  I. “Working-men! Throw aside your tools; take to guns; destroy your oppressors; tear down the barriers which close the way to happiness, to true manhood and freedom; secure for yourselves such conditions as shall enable every one who is willing to work to enjoy to the utmost the fruits of his labor! And you tramps, who, hungry, cold, and homeless, wander through the country, a moving picture of our splendid civilization, while a lazy, paltry crowd in their well-warmed palaces treat themselves to the products of your labor,—you may yet hope soon to have a reckoning, and take what belongs to you. You, too, will yet be able to enjoy life if you will resolve to use the power II. “The anarchist leaders met yesterday in secret session in a saloon on Pennsylvania Avenue. There were delegates present from nearly all the manufacturing towns in this section of the country. The meeting was called by J. W. Gorsuch and Samuel Fielden, who were sent here by the anarchists from Chicago to present a plan whereby the work of the cause could be carried on among the working-men unknown to the employers. “Fielden before he came here spoke at all the manufacturing towns. He found, he said, that many laborers were socialists at heart, but were afraid to attend the meetings. They came to the conclusion, therefore, that the work must be carried on secretly until the time when the final blow is to be struck. He argued that it was time to revolt. There was no use denying the condition of the working-men, as the producers had grown steadily worse, “Gorsuch said Americans were not free men now, and that the only way they could demonstrate their right to the title was by destroying the system which perpetuates the galling contrast of princely wealth and degrading poverty. Fielden was asked, ‘Do you believe in dynamite as a means of warfare?’ “‘We will not hesitate to use anything when the time arrives. A revolution is near at hand. It must come. We want to abolish the present system of government. Some one must suffer in every reform, and lives must be sacrificed. I am in favor of the quickest means for the accomplishment of our purpose.’”—Despatch from Pittsburg, Pa., to the New York World, Feb. 22, 1885. III. “Mrs. Parsons, who is a colored woman, made an unusually fiery speech. She began by berating her hearers as cowards, and unworthy of the name of manhood, because they allowed the aggressions of capital to continue and their daughters to barter their virtue for bread. If they were men, as they claimed to be, she said, they would blow up every house on the adjoining avenues before they would submit to it. They would demolish the police-stations, court-house, and jails, and fling dynamite in the faces of the army and navy. If they were afraid to do this, however, they need not look for a captain, for she would fill her apron with dynamite and lead them along the avenues of the city where the rich reside, destroying as they went. “Her husband advised his hearers to study chemistry and take lessons from those expert
The “New England Anzeiger” of March 14, 1885, appeared with a first page framed in gory red, and containing lurid accounts of the revolutions of March 14, 1848, in Vienna; of March 18, 1848, in Berlin; of March 18, 1871, in Paris; and of the assassination of the Czar of Russia, March 13, 1881. The following extract shows the tone of the article:— “The dead of the 14th of March were buried, and with them the revolution; for everything that then happened in Berlin—yes, in all Germany—proved the political immaturity of the people; and the friend of humanity looks on in sadness to think how much good might have been accomplished in the year 1848 if the people had known what they know to-day,—to-day, when all the countries of Europe have
“There are worse things than dynamite. The godless and law-defying forces back of it constitute the real danger. These forces are arrayed against civilization. All over the world the masses are in a state of agitation. New ideas and false theories are being presented and expounded by fanatics, charlatans, and demagogues. In an age of free speech and free print new doctrines spread rapidly. The poor, unsuccessful, dissatisfied, and lawless elements of society are boiling over with the maddening thought that somebody is doing them a great wrong. The restlessness of these
“The communists were in high feather last night at the Germania Assembly Rooms. They met to commemorate all operations of rebellious societies against governments in
“The existence of passion, favoritism, nepotism, and subjection to the behests of party, instead of love of country, thoughtfulness, and systematic business principles in the administration of government, with too much esotericism in its conduct, gives posts of honor to “The predominant vices of America, especially as represented by its great cities, are its irreverence, its recklessness, its impatience,—in one word, its materialism. A nation in which the artistic sense is almost dead; which is practically without a literature; which is impatient of all sanctions and indifferent to all religions; which is corrupt from the highest pinnacle of its public life down to the lowest depth of its primalism; which is at once thin-skinned under criticism and aggressive to criticise; which worships material forces in every shape and form; which despises conventional conditions, yet is slavish to ignoble fashions;
“One of the main reliances of the criminal element of our city for escaping from the clutches of the law is the subornation of perjury. A class of professional false swearers has grown up, and their aid is invoked without hesitation in the criminal courts. This startling and shameful fact was fully revealed to the public on the Ford trial. Society can find no protection under the Ægis of the courts until this iniquity shall have been uprooted and cast out. The ermine sits under a upas-tree as long as men and women in droves dare commit the crime of perjury. No jury can justly
Early in February, 1885, the New York Produce Exchange presented a Memorial to the Congress of the United States, setting forth, among other things, that the city of New York and the adjacent cities of Brooklyn and Jersey City “represent an interest in house ownership and real estate amounting to over $3,000,000,000; that all this realty is entirely unprotected from an attack by hostile fleets, which could bombard the city and the neighboring populated districts without even entering the Narrows. “It is known abroad as well as at home,” the memorialists say, “that the shores of this country are entirely unprotected; and it would
The hundred and seventh anniversary of Robert Emmet’s birth was celebrated in Faneuil Hall by the Irish citizens of Boston in February, 1885. The chief address of the evening was delivered by the Rev. P. A. McKenna. In the course of it he said, as reported by a Boston daily paper:— “It seems almost advisable that since the Prince of Wales goes to Ireland as an invader, he should be treated as such. There is one principle which justifies the taking of human life, and that is the principle of self-defence of the person or the nation. It would not be Mrs. Marguerite Moore was introduced as a woman recently from Ireland who had suffered incarceration for the cause. She spoke of love for Ireland, of hate for England, and pictured the misery of her native land in the past and in the present. “The Irishmen of America demand vengeance. The opportunity has come in England’s present difficulty, and advantage will be taken of that fact. The sappers and miners, who blow the people up, are as necessary to the Irish army as are dashing cavalry or steady infantry. [Applause.] Every man to his like in this respect,” said she. [And voices cried out “Dynamite!”] Thomas Riley spoke on the topic of “Dynamite.” He did not think it necessary to say that they preferred to use that mode of warfare, but they would insist that they had no tears to shed at the consequences. “Is there anything wrong in the use of dynamite under certain conditions?” [“No, no!” cried out a dozen voices.] Dynamite, the speaker declared, had done no more injury than had The meeting closed with three cheers for O’Donovan Rossa; but before so doing, passed, as suggested by the last speaker, resolutions as follows:— “Whereas the present unsettled condition of Europe, especially our old enemy England, indicates that an uprising of the oppressed people will in the very near future occur; “And whereas the Irish and those of Irish-American descent have been for a long period of years proclaiming to the world Ireland’s sufferings and wrongs and England’s unlawful and brutal usurpations; “And whereas, as in the past the principal cause of our weakness and failures to effect the removal of said usurpation was “And whereas, if we expect to effect the freedom of Ireland it must be accomplished as united brothers tolerant of each other, working harmoniously in the same sacred cause, to secure the same holy object; “Therefore be it resolved that we, Irish-American citizens of Boston and vicinity, in Faneuil Hall assembled, send forth from this historic cradle of liberty an earnest appeal to all aspirants and workers for Ireland’s disenthralment to forget all past differences and unite for the opportune crisis, fast approaching, to strike the successful blow for Ireland.”
“That a deep-rooted feeling of discontent pervades the masses, none can deny; that there is a just cause for it, must be admitted. The old cry, ‘These agitators are stirring up a
On April 7, 1885, O’Donovan Rossa delivered an address in Tremont Temple, Boston. From a report of his remarks which appeared “The papers of New York and of Boston represented him as a man who took dynamite to bed with him. [Laughter and cheers.] But this very thing England used in all her wars, and now had tons of it in Woolwich. Mr. Parnell told them two years ago that he had all the resources of civilization at command. He meant then that he only wanted an excuse to send over more of this destructive material. [Laughter and applause.] Scientific warfare alarmed England, and she would like Ireland to keep petitioning and not go to arms. Then they were asked, while they had the Coercion Acts, to come out and fight in honorable warfare. [Laughter.] He would rather fight in the open field if allowed, but the speaker went in for fighting the devil with his own weapons. [Applause.] He would not wish to hurt an Englishman, but there was no other way to root English government from Ireland. [Cheers, and a voice: ‘Yes, and we will root them out.’] He would show that it would cost England more to hold Ireland than it was worth. [Cheers.] After England had passed all her stringent University Press: John Wilson & Son, Cambridge |
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