The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-08-14
PATRI0TISM Us. ASSASSiNA-
TON
BY GAsKELL.

trating in a few hands a power that
is seldom used for good, and which
takes into consideration but little
more than the eXigencieS of trade
demand. In despotic countries the
will of the ruler is the supreme law,
beneath which all must bow, and
the subject possesses no right nor
privilege he cannot Subvert and de-
strOy, and no safety nor pleasure he
cannot endanger. Throughout all
the endless ramifcatiOns, intricacieS
and complexities of power from the
ruler of a kingdom, or an empire,
down through the governor of a
province, or of city, to the conSta-
BILE Of a village, the same rigOr and
tyranny exist; along with an ohse-
quiousness to those above IN rank,
destructive tOindependence of char
acter and true manhood. Loyalty
to ones country is in a manner
stamped and crushed out, yet still a
love Of fatherland may exist, power
full and all-absorbing, though hatred
of the ruling powers may
strengthen resistance thereto and
run riot. Open manifestation of i'll
will is avoided and hatred is hidden
from the gaze and scrutiny of
power, yet they still burn, though
they have to seek the cellars and
dark alleys and secret places of the
great cities. There they thrive on
darkness, secrecy aid treachery,
fattening on corruption-for that is
treachery which carries smiling
face and stabS secretly in the back.
No cause-no good and worthy
cause-can justify, nor palliate,
treachery and deceit. The more
pure and holy the cause, the more it
becomes degraded when unjust, or
illegal measures have to be resorted
to to propagate or defend its prin-
ciples. Used either by ruler or SUBJ
| ject, it is equally destructive to true
principles of enlightenment, and
sooner or later, if persisted in, ends
in tyranny, wrong and bloodshed.
The cause that cannot be upheld
and become triumphant by yirtuous
and manly straight-forWardness, is
not worth contending for; and if
weakness becomes powerful by such
means, it can only be at the expense
Of the virtue Of the victor and de-
bases him to the degradation of the
wrong doer. When falSehoOd,
treachery and assassination are up
held by party or people, that
party or people are corrupt and
fully capable Of committing all the
atrocities they charge upon their OPP
ponents.
In our favored land there should
be none of this ultra, vindictiye
spirit manifested. There are re-
straints and safeguards around our
constitution and laws, sufficient to
forever crush out all such illegal
practices. But laXity of enforce
ment often destroys the benefits of
the Wisest and purest law. The
moral feelings of the citizens of the
United States are ever enlisted on
the side of right. Whilst they brook
or accept no interference of foreign
powers In our national affairs, they
wish to take part in no Instruction
airy or revolutionary contentious of
other lands; still less do they recog-
niZe secret societies and the use of
the assaSSin'S weapon. Our national
fathers won their independence by
manly and open resistance to the
most powerful and naughty nation
of their time; but they resorted to
armed resistance only after all other
measures had failed. They had re-
peatedly petitioned to be heard in
their own behalf-to have their
cause represented as it was, willing
to submit its justice to the arbitra-
ment of all honest men; and, only
after the door of appeal was shut,
after repeated denialS and contume-
lious diSmissals, insult after insult
being heaped upon them, did they
take the only manly course open to
them-an appeal to the physical
force of a hardy and God-fearing
people and the negative virtues of
powder and ball.
But in this resistance there was
none of the underhanded conduct
and secret asSassinatiOnS we con-
Istantly hear of now in foreign coun-
/ tries, where less vigorous principles
of enlightenment exist. When re-
sisting kingly tyranny, they did not
cast off all restraint of man and
God. They could preach and pray
and call on a righteous God of battle
to favor their cause, either in vic
tory or defeat. They could look
their enemies squarely in the face
and receive, as well as give. sturdy
blows in defense of their constitu-
tional rights. Their colonial life
had been one of priyation and hard.
lship. They did not resort to the
torch of the incendiary, nor to the
dagger of the midnight assassin
They knew they were right and
they were willing to risk theil
fall, hazard life and fortune in
behalf of cause they knew
was a righteous lone, and which nc
difference how great the disparity Of
forces arrayed for or against its
principles, would sometime be tri
umphant. independence gal led
Tour shores became an asylum FOL
the oppressed and poor of all lands
The same desires for the true anC
right, still reigned in our natlona
lcouncils and actuated the great
heart Of the people. But though
ian asylum for the oppressed anC
ldOWntrOdden, it was not, nor ever