The Critic and record., 1891-04-16

TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION.
ono year, by mail or rclrricr...........,S} 90
one month..............,.".o".., .
wAruyarov, D. c., Arm 1G, 1891.
SENATOR GoBuAN is wise in his genera
ton. lie works quietly he waits pa
tiently, and he is scrupulously modest al
ways When TIN Cm1Ic called attention
10 his great performances as leader Of the
opposition to the Force bill, as the organ
izer of the most magnificent parliamcn-
tary hght in history, and as the head Of a
triumphant Democracy, It came to the
country at large as a revelation. Mr..
GoENAN had been 50 retiring go mOstcn-
tatious, so averse to calling attention to
himself, that his party friends were sur
prised TO find what splendid results he
had achieved and how much they owed
him. Strangely enough, nobody had
thought Of him as u great party leader
He was known as an adroit politician, q
successful general i'm time of election, a
ready debater and an expert Parliamenta-
rian but IL had occurred to very few that
he might possess the qualities of true
leadership, the nerve, the address, the
power of control, the quick insight the
intellectual pOise and the indOmitable
courage that combine to lift men above
their fellows and make them chicftains
lie had done great things with so little
effort, he had accomplished momentous
results with such an absence of display,
he had come to the front so quietly, so
naturally, so inevitably, that his party
nwoke and found him there without having
been conscious of any of the stages of the
evolution.
But Mr.. GoRNAN is the head of his party,
nevertheless. What few suspected three
months ago is almost universally recog-
nized to-day. THE CRITIc announced it
on the day on which Mr.. HoAR laid down
his arms. The whole country sees it now.
lie disclaims especial credit for what he
has done. He refuses to be singled out
for recognition, or to be loaded with in
vidious honors by his party. But in this
he simply adds to the strength OF his posi-
ton, and furnishes fresh proof that he
is modest as he is ilustrious, as careless Of
personal reward as he is strenuous and
potent in his party's cause.
Tn ATTENTION or Italian editors and
statesmen generally is respectfully di-
rected to the situation at Charlotte,
n. c. ON last Sunday night negro en-
tered the dwelling of an Italian fruit
seller in that city and brutally murdered
the proprietor, one RoCCA. The murder
was foul and sordid crime and aroused
the widest indignation. Ever since. the
white people have been angry and ex.
cited. Repeated efforts have been made
to get hold of the murderer and toput him
TO death in the same manner rs that in
which the people of New Orleans executed
eleven Italian assassns some weeks AGO.
So far the authorities have succeeded in
protecting the negro. There are many
reasons for this. In the first place, Char
lotte is small town and cannot turn out
mob" of G,000 leading citizens.
Secondly, it may be that the Charlotte
Jail is modern structure and therefore
more easily defended than the crumbling
old ramshackle known in New Orleans as
the Parish prison. Finally the love Of
fair play which lies at the bottom of the
American character is pleading with the
community of Charlotte to give the muir
derer a trial before the courts of his
COuntry-iust as it plead on behalf of the
Sicillans who assassinated HENNEsY. Thus
il is likely that, although the whites are
profoundly agltated by the outrage and
disposed to wreak summary vengeance
upon the criminal, they will in the end
defer TO the processes of law.
The significance of the episode, how
ever, must not be lost. 1t means that
oIr PEOPLE are prone to violence only as
against criminals and crime. There is
no prejudice toward any one, because of
his notwithstanding but a stern and
iniieXible determination to defend So
ciety and civilization against outlaws and
conspirators. The New Orleans affair and
the Charlotte affair are products of the
same feeling. In each case theanimus is
to be found in the peoples horror of
crime and in their resoute purpose to
punish il. In New Orleans they waited
patiently for the law to act, and resorted
To measures only when they found them
selves responsible for their own safety.
In Charlotte they will probably do like
wise. The excitement will subside and
they will wait. If Italians cannot un-
'erstand all this, so much the worse for
them. II they find themselves unable to
sympathize with people who will not
permit their civilization to be destroyed
by organized crime, they had much better
Il a.. l.,
customs are familiar and congenial.
. A SsIGNIFIcANT INCIDENT occurred on
Tuesday during the session of the Western
States Commercial Congress at Kansas
City. While the mail was being distrb-
uted to the delegates, and when the name