The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1880-03-24
science and ASA ss.na.ion.

IL Is next 10 lmpossiOie, III Sovereign, VI
a President. or an imperial chancellor goes
abroad at ell, to stop workman IKE Hooei
or Otero from staiioning himself somewhere
en- route and taki1g shot at his adversary
the instant he appears. No wafchiuness,
no guardianship, nothing, indeed, but Sc.
clusiop. will prevent that; but the Use OF
machinery may be prevented. The men
who make the machines may give warning,
and so may those who see them being used,
while their poss ssi0n may In most cases be
rendered Illegal under heavy penalties.
We should certainly make the manu-
facture of "Thomas" apparatus
a crime throughout Europe. In most
countries the laying OF trains such
rs blew up the Cars train and the
Winter Palace would be noticed and re-
ported on; while so many must know the
secret that, as happened In both these In
stances, warnings may be forwarded to the
intended victim. Besides, great deal OF
brain is required Of the assassin at mo-
ment wien his self-command is affected.
He must be of the class which can manage
scientific instruments-that Is, must more
or less realize what he is doing-yet must
adjust everything, while momently risking
q disgraceful death, with the GOODNESS Of q
soldier and the calculating skill OF matbe-
matician. He has not TO fire shot with his
pistol or to make spring with his
knife, but to spend hours, or days, or
weeks, In preparation, to calculate inches
OF distance and seconds OF time;
and all the while to organize an
escape which, II he uses such means, he is
sure not to forego. He can escape from the
very method OF his crime, and he will tryto
do 1t. A man in the position OF H6del or
Otero gives himself up all through. He
knows perfectly well that within so many
seconds Of his shot being fired be will be in
the bands Of crowd mad for bis life-a
frigbtfui position In itself-and no more
thinks OF escape than soldier 10 forlorn
hope CT sailor when the shells come thick.
Either may survive, but lodging will not
helm either, The man, on the other hand
who explodes box OF dynamite or o
barrel Of guupowder through long train
of powder or by an electric wire, is neces-
sarily at q distance. necessarily alone
or with comrades, and necessarily able
to escape, or at least to make holt
for 1t. Accordingly having the chance, he
Is careful Of the chance, and that considera-
ton, together with the fact that he is
shaken, as he must be shaken, by the ap-
preaching death OF innocent persons--in-
nocent, that Is, even In bis own perverted
yiew-and with the other fact that his
enemy is invisible, all combine to destroy
the GOODNESS necessary to success. The tor
pedo eXplodes at the wrong moment, and
though 1t produces more effect on Europe
than q kuHe or bullet would, 1t
has not produced it on the body of the
intended victim. The misery OF the Kings
Is frightiuIsy enhanced by the use OF
scientific appliances, because they render
precaution OF so little avail, and, as ii
were, make the danger perpetualiy present ;
but, we suspect, the actual danger is not.
The result to the world may be even worse,
because power exercised under such condi.
tons OF fear or rage is sure to be badly eX-
ercised; but we are not discussing that,
but the actual risk Of life in an actuary's
sense. We should say that though it had
increased, perhaps dreadfuly increased,
from the Increase In the number Of poten'
tiaI assassins, it had decreased from the re.
sort to scientific methods Of assassination
Neither bomb nor dynamite-bOX is as GER
tain as the pistol The Spectator.