American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-05-25
The Crime of Suicide.

In our own country, suicide seems to
every year, and is being INDUCED in on
all manner of occasions and on all man.
ner of pretexts. Unrequited love,
long continued illness, hopeless poverty,
and business disappointments, appear to
be the leading incentives. Quite num-
Der of cases have recently transpired in
this and adjoining States, where men have
put an end to their lives merely because
attacked by the smallpox. In Iowa, Hi
nois and Wisconsin, the published sui
cides average about one day, taking
our exchange list as a criterion. Even
this estimate may be far too moderate.
Certain philosophers have advanced the
opinion that no man of sane mind ever
committed suicide-that the crime itself
is proof sufficient of mental arrangement.
We differ with them. 1t would be full
as reasonable to account for all rash &C.
tions Oh such a score. Men who have
committed murder are constantly being
acquitted on grounds of temporary in
sanity, and generally with the approval
of the populace. Yet who, in their hearts,
do not consider such verdicts benevolent
frauds on the good sense of the commu-
nifty? Why not attribute all crime and
iniQuity to a diseased state of the mind
1t would seem that no man would COM
nit gross crime or gross error, while
governed by well-balanced intel
lect And yet these crimes and errors
are of constant occurrence, and their per-
petrators are as often men of intelligence
as otherwise. When those who know
ingIy do wrong are more numerous than
those who err through Ignorance and
blindness, it will not do to shield suicide
or any other crime under a mantle of
charity. There are, no doubt, innumera-
BILE instances where men destroy their
own and the lives of others, under the
promptings of an unnatural impulse which
can scarcely be accounted for. 1t Is also
true that a disposition To suicide is some
times Inherited. Men often lose THOR
reason by everlasting the brain, and Kill
themselves in the wild frenzy that fol-
lows, as was the ease with Hugh Miller,
the great geologist. But far the greater
number of tragedies of this description
originate in a foolish despair that no brave
tunes that would soon be forgotten if
borne with proper fortitude. Suicide is
generally preluded by a moody despond-
encv, which could be dispelled by resO-
lutte effort, but which becomes more and
more overpowering the longer the victim
INDUCES it. Therefore, he who gives it
full sway when he might successfully re-
sist it, must be held morally responsible
for the consequences. lie IS criminal
in the sight of Heaven.
Zeno, the stole, contended that it can
be no sin to end an existence that has
grown unenioyable, and attested the sim
certify of his arguments by dispatching
himself at the advanced age of ninety
eight Nevertheless, Invested of the
sophistres that surround it, no crime is
really so cowardly as self-murder. Shai>-
speare, in his matchless conception of Ham
let, presents the probable thoughts OF
Il aSnayotp n deed
vet he utterly ignores that higher heroisIn
which should teach us to bear with dig
nifed resignation whatever Affections
Providence may see fit to impose, rather
of dishonor and adherence. Suicide is
a selfish, shameful, inexcusable acknowl-
edgment of the lack of all the most adj
mirabe qualities of the human charac..
ter The true man will see the race or
life through to the end, in defiance of adj
versity and tribulation. "To bear is to
conquer fate. "-Chicago Journal.