Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1881-07-14
The Logic of the Assassination.

! followed the shooting OF the President
of the United States, men cxctedly
charged the dastardIy act upon indi.
viduals. 1t was the Star route thieves.
II was conspiracy in which ex.Sena-
tor Conkling and the Vice President
were concerned. This was but the
natural ebullition of the intensity of
feeling which marked the different
bent of mems minds when they heard
the dread intelligence. Now upon
sober reflection the excited individuals
who rushed to such mad conclusions,
are revising their hastily expressed
opinions. Senator Conking is no as
sassin, neither is he the abettor of
murderers. He never strikes with
the deadly intent of the Italian
bravo. His warfare is waged in the
forum, and is fought to the bitter
death, beneath the clear sunlight of
Heaven. Vice President Arthur is
knowingly unfit for his position. He
should never have been chosen TO il.
and his presence in the Senate Cham
ber as presiding officer undcr the law,
was n parody upon our system of pop.
ular government. Yet Mr.. Arthur is
no assassin, neither does he abet assas.
/ sination. There was some method i'm
the thought that the desperate williams
Of Star route iniamy might, in their
convulsvc struggles to evade retribu-
tive justice, resort to the pistol of the
assassin, but Brady, Dorsey and Cor.
ham-honored namcs-are certainly
not concerned in this, one of the foulc,t
crimes that stains the pages of history.
On the contrary there are deeper and
more pregnant reasons than any that
can be charged to any individual or
any conspiracy embracing a few dis.
solute thieves. Conkling and Arthur
are not responsible directly for thi. at
tempt upon the life Of the head Of
great nation, but the teachings Of
Conkling and Arthur and the men
who have been their devoted followers
in the Republican party have directly
brought about this consuming dis
grace to the American Republic. and
this eminent peril to its official head.
The spoils system, the pestilcntial
greed for office and the unruly quar-
rels Of faction iuhamcd the morbid
tendency of Guiteaus mind and made
j; possible, aye, more than possible, IN.
Perative upon him to avenge what he
considered the treason of the Prcsi.
dent to his particular section Of the
Republican party. Guiteau is not in.
sane only in that he selected an illus.
trious victim for his murderous designs.
The act was committed in the white
heat of inhamed factional passion.
and the enduring disgrace which will
forever cling to US as a people is direct.
ly attributable TO the spoils system.
The demand is made in thunder tones
that the disreputablc warfare Of fac.
tion be forever eliminated from our
National politics, that disappointed
ambition shall not so work upon the
minds Of men as to cause them to re.
venge failure with the weapon of the
brauo. This is a government of law
and. order. We are not accustomed
to the manner in which foreign peoples
redress their grievances. But so long
as the Republican party points the
way to assassination by their methods
of party management, so long will it
be possible to enact such bloody dram.
as as that which has just startled the
civilized world in the shooting of the
Nations Chief Magistrate. Desper-
ate party leaders should understand
that their animosities make Guiteaus
possible. 1t is time to call a halt, and
the responsible heads of the party in
power should see to it that the un-
seemly wrangling of the past five
years cease.
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THE New York Chamber of Com