National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-06-18


proposed by the bill.
THE CITIZENS OF THE DISTRICT.
The New York Herald of yesterday
makes a wanton, cruel and uncalled-for
attack upon the citizens of Washington.
The text for the article in question is found
in bill which the Senate has seen fit to
pass providing that individuals or corpora
tons doing business in any State. Territory
or District through agents may be sued in
said State, District or Territory where such
agents are found. By the Herald this bill
is interpreted to be an attack upon the Gber-
ties of. the newspaper press Of the whole
country, and the country is called upon to
rise and denounce it. We should not object
to the fiery and sensational appeals of the
Herald did they not at the same time con-
tain coarse and brutal attack upon this
community. The article referred to is not
only coarse and brutal, but 1t is also ig-
norant and leads US to suspect that it was
written by one of the latest batch of immi-
grants from the country where our New
York Contemporary is accustomed to recruit
its editorial staff.
The Herald says: 'fNo justice could be
expected from Washington court by q
defendant in libel suit brought by an in
''culpated officer of the Government.
every jury would be summoned by an
"oficer deriving his appointment from the
President even if the marshal of the Dis
'trict should perform his duty fairly,
(Which is hardly to be expected in suits
-fwhere the authority which can deprive
''him of his office is interested. Washing
ton is the last place where a fair trial
could be expected in any case in which
'fhe Federal officers might wish to make
can example of an sssailant. The people
''of the National Capital subsist upon the
Government. The presence of the Gov
''ernment is the only reason why there is
''city there at all A majority of its citi-
'tzens qualified for jury duty are either en-
"ployees of the Government removable at
will or shopkeepers and mechanics,
whose best customers are in some way
connected with the Government There
"is little necessity for the Federal marshal
''to pack juries in such community. Citi-
'tzens subject to jury duty are already
''under so strong bias that no defendant
"in a suit for libeling Government officers
would have any chance of justice" 1t
is impossible to string together more false
hoods, to exhibit more ignorance, so far as
this city is concerned, than are to be found
in the above extract. In the first place,
majority of the people Of this city subject
to Jury duty are not employees Of the Gov
eminent or in any way dependent upon it.
This is lie number one. Citizenship of the
District is prime qualification for jury
service in Washington, and it is well
known that nearly all Of the five
or six thousand Government employees
in this District are not citizens OF
and cannot consequently serve upon its
juries. The panel is made up from the
poll lists. Again, Washington is not the
'last place where q fair trial could be ex
pected" in any suit. The contrary is, in
fact the truth. Here the truth is justlfcs-
ton of any alleged libel. SO that newspapers
which print only the truth need be under
no apprehension whatever if they confine
themselves strictly to it. The Herald, in
its slurs upon the Capital, forgets that, In
point of population, 1t is the twelfth city in
the United States, numbering nearly two
hundred thousand people, with assessed
property amounting to nearly one hundred
millions of dollars. The insult offered TO
our people is uncalled for and Outrageous.
Washington juries, we beg to remind it,
are not the corrupt bodies they are in its
own city, where service upon them is made
trade; and where the judges are no better
than the juries. -
The Herald puts itself forward as the
champion of the freedom, not the heSn-
tioVsness, of the press. Considering that the
early reputation Of that paper is founded
mainly upon eowhidings and horsewhip.
pings, upon the violation OF everything
sscred in society. in religion and in morals,
the claim is certainly refreshing. The spec
tscle of young Bennett upon his yacht in
the Chesapeake bay, or running a foot race
toward Harlem, followed By a crowd of
bootblacks, and the intellectual depart
ment" lust arrived" protesting in the
name of liberty, free institutions and re-
sponsible government against the passage
of the bill in question, is rather ridiculous.