The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1873-11-27
The Conviction Of 1r. william II.
Tweed.

The conviction of Mr.. William NJ.
Tweed by New York jury is at once one
CT the most surprising and mos. gratifying
events Of the period. Probably net obs
pers,r in any hundred read the announce
mens OF she verdict without an expression
OF surprise; and that no honest man, desir-
ing honesty ,ather than roguerJ in public
servants. read it without feeling of salts
faction is an entirely safe conclusion.
The general public did not anticipate
such result. Even those persons most
thoroughly consicced that if justice were
even moderately administered. the million
aire thief must be found guilty, expected
nothing less than his escape from justice,
ifno. by verlic. Of acquittal, at least by
the convenient mode of jury disagree
ment. And. though surprised and grati6-
ed by the verdict of guilty, rational in
creduiity still forbid. indulgence in the ex-
rectation that the penalties Of the law will
ever be carried into execution upon the
convicted culprit. Tweed will never be
punished, is still the common thought,
and the common expression. "By soma
legal qnibbls some Judicial hole will be
found through which the bloated raskel
will be allowed 10 escape"
This general expecta ton tina, the great
Tammany thief would, and will yet, escape
the punishment due to his crimes, il
usually pointed with ienunciations Of the
particular corruption that has so long
characterized the persons chosen to ad-
minister the muncinal functions in New
York. 1t is in reality recognition of
the low morality prevailing among the peo-
pie Of that city generally; or. at all events,
among that popular majority whose action
or non action, or both, have been iustru-
mental IN choosing the municipal function
aries a truth which the popular mind
seldom or never recognizes is that the gov
eminent Of any natlcn, state. city, or or
sanzed community of suy kind mat
ter how it be constituted, or by what name
1t be distinguished from other governments;
structures, -represent the average char
acter OF the people whose active support
or passive liberation enables it to exist.
This truth is admirably presented By Mr.
Spencer in the concluding charte of bis
Low completed preliminary work on "The
Study Of Sociology" where he saws: "In-
equitable Government en- be upheld
only by the aid Of people correspo nd
lngiy inequItable, in sentiments and acts.
injustice car not reign if the commonly
does not furnish due supply of unjust
agents. No tyrant can tyrannize over
people save on condition that the people is
bad emo Igh to supply HIM with soldiers who
will fight for his ,yrany and keep their
brethren IN slavery. Class supremacy
can not be maintained by the corrupt
buying of votes, unless there are multi
tndes OF voters, venal enough to sell their
votes. 1t is thus everywhere and in all
degrees misconduct among those in power
Is the correlatve of misconduct among
those over whom they exc, else power"
There could have been 90 Crcdu Mobiiie1'
thieves or thefts, no subsidy grabs n sal
arr grabs, and no Tam many thieves or
fammany ro5beries, if the people who
were respectively the victims. CT these
IIlI l1I e
their own low moral character, produced
and nourlshed The villains.
The prevalent expectation that the
great Tammany thief would, and vet will,
escape justice, implies. therefore, the con
trary of an opinion that the people Of New
York have really begun to elevate the stan.
iard of their own moral character. 1t
implies that they are still as degraded,
morally and politically, IS when they fur
n'shed due supply Of unmitisa.ed scoun-
drelsto fill the municipal Offices. Being SO,
the general expectation that the "toss"
scoundrel viii escape justice is something
ore than popular presentiment; it is q
very rational conclusion from the prem
ses
But the actual conviction of the chief
culprit by New York jury is circum-
stance tending to invalidate the premises;
and therefore is it both a gratifying and
Encouraging circumstance. 1t is I'm inl,
cation, however slight, Of a change TOR the
better IN the character of the people Of
that city; an indication that there re lly is
at work among them an influence tending
to elevate the standard of their moral
character. If public ANTICIPATE ton should
be further disappointed by the actual ar
rying IL to execution Of che penalties of
the law, that would be all additional cir
cunstance tending to strengthen the opin-
ION that the people of New York have
really begnn-have actually made a per
ceptible degree Of progress-in the work
of reform. Tho conviction of Tweed on
all the counts in the Indictment, is the first
real Indication to that effect which events
in New York have shosn. The high
moral exhibitions of the committee CT
seventy" amounted to nothing The re-
organization of the putrid old Tammsnv
society amounted to nothing and signifel
nothing. The fiatulent effusiveness of the
local press served only to render the i'm
morality Of New York journalism more
conspicuous in the most disgraceful of all!
our presidential contests. The conviction
OF Mr.. William NJ. Tweed the only event |
that has occurred which tends to encourage !
the opinion that here is vet it'll. leaven |