New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1868-11-21
rupF1TENJNG ALREADY.

ForewaIned ia fOrearmcd ana IL H. Vhclo-
fore. well hat all persons likely to be attached
in any oilfia capacity, high or io"' 10 ."o
National Administration which is just coming
in, and all Republican Senators anu hepresen-
tatves who value their lives, should have the'i
attention calhd to the following startling IAN
guage, used ly a correspondent OF The Worid'
and printed in that newspaper on Saturday last;
''If governments we're intended 10 be superior 70 Tue
sway OF human passions. and TO he administered aceVu
ing 10 firm intelligence and Justice no goNernmeto va
earth stands su,h need Of warning as that wen as
tinted states since R2iicalsm been In all ages and
"a I'm ours provocative OF social turbulence ahd
crime 10 Il unnatural 10 suppose tnht ino
Radical Administration may have serious ds0rders 70
contend with Prosperity and tranquility IN the Sou,h
will be as Ions as the policy when mas peo
sued at Washington is lnrenitied the lives OF eeta
high officials may be endangered President 6rdnf hI~
seiT may hare as Abraham Lincoln had maniac J~
Nemesis"
There is no point Of view from which these
words can be considered I'm which they can
appear to sensible and uujaundlced eyes as
other than seditious and threatening. They
practically assume that the Administration OF
Gen. Grant may be guilty OF acts so cruel anu
tyrannous and intolerbe that men maddened
thereby may become involuntary murderers'
IL the intention of this writer were as CON
scientious as it is probably otherwise, the tact
could be pleaded with but little effect IN ex-
tenuation of his instieatons; the best that
could be reasonably said for him would be
that he was the victim Of homicidal dementia
and might himself easily become one OF the
death dealing avengers Of the South, whose
advent he foretells. AS h. is probably as nearly
in his right mind rs passion will permit MN
to be. it may be judcious TO point ont to him
that publication like that upon which he 40
rashly ventures would be the best excuse
which any Government bent upon severe
measures could desire. No respectable Presi-
dent could permit himself 10 be bnllied ont OF
any course which he might have intended hon
estly TO adopt without AN lntolerable imputa-
ton of cowardice. No Administration allowing
itself TO be so controlled in It's omissions aud
commissions. could escape deposition at the
hands of an indignant nation IL assasslns
prowl about the White House. there will be a
military guard at the vestibule. The most
summary processes of the law are indicated
when writers in public journals hint at murder
as a remedy for political evils without any
warning of its utter faulty.
The fiery spirit who has issued this pronun-
ciamento is good enough TO give us in brief
his views of an important branch of political
philosophy. If bloodshed In high places is to
be prevented, Governments must be superior
"to the sway of human passions" The innuendo
here is that our own has not been thus supe-
rior Governments must be administered
according TO a firm intelligence and Justice"
The innuendo here is that the Government of
Mr.. Lincoln was unintelligent and unjust. and
it is further limited that it was provocative
"of turbulence and crime" The ground here
taken has nothing 10 do, as the writer pre-
tends, with the trial and execution of Mrs.
Surratt. The concluding reflection OF this
prophet carries the readers mind back TO the
initial crime: president Grant himself may
"have, as Abraham Lincoln had maniac for
"a Nemesisw This is substantially an apology
for the assassination and no ingenuity of con
struction can show it to be otherwise The
writer has inherited the pistol of Booth, and
he draws il IN terorem upon the President
elect. "Do" he CRIES, "@ Lincoln did, and
"your life is not worth weeks purchase
"You must be Conservative, or be killed as
"he was for being Radical You must be
"more intelligent than he was, you must be
cluster than he was, or you will create ma
"niacs who will come to Washington and shoot
"you as he was shot!" This is but q fair
pdIdpHTd5e OF lHe luHbudRc WHICH we nave
quoted and which it is worth while to quote
again: President Grant may have, as Abra-
cham Lincoln had, maniac for a Nemesis
We decline to consider here whether the
policy of Mr.. Lincoln, with notifications rem
dered necessary by altered circumstances, will
or will not be the policy of President Grant.
We decline to plead under duresse. We refuse
to utter one word which may appear in the
least extOrted. We put what Gen. Grant may
do or may not do entirely out of the question
and entirely out of the question it must re.
main until it shall be admitted that he may
do whatever seems TO him right without be-
coming amenable to assassins When the
Presidents life ia openly threatened we have
something beside points of public policy to be
settled. We must first make the Chief Execu-r
tive of this Republic Free Agent, limited in
his public acts only by the Law and the Con-
stitution and responsible only to the regular
tribunals of the country, the courts, and the
people.