The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1903-02-07
he cannot accuse us of a breach c

confidence. He wrote: "This is
type of d good many letters 1 am get
ting from different parts of the coun-
try; one man tells me the story about
the water torture, another about the
reconcentrado camps. l get it from
Il friend who is a soldier and won't
have his name mentioned; and another
says, My son, who is in the army,
writes me so and so, but you must not
mention my name Now, either these
things are high crimes or they are
not Further on i'll the letter the
writer says: DO YOU know of any
murders i'll Philadelphia that you de-
sire to keep from the public, as hav-
ing been committed in strict contid-
ence?" We never received Il letter
from any one that proved to us more
Illuminating than this. Murder in
confidence" High crimes under the
seal of secrecy! that might be whis-
pcrcd in the ear, but could not be, as
high crimes ought to be, proclaimed
from the housctop!" The words had
almost 81 prophetic power. They rang
i'll the mind and would not drop to
sleep. They burned in the brain as
with Il hot iron that no drops of
changing thoughts might cool, until
Justice were satisfied and the guilty
punished. The old cry that has ever
rung in Gods ears and the ears of
some men since Abcrs blood, spilled
by Il fratricide's hand, cried from the
ground!
No, we know of no confidential
murders in Philadelphia. We have
our faults but not this particular
one. 1t is true our murdcrers prefer
the seal of confidence; but not our
public, our Judges, our jurics. SO far
as we know, they have done their
duty in this regard.
But is it so in New England. where
a senator's conscience is said ever to
sound its disturbing bell when crime
and wrong stalk threateningly in that
locality or in others far distant? Is
1t so in Westinghouse in the war
dcpnrtmrnt--so in the White House?
What is thought of confidential muir
der in these enlightened. iusticc-l0v-
ing. universally vcneratcd localities?
Father Augustine. was he not tor
tulrd. murdered in the strictcst of
condolences? And was not one of his
murdcrcrs, Cornelius NJ. Rrowncll, of
Burlington, VT. town with church
bells. Judges. jurics). kept in strictcst
confidence by Secretary Root for the
space of six months and then his
crime admitted to the world after
being long denied. only with intended
safe assurance that 10 punishment
could be melted out to the criminal?
And are not his associates in murder
being held by that same department
and by all the powers that he" in
the strictcst confidence. lest their
guilt he made known and their pun
iShmcnt become necessary? And does
not Henry Cabot Lodge, the Honor
able. Harvard graduated, and Yale
laurcatrd, refuse to summon tho
waiting witnesses to this high con
| fidrntnl crimr--:,nd other witnesses
who wait not to come. but who trcm-
bic lest they be SumnOnrl--for fear
he black pail Of dead secrecy that he
would hold over these unuttcrablc
denominations l'c broken and the awful
truth Snitc with its terrible reality the
offended sense of mankind?
Is not the conscience of New Eng
land, that speaks out trumprt-tongucd
at distant crime, strangely torpid and
silent over this that lies plainly ac-
ccssillc at New Englands own door
step? And where is the conscience
of the country, that il, too. should
grant immunity. to strengthen by in
difference, to this mania for cOnfi1rIl-
tial murder that has taken hold OF
us? II is all as hidcous, as incredible.
as abnormal as our senatorial friend n
year ago felt it to be. Tho primal
instinct of man in the face OF such
mOnstrOsity, of wickctlncss so defiant
and secure In high places. can but ut
ter with awful-not dcspniring. but
commanding-cry, "Tusticc! Open the
doors Of the senate investigating com
mittcc! Summon accused and nc
cusers" We must cXc1aim: GAS n
nation we do not murder in confld-
cnce, nor refuse rightcously to Judge
those who dOr' The milton calls to
its steward: "Whnt Is this I hear of
thee? Give account Of thy steward
ship!"