New-York tribune., 1886-08-21
CONVICTION OF THE ANARCHISTS


The conviction of the Chicago Anarchists
ia a public event of paramount importance.
1t has been preceded by long and wcarisomc
trial in which the prisoners were accorded
the largest privileges of challenging jurors
and submitting evidence in their favor and
The decisions of the court on all matters OF
law have been so equitable and reasonable
that the counsel for the defence will have only
a slender foundation for their argument for a
rev trial. The Anarchists have been con
demncd, seven of the eight to death and ooe
to Imprisonment for fifteen years, after one OF
the faiIest and most impartial trials ever known
10 this country. They have been supplied by
their friends and sSmpathizers with ample
means for conducting their defence and obtain
ing such testimony as they required, and they
have had every advantage which the employ
mcnt Of ingenious and experienced counsel
could furnish. They havo been convicted be-
cause the evidence against them was complete
and unanswcrabc, and because the jury, with
the practical sense characteristic Of the Amon-
can people, could sec no reason foI discriminating
in favor Of murdcrers on the ground that thoy
styled themselves Socialists and champions of
the working classes.
Dynamite, II must never be forgotten, is a
European invention and not ali American idea.
In every capital on the Continent this insidi-
ous species of terrorism Is dreaded. Russian
rcvolutiOnists have made deadly use of OK
posives in tunnclng under railways and pal
aces and assasSinating Empcrors. In France,
Germany, Belgium, Switzerland. Austria Spain,
Italy and England there have been frequent
dynamite plots and explosions during the last
decade and officials and detectives i'll every
European country arc to-day taking active
measures and exercising unremltting vigilance
against conspirators and Anarchists. So rap
idly has this sanguinary method of agitation
been reduced to system that Stcpniak. one
of the most philosophical of the Russian Mill
lists, has protested in an English magazine
against the wholesale naturalization in Europe
of dynamite as political agent. Originally a
European menace, it has been imported by
foreigners and introduced for the first time
on large scale in an American city. The
Chicago verdict is the decisive judgment OF
the hbcrty-loving American people upon this
cxecrable fosm of European terrorism.
This nation is teaching mankind to abhor
war, to live In peace and to make industrial
development the greatest single force In mod
crn civilization. 1t is a secure refuge for the
discontcntcd classes of foreign lands. It Is a
workshop for ill-paid artisans Of every national
ity, school Tor the education of ignorant aliens,
prosperous home for the surplus population
Of Europe, a land of promise for the least
fay orcc classes of humanity. 1t is not IN ap-
prentice shop LII the devils trade Of murder
and terrorism. Ia this verdict against the
Anarchists its voice rings out clear and strong
in dcnunciation of enemies of the human race.
Only one of the condemned men Is an AmeIi-
can. Seven arc Europeans. America, which
u 40 wise responsible for the use of dynamite
political agent. stcrnly sets its face against
It's naturalization here IL rcpudiates it as q
crime against modern civilization 1t brands
upon each convicted Anarchists forehead the
mark of Cain. 1t says TO cvay ono of these
foreign cOspiTators; IAN Anarchist Is a
murderer when he plots and commits murder
and as murderer he must be punished under
American law"