Daily Republican., 1881-09-23
Tho Two AssNsSins.

The Two AssAsSins.
j. Wilkes Booth, the assassinator OF
President Lincoln, was a Democrat
and whether right or wrong the Demo-
cratic party has had to bear the stigma
of producing such monster. dolteau
is a Republican, and both parties no"
having produced an assassin, both par
ties are reduced to an equality on that
score, and it censure is applicable or
justifiable, it should be applied TO
both. 1t is very fortunate however
for the Democratic party that Guiteau
was Republican. Had he been
Democrat, the party to which he be-
longed having already produced one
assassinator, another would have COW
cred it with such a suspicion of every
thing that is bad and vile that it would
never have recovered from the ablo'
guy of contempt which it would appa-
rently have deserved. 1t was never fair
TO charge the Democratic party with
the henious crime of assassinatlng
President Lincoln, though the act at
the time owing to the estranged state Of
feeling between the North and the
South, was to certain extent justified
by large class of people who then and
now acted with the Democratic party.
1t has never been known that the con-
spiracy to assassinate President Lin
ooln, extended beyond the secret con-
clave Of the half dozen conspirators
who met in Mrs. Surratt's house, aud of
whom she was one. tits presumed, and
it is no doubt correct that all the con-
spirators were Democrats, but from the
fact that no Democrat of note was con-
nected with it, the fact was patent that
the Democratic party as a party was
unjustly held responsible by a large
class of people for the nurder of Presi-
dent Lincoln.
Guiteau was a Republican, as we have
already stated, and if his own declara-
tion at the time he committed his foul
crime is to be taken with any degree of
tru tn, be was none of the milk and wa
ter stripe. He was "stalwart of the
stalwarts," but Notwithstanding this
declaration it has never been discov-
cred that he had any coadjutors in the
Republican or any other party. We
are glad for the cause of humanity that
he had none. He seems to have acted
entirely by himself, taking nobody
into his counsels during the long weeks
in which he was plotting and planning
his diabolical crime. That he was Re-
publican only shows that any party is
capable cfproducing an assassin, though
the party may be ignorant of it. All
are not saints that belong to the Re-
publican party, and the same is true of
the Democratic party. Had Guiteau
been Democrat, that fact would have
been hard to bear by the party, for it
then would have produced two assas-
sins, and there would have been grounds
for a coloring of suspicion that there
really existed conspiracy in the Demo
cratic party to assassinate Republican
Presidents, and the Democratic party
would have had to suffer the conse-
quences. 1t is a cause for pleasant re-
fection, that no political party in this
country can yet be charged with en-
couraging assassination, though, as
has been shown, the vile assassin can
be found any where. In connection
with the assassination of President
Garfield there could not have beee a
more general feeling amongst the peo-
pie regardless of political afinities, Of
disgust and hatred for the assassin, and
the deepest and most sincere sympathy
for the late President. Democrats and
Republicans alike mourn his death ,ant
In the shrouding of residences and busi'
ness houses, there is nothing to show
that here lives Democrat and there a
Republican. All share alike the greai
public grief that lies at the heart Of the
nation and with a Commendable de-
gree Of that charity which seeth NJ
evil, all classes mourn the hereave
ment of the President of great nation
without stopping to INQUIRE whether hi
had been Democratic or Republican
or to which party the assassin belonged