The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1857-08-09

8OOehm Euspats
There are periods of ebb and Cow in the histo-
~ of crime, as in every other tide of human &C
ton. There are times, for instance, when, with
out any apparently explainable causes, murders
will become of more frequent occurrence than at
Others and it is the same with offences of lesser
magnitude Curious to say there is a tendency
to assimilation in crimes affecting the security Of
human life At one time the mode will run in
favor Of poisen-at others in favor of the knife
These cspricous features in criminal statis-
tics are all to be phlosophically accounted for
if people will only take the trouble of examn-
ing them attentively. They are to be traced in
most instances to crises of social dsorganization;
to the immunity attaching TO particular crimes,
as in the Burdel case; to the Indifference to their
duties on the part Of public prosecutors; to the
fever Of political excitement, or to sudden out
bursts Of religious fanaticism.
1t has been the subject Of general remark
that since the last Presidential campaign
the crime Of homicide has been alarming.
~ on the increase. "A day seldom
passes without our having to record some
fearful tragedy inspired by political hostility or
individual malice. At one time it is caused by
the resistance of the State authorities of Ohio to
the exercise of the jurisdiction of the federal 60
vernment, at another by the indignation created
in the minds of our own citizens by the usurpa-
tions of the Legislature of New York, and at an
other, again, by the importation of party of Bal
timore rowdies to control the polls at Washing
IL l.. -
al murders and homicides without number, and
we furnish within the last few months as frightfu
a catalogue Of horrors as the criminal annals of
any country canpresent. Certainly, no where has
the value of human life sunk to so low an esti-
mate as with US, and if it continues its present
downward tendency we fear that we shall be re-
duced to the condition of France in the time of
the Fronde, when every man took upon himself
the duty of avenging his own wrongs-when no
traveller could pass along the highways without
running the risk of having his pockets rifed and
his throat cut-and when the outrages committed
in the namelof the law surpassed in atrocity even
those attributed to private malice.
To what is this deplorable state of things
owing? 1t is not that we have less amount of
religion than other communicate is not that
we hold in less respect the law. We multiply
our churches with praiseworthy rapidity-we
bow our heads in reverent submission to our
courts of last resort. Lovers of law, order and
religion, how does it happen that we present the
spectacle of people whose excuses are only to
be compared to the bloodthirsty saturnalia of
the untutored savage, and hold life so cheaply
that We do not scruple to take it under the
slightest pretence?
Those who have reflected on the subject can
not fail to perceive that no ordinary causes have
been at work to produce such inconsistencies. We
were amongst the first to point out the alarming
teBdency Of the doctrines enunciated from the
pulpits Of certain popular preachers in this city
and elsewhere some months ago. When
ministers Of peace openly preach to their
congregations the duty of taking up arms
to carry out their insane and fanatic
views, and even originate subscriptions to place
rifles in the hauds of their fellow abolition
lists, we cannot but expect that the corollary
from such teaching will be the redress of indivi-
dual wrongs by the same summary process. IL
it be proper to shed blood in defence of mere
political abstraction weak minds will not fail to
argue that it is justifable TO take life in the vim
dication of their most precious interests. To the
conclusions induced by such doctrines we believe
that we owe many the crimes that have latter
ly struck terror iuto the public heart. To say
the least of them, they familiarize people with
the idea that homicide is but venial crime in
the eyes of the ministers of religion and no crime
at all when the motives that impel it are in ac-
cordance with their views 1t is needless for us to
point out to what condition of things this train
Of reasoning would lead us, if unchecked. We
would speedily realize the justice of the AXIOM
that confusion and bloodshed must always reign
when the priests have their way