New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-06-30
A Lice EOR 4 LIFE.

A LIFE FOB A LIFE
The most craven and despicable Of assassins
is to be hanged to-day. Guiteau's death will
be the most ignominlOus which human triou.
nal can decree, yet there is startling sense OIL
disproportion between the penalty ana the
crime. A twelvemonth ago the foremost clt-
zen of n nation of fifty millions was foully mnr-
dered. To-day an insignificant wretch VIII
die on the scaffold. What meagre explatloh
s this for crime which kept Christendom IN
awful suspense for seventy-nne days until Che
Presidents agonizing struggle for life came to
IN enid f. is indeed life for life, but how
mean, paltry and contemplate Is that when Is
to be given beside that which was taken Inc
sense of dispropoitiOn becomes still more OPP
nressiye when one remembers how thoroughly
eouipped James Abram Garfield was Tor tle
highest Office in the gift of the American peO-
rle. and how deficient Guiteau was in the COM
monest qualities which an honest livelihood re-
o,nres. The victim was the aw-abiding Presl-
dent of a progressive Republic, self-trained
statesman, whose moral consciousness was as
conspicuous as his civic virtue or his intel
lectual vigor, an ideal ruler OF Tree industrial
State. The self-appointed executioner, WHO
usurped the right of the Almighty to dispose
of the destinies of President and Nation, was
small cheat, who could not earn an honest llv-
ing-a wretch who had had filthy eXis'-
ence. If Guiteau shows to-day on the scaiiold
tbe faintest trace of courage or contrlton' IL
will be the first and only good trait Oh an utterly
depraved and hideous life. Yet that me-
soiled and meagre as it is, is to be meted out III
exchanc e for that of the greatest American OF
recent times.
This sense of dispropOrtion is deepened when
one returns in retrospect to the short-ived
Adm inistration of last year. Washington was
filled after Inauguration Day with horde OF
place-hunters and politicians larger than had
been seen in many years. In that vast throng
which lay siege to the White House, one figure
passed unnoticed. If Guiteau talked III a loud
key at the bOarding-houses where ne soush.
refuce from time to time, and if he was inclined
to brag of his political prospects, 1t was because
he mistook the pOliteness ana tolerance ol
pubic men for personal influence. lie was I'M
known and unseen-one OF the most lhSiShlD-
cant figures in the National Capital. III was not
until his importantly in presenting MS 1ail'as-
tic claims had made him an unmitlgated bore
that he WAS snubbed at the State Department
for his impudence. Yet this paltry olhce-
seeker. with his political speech which had
never affected a single ballot and his foul
record as a lcentous cheat and adyentuIer.
was destined to bring himself under the eyes OF
mankind. lie war only black fly buzzihS
harmlessly under the chariot wheel OF STATE
vet the most conspicuous figure IN the pageant
of the Inauguration was to receive from that
insignificant creature IA staggering death-olo"'
little being of the earth, unknown, unoD-
served. acting from sheer maleyolcnce and III
the wantonncss of deprayIty, was able to shock
fine moral sensibilites of the world and to affect
most powerfully the destlnies of the American
people.
The assassin who manfests his wanton maig-
nitv on national stage and revels III
glare of notoriety, is invariably an insignificant
agent. unknown and unnOticcd until his work
is done. Such man was 6elllnghan, VINO
assassinated "A Prime Minister at the entrance
of the House of Commons, and the motive lOl
the crime was personal resentment Tor financial
losses which he attributed to the Ministry.
Such a man, also, was Fiesch the prollIgate
Corsican, who exploded an internal machine
under the carriage OF the Citizen hlng ana
murdered eighteen innocent bystanders ana
although he leagucd himself with pot-house
politicians and clOakcd his crime under the
guise of PATRIOTISM it was revenge Tor the loss
Of a situation under the Project OF the Seine
that gave the impulse TO his malcvOlence, and 1t
was passion for noJOriety that stimulated his
ardor in so desperate an adventure. Resent
ment for the rebuff re eived in the State De-
partment and an Unsuitable thirst for publicity
inf IA cas nf
The sense of inc0ngruity between the insg-
nlcance of the agent and the consequences OF Ills
act remains and battles comprehension. Per
hans it is this that has quickened the morbid
zeal of sentimentaists in Washington. Here
and there a shrill cry has been heard that the
hanging of lunatc would disgrace the nation,
and many who have interested themselves III
the assassin as the most curious psychological
study of the day are overcome with emotion at
the slightest prOvocation. There have been
tears and mock herOcs III the District
Jail. The assassin himself, with eyes as
dry as punk has betrayed no signs of sensi-
bIlity, and has justified his cOunsers metaphor,
a. cold, feelingless viper" but his clerical adj
wiser has been easily affected, and in recording
his sayings with JUNCTION has pronounced some
of them Enthusiastically sublime. Meanwhile
Gulteau remains what he was when he was
shooting at the saplngs in the outskirts of
Washington, and seeking lOOphole for aSsassl
nation III the window of a crowded church.
The life which he will give mp to-day is Il mis-
erahly cheap expiatiOn for his crime. II is the
scant measure of Justice which human tribunals
allow. Divine Justice may be more memorable.
-
nm ruu DDOCECCTON MOTC
The distribution of the 1906" brass medals
has begun. A batch of fifty-one of them, in
tended for the Ncw-York contingent of the