Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-07-07
WHAT THE PRESS SAY.

San Francisco Call: The life of the
President of the United States was attack
ed Saturday morning, at q little past
o'clock, with probable fatal results. The
offense was not so much against James A.
Garfield as againstthe people of the United
States. It was the life of the President
that was sought, not the life of man.
The measure of federation for ASSASSINATION
which finds expression in some quarters
when the intended victim is a despot, has
no excuse when the victim is the President
of free Republic. Under our form OF
government there is a remedy for every
evil. : The suffrages of the people have
placed him where he is, and endowed him
with whatever power he possesses. He
goes about without guards, and mingles
with the people without protection from
assault. This he does on the principle
that he is the peoples choice for President,
and that at the expiration of his term it
will be in their power to relegate him to
private life. The crime OF the assassin in
this instance lies largely in the fact that it
is blow directed against the relation
which exists between the people and their
President.
San Francisco Chronicle Probably the
majority of mankind might be pronounced
insane if merely intellectual weakness or
strong inclination to moral obliquity or &C.
centricity were accepted as the equivalent
of insanity. But such rule is not ad-
missible on reasonable grounds, and when
tolerated by Courts and iuries is yielding
most dangerous point against society.
The great majority of those who have
adorned the gallows and the State prisons
of the country might plead mental and
moral faint, weakness of mind or eccen-
tricity, for crime generally implies one or
the other but it does not therefore imply
such an absence of reason as could relieve
the criminal from responsibility for his act
Guitteau evidently possessed average rea-
soning powers. His fault, like that of most
criminals, was in reasoning from false and
probably selfish premises. He wanted an
Office, but could not prevail on the Presi-
dent to give him an appointment. He
brooded over this till malice took posses
sion OF his faculties.
Gilroy AdrOcdte: Men who are called
upon to administer justice are generally
expected to keep free from open acts Of
dissipation. 1t is almost impossible for
peace and good order to exist or for ex-
cesses to be checked if officers become
morally Indifferent to the effect of example.
When a man loses respect for himself, he is
disposed to favor the worst side of human
nature, to shield from justice those whom
the law condemns as foes of society. No
man elected by the people to deal out JUS
tice, to reprimand or to punish, should so
far forget the honorable and responsible
position he holds before the people as to
descend to the depraved level OF the wrong
doer.
San Francisco Examiner The dangers
Immediately ahead are SO great as to seem
well nigh overwhelming. The prescience
can hardly be given to tie coolest judg
ment to determine at this hour just what
Will happen. Those who rely upon that
Providence that has always seemed to
stand by our country in its hour of need,
will look to that source for a safe deliver.
ance out of all our troubles.
The Petaluma Courier thinks the cry OF
Democratic whisky should cease, since the
Republicans in North Carolina have organ
lied and headed an Anti Prohibition party.