New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-03-14

We ere so patient ana tolerant people, %
keeuly alive to anything that has the appear
ance of encroaching upon individual liberty, or
of limiting the scope of free institutions, that 1t
seems sometimes as though dcmagogues and dis
organizers might have their will of MS almost
mopposed. Mcnaces against organized insti-
tutiOns, threats against representative men, rev.
olunonary hamngues, and all manner OF dis
ouieting and violent talk are permitted, and
no one ever thinks of attempting their
suppression or interruptmg the blatant flow.
But our conservatism is not sluggish and
inert from want of courage or lack Of inter-
est as they find out to their discontinue
who carry their audacity or their Hifins
TOO far. The patience of the people Is the
furthest thing in the world from tmidIty.
II is born rather Of the highest courage; Of
the courage that not only begets confidence,
bat is confidence itself. 1t t0lerates buster
because it has no fear Of 1t. 1t permits Mr.
Denis Kearney to foam at the mouth
and breathe out threatenings and slaughter
simply because it takes intelligent measure of
him, and rates him as cOntempdble rather
than dangerous. 1t trusts :" the common
"sense of most " TO hold this person and his
followers in reasonable check and unless he
infrnges law or does some overt act of yio-
lonce, it lets him rant
We make great allowance for the swiftncss
of the times and the high pressure under
which our people act, and we account the
rawlings Of such fellows as KeaIney as a sort
Of steam-escape. 1t is NOISY but not dan
gprons. and though it is rasping and disagree
able. it is better to let it go on to
exhaustion than to make it worse and per
hans dangerous by attempting to shut it off.
There could be no better proof of the absO-
lute confidence we have in popular govern
ment and Of our belief that ii affords equal
and exact justice to all, and that under it
there is no injury without a remedy. nor in
iustice without redress, than the indifference
with which we view the efforts OF fanatics of
one kind and another TO array classes against
each other, create disaifcctIOn and disturb the
| public peace. We are fixed in our conviction
of two things: first, that the rule of the
majority is in the long run benefcent and just,
and can be trusted to right all wrongs and es
tablish equity and, second, that there is in
telligence enough, and patience and self-re-
straint enough in the people to wait its
action. SO, though there may be here and
there local and temporary causes for dis-
satisfaction with the operation of statutes,
customs, precedents, and even natural laws
| and these there mast be always-we have, rs
rule, no fears but that i'll the end justice
will be done in due course, and without viO-
lence or wrenchiDg.
| For the honest half-thinkers who do not
realize that discomfort is universal and eter-
nal. but think their own limitations are ex-
y: :.
only charitable judgment and kindly sympa-
tbv. If they wrestle madly with their
environments, and biudly beat the air
with illogical denunciation and fruitleSs
endeayor, it is because their laborous
lives have left them little leisure for the
philosophic thinking that brings the larger
view of their relations to society, teaches
them some establishment, Gains their rest
lessness, and leads them nearer to content
ment. These men are learning something every
| day. Even the vagabond demagcsues who
work upon their prejudices and excite their
passions for purposes Of mischief, nre In the
end Lesson to them for passion soon burns
itself out, and the dcma zogue very soon dis
closes his ignorance. dupliclty and auaeI-
cry, With the honest but misguided vie
tim 'of tho demngoguc. society Is patient,
h,.,ic,,ine that at heart he means veil, ehd is
not simply set on mischief, Toward q rant
Inc knaya ike Kearney, who goes about lR-
citing yioeAce and threatening murder,
arson nad revolution, its patience j.
exercised fof widely different reasons. II
is. first, from uawiliiBg1ess 10 restrict
liberty OF Thought and speech even When
II has degeaerased iBta hceRse-tas dis