San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1886-04-05
MONDAY, APRIL 5, 1885.
CAN NOT BE JUSTIFIED.

CAN NO be Jus lFlED'
Intelligence is the basis Of all free gov
eminent, for this simple season-with-
out it the people will not understand
their rights, nor the limitations Of these
rights. The latter is as necessary for
them 10 know as the former. The old
saying that ''yOu cannot eat your cake
and have 1t" conveys a hOmely truth OF
wide application. 1t is as applicable to
government and public affairs as 1t is to
the nursery and cook shop. A citizen
cannot delegate his powers to another
and still exercise them in his own per-
son, nor can he to whom they are dele
gated exercise greater powers than are
thus delegated. Ignorance Of these
facts, or forgetfulness Of them, or a Grim
iAal disregard Of them, lies at the bot
tom of nearly all the disturbances that
arise in the body polite. The citizen
forgets that having delegated his power
to his fellow citizen for temporary use,
he has no claim upon the exercise of that
power untilhe to whom it was delegated
is dispossessed OF 1t. 1t matters not
what unlawful use the one to whom the
power Ia delegated may make Of his
trust, he must first be dispOssessed of it
before the one by whom it was given
can reinvest himself with it. Where
this investment of power has been for
NAL and by due process Of law, the REIN
vestment must also be formal and by
due process Of law. Any attempt at
such repossession other than that by law
is contrary to law; that is, unlawful, and
exposes the one who attempts it to the
law penalties attaching to the infringe
ment of law. The legal remedy for all
usurpatiOn or misuse OF delegated power
is legal recovery OF that power out Of
the unworthy hands to which it is in
trusted.
To exercise the right of private judg-
ment in such cases and attempt a per-
sonal recovery of the unrighteOusly used
powers is either riot, or q revolution,
according to the principles involved and
the extent to which il is carried. In
this representative government Of ours
all revolutions are possible, because our
constitution provides for revolution ac-
cording to legal forms once every four
years in the Nation, once every two
years in the State. Riots are not pro-
vided for under the constitution, nor by
the laws, neither are they sanctioned,
and being unlawful, are punishable as
the law directs.
The rioting at Fort Worth is case in
point. The private judgment OF those
engaged therein-to the effect that Jay
Gould's monopoly and mis- abuse Of the
power therein exercised was upright
eous, and destructive to the freedom and
manhood of his employes-so far as it
was mere judgment, was perfectly
lawful. Their right to denounce IL as
such and attempt its overthrow no one
can question; but, that right WAS bound
cd by certain legal limits and, these
limits transgressed, the right of private
judgment came into conflict with the
right of public judgment. This pub
lie judgment, expressed in the
mandate Of the state executive and
all his subordinate peace officers, is SUI
preme and must be obeyed, unless in
turn overriden by the higher au-
thority of the national Judgment. When
those persons at Fort Worth found
their private judgment contrayened by
public judgment, as above set forth, an
attempt to act in accordance with that
private Judgment was crime, as de-
termined by statute. Having assumed
to act contrary to law, no matter how
sincerely and honestly, they have placed
themselves clearly in the wrong as be-
fore the law, and must be held RESPONSE
BILE for all that follows their act. Re-
sponsible for their own lives and the
lives Of those who have fallen in the dis.
charge Of the duty laid upon them al
officers Of the state. Their act, rising
out Of the narrow limits of persona
controversy with Jay Gould, into tn,
broad field Of direct defiance Of thu
power OF the state, becomes a Grim,
against the public peace and order, ant
must be punished accordingly. To hole
any other view is destructive Of tn,
very existence Of government itself