, 1882-06-30

u
the impudence and the audacity of
this coward, murderer, assassin; all
the dignity of the court, all the for
mality Of law, all the reverence due
to learning, to virtue, to position, to
womanhood, was not able to restrain
him within the bounds of decency.
To one thing only he proved amen
able, and that was rough Western
justice-a Leadville miners threat
one man, who had small faith in
Eastern formula, stood behind his
wife, and made the cowardly Gui-
teau the simple statement that one
word in derogation of that wife and
he would shoot him on the spot. 1t
was enough, and the assassin's threat
ened exposure crumbled into maudlin
praise. Bench and bar and jury
could not defend themselves against
Guiteau's noisy and vulgar scurility.
And what did the law accomplish g?
What new reverence for its methods
and its triumphs did we acquire who
watched its slow progress Guiteau,
with his clear, shrewd mind, knew at
the outset that his danger lay from
mob law rather than from statute law.
He made all his arrangements to flee
from popular justice, which would
have torn him in pieces instantly, to
legal justice, which is lettering and
uncertain. And this faith was justi-
fed The way of the law, instead of
being short, sharp, and decisive, was
not only loud with his rant, but tor
tuous and inconclusive. Mountains
of testimony were heaped up around
facts which were admitted to begin
with. A great cloud of expert wit
nesses We're summoned to investigate
Guiteau's brain, with as child-like a
faith as if an equally great cloud of
experts had not been brought to
shame over Gartields body. And
with all the time, and talent, and
money expended, not single impor-
tant fact was discovered, not a single
new relation was developed all the
forms and solemnities of the law only
came to the point that the public had
reached in four and twenty hours
that the assassin was a human mon
ster, who should be hung by the neck
till he is dead.
The universal relief that was felt
when the jury brought in the verdict
shows how widespread was the ap-
prehension that the law had darkened
counsel by words without knowledge.
The great satisfaction lay, not in the
assurance that the law had been sue
cessful over crime, but that common
sense had been successful over law.
The only man who gathered glory
from the assassination was the victim
the president, the politician, the
statesman. Surgery, theology, law,
may we'll ask of the future the mercy
of its silence, but to the gallery of he
roes politics may proudly add an
other form, of proportions as grand
and symmetrical as any which the
past can show or the future promise.
And this politician was one who had
touched and turned from the pulpit
and the bar, and found in politics
only his congenial and abiding home.
Nor was he figure arranged for ex-
hibition, prepared for the occasion.
The occasion found him. AS much
by accident as anything in this world
is accident, the cross fell upon him
which has since become his crown.
He was a man who, before taking the
highest degree, had passed through |
every lower grade.
The pervading popular judgment
had not found him exceptionally |
great or exceptionally good. His
own knew him, but when waves of
political censure swept over the land
he was not exempt When congress
sional methods were denounced, he
was even singled out for hostile
clamor. Personal slander polit- |
ical weapon 80 common and so reck
less assailed him with its utmost
virulence. 1t did not confine itself
to political antagonism--it attacked
private character. Nothing that
should characterize a thief, a perjur-
er, bribe-taker, liar, failed to be
publicly and persistently,
of this man. Up to the very day of
his election, up to the very eve Of his
murder, his peace was assailed by the
unwearying voice of slander. On the
Friday evening before the fatal Sat
urday that slew him, he declined an
sought visit because he
must needs pass through Boston, and
the official salutations of Boston must |
come to him from lips which had ut
tered ISLANDERS that he could neither
resent nor overlook.
Thus-in the presence Of death let
us be perfectly fearless and perfectly |
frank-thus besmeared with all the
mud that political fury can fling, sud
denly, without a moments warning,
without single instant to hide his
iniquity, to cleanse himself from sin,
or to fold his robe Roman wise about |
him, this man was struck down to