The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1881-08-13
The Attempted Assassination Of the
President.

element by the news of the assassina-
ton of the Gar of Russia. The event
was broadly discussed in its bearings on
rigorous or oppressive forms of Govern
ment, aud the United States was one of
the few great countries which seemed
to be able to look on the tragedy in any
other light than that of warning. The
attempt on the life of President Gar
field produces a shock which can not be
fairly measured by words or COMPARE
sons. The last notable killing of
great ruler, prior to the bloody work of
yesterday. was the end of life which
had been tortured, for the greater part
of it, by the imminence of violent death.
The Gar had been frequently in peril,
and in his later years was so encom-
passed by murderous organizations that
he was substantially a prisoner in his
palace, only venturing forth under
strong guards. He belonged to
family of Emperors, ruling over peo-
Pile who had been sorely oppressed, and
iell victim to the revengelul spirit
which his predecessors barely escaped.
His sudden taking off was not a'sur-
prise to thinking people who had
studied the Government of which he
was the head; yet it conveyed
an almost worldwide shock. and
all newspaper readers remember
the unsparilg terms in which
assassination was denounced, however
oppressive the Government or however
grievous aud irremediable the wrongs
upon the people might be- Ii the tragic
removal of the Chief man in a Govern
menJ so calling as that or Russia so
touched the sensiblitles of just and en-
lightened people everywhere, how
much more shocking is the assassina-
ton of the President of the United
States, under whom the people are en-
joying peace and plenty and the largest
liberty consistent with the welfare of
humanity! The Gar was hereditary
ruler, belonging to a line whose history
was blackened by the worst oppres-
sions-an autOcrat. between whom and
the people sold ers filed and bayonets
bristled. President Garfield is man
of the people. accessible to the hum
blest citizen of the Republic-a man
who came from the lowly walks of life
without forgetting his primordial loves
and associations, and who has brilliant
ly illustrated in his work the possibili-
ties of such Government as ours for
those who move forward by intellectual
powers and industry. He came fresh
from the people, and for many years.
while serving in Congress, he returned
to his constituency annually for their
Endorsement and lived with simplicity
becoming candidate for the suifrages
of yeomanlike community. He was
a man fit to justify the pride of the
American that our Chief Magistrate
might safely walk forth unattended,
while companies OF soldiers could not
save the crowned heads.
The assassination of such President
in country like this, in time of pro-
found peace. is crime which cries out
for some word of multiplied force to
convey its gravity. 1t is the desperate
deed of a wretch whose mere existence
presents one of the greatest dangers to
society. Guiteau is deliberate
butcher, upon whom philosophy is
wasted, and who should be separated
by mighty barrier from the maudlin
sympathy which so frequently tempers
the fate of remorseless murderers. 1t
will be with indignation that the people
of this country will receive the slight
suggestion of insanity which has al
ready been communicated. When the
President of the United States lies
weltering in his blood, it is no time to
draw fine lines or split hairs in discuss
ing the mental condition of his MUIR
derer. 1t is time to relegate "experrs''
and sharp practitioners to a respectful
distance.
In matter SO full of moment as a
murderous attack on the President pro-
priety does not require postponement
of discussion of political movements
leading to or growing out of it. The
event of yesterday must lead to bitter
reflections and heart-burnings among
men prominent in affairs. What was
the motive which led to the assassina-
ton of the President? There was no
war, such as was just closing when the
revered Lincoln came to his tragic end.
In the sixteen years succeeding the
assassination of Lincoln three Presi-
dents have served to the end of their
terms unmolested. There was no
social or Communistic upheaval.
There was no exciting contest between
the two great parties. There was
not TIE incentive of de-
pressed condition of monetary af-
fairs; on the contrary, the country, in
the natural turning of events, is rapidly
recovering from a period of distress.
The only suggestion of an incentive to
the attack is in the words of the assas-
sin himself, who declared that he was
Stalwart and wanted to make Arthur
President. BY this statement, Guiteau
may have kindled an indignation that
he thought not of. However unpleas-
ant it may be to those who are promi-
nently engaged in the factional fight in
the Republican party at this time, aud
however unjust the reflection upon
them, the people will take notice o. the
slightest circumstance. and now this is
the only circumstance to note. 1t leads
naturally, without the intervention of a
bridge, to reflection upon politics in the
Immediate fr1fura In tho avapf IF tho