The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-04-08
Shooting at Kings and Queens.

Shooting at Kings and Queens may be
pleasant pastime for those who pull
the trigger, but it cannot be supposed to
be very agreeable to the persons who
are made the targets of these cranks and
would-be assaSsins. The unsuccessful
effort of MacLean, the other day, to end
the life and reign of Queen Victoria, re-
calls the number of attempts that have
been made upon her life during her most
extraordinary and successful career, and
lead to the inquiry whether the mania
for Queen and King killing is to become
epidemic, and the uneasy heads that
wear crowns be made more uneasy by
the consciousness that these same heads
need to be constantly lodging the as
sassin's bullet
Since her coronation in 1887 there
have been no less than seven different
attempts to take the life of Queen Vic
toria, but none of them was the result
of a political conspiracy, nor were any
of the villains inspired by political rea-
sons, such as Guiteau alleges actuated
him in staying President Garfield OF
the six persons who fired at the Queen
before MacLean, or attempted to do so,
only one was sentenced to be hanged,
and that sentence the Queen afterwards
committed to Punishment for life. The
others were adjudged insane, or par
TALLY so, and their only punishment was
confinement in prison for a term of years
and being publicly whipped
The fact that the Queen escaped I'M
hurt in each and every instance had no
doubt great influence upon public opin-
ion and upon iuries, and the would-be
assassins got off easier than they other
wise would if their aim had been more
accurate and the Queen had suffered
death. In that case there would have
been less leniency shown the culprits,
and the vengeance of the British people,
who are sincerely attached to their SOW
ereign, would have made short work
with the assassins. Another reason for
letting them off easily was that there was
such pride in the popularity of the
Queens reign that it was deemed best to
assume that ne one but a crazy person
could be dissatisfied with her. 1t mus
be admitted that Victoria reign for over
forty years has been so kind and bene-
ticient that it has been in sharp and strik-
ing contrast with that of many of the
blood-stained and cruel sovereigns who
occupied the English throne before her.
She has been Queen only in name, and
if the British Government has been the
parent of certain evils and injustice to-
ward Ireland and India, it has not been
the fault of Victoria so much as the fault
of the system that lies at the base of the
national fabric.
But assassination in some of the other
despotic countries of Europe, notably in
Russia, means quite another thing, and
the work of killing rulers is not under
taken by cranks who are simply intent
upon a little notoriety. There the con-
spirators are terriblyin earnest, and are
resolved to have a change in the public
administration of affairs, or perish in the
attempt. The Government is also in
cruel earnest, and no plea of insanity
avails, or is allowed to stand between
the culprit and his certain and inevita-
BILE doom. No doubt that the Russian
people have long suffered grievances
and abuses which they cannot endure
much longer, and to get released from
which they see no course open to them
except that which leads over the grave
of the Car. Wendell Phillips declared
on one occasion. when speaking of the
death of the Russian Emperor. that if
nothing could cure those tremendous
evils but assassination, then welcome
the dagger"
Turning to our own country, where
the Government is the most beneiicent
and mild that the wisdom of man has
yet devised, one would naturally sup
pose that there would be no assassination
for political reasons. But of the twenty.
five Presidents Who have held the office
since the organization of the Govern
ment, two have already fallen victims to
the bullet of the assassin-nor the result
of political conspiracy, not the out
come of party plot, fostered and slim
ulated by partisan luminosity, but the out
come, nevertheless, of political hatred.
Ibicn1o .Tour1nL