"Too bad there were not two zeros more at the end," was the first remark which hundreds of newspaper readers made when they read that about forty of the New York Hibernians had been shot dead. Not since the July days of 1863 has the bitterness towards the more brutish classes of the Irish population reached such amazing intensity. "One should exterminate the whole despicable mob," was an expression one could hear innumerable times. And the regret that only so few of the rioters had been brought down was universal.

Next in order now will be that Wendell Phillips comes forward with a defense of the Irish cut-throats. He must, if he is consistent. Has he not just recently glorified the Paris Communists as martyrs of true liberty? In both cases it was the Celtic idea of freedom for which the battle was fought - that is to say, the idea that freedom consists in killing everybody with whom one disagrees.

The only difference was that the Communists were well armed and organized, while in New York there was only a savage disordered mob of blood thirsty predatory animals. Not only New York, but the whole country2breathes freer and easier after the bloody chastisement that the Communists of the American Paris have suffered. One hopes to see in this a promise of the impending end of the Irish strelitzes in New York. Is this hope justified? That is very doubtful. The number of wretches who have dominated all elections in New York has been reduced only slightly. In July 1863, twelve-hundred of them were shot to pieces, and no improvement of conditions in New York ensued. Where is there any assurance against the recurrence of such horrors? Shall the experiment of communal self government based on universal franchise be given up as unsuccessful in big cities with tetrogeneous populations? And if not, how can the problem be solved in harmony with right, order, freedom, and civilization?