The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1881-03-30
ESPON DENCE.
Letter from Philadelphia.
PHILADELPHIA, March "a. 81

PHILADELPHIA, March "a, 81.
MeSsrs. Editors, IF progress in civii-
zation is the boast of our century, it can
not certainly be pred,cated of the method
OF modern assassinations. Nothing could
be more brutal than the scene of assassi-
nation In the streets of st. Pet rsburg,
the explosion of the nitro -glycerine bomb
beneath the Emperors t, ct, tearing the
very limbs from his body, driving his
marriage ring into the flesh cf his finger,
and rending his lett eye from its socket
History has never related an act more
hideous than this. And so doubtless it
i9 progress after all that assassination in
Cur modern time should assume as repul-
sive a form as possible. For under no
circumstances can ch an instrument of
remedy be extenuated. True such deeds,
when they have had no other object than
that of patriotism, have won the praise
of men. Brutus has been commended
more than be has been blamed But we
cannot sympathize with it in any form
1t is doing heinous evil that good may
come, or which there is no support in
Scripture, nor in any of the obligations
or rights of patriotic enthusiasm. 1t is
taking life, and God alone, the giver of
life, has the right to take it away. The
man therefore. or the association, be it
Land League in Ireland, or Soc alism in
Germany, or Nhilism in Russia, which
assumes this divine prerogative has
touched no the loftiest pinnacle of polit-
lcal aspiration, but the lowest degree OF
crime. Perhaps this is the chiefest peril
of modern civilization.
The Romance of Assassination
is being inaugurated in the name of los
tility to crowned heads On the CONT
nent Of Europe, and apparently in Great
Britain, they are on the march back to-
ward that state of bsrbarism in which the
supremacy shall belong not to the longest
head and the hardest Drawn, but to the
stealthiest revenge and the quickest ex-
ploson. Let it be but once established
that secret leagues in the name of liberty
can commit such crimes against monarchs
let this form of murder be condoned-
let public sentiment be established that
will wink at it, and not only will kings
be discrowned, but law will be dethroned
and society dsintegrated. These things
infect with lightning rapidity. 1t begins
In Russia, but it travels far and fast. 1t
commences up at the throne, but it de-
scends quickly to the peasant In Ire
land they are using it to settle land trou-
bles already. Successful in these aspects,
how long will it be before it will be used
to avenge any wrong, fanced or real?
There is no land on earth where the
condemnation of this new agent in poll
tics should be so condemned as our own
where the horror of the Nihilists work
should be so deep and sincere. Here let
us be truer friends of liberty than to lend
any sympathy to the assassin. The foun-
datlon OF our society must be the supre-
macy of the law-the old, old statute that
life taken wilfully and with malice is
murder-whateve be the provocation
and however the literature OF Socialism
may gid the crime until it looks like
courage and heroism.
Doubtless the Nlhilist has his provoca-
tlons. Siberia, as the only answer of the
Russian government hitherto TO the aspi-
rations Of political dreamers, is Just as In
sensate as the nitro-glycerine bomb. To
the demands of the thinking classes for
reform the statesmen of Russia have Of
fered nothing but the terrible prison-house
OF the North. For no other crime than
that of wanting more personal freedom
wider education, better medical attend
ance, simpler and surer justice; men, wo-
men, and children by thousands, have
been exiled and doomed te toll their lives
away in the mines. What wonder this
class in their disappointment have become
the indus for the reception of all sorts Of
political disease? Is it strange that the
Nihilists have become more ruthless than
the Jacobins? Is it a marvel that pas
slonate outbreaks have occurred on the
part Of men and women sworn to remedy