The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1882-05-18

Ind thu 'Bloodthirsty Enea [shma@
- -46.she Editor Of th0WesA -
SIR: In your article on the 7th inst, on
the killing of Lord Frederick Casendish
and Mr.. Thomas Henry Burke, you put the
very pertineAs lquesticnsg DID not Eng7
land educate the Irish people for centuries
to believe that English law recognized ao
criminality ihsthe oppression Of Irishmena
Is such teaching forgotten by a people in
score of years or in a hundred yearss . It
returns inevitably to plague the teachers
as soon as the people are released from its
press,fre.o There is much truth in these
remarks as general propositions bat they
contain an assumption to which cannot
assent, that Y he Irish or Irishn1en were the
slayers of Lord Cavendish and Mr. Burke.
OF this there 10 ne evidence so far. Should
any be forthcoming of a. reliable ma
tare it aWlls be then time enough to
sit in Judgment upon the assassins.
Ia my huulbleel opinion Irishmen 81 be-
longing to the Land League hare been a
little too forward in their action, in this,
matter. -ff-thcy were conscious that their
followers had no hand in this bloody act,
they might have left it to the proper off
| GERS Of the irish Executive to discover the
criminals and bring them to justice 1t
cannot be said that it was the land
Leaguers horror of the crime of murder
that aroused their resentment in this in
stance, The murder Of the merest peasant
of Ireland is as black a crime in the sight
of God as the murder of the most noble
peer of the realm of England. We have
read almost weekly for the past two years
of murders quite as revolving as those of
Lord Cayendish and Mr.. Burke having
been committed now by the peelers and
now by the peasantry, and neither the
Land Leagpers or the London. press APP
pear to hove been shocked, The Infamous
assassination circular issued by Police In
spector Smith, of the county of Glare, on
the Attn day of March last, to the eenstabn-'
larry under his charge was more horrible,
than one hundred murders. such rs were.
perpetrated in the Phoenix Park on the 9th
of May Vet the Land League and the
London press treated it with d lightness
anda nonchaIance that prepared one to-
bear with great and equanimity
any atrocious encouragement coming from
that part of Her Majesty s dominions called
Ireland 1t would moi, it appears TO me, |
be any great surprise to the attentive stu
dent of Irish affairs under the regime of
Mr.. Forster to hear any morning that that
worthy gentleman had been killed. 1t
would not surprise himself any day during
the past year if he had been set upon by
assassins And am little disposed to /
think that If he and Mr. Burke had been
assassinated in Phoenix Park that there
would not be a very large number of the |
Irish race either in Ireland or America who 4
would shed tears, wear mourning and offer
a reward for the capture of those who as
sassinated them. Yet to kill Mr. Forster
would be as much murder as the killing off
Lord Cavendish. When, Mr.. Forster de-
Tended Policeman Smiths assassinationacir
cular in the House of Gommons1every right
minded and just thinking man condemned
the policy of the Government. EVERY stu
dent of Irish history reflected you did
when you wrote your article on the assassi-
nation, and the infamous statutes
of former centuries came wildly
to his recollection. So early4as the wear
1909 in the reign of Edward H. we find it |
mentioned by Sir John Davies that The I
men Irish were not only accounted aliens |
but enemies and altogether out of the pro-
lection of the law so that il was no capital |
offense flor an Englishmanl to Kill them
Hist Tracts, page SO, Ed., DstJgs5s, 17as7 J |
And, what may Or may not surprise the read |
er the assassination circularsof Policeman
Smith so warmly approved and streaeusly I
defended in the English House of Comaf
mons on Wednesday,, the nineteenth |
day of April, 1854, by Mr.. Forster Chief /
Secretary of Ireland, was a revival IN a
more barbarous and savage form ofsan act /
passed in 1465, the fifth year of Esward +
", whereby it was declared to be lawfnl
for any Englishman to ks1lsan Irishman on
suspicion. place the 9th Edward ~. /
and the 1st of Police Inspector Smith side I
by side that the readermay Judge of Eng
fish rule in ireland in = % zts
1866 and In aE.it 1859 ss
ssIt shall be lawful to all ENNIS 9TH March fgse 7
manner of that find las there is good ne ason
any thieves robbing by for the belief that every
Or coming to rob or Steal used TO assassnate Mr. G.
In or out, going or com Lloyd. 1t behooves the 1
man Of good name ntis county e Be on the
their companEs in Eng-lalert to prevent it. Men
ish apparel, upon any oflproceeding his escort
King that { shall Be deserlninston as veil las as
iu % fakesand XIII thoseef steadiness aea ssea on
without any isnpeacif saosssd at astse their
OF Sovereign Jreayz,ss prevent the Is
Lord and King, his heirs bare possibility of an at
Jsfieers, ministers erlteTnpt on that gentle
my others life! If mem should acct
9Th Edward w. ldssstd9g (.te esmmif arlaA
si . sTTof in shooting any per
ses Sse ison ssuspscioa of thest
person being about TO
q commit murder. / shall
Iexonerate him by coming
forward and producing
this document.
saT4s<as gsEe s.s E-zs .ggsk III. SMITH, |
-ss~ " - First County Inspector.
Better il appears to shoot ninety -s1ine