The Reign Of Rowdyism

                                                                       (Communicated)

THE  law that action and re-action are equal and opposite works with effective force in the world of human energies. The reason is that man is more sensitive to action than inert matter. If therefrom the effects of re-action in the physical world be appreciable as between matter and matter, it is more so as between man and matter, and  most so between man and man. If one human being takes it into his or her head to oppress  another and begins to put that idea into action, the re- action is generated in the very process of the action.

                There are three stages in the life of human tyranny. The first is where the tyrant is powerful and the oppressed are gentle and weak;   but the tyrant proceeds cautiously and works more insidiously than openly .  The tyranny************* succeeds and stimulate ********** steps.

                       The next stage is where the tyrant has become hardened in his career of evil and grows callous to human sufferings and unmindful of  authority. It is here that the spirit of the oppressed begins to revolt,  as a dog at bay; and to construct engines of destruction to be hurled in due time on the head of the tyrant. Then follows the third stage where the tyrant, once bold and sturdy, begins to be apprehensive of the intentions of the victim; and with the fear grows the spirit of superstition,  in the absence of faith in God, superstition that virtually cows the tyrant and makes him a Tantalus. From being darling of the gods as he once fondly thought himself to be, he finds all his grossest errors recoiling upon himself with irresistible fury and reducing him  to be the sorriest victim of fate. The history of tyranny all the world over has been this;  and possibly, there is no exception to the rule.

           In the daily work of administration there is a petty tyranny exercised by rowdy characters which become, at times very intolerable and which, therefore, it is the business of the administration to nip in the bud. But, unless the wheels of administration are strong and well lubricated, they get clogged in the mire of sloth and drunkenness with the result that the rowdy gets out hand and becomes an object of terror to self - respecting and law abiding peoples. Very often has this condition of things existed in the history of this State, but never with such persistence and evil effect as in the present day.   Assaults and affrays, if not riots of tremendous proportions have become matters of almost daily occurrence in the very heart of this city and in the suburbs. The authorities have often proved unequal to the task of bringing the delinquents to book, or even of apprehending them with the quickness and force necessary to create a deterrent effect. The evil has consequently grown undetected and to very large dimensions, so much so ,that the administration of criminal justice has almost come to a deadlock.

                 Night brawls without number, committed in open defiance of authority, are, we fear, the result of a wanton spirit of indulgence on the one hand and of indifferent exercise of authority on the  other. It is the guiding principle of modern civilised States to interfere as little as possible in the domain of social law ; and no State, however scrupulous in its demands on the tax- payer,  sets the curb on the social privileges of the people, be they never so illiterate or so ignorant of the consequences of their folly. But there is apparently a limit  beyond which social privileges may not be allowed to go ; and we trust that advantage will be taken of the present circumstances to enact such measures as will effectually out at the root of the evil and keep the population uninfected by the