Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-01-20
scOviIls's Arrangement Of the Stall
vrarfs-

scovills's Arrangement Of the Stall
warts.
Mr.. scoville. counsel for Guiteau, by
his remarks before the jury on Wednes-
day, has invested the trial Of the arch
assassin with renewed interest. Ad-
herring strictly to his proposed line of de-
fense-GuIteau's insanity-he created a
sensation by declaring the Grant-Arthur-
Conkling wing of the Radical party
morally and Intellectually responsible for
the murder of President Garfield. Grant
he truly said, on his return from Mex
leo, with unbecoming haste used his
name, and his most unfortunate iDhu-
ence, to excite luminosity in the country
against Garfield because of the appoint
ment Of Robertson to the office of
Collector of the port Of New
York. from which Office Arthur had,
a few months before, been dismissed
in disgrace by Hayes and Sherman.
COnkling, TOO, had used his name and
influence as Senator from New York to
promote discord and dissatisfaction in
the North against the administration,
and, as a matter of course, his protegs
Arthur-who had been nominated as
Vice.President of the United States only
for the purpose of conciliating the stall
wart custom house ring of New York
was hand and glove with him. These
men, says Scoville. in effect, are the real
murderers of the President. because 1t
was their example, and their teachings,
which influenced the mind of an insane
man, and induced him TO believe that he
would commit a righteous act if he slew,
not an anointed king, it is true, but
an officer equally as sacred to the Ameri-
can people, Chief Executive, selected
~ them TO preside over the destinies o
their country, and, therefore, while not
anOinted with oil, still consecrated by
the love and respect of a majority Of his
fellow citizens.
In giving this turn to the assassin's
shot. which has been heard around the
world, Mr.. Scoville is partly right and
partly wrong. He is right in asserting that
the influence of Grant, Conkling and the
stalwart faction of the Republican party
generally. was pernicious and venomous
in the extreme. 1t certainly was through
the malignancy of these men that bit
terness Of feeling which, among the mar
row-minded, ignorant and bigOted Of
their followers, amounted almost to
frenzy, existed in the North, and it was
through this bitterness of feeling, so ex-
cited, that Guiteau was led to commit
his accursed deed. Yet Mr. Scoville is
wrong in claiming that the assassin was
insane. Angry because Garfield had ig-
nored him and refused 10 give him a
Federal appointment for which, in his
insufTerable self conceit aud vanity, he
had applied, but for which he was totally
untitled, he determined to wreak his ven
geance upon the President, relying upon
The feeling aroused against that President
by the stalwarts to save him from pun
ishment. His every act proves this. He
had calculated beforehand with great
foresight, entirely uncharacteristic of in
sanity, his chances of escape. He felt
that if he could avoid mob violence he
would be safe Hence it was that he
made arrangements with a hackman to
transport him, during the period of con-
fusion which he knew would fol
low his deed, rapidly to
place of comparative safety before the
mob could reach him, and hence it was
also that he appealed to the protection Of
Federal soldiery to shield him from the
anger Of an indignant populace. He
firmly believed, from what he had read
in Radical papers and heard from the
mouth of Grant and COnkling and others
of their ilk. that if he could assassinate
a President who was a serious obstacle
in the way of the stalwarts, and escape
violence until brought to trial. no North
ern jury could be impaneled which
would vote tor his conviction.
Scoville therefore is, as we have said,
partly right and partly wrong. His re-
marks will set the people of the country
to thinking, and the result Of their relec-
tons, we venture to asseverate, can be
condensed in few words. They viii
conclude that Guiteau ought to hang,
but that Grant, Conkling, Arthur and
other stalwart leaders and moulders of
stalwart opinion should morally and in
tellectually share his guilt.