The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-09-01
The Spirit of LavIessness.

of every description by personal violence
and disturbances an appeal to law. ''Are
we a race of towards ?" says the Courier
Journal, "Who tweaks us by the nose? Who
Grams the lie down our throsts? No one
and yet, brutally courageous as we show
ourselves when brought to an individual
stand, we have not the moral courage to
protect ourselves as a community from ruff
fianism, and are so tame and cowardly that
we see the weak, the lowly, the unarmed,
set upon by bullies and desperadoes without
experiencing any shock of manly terror at
all adequate to redress" In conclusion an
earnest appeal is made for the strict enforce
ment of the laws. Without stopping to con-
slider whether the Courier-Journal is not
responsible in some degree for this spirit
of pseudo chivalry which impels a
man to avenge his wrongs in person,
the people of the country owe its editor
hearty thanks for the stand which he has
now taken and there is but little doubt that.
with his earnest and able advocacy, bet
ter state of public sentiment may prevail
over the clark and bloody ground"
The truth is that, although Kentucky of
fers a good illustration of the spirit of law
lessness that is abroad throughout the whole
land, society in the neighboring state is
but little more guilty than it is elsewhere.
The spirit of the nation, or at least great
portion of it, seems to be one of direct dis
regard for law.
All through the Southern states the courts
ofiustice are nero mockery. There, laws
are made not to protect but to Cypress,
and judges are elected or appointed to shield
friends and punish enemies rather than to
weigh the claims of man against man, or
vindicate society against criminal. In the
South, therefore, an old fashioned reverence
for law is not to be expected. The people
may be reckless and lnsubordinste by nature,
bat at least they have the excuse that they
have been corrupted rather than purified
from above. Where Dureli and Busted are
the highest types Of judicial ability and in
tegrity, ana the lowest j. furnished in the
person of a justice who can not write and
judges MANS guilt by his looks instead of
by evidence, the old knglo-Saxon trust
in law and its processes can not but be
shaken in due time. Consequently it mast be
acknowledged that the misgovernment of
the Southern states should be considered to
some extent the cause OF much OF the disor-
can not be expected to.be law abiding, when
law is q symbol of oppression and iEsustice.
But even this fact OF misgovernment, while
it may palliate, can net excuse what maybe
called the Lloodthirsty disposition of the
white people of the South. From time Inn
memorial this same readiness 70 appeal to
the ,Tbitrament eff the knife and
the pistol has been one of
their characteristics. The rivalry into
which they have been thrown with THE
negroes, of late years, has kizdled all
their passions, and the record of riots and
murders has become alarming To the
southwark it. would seem as If the whole
structure of our civilization was under
going a process of dilapidatlon, falling
stoneby stone into ruin. 1t is useless, by
way of explanation, to say that the negroes
are responsible. The safety of the country
cannot be held to rest upon their shoulders.
They never knew what law or justice was
and naturally appeal to brute force. The
day is over when they were enabled by fed
eral influence to override the law. Will the
time ever come when they can be content
TO abide by it?
In the extreme west there are
mee who went into the country in
advance OF the law, so to speak, |
md they took with kind Of good
,atured tolerance on the later conner. There
90 the pistol is considered the readiest key |
o all difficulties between man and man,
md even issues between man and society |
re only submitted to the courts when they
INVOLVE no exciting or extraordinary eIe-
nent. when intense prejudice or peculiar
trocity in crime adds interest to case, the
nob takes the disposal of it out of the
ands of the judge. The victims more
ated by their fellow men, over whom the
NV should he held as shield, are apt to
9 those who are left defenseless.
he spirit Of justice is so jealous that,
reading error, it will not permit a man to
3 tried in community in which the senti-
lent is strongly against him; and yet, over
nd over again, blind popular fury is per- |
tilted to take the awful responsibility of
crificing human life without the slightest
of evidence, and with
dread of punishment. Even in
Q heart of our civilization, in the 5
ate of Indiana, this spirit of law s
ssness has manifested itself more than /
zee of late with impunity, and here, too, Y
Q same impotence on the part OF an Il
ured man to abide by the slow remedies =
the laws of his country has been mani Il
ted frequently, and on the last occasion ia