New-York tribune., 1868-08-25
POLITICS AND CRIME.

incident more or less to all popular and free
governments, is that party struggles so CON
stanty postpone, hide, and push into the back
ground the most important questions of prac-
tical administration and social well-being In
contending who shall rule people forget the
purposes of rule and the urgent interest OF the
ruled. The excitement of carrying a popular
measure or electing a favOrite candidate, con-
ceas from view the necessity of improving the
poor law, mending the processes OF criminal
jurisprudence, and promoting the natlOnal
education. While parties are contendlng about
the franchise or battling over the existence OF
the Irish Church, the turbulent classes are
gathering force the rOughs are gaining courage,
the criminals are mastering their bands. The
public is excited on questions of constitutional
reform, therefore outTagcs are frequent and I'M
repressed; there are riots at Hyde Park and
atrocities at Birmingham; Fenans invade the
Home Office, colliers defeat magistrates, and
rowdies in the metropolis get the betterof police
men. Radical leaders address public meetings
on subjects involving their political and social
rights; therefore, heinOus crimes are committed
on far slighter provocaton and from far feebler
motives than Of old; porters shoot station
masters for threatening to report neglect OF
duty; mechanics Kill their clergymen for refus-
ing permission to keep company" with young
serving girls in their households unregulated
and morbid tempeTs. released from the need
full restraints of public attention and the crim-
nal law, resent the least obstacle to their
egotstical desires as an outrage against the
Holy Ghost; rfians lose the salutary terror OF
punishment, and assassins, sure that they VIII
not be hanged, deliberately kill people on the
himsiest pretext and for the most insignificant
reward John Bright agitates for Reform,
Mr.. HardstOne proposes to dlsestablish the
English Church in Ireland, Mr.. Mill urges
the extension of the suffrage to women. There
fore, of PIP yerdicts of murder found by Cor0-
ners Julies, only 13l are reported by the police
t24 apprehcnded "a committed for trial, 50 ac-
tually tried, 28 found guilty, and - hanged
The weak point in this reasoning is the con-
Meeting link between premise and conclusion.
Excessive addition to politics. is no doubt an
evil IN some respects; it eXaggcrates the i'm
portance of means over ends; it substitutes
personal and party allegiance for convlc-
tions of principle; it postpOncs measures
to men; it draws attention away from
social problems and worse yet, it takes
social problems out OF the hands of experts
who have made them a scientific study, and
makes them over to ignorant, crude, passionate
people, who use them for the base purpose Of
making money, or getting place. This evil is
incident to all free, popular governments and
it is much more formidable lrre than in En-
gland but no such disastrous social cOnse-
qucnces ensue from it here as The PGH Nall
Gazette asCribes to it there. We are afflicted
with no such carnival of crime as the writer
in that conservative journal depicts. Our
cities are not terrified by crowds of rioters or
il they are, the authorities find 10 difficulty in
putting the insurgents down. The police never
fails in its duty, when called out to disperSe
mob Crime of all kinds is abundant there
is no doubt of that. There are dreadful asSaS-
sinatons, murders apparently without provo
cation, poisonings, stabbings, hard to account
for But nobody thinks of ascrbng these out
breaks of animal passion to the popular enthu-
siasm for politics. There may be prevailing an
epidemic of crime, such as society in all ages,
and under al governments, has experienced
but we can recall no facts that Justify the
frightful description or the terrible prophecies
of The Pal Mall Gazette. If any change has
recently occurred in the character of English
crime, il is due probably to the mixed nature
of the Government in England, and to the deep
ening conflict between the democratic and the
aristocratic element in English society. The
English are an alistOcratic people with a dem
ocratic government The aristOcracy of the
English temperament centers more and more
in the classes which have nobility and wealth,
tl,o ;pa RI.
tendencies in the Constitution are gaining
strength as the prevalent ideas of the century
find expression in legislation and the press
The perpetual struggle thus generated causes
friction, dissatisfaction, resentment, and resist
ance on both sides. Relations are unsettled,
reciprocal duties are misunderstood. Authority
seems unjust because it is ttular and official.
The feeling of natural right rebels against
usage, tradition, prestige clothed in the gaTb
of law; the instinct Of independence frets
against barriers that look arbitrary and arti-
fetal; while ON the other hand, they who hold
power simply by inheritance are slow to COM
prchend the plea of human right, and unwil-
ling to yield point TO the demands OF the
governed class This mcaSinesS pervades every
department of society. Men who, if they un-
derstoOd each other would be natural friends,
regard each other as natural enemies. Subor-
dinates of every class are sensitive, quick to
take afront, swift to ayenge it. Superiors are
suspicious and exacting, The people
style the police the "mymidons of
the Government The authorities look
on the people as a turbulent crowd
The sense of private rights becomes angry, and
.,;r,o Of I,r,,or ar sn,oltcr diunnSionC - thp
result. The remedy must be sought, MOI IN in