The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1881-08-13
Precautions Against Assassinat;o.

NJ.
sure absolute safety to the exeo,.; AZ
head of State. And even where Oeu oa
stltutional or elective ruler grounds bis
title IN the trust and affection of tbo
community, he is still, like private ;n Yne
viduals, at the mercy of design or ri ~
price engendered in a morbid or disor
dered intellect. Oi'
The tutility of special precautions ON
the part of autocrats against assasS;na ~
ton may be reckoned among the cloa~
est lessons of history. The entire corl
mand OF the resources of an empire. tho
constitutional attendance of power IT
body-guard, and the elaborate system "a ~
espionage devised by Tiberius, corId
not save a large proportion of the fret
twelve Caesars from premature anJ
bloody death. The annals of the how
OF Gilman and the house of Romanotes
demonstrate the vanity of the most i'm,
posing guarantees against palace in
trigues and popular disaffection. A.
this moment the Gar of Russia can No.
foil the assaults of which he is the coU
slant target, except at sacrifice of nor
sonal liberty which would render life in.
tolerable to the meanest of his subjects
The present Sultan is protected in hi
palace, and when he goes abroad. b1>
strong military force and the uuceasino
vigilance of multitude of spies. Yet
the same measures of defense did not
avail to save his two immediate prede-
cessors from death or deposition. And
here we may recall the striking fact that.
soon after the death of Abdul-Aziz, one
astute and resolute man found means to
push his way through the files OF SOL
diers and attendants into the Council of
Ministers, and with his own hand slew
three of the chief officials. before he was
overpowered.
The :::5elessness of preventive meas
ures against assassination has been re.
peatedly attested in the most civilized
countries of Western Europe during the
past three centuries. For some years
after the murder of the Due de Guise
the life of Henri Ill was perpetual
vigil, and the most complete and care
ful precautions were taken to secure him
against the vengeance of the league.
Yet, in 1889, he persisted by the dagger Of
Jacques Clement, whose religious fanat.
icism had been adroitly wrought upon
by a sister of the murdered Duke. Five
years before, in the Low Countries, an
other bigot, Balthazar Gerard, had
frustrated all the steps taken to shield
the person of William the Silent, and,
penetrating the house in which he lived,
succeeded in killing the liberator of Hol,
land. This case is startling one, be-
cause the murdered man was fore
warned and completely on his guard.
For four years Philips offer of 25,O0O
crowns and patent of nobility to any .
one who would rid him of his enemy
had stood open, and had led to several
attempts on Williams life, in one Of
which he had been dangerously wound.
ed. So, too, in 1910, the attendants
who surrounded Henri ". as he rode
through Paris on his way to take com.
mand of his army, were powerless to
ward off the dagger of the assassin
Ravaillac. Nor could all the agents OF
the Northumberland Of Police and
the horse and foot soldiers of the royal
household prevent Damiens from level
ing vicious, though, as it happened,
not mortal, blow at Louis XIV.
If we look at the most remarkable
attempts upon the lives of sovcreigns
during the present century, we shalltind
that in almost every instance the assailed
person was encompassed with guards,
vet owed his escape from death less to
their intervention than to accident or
defective aim on the part of the assailant
Such precautions did not hinder the
would-be assassin from approaching the
person of Alfonso XII, or from reaching
the very door of the carriage in which
| Humbert /. was seated. If the presence
of armed attendants could suffice TO avert
assassination, the recent desperate as.
sault upon the German Kaiser would
not have been risked, and the same
thing may be said of the fatal attack on
Alexander H., who, it will be remem.
bered, was returning from review, and
was accompanied by a military escort
Louis Philippe, too, was on his way toa
military pageant and was surroundedby
officers of the royal staff when he 50
narrowly escaped death from the Fieschl
internal machine, through whose explo'
sion some forty persons were killed or
wounded. Again, it was pure accident
that rescued Napoleon III. from the
Orsini bombs, for the police of Paris had
failed to arrest the conspiracy, OF when
they had heard rumors, and the body
guard of the Emperor could not prevent
the tragedy which followed.
In the long record of attempts on the
lives of public personages, the most per,
feet analogue to the crime of Gulteau
seems to be the assassination of Spen'
Ger Perceval, the head of the British
Ministry, in 1909. The real executive
chief of the United Kingdom is, O
course, the Prime Minister, and, like on
President, he may be said to incarna5e
the deliberate will of the nation, though
his representative character was by no
means so perfect before the first Reform
bill as it is now. But it is curious
fact that Perceval, like Garfield, was
shot by disappointed oflice-seeker, one
Bellingham, an English trader, who az
legged some injury ut the hands OF inc
Russian Government, and who seems "
have become half crazed by his failure
to procure redress from the BRUSH
Ministry. Bellingham was tried, con-
victed and hanged for the common-iaNw.
crime of murder, and such will no douU'
be the fate of Guiteau, should the Pres'
dents wounds prove fatal. But, noF
withstanding the shock of horror occ@
stoned by Bellingham's mad deed, btlr
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