New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-02-26
THE COMM UNE. BOUPFE.

We published yesterday the testimony OF an
agent of the police who has been spending
few evenings among the members of a secret
organization, whose purposes are hostile to
society lie is doubtless earning his money by
giving full and accurate accounts of the fur
tive meetings at which he assists. It il safe
TO assume that the intentions of,the conspira-
tors lose nothing OF their wide range or their
crimson color in his hands. The result Of
bis Investigations is such as TO Justify the
police authorities in their action. The men
who meet night after night, TO discuss plans
for breaking open places where gold is stored,
for throwing the Mayor out Of the City Hal
windows, for Strengthening capitalists and put
ting the garbage contractors to shame by
"cleaning out the town. may be very ridicu
IOus but they will bear some watching. Many
an idiot has lighted destructive fire. A half
dozen maniacs, filled with absnthe and hunger.
could easily make good deal of trouble. If
their way of proceeding was not known and
guarded against. There is. therefore. no OBJ
lection 10 employing cheap detective oc-
, casionally to ascertain what is the crazy pur-
pose of the hour, and who are the incurabies
who occupy the leading positions in the re-
speetive bedlDns where chaos rs nightly
planned. He should not be paid much, how
ever, for his work is very easy. These
Brutuses love nothing 80 well as TO talk. and
they would be wretched if they were left en-
tirely in the dark. Some few of them make a
living by it, but most are artisans with bees In
their bOnnets who plot the destruction OF
society as a mere recreation after the work OF
the day. This exercise would cease to DO
amusing if were kept too close. There
will never be any trouble in investigating it, Do.
While the facts already made known are
enough to justify the watchfulness of the po-
lice, they do not seem to require any energetic
action, and least Of all do they make it neces-
sary for the citizens Of New-YOrk to lie awake
nights or dream of the Commune. The cry of
Kiue Ia Commune is sometimes heard IN the
meetings in Greene-st, with a good deal of
variety in the accent But this cry, 50 terrible
TO Philistine ears, means nothing more than
"Hurrab for the TOwnshipw and does not
necessarily imply that Gen. Dix and Mir. Have
meyer are TO be roasted with basting of pc
troleum. The cOnspiratOrs of the moment arc
of that type which NJ. Hugo painted for all
time in the character of Gavroche, whose two
aspirations, unfulflled through life, were to
overturn the Government and get his brooches
mended. Their bark is far worse than their
bite. They decree death to millionaires with
a light heart, but they take no steps towards
annihilating Mr. Stewart or Mr.. Vanderbilt
beyond rolling new cigarette or ordering an
other pony glass of Kirschwasser. They talk
glibly the slang of Paris and of Berlin. but
there is no reality in their utterances, because
Il
the conditions of labor which exist
in older and more thickly populated
countries. The prime motive OF their organi-
zatiOn is the puerile love of justification
the same which induces serious American shop
keepers to call themselves Red Men, or Druids.
or Egyptian Priests, to adopt blOod-curdling
ceremonias and fearful badges, which would
naturally suggest nothing less than human
sacrifices, and which merely furnish way of
getting away from their domestic felicity one
evening in the week. If all these beery ora .
tors say at their casinos were true, it would
be necessary at once to take them by the
collar. But it is subject of mixed Comfort
and dscouragement to the moralist to know
that they lie outrageousy about their pur-
poses and their resources. For instance, NJ.
Sordial at recent cOnclave pledged the sup
port of 800 stevedOres to the next movement
for the extinction of society, and the news was
received with fitting enthusiasm. 1t doubtless
gave the fiery Gaul, for the moment, the sen
sations of the wielder of thunderbolts to say
this, although he knew he was lying. Let him
get together 1900 stevedOres and propose TO
them TO burn the city and they would quench
his ardor off the nearest pier.
But ridiculous as these performances are, it
is not unwise to watch them and to let the
public know precisely what they amount TO.
The police authorities say that there are be-
tween three and four hundred of these mas
querading outlaws who avow their criminal
intentions. Most of them are Of course
merely absurd comedians, but there are sin
cere maniacs among them, and absurdity Is
not always sufficient safeguard against
mischief. Children playing Jack Sheppard
sometimes kill each other. There is not q
meeting Of Internationals in New-York more
ridiculous than those grotesque conclaves at
Mrs. Surratt's in Washington, where Wilkes
Booth crazy with brandy, used to meet his
knot of half-witted adherents. But they did
an act nevertheless which history will repeat
forever. We do not imagine that our Com
munists will ever do anything worse than waste
their time as they are doing now. But IL Is
well enough for Mr. Charlick to be informed
of the way they waste it.
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L, b;o S,aecb tbe o.ber night at the Rapid Tran