Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-07-13
THE GREAT REBELLION IN THE CITY
OF NEW YORK,

THE GREAT REBELLION IN THE CITY
OF NEW YORK.
We are clamorous for immigration
We look first to our rich soil, only in
part cultivated, and then look to the
OVERLOOKING population of Europe.
There, are great hives of stalwart men
and hardy women. We propose to
assist them to homes and independence.
But through all efforts to bring them
here there runs an implied condition.
They must become citizens, and not
only obey the laws made for the govern
ment of ourselves, but they must drink
deep of the spirit of our institutions.
They must learn what American liberty
is, and fall into the procession that
keeps step to its music. We Americans
care nothing for feuds born in the old
world and perpetuated from generation
TO generation. But we will, or should see
to it, that the fruit they bear abroad be
not shaken down and waited to our
shores, to tester and poison our national
life. When a man comes from abroad
to make his home among us, he
should not bring his old quarrel
with him, but leave it where it
originated to run its coarse among the
elements that give it significance and
make it terror. He is presumed to
come among us with good motives and
Just aspirations. The love of indepen-
dence is inherent in human nature, and
can never, through FIRE or food, be Grad
icated. He is presumed to put on not
only the form but the spirit of our in
situations. They become to him trust
that be must carry out. He is not asked
to forget his native country, or its ira
ditions, or the places rendered sacred by
the sports and gambols of his boyhood,
or the home in which he was born, or
the old school cabin, or the noisy mill,
or the spot where in the twilight he
clasped his betrothed to his heart. No
body asks or expects that, because it
would be asking and expecting an i'm
possibility. The people of this country
not only ask and expect that he conform
to the laws that govern themselves, but
they demand that he shall, and are capa-
bic Of enforcing their will. The feud be-
tween the classes that made the streets of
New York run with blood yesterday, is
alien to our soil, and not to be promoted
or tolerated when it takes the form of
riot or war. We have no feuds in this
country that may not be adjusted at the
ballot-box in a peaceful manner, and
whenever we permit the people Of other
countries to adjust or pursue theirs here
in any other manner, we shall prove
false 10 liberty, to law and to mankind.
Laws founded on recognized principles
Of our American system must be obeyed.
The slaughter in New York yesterday
was the bloody expression Of the con.
tempt in which our laws and institutions
are held by great class Of people born
on the other side of the Atlantic. They
defed the State of New York by rebel
ing against its authority. They trampled
on the public peace, shot innocent peo
pie and wilfully became criminals. They
violated the Constitution of the United
States and flung a bloody defiance at its
authority. Yesterday they knew
no law, no country and no God
bat were swept along by the rush Of
passions heated in alien fires that have
been nursed until they burst through al
restraint and eliminated in a eonAagra
ton that cast its red glare all over the
country. Governor Hoffman took the
right view. Radicals have a right tC
hold meetings and form professions
Democrats possess the same right
There is no law to conflict with it
Sects, no matter what they believe, o.
what their antecedents may be, are FREE
to practice their creeds. This is th'
glory Of the institutions our fathers be
queathed to their posterity. Any at
tempt to circumscribe established rights
in a manner unknown TO law is revOlu
ton, and the parties, sects or nationali
ties making it rerevolutioDists. Threats
of violence in a certain event should
not frighten public authorities into a
cowardly surrender to law-breakers. The
proclamation of Mayor Hall was the ex-
hibition Of a cowardIy spirit. Hoffman S
conduct was manly. He took the
ground that the law is supreme, and,
come what may, no compromise is TO be
made with those who threaten TO trample
il under their feet. BE was right, though
his frmness had resulted in the death Of
half million people aud The burning Of
the city Of New York. The moment We
surrender legal rightto a mob, we make