The Rodney telegraph. (Rodney, Miss.) 1838-1840, 1839-12-16
THE INCREASE OF CRIME.

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THE INCREASE OF CRIME.
The heart of every lover Of bis country /
must sicken at the sight Of the almost daily /
notices, published Ia the papers, Of deaths /
occasioned by shooting and slabbin9 ThereI
was time when to use dirk or pistol,
except ia self defence, was considered in
the highest degree disgraceful; and the per-
son who would have recourse to such weap-l
ons was looked upon as cowardly assas-
sin. In Southern Europe, it is we'll known,
where slavery to passion is national char
acteristic, to avenge an insult by the knife
or stiletto of the bravo has been customary,
but the existence Of such habit has con-
signed the nations which tolerated its in
diligence to well merited contempt. Our
countrymen in common with the people Of
the northern portion ofthe European Con-
tinent, have always been loud in the exc
Grafton OF an act SO utterly degrading to hu-
man nature, and yet we find, within few
years, the very same description of offence
becoming one of daily practice. We would
ask those who wear deadly weapons. and,
on occasions, do not hesitate to use them.
in what does the difference between them
and the people we have spoken consist
And, if there be difference, is it not in ia
vor Of those who would rather pay others
for assassination than become themselves
the perpetrators Of iie In Italy and Spain,
if an offence be given, the agrieved hires
some monster in human fa-ss, wisv 60. tho
price Of blood, deprlves the victim Of life.-
ln America the same vengeance is taken
In the same way; ASA ssination is commit
ted, but it is effected by the party who is.
or fancies himself to be, injured. It NAV be
said that there IS no assassination, inasmuch
as the opposite party is informed of the in
tended attempt on life, and is thus put upon
his guard. How nonsensical or rather wick
j ed, is it, for man to set up as his defence.
an act whereby he makes his own crime
more widely destructive, and involves 9th.
ers who have neither given nor received
offence in consequence Of his own act
The notice, as we have said, is given, and
to what Purport is this magnanimous warn.
ing OF intended butchery? The party is
f told to prepare himself, as he will be sho
down or stabbed wherever he may be me-
with, and, IN consequence, If he be brave
man, as the absurd slang goes, arms him
self and informs his friends who nut them
E selves In condition to protect him, shouls
: needs be. 10 what does all this amount
0 That, IN country boasting of its capabili
d ties to govern itself, and protesting to hol,
h civil institutions in reverence, deliberat,
e purpose is openly avowed to trample on OF
: der, and make the highway scene O
blOodshed and outrage. Now, where as
! sassination pure prevails, the perpetrator
have at least the decency to manifest res
6 poet for the laws, SO far as open violation q
them goes. They do not set Justice an
! public peace at defiance in broad daylight
y 1t they murder, they make themselves liza
,, BILE to punishment, and by their conceal
q ment acknowledge their subjuga ton to III
e laws, if discovered. In America, on. tn
. :, other hand, our people proclaim to the worI
:, that the whole jurisprudence is a mere col
= wab, made for appearance sake, and suhie.
= to be broken by any person that may pleas
g to be reckless enough to attempt it. No
as we have good right to believe, does Ii
evil stop here. The offence being ono
committed, there is no punishment to ayena
, it. 1t is true, a trial may take place, iur
% be empannelled, and all the forms of la
Oh gone through; but what of that, when ii
very persons who constitute the Jury eth,
"a agree in the propriety of such violence,
~ are restrained by fear from expressing the
opinions! 1t is truth no less disgracef
- than certain, that the very things Of whit
we have been writing, are to be traced Ia
er want of ENFORCEMENT of the laws, and tn
unless there be change our continent
n doomed, at no distant day, to become VII
n'' spread scene Of anarchy. The same spi
"a which induces an individual to avenge
own wrong in the face Of law, attaches
ID communities, and thus, unless check
put upon it, shall we see insubordinati
spreading itself throughout the land.
se ---
oh According to the American Almanac
the year 1910, the stocks issued by sew.
lite teen states of the Union, exclusive of Ma
ity Observation-Disclosures, New York, Penns
The vania, Maryland, S. Carolina, Alabau
m Louisiana, Tennessee, Ohio, Virginia, z
- lucky, Indiana, Illinois, Mississippi,
md souri,. Arkansas and Michiran. from Is