New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-07-03
. FACTIONS LATEST CRIME

FACTIONS LATEST CRIME.
A second President lies stricken down by
assassination. President Lincoln was muir
dered, not by the rebellion, but by the spirit
which gave the rebellion life and force. Pres
ident Garfield has been shot down. not by a
political faction, but by the spirit which q
political faction has begOtten and nursed But
for that spirit there was hardly man in this
country who seemed at sunrise yesterday more
safe from murderOus assault A great-hearted,
loving, kindly man, whose warm and genial
nature had made fifty millions of people his
personal friends, President Garfield was I'M
measurably more popular yesterday than he
was when the ballots of the Nation made him
its President The party which he had de-
featcd had learned to admire and love him.
HIS political friends were thrilled with pride
when they saw that he had already accom-
plishud, III only four months more than Other
Presidents in four years of service. 1t was
felt by friends and FOES that he was
one of the ablcst Presidents ever chosen.
and the country looked forward with great
hope to the grand work to be done by such Il
PRESIDENT during the rest of term but lust
begun. And yet to-day the whole Nation bows
III sorrow. The noble President, the statesman
whose deeds have already honored the Nation
throughout the world, the genial friend. the
tender husband and loving father, has fallen
by the shot of an assassin. There was no
personal quarrel. 1t does not appear that the
victim had ever known or seen his assailant.
There is absolutely nothing to account for this
horrible deed, which to a great Nation is a
terrible calamity, except a crazy spirit of fac
ton.
Every true American will rejoice if it shall
appear that the murderer was insane. Yet did
not men call Booth a mailman Both were
sane enough in all the ordinary walks of life :;
both had passed without question as men of
sound minds, Unbalanced indeed, but entirely re-
sponslble; and both were sane enough to prepare
with caution, thorOughness, and precision as to
detail, for deed toward which they were moved
by spirit shared by many others. 1t does
not appear that the assassin of yesterday had
ever been thought lunatic, by any associate
oracquaintance, until the deadly shots were fired.
Was he " crazed by political excitement" then.
as many say? At what point, if ever did the
madness of faction become the madness of
irresponsibility7 Do the leaders of faction
ever intend all the mischief which grows from
the wild and desperate spirit which they ere
ate, feed and stimulate, week after week
Is 1t not their constant crime against self-goy-
ernmcnt that, by kindling such spirit, they
| send weak or reckless men beyond the bounds
or right or reason This assassin, it seems,
was not ignorant that he was trying to
XII one President and to make another. His
language and letters prove that he
knew what he was doing only too we'll As
"a Stalwart of the Stalwarts,r his passion was
intense enough to do the thing which other
reckless men had wished were done. So the
assassin Booth put into bloody deed the
malignant spite of thousands III beaten rebels.
His deed stands in history as the cap-sheaf of
the rebellion. SO the spirit of faction which
fired the shots of yesterday gave in that act
the most complete revelation of its real char
acter.
That political fanatcism has been showing
Itself before us all in many phases little short
Of madness. The country has seen the widest
rawlings Of abuse about the President, and has
paid little attention-but not because it
thought the men who uttered them insane. Ii
has listened to malignant scandals which it
has seemed impossible that sane citizens would
utter regarding the Chief MAGISTRATE of their
coGntry, but has listened with contempt, fancying
that the fanaticism of faction would go no
fCrthc" But curses and threats are followed
at asst by murderous shots, and the country
starts w'th horror. Never again will any sane
man cry, 81 am a Stalwalt of the Stalwarts :"
Never az iin will blind and furious fanaticism of
faction seem to sane men thing to boast Of AS
Booth ended the rebellion by showing what
It's real spirit was so this horrid flash of light,
which shows how narrow is the dividing line
between factions frenzy and Mexican assassi-
nation, will bring an end, let us hope, to ~
mosc shameful phase of partisanship in this
ountry.
Tr'lly, the ways of Providence are inscrut-
able. That this grand President, so great and
Good, SO kindly and so true whose life seemed
so full of promise for the land, should be
stricken down, seems beyond human under
standing. And yet, the Infinite Father has been
too good to this people for us to doubt that
His care is over US still. Perhaps this Nation
needed to be taught some things which only q
great affection and shame could teach. Per-
haps it needed to be taught that the Worship
OF men had gone too far. Perhaps it was
necessary in order to save this country
from gradual DISCRIMINATION, to force
home the conviction that the spirit of faction
is at war with the very existence of free in
situations. Must we not realize in the light
of the dreadful calamity at Washington, that
those who breed and nurse this malignant,
selfish, graspihg and desperate spirit arc
aiming blow ut the life of the Republic
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