, 1876-04-09

Ine immense aSsemblaga at tarWeA dhl
last night was an unmistakable manifesto
ton Of the readiness of the decent popula~
ton Of Chicago to promptly respond to the
question, "Whnt they are going to do "
about maintaining the right Of self-gov-
ernment, which has been wrested from
them by bummers and bal1ot-bo1 stuff
ers? That is the question which has
been thrust upon them by the high
handed outrages of Tuesday last. OF the
thousands who packed the hall, aud the
cause it WIS impossible to crowd in, there
was none whose expression and bearing did
not attest the deep conviction that the time
for talking had passed, and that the time
for action had come. There was no etfer-
vescence Of spluttering indignation. There
was too profound sense of the situation at
this crisis for that Tie vast audience was
remarkably quiet; but it was the quiet of So
ber eernestness. There was no occasion to
expatiate to tho thousands Of solid citizens
gathered there, upon the atrocious out
rage praticed upon them by black-legs,
rutfians, thieves and, tax-caters. Of
them oil, unmistaEably every man
Of that vast throng had come there not to
discuss what should be done to restore Gov
ernment by the ballot and rid the city of
the ru1o of thieves and ballot-stutfers, but to
do what must needs be done to accomplish
that.
Neither could it be mistaken that the
thousands Of honest citizens there assembled,
and the thousands others they represented,
had made up their minds what must needs
be done to redeem the city from
tho regime Of bummerism. There was
no suggesions Of recourse to the courts for
redress. The futility of that, with lawyers
bubbles and packed juries, was felt by every
man present It needo but word to hare
led to the organization, then and there, of q
Vigilance Committee not less than five thou
sand strong, which would forthwith have
proceeded, with the order and precision Of
veterans executing their evolutions on parade,
to have hanged tho leaders in the vi1lainy of
Tuesday, and to have left the others IN hour
in which to quit the city forever, on penalty,
if they refused, of like fate. With the calm
ness that comes Of f1ed purpose and con-
scious strength, the great crowd waited for
that word to be spoken. It YVES not uttered;
but manifestly they went away with their
unaltared, and, inspired there
by, will reassemble at the Exposition
building Tuesday evening. They manifested
no disposition for hasty action neither did
the San Francisco Vigilantes who conducted
their proceedings with as methodical order as
San Francisco Vigilantes was in the mind Of !
every man present, and every reference to it |
provoked significant approval. It was remem-
bercd that at San Francisco the candidates
Fraudulently declared elected, and al their |
1ind in office, were given choice between res
gnation aud quitting the city at once, or
hort shrift Of hemp; that the like alterna- |
i've was submitted to those Of their gang !
whom it was not deemed necessary to hang,
md that then the Vigilantes elected decent
,ity ticket to fill the vacancies in Office, Had
t been submitted to vote last night, that is
precisely what the eight Or ten thousand voters
n and about the meeting would unanimous
y have voted to do, and would then
lave proceeded to do. From the temper
,vinced there, that is not unlikely what they
nay do Tuesday night; for never was there
n our midst such widespread, settled convic-
ion that forbearance has become disgrace
u1; that the law affords no remedy; and
hat the peoples only relief is in taking it
nto their own hands.