Year: 1871




the Rights Of The People.


General Order No. a., issued yesterday by
the Superintendent Of Police of the city OF
| New York, Is o public document as peculiar
and funny in its character as anything of the
kind possibly could be. 1t is long and droll
| recital of platitudes, ending by an official
denial of our rights-of rights which custom
| and practice have made the heritage of all who
come to our shores. Never before have the
police authorities thought Of interfering with
parades or processions, of whatever kind or
by whomsoever projected. In doing 1t now
they succumb to the mob and confess that they
cannot protect few men in celebrating what
is in reality of interest only to those who desire
to celebrate 1t, 1t Is piece Of official
| timidity which surprises us-an abridZment Of
liberty In the name of those whose duty 1t is to
execute, not to make the law-an assumption
| of authority as ridiculous as If Superintendent
Kelso ordered his captains and sergeants and
| officers to prevent men and women from walk
ing up Broadway any fine afternoon. We
| print it with regret, because we do not like
| to surrender valuable space to an absurdity
but we are reconoiled to this necessity the
more readily as refreshing American humor
seldom emanates from Police Headquarters.
General Butler, when he came to the city to
pat down the rioters, in 1868, issued an order
from the Fifth Avenue Hotel quite as useless
and quite as absurd. Until this order Of
Kelso's was promulgated there was nothing
like it in history, but now 1t has companion
piece in drollery. Truthful James, Bill
Nye and all that tribe must hereafter
stand aside, a. the only American humorists
worthy Of notice hereafter will be those two
wonderful men who dredge queer things out of
the depths of the unknown-Butler and Kelso.
But this latest order has serious side, and in
spite Of its remarkable dippaucy 1t has not dis
posed of the rights of the case. Indeed, it
has brought them out the more clearly, and
compels calm, just and magnanimous cons!d-
Grafton of the whole question.


No condemnation Of the riot which was
threatened tomorrow can be too severe, and no
words of burning scorn can fully convey the
general detestation of the contemplated out
rage. In country where all men are equal,
where the panoply of liberty is over all,
where freedom Of opinion, of speech and of
action is accorded to all, the slightest invasion
of the rights Of any is a fit subject for rebuke.
When such invasion of the rights of others
takes the form of dctation from a few men
prescribing course of action for part
Of the people and threatening disorder
and bloodshed in case they are not needed,
the rebuke must be made in terms as unms-
taxable as language can convey it. Such
is the necessity which is upon us now, and
we mean to make ourselves heard upon this
question of the Orange riot once for all. This
is no time for soft words, for persuasive Ian
guage, or for conciliatory speeches. Nothing
short of the denQnciation which means swift
and sure punishment will answer in this emer-
gency. The law must rule, and the rights Of
all must be respected. Those who disregard
the law and violate the rights of others, caus-
ing riot and bloodshed, must be punished by
the law for the murders of which they may be
guilty.


The Orangemen have the right to parade to-
morrow 1t is the same right which is &C
corded to every foreigner who makes this city
his abode. We DO not ask the Englishman to
fc-set the Queen and contemn Parliament
when he lands in New York. We do not ask
the Lisbman to smother his love for the Green
out of his heart and forget all his recollections
of dear old Ireland when he comes among u.s.
The German may rejoice in all the glories Of
the Fatherland and the Frenchman lift the
tricolor to the same breeze which watts the
Stars and Stripes. The italian, the Spaniard,
the Turk, the Chinaman are all free to do
as seems to them best. The streets Of the
city are as free to them as they are free to us.
The same law protects all alike and the Star
Spaugled Banner floats over every emblem
under heaven as sign that every nationality
may find an asylum here and receive protec-
ton from it's folds, which are broad enough to
envelop the whole earth. The American
people care 50 little for such events as the
Battle of the Boyne or the victories Of the
Germans that we are willing that those who
do care for these things may glory as best
pleases them.


When New York becomes o great metropo-
lis like London, where even a procession of
the two houses Of Parliament would be
nuisance to thousands of people, it may be-
come necessary to forbid parades of every
kind. But the prohibition must not come
from legally advised" Superintendent of
Police. 1t is not his business to settle the
''feuds and animosities belonging solely to
the history Of other countries provided, of
course, that feuds and animosities can belong
''solely" to history-and there will be a loud
laugh to-day all over town at bis presumption
in attempting It. ThIs igax9rk which
belongs ''solely" to the Legislature, and