The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1882-02-04

that the murder of the President mast
have been the act Of an insane man. To
test this question Of his insanity was the
only object Of the trial. and with 4 man
summate an actor. this was no easy mat
ter. ii tn> u',l>i'u"l TINS question 5
embarrassing. how doubly difficult must
have been tine position of the Judge
whose duty II WAS To hold the scale 81
st'a,h'y. that No slightest word at his
should be construed by the jury as en-
pressing his conviction of his. sanity OF
insanity.
Apart from the grave doubt as to its
legality. We do not now see how it was
possible for Judge Cox to have rom" ed
tniteau from the court room. OF Silenccd
mia by force, without influencing tn,
minds of the jurors i'll one direction III
the other. Had Sill h action been regard
ed as expressing the opinion that he was
insane. and therefore uugovernable, who
| can say that the jury would ever have
! convicted? And yet, it was Just as incum-
/ bent upon the Judge to abstain from an
| act which might have led the jury to be
lieye that he regarded the prisoner sane,
and therefore bound to recognize thv
! ordinary rules Of propriety. Aud we are
confident that the whole nation to-day
reioices that no such extraordinary step
| was adopted. and feels a thrill of pride
that no safeguard of the law was violated,
no sacred right of citizenship infringed.
and that. in the midst of our neighborS
indignation and wrath. we withheld from
the unconvicted murderer of the Presi-
dent no privilege to which he was en-
titled
Much criticism has been indulg ed i'll BY
what we may. in the pet phrase of the
day. call the aesthetic portion of our pop
ulation. at the want of dignity and pro
such sad and solemn event. rs the mur-
der of the President. might have been
inquired into without the unseemly
levity which sometimes disgraced the
court ROOM But the American people
have not yet all become the disciples of
rstheticism. They have not yet all ac-
quired the habit of looking far away
INTO infinite space when they address a
friend. or of calmly exclaiming Jaw.
when Il bumb shell bursts at their feet.
Had this trial taken place in Boston and
nlv the most cultured citizens of shat
r>thetic metropolis been admitted to
witness it. we might have escaped the
disgrace of having it said, that = no such
scenes would have been allowed in an
English court" But the average Amer
can laughs when anything appeals to his
sense of the ridiculous. and does not cal e
who hears him laugh; and only tie
S,elnneSt of owls could entirely control
iimSelf while liStanin. to some of the
5 Iarp savings Of Guiteau. An English
ndge might have preserved better order
,uong English people. but Americans
tre not L sliSn men. and their individu-
| duty is not trammeled and oppressed 10y
the tremendous ScdatenesS and import
! luce of My lord" They are as good
hammered as their far-away cousins. and
Eau be as reserved when occasion requires
it. but the very cornerstone OF our gov
crnment is the individuality f the indi-
vidual man, and if. to preserve this essen
| titl element of our nationality. it is some
''mes necessary to excuse a little of what
ur aesthetic folks dennEnce as "guSh. =
Why let us excuse it, and say no more
ibnut it. \ century or two hence we
may become altogether as di@niied as the
most self-pgsses>ed of Englishlnen, but
IN the mean time it is lar better that our
pc ,ple shall be natural. and not repreS>
I'll our emotions because John Bull. OF
his imitators in America. may trown up