these s~leepless resolutisnists to fix
their "grasps2" We leave the Governor and
Mayor to answer these questions, and to in
terpret these resolutions, and to decide what
their respective duties may be when, the
"grasping" and "elenching" begins.
This is the first time a public meeting in
Virginia ever permitted, even by an unguar1-
ed expression, the laws Of the State and the
rights of their fellow-citizcns to be threatened
Here is tho quintessence of marimum; the
right to grasp and ''clench" the property of
others at their own price. The cxtortioner
robs the people of the privilege Of buying,
and the maximum robs the people Of the
privilege of selling:
1.-THE difference you ean ss>
. 'Twirt sweedledum and rweedledoe"
The question of fixing prices of maximum
ID one of reason and discussion. The Mob
Jacobin violence of Paris forced it through
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