New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1874-12-10

September. A case will have been con-
summated III which an outside and Illegal
force will have nullifed the law; and Con-
gress, upon formal finding of the facts,
and the application Of the State authori-
ties, will be required to guarantee repub-
lican form of government to Louisiana.
ASSASSINATION AS A POLITICAL REMEDY.
We publish in another column letter
Charles A. DeRudio, lieutenant Seventh
Cavalry, United States army. 1t is re-
markable historical document, and will
bring again to the notice of Europe q
revolutionist who had forfeited his life
to the power he attempted to overthrow,
now holding an honorable commission
under the government of the United
States. To US it comes as most oppor-
tune illustration Of the principle dis
cussed in these columns. Has the citizen
of a republic right to overthrow by per-
sonal assassination or other violence the
government which he had engaged to
support?
Lieutenant DeRudio, an Italian sub
ject, has based the justification of an at
tempt to overthrow an imperial govern
ment in France on two grounds: l. That
Napoleon III. had attempted to intervene
in the political affairs of Lieutenant De
Rudio's then country, Italy: 2. That
Napoleon being. according to Lieutenant
DeRudio's belief usurper, tyrant and
oppressor, stood as hosts humani generis,
and might as lawfully have been killed
by any person as any other pirate. Lieu
tenant DeRudio assumes, therefore, that
himself and associates took upon them
selves this duty Of executing a common
obligation Of humanity, and that they
stand upon similar pedestals before pos
terity with the slayers of Caesar, Holo-
fernes and Gessner. This reas oning is
very much the same with that employed
by our alien instructors of the Bee. 1t is
in both cases fallacious because inappli-
cable. If MI. DeRudio had been SUBJ
ject of q government based on force, his
right to change by force form Of gov
not of his choice would have
been undoubted. In such case he would
have had the same right to overthrow a
government of force by force, as had
either of the heroic types of history. His
right to 60 out on . general mission Of
killing the oppressors Of other nations can
be justified by any improper
of foreign oppression in
the affairs of his (DeRudio's) own country.
But assuming that he had been the sub
ject Of form Of government not of his
choice we repeat that he as subject
would undoubtedly have had right to
change that form of government by any
act. Captain John Smith.
the founder of an American colony. was
somewhere in Pennsylvania. He
is depicted in the books in irons, with his
head shaven, The slave of the Turk.
Captain John beat out the brains Of his
master and fed on his horse. In this
John Smith was no party to this labor
contract, and he terminated il in the
shortest and most efectual manner pos.
sible, nor has any publieist ever question.
ed his right or criticised his act.
Personally. we would prefer to any act
OF revolutionary violence an assemblage
Of the people. with an exposition of the
reasons which justified the proposed
change. the levy and organization Of
troops with some fiscal system that would
relieve the necessity Of living by spells
of the army on free quarters Of our own
people. This rather than the poignard.
or poison or explosives. The customs Of
nations. however, differ, and in admitting
the principle Of individual OF associate
right to overthrow any form Of govern
ment not the choice Of the subject. we
leave the fashion of means to national
usage. Where We prefer Runnymede and
Magma Charta Lieutenant DeRudio would
perhaps choose bomb and fuse. while a
French communist would possibly resort
to petroleum. We excuse. therefore.
Messrs. DeRudio and the Bee man. be-
cause of the total difference between the
Neapolitan and Partisan reasoning aud
the remedies of our own.
Lieutenant DeRudio has Of his own
free choice renounced allegiance to all
other countries and become a citizen OF
the United States. Would he assassinate
the Preside MT of the United States, even
if he personally thought as badly Of him
as he has done of Napoleon: He could
not logically do so. because he. as as citi'
zen Of the republic. has agreed that il
any question of legal construction. public
policy or official conduct shall arise. he
will not settle it according to his personal
opinion on the merits by bombshell OF
stiletto, but will resort to the tribunals
offended, according to his own agreement.
or to the electoral means of effecting a
change Of public agents, as provided fol
by the constitution. The whole difference
between the moral obligations of Mr..
DeRudio, the subject of government Of
force. and Mr.. DeRudio the citizen
of republic. lies just in this. The
subject may right himself by per.
sonal means. the citizen must right him.
self. by the means which the law has pro.
vided and pointed out to him. Mr..