Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1882-04-12

justice is plain to see. To every Just
government the peace of the peop.e Is
dear. Therefore. every Just government
will take pains to display its justice. A
body of men. whose names are undis- |
closed. and who act secretly as depart
ment OF government. summary and
finally to adjudge guilt, whether they
are a committee of safety or an IN
QUESTION, can never deserve or have |
the confidence of any people, nor fail |
to interrupt the public peace.
Deeds like those of the 18th of jan |
uary may tend to suppress foofpads; but |
do they tend to suppress mobs! And
which are the greater evil. footpads or
mobs? Which are the more dangerous
TO life, liberty and property of indivld-
ual citizens. Whica more endanGers
the life of the commonwealth! Which
IS moro valuable, the life of the COM
monwsalth or the life of the individual!
Such . local flash Of vengeance a. We
Witnessed on that day is like blast of
dynamite. 1t has temporary effect TO
make certain forms of crime shun the
perturbed spot. 1t has a tendency to
scatter, but not to burn out crime. For
little while it makes rOgues of GER
tain sort afraid of the inhabitants Of .
of law as law. How can it! The ter
ror of it Consists in its disruption of
law. 1t does not work on the con-
science of the criminal class as does
the spectacle of mighty and maSnan-
imous people, strongly reverent Of law
themselves and sternly exacting like
reverence of it from Others-a people
patient to hear all that puny prisoner,
caught in its terrible grasp. has to say
for himself, and yet keen to lay guilt
, hare and memorable to punish it.
| Gentlemen. 1t Is not question OF
personal safety of the residents of
Seattle, but question of the supremacy
of the law and constitution. Precious
as is the life of an offending citizen,
precious as is the life of an officer OF
the people moving in his line of duty,
! are these precious things more precious
than the constitution? Shall the
constitution be broken i'll order to prove
| ones estimate of the value of life!
Was that the spirit twenty years ago,
when the lives of a million innocent
citizens were voluntarily staked and
hundreds of thousands of lives freely
paid drawn, to preserve the constitution
inviolate! Does no. the political
enornlity of killing Sires and
Reynolds under our political sys-
| TEN arise from the fact that life was
taken contrary to the fundamental law
| of the land? Is not this it, that Sires
and Reynolds were bereft of life with
| out legal cause, or complaint, or pre-
sentiment or trial, or verdict or sentence
in short, without due process Of law!
And is it not that enormity repro
duced on a more fearful Scale when the
reputed nurdcrers of these citizens are
deprived of life by like breach of the
constitution! Every citizen has in the
constitution a guarantee of life. The
slayers of Sires and Reynolds struck
down that guarantee. In SO doing they
struck at the life, not of Sires and Rey-
nOlds alone, but at the life of every CIT
izen, for they smote down thu shield
that covers the lives of oil. Straight
way body of citizens rises up, who in
act, If not in words, seem to Say to those
! manslayers: I've don'J care for con-
stitution and law any more than you do;
| We are willing to DO mates and accom-
pliOes in your lawleSsness; but you have
done that which makes us hate you, and,
law or no law, We will have your blood"
1t was a stroke Of poetic justice no
doubt to have the lawless thus crushed
, by lawlessness, but is the transgressOr
to be justified i'll his transgressiOn be-
cause through his transgressiOn an oyer
ruling, thOroughgOing juatiss wrought?
IT So. then all iniquity is justified. For
Deity forever interferes t. plant the blow
of the wicked hand, and makes every
mischief as well as every benefit cast
of the shuttle to bring to perfection in
| all their rich and subtle workmanship
| nd r.al hA rod
| but beautiful figures of his wOndrouS
web of Justice.
70 argue that we did evil that good
might come, or to argue that because
good followed from the evil We did,
therefore what We did il not evil is no
answer to the charge Of insubordina-
ton, usurping every branch and faculty
of government. Shall we rip up consti
tuition and laws and pile them like 50
manv fagots about criminal that i'll
tho destruction of them he also may be
destroyed? Can We see but one thing
at time? Like the man who is starv-
ing of cold, and thOughtless Of all but
the danger of freezing. poisons the air
of his chamber with an open pan of
GOALS? There is way to get warm
without committing suicide, and there
1
ing through the political atmosphere an
insidious deadly poison. Light well
the streets; maintain police of purity
and numbers adapted to the situation
and condition of society; complain
without stint before the proper authOfi
ties Of all violation of law; provide 4
jury system that will give juries got
without suspicion of control by any To-
Cal or private interest and who shall be
superior to everything but the good OF
the whole Territory; hold judges to a
strict account for their rulings from the
bench and their conduct of trials; aud
above all maintain public opinion that
insists on bringing every criminal,
whatever his station and whatever his
crime, to speedy, merited punishment
in some fair way appointed by constitu-
ton and law.
| The death of Reynolds furnished an
incompatible opportunity for Seattle to
exhibit in bold relief not only the sever
ity but the self-restraint and magma
nimity Of n strong and virtuOus people;
but, alas, it served only to show a part
Of the city caught up as it were by two
despicable wretches and Eat least so far
as mere breach Of she constitution is
concerned) precipitated into the same
sink of folly and guilt into which those
wfetchss had first fallen themselves
Gentlemen, would by no means be un-
derstood to place the act Of our citizens
upon the same plane Of turpitude rs
that of those assassins. But both acts
had this in common-both broke the
constitution. See what our citizens did!
They suspended the laws; they nullified
the constitutions; they condemned the
courts; they invaded and took possession
of part of a public building; they
seized by fear and forcc and destroyed
property of the tax-paying public; and
under pretext of putting down robbery
and murder, they thus robbed and they
killed.
Now, l put it to you, which is more
dangerous to property, liberty and life,
which Is more cOrrupting to public
morals, which more destructive of 30
cisty itself. occasional instances of un-
disguised crime, done in secret by one
or two outlaws, or such pretentiOus
Haunting outrage upon the constitution
AZ that which nearly the whole town of
Seattle looked upon with horror or ap-
piause on the 18thof last January?
Gentlemen, il We a. American citizens
have any real or permanent right to
share in the government Of this Terri