Morning journal and courier., 1881-04-23
rernufions Against Assassination.
 From the London Spectatorl

| There is, so far as we can see, no possible method of preventing repetition of such crime short of locking up the sovereign in a well guarded prison. The bowling has per manently beaten the batting. Modern science has applied itself to the work of destruction, and there is no longer any possibility of pro- tecting life for which resolute enemy is | willing to give his own: The of the knife can be prevented, for it presupposes contact; and what with guards, rapid driving, and in cessant watchfulness, contact between a sov- ereign and an enemy can be rendered nearly, if not quite. impossible. The sovereign can be armed, too and can make as good fight for his life against the dagger as any other soldier. Even the use of the rife can be pre- vented, partly by armor, partly by mailed carriages, and partly by the constant interpo- sition of attendants between the sovereign and any point from which he could be threat ened. It used to be said of Napoleon, he drove up the Champs Elysees, that it was inn possible to ''cover'' him with stick, and that was very nearly though not literally true. No man along the. line could have drawn a pistol without some Corsican seeing him. The movements of guards distract the marks man, who, though he does not care whether he kills the innocent or not, does exceedingly care not to miss his aim.
 But neither these precautions nor any other are of avail against one or two men throwing in succession bombs powerful enough to blow
 
 always points at which cavalcade really en- ters pass, or approaches some foreseen angle, and assassins stationed at the side have only, as it were, to pitch cricket ball tolerably straight to change the succession to a throne. If the murderer knows how to measure dis tance, the speed of the carriage is useless, the iron plales give way, the guard are destroy ed like him they guards, and the sovereign is slain as he would be slain if shell reached him in the midst of armies. Of course, if by any chance he leaves the carriage, the chances are increased by his immobility. The only conditions required that the assassins shall be careless of escape, that they shall have bombs, and that they shall just have nerve enough at the moment to pitch straight; and none of these conditions can be absolute ly prevented. True courage is hardly re- quired, only kind of resignation, very con- mon in some races, especially among women. Few of the assassins of recent days have car ed to escape. Hodel made no effort, nor did Solovieff, nor, till her acquittal, Vera Sassu- itsch, nor is there yny method of shaking their nerve. They risk always one of the most horrible of fates-lynching by an excit- ed mob, which breaks their bones. Horrible punishments, even if modern feeling would allow them, would not do it, for you could not go beyond breaking on the wheel or burning alive, both of which have been tried, the one in France, the other in the southern States of America, and both have failed. The
 
 commit suicide, and on man raised or lower ed to the suicide temper, threats of infict- ing torture have no effect. He will only kill himself, and so bafhe inquiry into his motives and resources. Nor is 1t possible to contine the use of explosives to known persons. Laws to that effect only drive the criminals to learn chemistry for themselves-that is, in- vest them with new power of keeping their own secrets. Any student of chemistry can make gun cotton or nitro -glycerine and pow der is an article which must be manufactur- ed, and if manufactured can be stolen. Granted a few resolute conspirators, with one man of education among them and some little command of money, and no conceivable laws or rules of police or detective arrange ments can prevsnt their making and carrying and throwing bombs, which are as dangerous to the victims as hostile batteries only fifty yards off. Science has armed the assassin. and governments, with all their endless re- sources in men and material, are almost as powerless as if their opponents could wield the lightning or direct the course of earth