Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-08-20
THE LOGIC OF AN ASSASSIN.

LCO I1dl biC INluiuSb, IcpIC.
sented by reporter as making an extra.
ordinary attempt to defend his record as
an assassin. He is reported as saying !:
at is acknowledged that in my attempt
son the life of the Gar did not seek the
tmurder of the man Alexander Romanoff.
81 sought only the destruction OF the vital
exponent OF wrong principle. This is
"proved by the fact that while an attempt
cat murder is punished by the Russian
Government with penal servitude not
Exceeding fifteen years, one made upon
g the Gar is inevitably punishable with
death. This recognizes the political
mplexion of the CRIME" This amazing
farrago of nonsense seems to have been
put forward in all seriousness by Hart
mann, and he concludes triumphantly by
stating: ''In this view | am sustained
"by Wendell Phillips, Victor Hugo, John
Swinton, and other men of intelligence"
The doctrine of assassination has always
stood in need of sophistical reinforcement,
for the reason that the inherent odioue-
ness of the crime is SO great as to
deter all men of honorable feeling from
approving it. But in the bad old times
when Popes and Princes were frequently
at war, and when the Vatican sought
means for the employment Of the steel Of
the assassin, learned churchmen were
engaged to argue in support of this form
of murder, and to make use of religious
bigotry as means Of deadening the natural
repugnance to its exercise. Since then
the secret societies have taken up the
same line of argument, and by substituting
the plea of patriotism for that of the love
of God, have adapted the old ecclesiastical
theories with unconscious irony. Very sim.
liar arguments to these now used by Hart.
mann were employed when Philip the Sec
ond of Spain desired to procure the assas-
sination of William Prince OF Orange In
those days the ruler whose life was sought
by the Church was put under ban, and de-
clared an outlaw and an enemy to all
Christendom. In these days the Mill.
lists undertake 70 assert that Cars are be-
cause of their official position outlawed, and
that though it is undoubtedly wrong to COM
NIT murder, it is quite justifable to strike
down the political head of the country.
There is reason to believe that Hartmann
and Guitteau would agree very closely in
their views on assassination, but Hart
mann is very much mistaken if he thinks
that the American people can be confused
or hoodwinked by his fimsy sophisms.
When he set about to kill the Car he was
plotting murder, and the murder of a
man. His manhood could not be separated
from his Carbon, nor could the character
of his assassination be changed by any
consideration OF his political relations.
The Nihilist argument, however, is as
irconclusive as it is feeble, for even
if it were granted that Hartmann only
aimed to strike down "the vital exponent
''of wrong principle whatever that
may meant is perfectly apparent that no
useful result could follow such murder.
To kill Car is not to destroy CARBON,
any more than to kill President of the
United States is to destroy the Presidency.
The assassination of rulers is in fact as
stupid and useless as it is cowardly and
brutal. 1t never has and never will forward
cause. On the CONTRARY the adoption
of assassination damDs any cause. "The
blood of the martyrs is the seed of the
Church, is a principle which applies to
governments and parties as well as to
ecclesiastica institutions Even bad ruler
may be rendered an object of sympathy by
an attempt to assassinate him, and to kill
good one is to intensity and energize all
the principles he represented while alive.
The Nihillsts are altogether wrong in their
theories on this head, but perhaps that is
not saying much, for they are equally
wrong in all their proceedings. Those Of
the Hartmann stamp seek nothing but
chaos. They are hostile to all the existing
order of things. They do not look beyond
general destruction OF modern society.
That is the final object of their en-
deavors. They affect blind hope
that when everything has been torn up by
the roots, and society has been completely