The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1883-12-23
MURDER, WAR, AND SUCH.
SALT LAKE CITY, Dec. %, 1883.
Editors Herald:

In The HERALD of last Saturday
"K" found good deal of fault with
what ! had said in The HERALD the day
before. Yet, rather parsdoxically, be
wished to know more about me. Well
do not know that it matters much to me
who or what he One thing might men.
ton; in his communication he was SO un-
wise as to introduce q threat upon the
subject in hand, and . threat is the wors,
kind of argument, actual violence ex.
cepted. AS for myself, am an Ameri.
can citizen, and perhaps as loyal to
American principles as most other citi
zHns, at lesst wish to conduct myself SC
as to contribute reasonably to the peace,
Igood order, prosperity, honor aud hap
piness of the great republic in which
live.
Now. having got rid OF myself, and
likewise Of our irate friend "K, !" let US
turn our atten' ion q few minutes to
more pertinent and more profitable sub.
|jects, and try to do it wiihal in an ami
cable mood, employing 20 threats of any
description whatever.
In regard to O'Donnell, there was no
good reason for the United States Gov
eminent to interfere in his case and pro-
baby, If he had not been an Irish aven-
ger, there would have been no idea en-
tertsined Of interfering in his behalf
That O'Donnell was murderer, there is
no reason to doubt. He gloried in his
crime; he died unrepentant. Reading
that mass was said fJr the repose of his
soul, wss like reading grim burles1ue
on eligioa, enough to disgust any honest
man.
We heard Of threats of war with Eng
land il O'Donnell was executed accord
ing to law, and since that time We have
heard Of wild threats of vengeance,
largely OF an indiscriminsie kind, and GER
tainly OF dastsrdly nature. The very
jury who convicted him were threatened,
and these threats meant more murde-.
Most miserable arguments to put forth
IN any cause. Bad must be the eause
that needs them. Now if any sane man
believes that the interference for O'Don-
nell originated in any motive more
worthy than desire to hum;liats Eng
land and secure the release of the MUIR
derer, or to embroil this country in the
untold horrors Of war with that couh-
try, ne must be very poor
JUICE Of human nature. Yes,
the moving cause OF the application
for the Interference in O'Donnell's case
was the desire to have him escape the
penalty due to his crime, for the pur-
pose ofsecuring an Irish triumph over
British law, order, and justice, or force
the two great Aoglo. Saxon peoples into
! Q war. That was the secret Of the whole
ma ter. Such o motive is strOcious, ex
ec:stle. Such war would be frstrici-
dal, psrricidal, suicidal. and every other
s.1al that is bad. No true lover of hu-
Inanity will ever do or say thing wit
tingly to aid in the initiation Of any such
| var, so long as il can be avoided honor
ably: To rush recklessly into war is
murder by wholesale, and must be 10 &C
counted for. But what 81 sill be said of
the awful bloedguiltiness Of those who
fable des ruction of humsn lite? It is al
most too appalling for contemplation. The
man who would push his country into a
needless war is not only disloyal, he ia sn
enemy to the human race.
The United states is, or ought to be,
abundently competent to assert ana
maintain its own dignity before any ma
ton on earth, and if the people Of the
United States were to indulge in threats
towards another nation, it would show
that they had little proper dignity or self>
respect left. What true lover of his coun-
try ia anxious for such pitisble self-con-
fession Of moral weakness, and OF reli.
ance first and last and ever and only on
the bsrbsric argument Of brute force?
II O'Donnell had been granted new
trial, with jury half of rsbid Irish
Am Or cans ,or their sympathizers,do does any
rational being believe he would ever have
been convicted, let the evidence have
been what it might For the British
government TO trifle with crime like
lO'Donnell's would be to trihs with the in
tsrests of justice and the integrity Of the
empire, which no nation can afford to do
for itself, which no nation will do that
respects itself and has proper regard
for the interests Of humanity, and which
no persons wish to have done, except
LhesrtIess, reckless demsgoRues. coDspira-
tors, traitors, and their adherents.
The New York Post recently said
is'O'Donnells conviction is most salts
factory close to the horrible Phoenix
Park tragedy. Five persons have been
ex ecu.ed for it, and the informer whose
testimony brought them to justice, and
who was undoubtedly the worst OF the
lot, and whose escape from the gallows
was a disappointment to all civilized mer,
has BEEN murdered in cold blood. His
murderer has now been convicted and
will be hanged IN the course Of the prea-
ent month, so tDat the full MEASURE Of
Justice will then have been melted out to
all concerned. One deplorable result,
however, will remain. The whole affair
hiss brought discredit on the Irish peo-
pie, which we fear will not be efaced
for many q day, not so much because Of
the original murders-for conspirAtors as
ferocious end senseless as the Phoaix
Park rufisns could be found IN any
country-but because of the sympathy
with which they met from 1rishmen all
over the world. It Is this, Of all things
connected with the crime, which has
disguised sll civilized countries, and in
their eyes lowered the Irish people 10 the
sc.le of civilization. We doubt il there
ever was good cause which met SO little
of the sympathy of humane end enlight-
ened men everywhere to-day as the Irish
cause, and this, almost wholly, because
of the brutal and snti-socisl doctrines
preached by so many of its advocates.
and the base character of the instruments
they are willing to use."
The same paper says further concern