New-York tribune., 1871-07-13
THE TdMM1NY RIOT.

possessed the community on Tuesday, or
account of the craven surrender tC
the mob which the Mayor and his satellite,
had made, yesterday changed to one of horror
when the tardy action of the Governor had
brought the aroused and savage rowdyism OF
the criminal factions into conflict with the
representatives of the law. From the houI
when Mr.. Kelso pusilanimously consented to
sign the CapitulatiOn which gave the city up
to the gutter-snipes, it was evident that
a spirit had been called into life
that nothing but bloody struggle
could subdue. And when, after midnight
on Tuesday, tho Executive, lashed by the
expressions of public opinion from every
quarter, goaded by kilograms from every
section of the State, and stung by the manly
action of Gov. Randolph, concluded to assert
the dignity of the Commonwealth against dis
order, the shedding of blood was inevitable.
For three days the manifestations of the
lawless intentions of the .baser sort of Irish
(enemies to Protestants, but repudiated with
lOathing by Cathoics,) had gone on unchecked
and had been encouraged by the sympathy OF
the Democratic leaders and the deyilish
instgatiOns of the corrupt Tammany
press, and when on Tuesday the City,
through its police authorities drank
that final cup of humiliation and performed an
official act of homage to the mob, its insOlent
arrogance reached a point which admitted no
other remedy but that of stern and remorsc-
less force. Successive surrender and defiance
had bred by yesterday morning a fuA-blown
spirit of riot.
From very early hour the rioters of the
upper portion of the city, with that restless
and imperiOus genius of all instructions
which insists upon forcing into its ranks all
who object to it, went about compelling Ia
borers to quit work under penalty of violence
until a large movable column was gathered
together, of which only portion was riot
ously disposed They had no especial organ
ization, and acted with no concert, but broke
into small gangs, and carried through
the city the infection of lawlessness
and excitement. Weak and ineffective
demonstrations were made against several
armories which were easily repulsed, and soon
after noon, it seemed as if the danger
of serious riot was to be localized
at the corner of Eighth-ave. and
wenty-ninth-st., the rendezvous of the
Orangemen. vast crowd gathered there
awaiting the formation of the line of march.
Part of them came for riot and its incidental
chances of pnlage and murder. The side
walks suddenly swarmcd with gallOwS-faces
such as are never seen in ordinary times, but
which always come to the surface in hours OF
great civil uproar. But the vast majority were
drawn by idle curiosity to that fatal trysting-
place. They were men, women, and child
ren of the poorer class, unable to
fOregO the excitement and distraction
of the show and the turmoil The crowd
was permeated with the uneasy spirit of
mutiny. The advent of the first Orange
man was greeted with a shower of
curses and missiles. The police again and
again charged upon the crowd, and
drove them with merciful cruelty away from
that dangerous proximity, but they surged
back again the moment after, like retluent
waves. 1t was plain to be seen that those
closely packed thousands were one mas of tin
der waiting for a spark which was sure
to come. 1t came, of course. few shots
were fred and the regiments in line, who had
been marching and waiting under the
blazing sun until their nerves had suffered
somewhat gave way for few moments to
that impulse of active defense which always
attacks troops under these circumstances, and
a hundred victims were left dying OF dead on
the sidewalk as the procession moved away.
1t will be easy to criticise the conduct of
the militia but candid citizens will be slow to
condemn the action of men who came forward
at the bidding of duty, exposing their lives
for the cause of law and order. They re-
ceived from the crowd a lOng-cOntnued
prOvOcatiOn of abuse and insult before
the final attack of pistol Shots There was
but an instant of retaliation, and this was
enough to accomplish the deplorable result
The death of so many comparatively innocent
beings is an event at which humanity
shudders, but the responsibility rests not
upon those who defended themselves
and the cause of law at once, but upon those
reckless intriguers who, in their lust of votes
flattered and deceived that mass of ignorance
and prejudice into the conviction that they
might do as they liked with their enemies.
These frightful scenes will not cease until
that corrupt party which depends for its ex-
istence upon the votes of the ignorant and
vicious loses its tyrannical control of our
public life. 1t is in itself organized
lawlessness and pilage. 1t melted, through
the infamous speech Of the man it had made
Governor, the three days revel of crime and
treason, which almost neutralized by its
shame the new glories of Vicksburg
and Gettysburg. 1t provoked and palliated
the riotous attacks of year ago, and this
year with the most cynical and vulgar inso-
lence il dared to give up to the mob the
last pretense of respect for the laws OF
the land, where they confiicted with
the caprices of its voting material
Our corrupt rulers raised on Tuesday demon
they could not lay on Wednesday. The stain
of murder is on their hands, and they may