National Republican., 1882-07-01
The Past Year.

This is the last day of the year which
began with the day of the assassination
of President Garfield. Yesterday the
crime was expiated by the execution of
the unfortunate man who committed it.
1t has been wild, unwholesome year.
The eighty days intervening between the
crime and its sad result strained the
nerves of the people to the highest pitch.
The universal sympathy for the suffering
victim became so intense as to create a
morbid and unnatural condition of the
public mind. This genuine touch of ma
ture, which should have made the whole
world kin, was sought to be used by few
heartless and unscrupulous characters for
the purpose ofpersonal gain to themselves
The effort was actually made to create a
faction based upon the monstrous pre-
tense that only portion of the people
had feelings of humanity, while the rest
were anxious to come into the political
estate of the dying man. These enemies
of the country's peace, reckless of all but
their own supposed advantage, did not
wait for President Garfeld's eyes to
close in death before they vociferated
their demands upon the saddened and
distressed Vice-President, who sat in his
home in New York, more anxious than
any man in the world that the President
shouldrecover, and yet subjected by these
shameless creatures to the basest impu-
tations The clamor for place, and for
protection in place, came to him from
the so-called Garfield Republicans" at
that time with all the ferocity that had
characterized them during the few weeks
tling with the hordes of place-hunters at
the White House. If these birds of prey
could thus circle around the dying bed
of the man they pretended to so wor-
ship, their voracity became even greater
when his death placed them at the dis
posal of his constitutional successor.
Several of the great dailies lent them
selves to these cormorants, and the coun-
try was asked to believe that in proper
ton as they screamed for spoils so were
they to be trusted as true mourners and
pure reformers. Never before was such
d masquerade. " uopo ~ 10 hSatly oNcl.
The mob spirit, aroused by clouds of mis-
representations and by rivers Of calumny,
has subsidized. The country is get
ting into more healthful mood.
Common sense is resuming its sway.
In times of high excitement it is wise
to apply soothing treatment, and to allay
irritation by all practicable methods.
But after the mob has dispersed, the
rogues and pickpockets who got it to-
geth er that they might ply their calling
should be punished. Yhe mob which
shouted what it was told to shout by the
incendiary papers hostile to General
Arthur year ago has dwindled to an
insignificant crowd. They see that
they have been deceived, and
that President Arthur has been
slandercd. From all quarters, and from
all sections of the party, come words of
strong approval of the President. If he
has erred at all it has not been in favor
of those to whom his heart warmed the
most. He has sought to be absolutely
impartial, and in doing so may have done
too much for those who persist in being
unfriendly to him. Be this as it may, he
has tranquillized the country and the
party so far as any work of his could do
it, and henceforward it may be accepted
as fact that no harm can come to him
from the implacables and the incor-
rigibles who are now traducing him.