Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-09-12
rle penrle and INC rre.Ident.


ia ever spontaneous and sincere, and
never was it more admirably demon
strated than in the past few days, when
it was stirred to Its depths by the das-
tardiy attack upon the life OF President
From every section of the
land the voice Of the people is raised
in sorrow at the grievous suffering i'm
popsd upon the President, aud Is also
united in prayers for his speedy re
coyery and stern demands for the sum. |
mary punishment of his assai liant.
There is no sectional or partisan
limit to this feeling. Those who ale
opposed to MIR. MCKINLEY politically,
and who advocated the election of his
opponent when the vote for President
was taken last November, are just as
sorrowing and sympathetic as those
who regarded his election as the sal
walton of the country, Men of all po-
litical faiths are now united in a COM
mon sorrow.
This unanimity Of feeling, this united
voicing OF common sympathy, and the
tGuhOh Aui tbi ~ III hduunbly IN
pressed by the New York Evening Post;
But people just reaching middle life
have seen two American Presidents as
sassinated, and now, for the third time
in thirty-six yeara, see the head OF the
nation in mortal peril. To anybody
whose memory reaches tack to the
shooting OF Lincoln in 1865, and recalls
still more wildly the attack upon Gar
field in 1881, the news from Buffalo
that McKinley's name must be added
to the list, came with shock which
the young cannot appreciate. That
| within sixteen years after the first such
murder there should come q second,
and that only twenty years iuore have
elapsed before a third is attempted,
with the recent killing Of a Kentucky
governor as the result of heated cleo
| tion controversy IN that State, fills
| people at first with the terrible feeling
that political assassination is becoming
| domesticated as an institution In this
| country.
The shock of such thought, what
ever had been the personality of the
Executive thus assaulted, 10 aggravated
| in this case by the extraordinary per-
sonal popularity OF William Mckinley.
| A genial nature and kindliness of
manner which are parts OF the man
have brought him close to the masses
OF the people, and a domestic life Of
| great beauty has made him exception
| ally strong in a nation which values
| the home SO highly as does ours. Nc.
Kinley the President has teen earnestly
and bitterly opposed for HE policies of
government, but the attractiveness of
his personality made it very hard for
anybody TO quarrel with Mckinley the
man.
The manner in which the President
received the shock Was worthy of a
representative American. His frat
thought was OF his wife, and his first
word to his secretary warning to be
careful about Mrs Mckinley. The
next was Of the criminal, aud Of the
necessity to avoid the disgrace OF lynch
law on the spot: Let no one hurt
him" Then came regret for the dis.
turbance to the fair. II am sorry to
have been the cause of trouble to the
exposition, he said to its president,
as he was being carried to ths hospital.
1t was all what enc would wish from
the head OF the State In such crisis.
Thus it is that the true man
hood of the American people mani
tests itself. They divide upon ques
tions of policy-it would bode evil {,
the nation If they did not-but the!
are loyal to their rulers, once the voicl
of the people is expressed. They criti
cize the official acts OF the President
but they respect his personality SO lonl
! as he. is a good man. Ald against tn
integrity Of William Mckinley as
man ana q citizen the voice of sus
! picion has never been raised.
The prayers Of the American peopl
go up for the recovery of their stricke
President. Mistakes of official judg
/, ment, il any there be, are not onl
. tolerated, but tolerated with cheerful
. equanimity borne of the assurance tina
our system of government affords ampl
opportunity to cure any political evi
with the ballot. But when the hand {
an assassin strikes ut the body OF th
. Chiet Executive, the entire people ris
= as one man--to rrotect him il possibl,
to ayenge him il necessary, and to Q,
press in every possible manner the
appreciation Of the man and their d.
testation Of the act of the assassin.
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% Stan tho Handaha tfint, NufsaOca