South Centerbury Times, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 1882.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2894, 5 July 1882, Page 2

South Centerbury Times, WEDNESDAY, JULY 5, 1882.

It is a year ago since President Garfield fell by the band of an assassin, and, at the expiration of the year, the murderer has been hanged. In a certain sense it is matter for congratulation that Guiteau has really been hanged at last. For, only by the time everybody had despaired of seeing the majesty of the law assert itself in this case, has it done so, and our American cousins are freed from the reproach of permitting a dastardly crime to go unpunished. The continuance of Guiteau’s life has been a disgrace to the United States, which we are glad to see they have (however tardily) cleared off. It is quite unnecessary to place before English readers any opinion about assassination. It is a crime so abhorrent to every English mind that the question of its being approved or disapproved is never discussed., England has undoubtedly produced ruffians, and brutal ones. But she has not yet given birth to the assassin. He belongs to other races. He is not an American vproduction, either. But, although the American people are too brave and straightforward for secret murder to go on among them, they regard human life far too lightly. The ready revolver, the handy knife, are very ugly social features. This indicates a condition of society, in which the turbulent elements have not yet been subdued by an over-ruling sentiment. The Great Republic has opened her ports to all comers. She has received, within her bounds all sorts and conditions and races of men. The vicious and the persecuted, the poor and the wretched, as well as the enterprising, have sought her shores. There was never a country in the world wherein so many incongrous elements have gone to make up the fabric that we call, society. It is not to be wondered at, under these circumstances, that the most objectionable features of humanity should obtrude themselves ; and that the worst passions, the most hideous manifestations of our nature, should have full play. There has been a social chaos in America, out of which, order was but slowly evolved. The representatives of order and justice and decorum and goodness ; the few leaders who rise from amid the seething elements, stand in perpetual danger. They are often sacrificed literally on the altar of their country, and their ashes arc of more value than their lives. ’This was eminently the case with the late revered President. He was a man whom all declare to have stood forth among the public men of the United States in almost solitary grandeur, aw comparable only with Washington ; incorruptible in an age of corruption ; simple and frugal, among a people given over to artificiality and extravagance ; just, among a people given over to injustice and intrigue and (as wo term it hero) log-rolling;—in every respect a man worthy of trust and admiration. The severity of this man’s goodness, his loftiness of character, smote the vagabonds, the “ crawlers,” the ruffians of society as

with a mighty blow; the bright, ness of sucli virtue as his was too much for them ; and some sought how they might best put out of the way one whose high position and blameless life were as reproach able to them, and an intolerable burden. From among the ranks of a mixed community this Guiteau stepped forth, to cut short a noble life. His aim was only too sure. After lingering, amid the anxious and breathless silence of the nation, the President at length succumbed, and the American people realised the magnitude of their loss. Then they perceived in the solemn hush and the period of reflection, the true frightfulness of the crime of assassination. Common sense and better nature asserted themselves, and they came to see the blackness of the assassin’s guilt. One of the effects of this sacrifice of a good and glorious life, was to knit together America and England. When the burst of sympathy reached the American people in the hour of their grief, the veil was torn from their eyes, and they saw the crime in all its native blackness. England’s abhorrence touched American hearts, not less than did English sympathy. The immediate effect we even now experience. But a comparatively short time ago, rebels, traitors, and insurrectionists, against the British Government were applauded to the echoe in America ; the Press used to write them up; even in Congress they were encouraged to prosecute their rebellion and defiance. But now the tone of America has changed. Her Press has denounced the recent murders in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, unanimously, and the hellish organisation of Fenianism, which is neither patriotic nor pious but which simply delights in bloodshed and secret murder, finds no longer on its side the sympathy, but is daily confronted with the displeasure, of the people. The interval between the death of the late President and the execution of his assassin has been filled up by the latter alternately with blasphemous ravings and buffoonery. His friends have done all they could to have him found insane. This may be natural enough in the case of relations. But the infection spread and the scoundrel managed to gather round him a party who pretended to, or did actually, regard him as a martyr. This state of public feeling wherein so strong a sympathy can spring up for a criminal of such exceeding blackness as this man is not healthy. So long as Guiteau lived, so long was the agitation in his favor strong enough to influence the Executive and retard the execution of the death sentence. Therefore we are glad that justice has triumphed at last, and the character of the people has been vindicated by the infliction of the capital punishment upon a dastard.