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Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XVII, Issue 76, 22 September 1858, Page 3

A vigilance committee has been formed in New Orleans. Republican institutions have received another stab. It is true that for years past the city of New Orleans has been

the worst governed city in the Union ; but nothing in our form of Government can justify a resort to arms. The New York Times is of the opinion that an independent political movement which had been set on foot in that city originated the Vigilance Committee.

The following is a brief synopsis of the movement, down to the evening of the 4th June. It commenced on the third : — " New Orleans, Thursday, 3rd June.

" A revolution broke out here last night. A Vigilance Committee, in large numbers, took possession of the Arsenal, Jackson-square, and the prisoners. This morning the Executive Committee calls for law-and-order people to join them, and announces a determination to carry out their measures. Nothing else has transpired as yet (seven o'clock, a.m.), but cannon are posted about the Arsenal, and about two hundred armed men are on guard.

" The occasion of the rising is the numberless disorders, outrages, aud assassinations of the past few years.

" Eleven o'clock, a.m. — General Tracy's division of militia has been called out by the Mayor.

" Half-pasteleven,a.m. — TheCommonCouncil is in secret session ; considerable confusion is reported among the members. There is great excitement in the street. The Council have got possession of the First District Armoury, n'hich contains, however, only ten rounds of ammunition. A battle is expected this afternoon. More arrests have been made.

" PROCLAMATION OF THE COMMITTEE.

"Twelve o'clock, noon. — The following document has been published :—: —

'Citizens of New Orleans — After years of disorder, outrage, and unchecked assassination, the people, unable and unwilling either to bow down in unresisting submission to a set of ruffians, or to abandon the city in which their business, their social sympathies, and their affection cluster, have at length risen in their might, have quietly taken possession of the Arsenal and the buildings in Jackson-square, and have established there the head-quarters of a Vigilance Committee, pledging each to the other to maintain the rights inviolable of every peaceful and law-abiding citizen ; restore public order, abate crime, and expel or punish, as they may determine, such notorious robbers and assassins as the arm of the law, either from the infidelity of its public servants, or the inefficiency of the laws themselves, has left unwhipt of justice.

'In the present, the ordinary machinery of police justice is superseded, the Mayor and the Recorders, as we understand, yielding up the power which they confess their inability to exercise for the preservation of the public peace and the security of property, and the Vigilance Committee will, therefore, provisionally act in their stead, administering to each and every malefactor the punishment due to his crimes, without heat, prejudice, or political bias.

' All citizens who have sympathies with this movement, and who think the time has come when New Orleans shall be governed like all other well ordered and civilized communities, will report themselves, without delay, to the principal office, where the character of this movement will be explained, and the determination of the people more fully made known.

'All has been done noiselessly thus far. All will continue noiselessly, dispassionately, and justly. But the ruffians who have dyed our streets with the gore of unoffending citizens, and spread terror among the peaceable, soberly, and well-disposed, must leave or perish.

'So the people have determined. Vox populi, vox Dei. ' (Signed) True Delta.' " One o'clock, p.m. — The Mayor and Council have gone to the head-quarters of the Vigilance Committee to read the Riot Act. Two companies of militia are employed in making cartridges. "The committee have established as a signal the firing of three guns at the Arsenal, at the sound of which all its supporters are invited to repair to the Arsenal, prepared to resist attack.

"the streets barricaded.

"New Orleans, Thursday, June 3rd.

" The Vigilance Committee are still triumphant, and have torn up the streets and have erected cotton bales for barricades. The city forces are an armed rabble, having no organization or a head. No fight has occurred yet.

" The Mayor issued an order this afternoon to take the arms belonging to the city wherever they could be found. Acting on this order, the rabble broke open and seized some weapons in Kittridge's store. " It is expected that the Vigilance Committee will seize the city hall to-morrow.

" Bands of armed ruffians are now parading the streets.

"The stores in the city closed their doors this afternoon.

"The Vigilance Committee are supported by the respectable citizens, and the municipal authorities must succumb.

"3rd June, 10, p.m. "It is now expected that a fight will take place to-night. "There is an immense gathering around the head-quarters of the Vigilance Committee. "4th June.

"The Mayor's forces are yet unorganized, and all remain quiet. Great preparations are being made by both parties. The forces of the Vigilance Committee are under command of Major F. K. Duncan, late of the United States army, and are well organized and drilled. A crisis expected to-day. "The city papers are divided in opinion, the Picayune and Crescent being in favour of the city, and the True Delta and Delta in favour of the Vigilance Committee, while the rest are neutral.

"Ten o'clock, a.m. — The excitement is increasing. The Mayor has issued orders to arrest John Maginnis, of the True Delta, and the opponents of the committee declare that if he is taken they will hang him. Maginnis takes it coolly.

"Noon. — TheVigilance Committee offered to risign, provided the city will vest the public authority in their hands, which the city refused to do. If the committee succeed, Gebard Stith's Native American party will be killed. The Vigilance Committee is, nevertheless, composed of men of all parties. " A rumour is current on the streets that a compromise has been effected, that the city authorities will deliver up twenty-five noted

ruffians to the Vigilance Committee, and that five hundred men on each side will be sworn as police. I have been refused admittance to the City Hall, and cannot vouch for the reliability of the report. " One o'clock, p.m. — Fifty men, with two cannons, have just taken possession of Canalstreet. They are said to be composed of men marked by the Vigilance Committee for punishment.

"Two o'clock, p.m. — The Vigilance Committee are triumphant. The Mayor has resigned the Municipal authority into their hands. The city is quiet, and the crowd has withdrawn from Canal-street. The committee have appointed a police of over a thousand men."