St. Landry democrat., 1885-02-21
Social EVOLUTION THROUGH SYM
PATTY.
respect for Human Life.
IS FAMILIARITY WITH CRIME LEADING
no A MORAL MIDDLE.

opinion, and especially men familiar
with social history, would reply that
it was, and they would have much
to say for themselves. Private war
has entirely ceased brutal murders
especially murders on the roads,
which were once frightfully common
have grown much fewer, and muir
der by order of Kings and persons
in authority have entirely ceased.
Napoleon could have a man killed
quietly, but the Emperor William
could not. The laws in all Western
countries have become infinitely less
cruel, patches Of executions for petty
oHenses would no longer be tolerat-
ed, and the punishment for death is
inflicted with extreme reluctance.
Not only does a King like Humbert
of Italy sanction q capital sentence
with q sort of personal pain, but a
grave and experienced magistrate
ike M. Grevy, on most points the
frmest of men, can scarcely bring
himself to sign a death warrant, and
only last week COMMITTED the CAPT
tai sentence on a soldier who had
outraged a little girl and then dash
ed out her brains. A catastrophe
involving great loss Of life in most
countries arouses kind of horror,
and this even when the casualty has
not resulted from human careless
ness, while an increasing attention,
sympathetic attention, is paid to
the deaths Of individuals. The
whole tone of the European COM
munity has become perceptib1y
softer, and massacre calls up emo
tions which in the beginning Of the
century would have been thought
either weak or sentimental. Final
", in all countries, individual life is
safer; and though that proceeds in
part from better police organization,
it must also be due, in part at all
events, to decline in general fe-
rocity. The very criminals are dis
playing a new aversion to kill.
These are undeniable facts, and
they would seem conclusive but
that there are also facts upon the
other side, which lead either to an
opposite impression, or at all events
to a doubt, whether the improved
chance of living may not be attribut-
ed to cause other than increased be-
lief in the sacredness Of human Life.
There is increased softness but do
we owe it to decrease In ferocit1
or decrease in fortitude, or have
both diminntions gone on together ?
We do not find, either on the Con
tinent or England, that the horror
of a duelist increases. The custom
Of dueling is dead here. it is true,
beaten down BY a variety of causes !;
but it RACES increasingly upon the
Continent, spreading downward,
We are told, to lower and lower
strata, while even here few men
would object to associate with the
duelist who had killed his man,
while many would reject the ae-
q1aintance Of the man who, when
called on abroad to kill, had steadi-
II refused. We doubt if the dislike
Of war has not declined, If pity has
not turned rather to the wounded
tGan the killed, and are certain that
the killing in war Of black, brown
or yellow persons is less thought of
than it was. Statements are made
every week IN France about occur
rences in Tonquin which would have
crazed the old humanitarians, but
are now received Ia silence. Every
where, we fear, the horror Of polite
al assassination has declined, until
respectable men read the trial OF
the anarchists, nov going on in
I.eipsic, with feeling that it is 4
political trial, and almost forget
that an Emperor is man and a
brother. and that killing him Is as
much q murder as ii he were d
street sweeper. There is plenty of
horror OF the anarchist, but it is be-
cause he seeks anarchy, and not be-
cause he sheds human blood. We
all know how q kind of worship Of 4
dynamite, as an effective instrument
for killing the innocent, has spread
in q limited class, and we "a not
see in its old fullness the hatred &c.