The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-05-21

compassion, and perhaps for recommendation
to executive clemency, but not for acquittal.
So in the case of Sickles, at Westinghouse
Cole, at Albany-the murder was brought
home to the assassins by undisputed evil
dence; but the jury, in violation of their oaths
to God and their duty to society, made them
selves the Judges of the provocation, and ac-
Quilted the murderers, Surely, these facts
show a terrible want of conscientiousness and
of sense of duty as citizens.
The disgraceful case which disgusted even
the palled palate of New York through so
many days is the newest proof of the degene-
ration of iuries. And we might well add of
judges and of the bar. Twelve men were put
into box to decide whether one man killed
another Intentionally. There never was
clearer case. The premeditation and lying
in wait and act of killing were conclusively
proved. The theory of defense was insanity.
The only things for the jury to consider we're
whether the prisoner committed the homi-
eide, and, if yea, whether he was insane at
the time. The evidence of insanity was so
absurdly weak that no real weight was placed
upon it; but the whole effort of the defense
was put forth to excite the compassion of the
jury for the culprit, and their prejudice
against his victim. There were but two ver-
diets that the jury could have rendered with
out kperjury: Guilty" or ''Not guilty by
reason of insanity" The pressure from with
out deferred them from the first, and sense
of ridicule from the last; and so they brought
in the only verdict which men regardful of
their oaths could not have rendered, and the
murderer was turned loose upon society.
This is a shocking state of things, for
which there is no remedy but the elevation of
public morality. The pulpit and the reli-
gious press at least owe a solemn duty to
society in this behalf, and they should not
cease to uplift their voices against the guilt
of perjury, even when protected by legal
privilege, when used to excuse murder. If
the religious. public would do its duty in this
regard we might hope that this latest outrage
against justice would be the last, or, at
least, that the perjury that caused it may be
branded with the infamy it deserves.
THE MORAL OF THE DEMOCRATIC
VICTORY.
From the NJ Y. Times.
1t is only natural that the World should
look at the result of the State and city
election through its own spectacles. 1t sees
things through the medium of colored glass.
1t finds in the vote a perfect confirmation of
the policy which led it long ago to repudiate
Pendleton as a fnancier, and to discard Frank
Blair as a candidate for the Presidency:
1t discerns in Tuesdays triumph the fruit of
wisdom and moderation, as exemplifed in
the alleged withdrawal of resistance to the
uIittulu du0uumGul, III tu0 b6l6CJlOu Oh CAu-
didates having an ''unobjectionable war
record" and in asupposititious determination
to be guided by ''justice, probity, and finan-
cial honor" ia the treatment of the national
debt. And the World commends this moral
of the contest to the Democracy of other
States.
All this is an excusable attempt on the part
of journal which, in many respects, is above
its party, to render a service to that party by
IL
this obvious basis for the Worlds arguments
far ahead of the average Democratic nomina-
tions, in personal character and professional
responsibility, that it really looked like the
beginning of reform. But here the hopeful
indications end. The credit won by the De-
mocracy at Rochester was annuled by the
great body of the Democratic nominations in
New York. What the State ticket did towards
investing the party with respectability was
undone by the action of other organizations
in this city. Locally speaking, there was
neither wisdom nor Observation-Disclosures was
only partisanship, reckless and defiant as
ever. Nor, apart from the Rochester nomi-
nations, can it be truly said that the party in
the State has yet taken single forward step.
So far from acquiescing in the fifteenth
amendment, as the World asserts, the Demo-
cratic majority in the Legislature signalized
|
play of their hostility to that measure. In
stead of conciliating the colored vote, they
| adopted the most effectual means of throwing
it, irrevocably, into the Republican scale.
We are unable therefore, to accept the
Worlds Interpretation of Tuesdays election.
That event has no significance whatever as a
revelation of an amended policy on the part
of the New York Democracy. The policy of
the party has undergone no change. And
the agencies it relies upon for the attainment
of its ends are, as Tuesdays experience
proves, precisely those on which it has here
tofore relied for victory. ''The majority is
indeed large declares the World, which then
explains the fact by the remark that it sis
quite as much owing to the apathy of the
| Republicans as to the zeal of the Democrats.
We cannot suppose that the World means
what it says. 1t knows better. Undoubtedly
Republican apathy contributed not little tC
the result. But Democratic frauds contributed
much more. Fraud in voting-fraud il
counting; fraud of the most shameless nature
in this city, as everybody with his eyes oper
must have seen The consequence is, indeed
a Democratic triumph" but a triumph o.
the order common in New York-not ont
that admits of the lofty moral construction
which the ingenious writer in the World puts
upon it. We have learned that the metamor
phosis of Democracy took place in the imagi
nation only: ON election day the old temper
reappears, and the old weapons win in tht
fight. That is the real lesson of the hour
and our contemporary in its optimism over
looks it altogether.
In what the World says respecting th'
condition of the Republican party in thu
State, and especially in this city, there is un
fortunately some truth. ''Disorganization
is not too strong term to apply to that con
| dition TtS maDa0Amant naada mora brains G