The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1905-08-24
MARCHES OF FAMOUS MOBs.
In Europe Fearful Slaughter At
tended These Uprisinps.

tenUcO IncSc ODrlSlnRs.
The march of n mob to lay It's un-
bearable wrongs before the ruler has
occurred several times in history, as
In the case of the march on the win
ter palace at st. Petersburg, empha-
sizing the condition Of the Russian
workingmen, dumb driven cattle"
In connection with this portentous
event an apparent parallel most
readily recalled Is that of the march
OF the French mob on the palace of
the King at Versailles. The results
were different. At st. Petersburg the
swift volleys of the troops brought
the mob into the subsection of COM
plete terror. In France the King lis
tened and returned to Paris, to his
faithful subjects, who later hooted
him and his Queen az they went to
death. The French Kings weakness,
say some, destroyed him. Coward"
Is the comment on the Cars action
in turning his Cossacks and artillery
loose on the mob that sought only its
Little Father" Perhaps some kind
OF proper Judgment on the action Of
those two rulers can be obtained by
recalling that of third king, Rich
ard II. OF England. and the famous
Wat Tyler. The agitator, Just as
Father Gopon did, led a horde to
London to lay their grievances be-
fore the King. And strangely enough
the number was 100000 persons.
Their aim was to get possession Of
the King and pass laws for the good
of the realm. With the peculiar level
headedness of the Anglo-Saxon race,
accompanied only by the Lord
Mayor, Sir William Walworth. and a
few attendants. He was only a boy,
this King, but fearless one. 81 am
your King and Lord" he said. What
will your" I'VE will that you free us
forever" they replied; "us and our
lands" He listened to the COM
plants and then said to them kindly
enough, Go back to your homes;
your King will redress your wrongs"
Later on the King met Tyler, and the
latter, making a threatening motion,
excited a fear in the Lord Mayor,
and was promptly struck down by
Walworth's mace and killed 1t is
hardly necessary to add that the
wrongs complained of were after
all never redressed until by the slow
growth of constitutional liberty the
English people found" themselves.
Seven thousand men are said to have
perished in this peasants revolt.
Not only, however, in autocratic
countries have such marches been
witnessed. 1t is not so many years
ago that this country saw Coxeys
march on Washington. Laughable as
this effort was, 1t was a sign of the
times no less important in Its period
perhaps than that of Tyler's march,
or the French mob's, or that of the
Russian workmen. 1t was the ex-
preston of great discomfort. But
the times had changed. Coxey's band
was laughed out of existence by
people whose laws are lenient.
The French peasants in the thir-
teeth century banded themselves to-
gether under the name of Jacques
Npoou Ndn anu
demanded redress of their vacillating
king from the destitution and pov-
erty which had been wrought to the
whole countryside by the prolonged
Anglo-French wa. Failing in reach
Ing the monarch's ear, the peasants
broke up into bands whose Avowed
purpose was to murder and rob the
rich. They were hunted down and
slaughtered in thousands by the
kings soldiery and by the men-of-
arms Of various feudal lords.
Mirabeau (of the French revolu-
tom, Wat Tyler, Peter the Hermit,
Father Gopon, even Coxey, are Of the
same type. They are men of the peo-
Pile; in their own persons the human
concentrated expression of great
wrongs. The proper answer to their
n I, fc 81 k,,x