age extracted from some
journal which a friend showed me, and which I consider so well
expressed, that I make no apology for giving it at length.

"THE MOB.--The mob is a demon fierce and ungovernable. It will not
listen to reason: it will not be influenced by fear, or pity, or
self-preservation. It has no sense of justice. Its energy is exerted
in frenzied fits; its forbearance is apathy or ignorance. It is a
grievous error to suppose that this cruel, this worthless hydra has
any political feeling. In its triumph, it breaks windows; in its
anger, it breaks heads. Gratify it, and it creates a disturbance;
disappoint it, and it grows furious; attempt to appease it, and it
becomes outrageous; meet it boldly, and it turns away. It is
accessible to no feeling but one of personal suffering; it submits to
no argument but that of the strong hand. The point of the bayonet
convinces; the edge of the sabre speaks keenly; the noise of musketry
is listened to with respect; the roar of artillery is unanswerable.
How deep, how grievous, how burdensome is the responsibility that lies
on him who would rouse this fury from its den! It is astonishing, it
is too little known, how much individual character is lost in the
aggregate character of a multitude. Men may be rational, moderate,
peaceful, loyal, and sober, as individuals; yet heap them by the
thousand, and in the very progress of congregation, loyalty,
quietness, moderation, and reason evaporate, and a multitude of
rational beings is an unreasonable and intemperate being--a wild,
infuriated monster, which may be driven, but not led, except to
mischief--which has an appetite for blood, and a savage joy in
destruction, for the mere gratification of destroying."

The various fires with which the city has been visited, however
distressing to the sufferers, have not been without their good effect,
of which the eye has most satisfactory evidence in the numerous public
and other buildings now built of stone. The only monument in the city is
one which was raised to Nelson. Whether the memory of the hero has
passed away, or the ravages of the weather call too heavily on the
public purse, I cannot say; but it would be more creditable to the town
to remove it entirely, than to allow it to remain in its present
disgraceful state. It is reported that its restoration is to be effected
by private subscription; if so, more shame to the authorities.