The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-06-30
CLIPPINGS FROM OUR EXCHANGES.
CURRENT COM MENT.

SSGtsiSfsh
Senator Piatt rises 10 remark that the
scandals IN the postoffice department
ARE an inheritance from the last Gle
veland administration" This claim
does not help matters, however. as il
fails TO explain why the frauds have
been kept dark and in continuius opera
ton for so many years since the Cleve-
land administration ended. And they
would still be in full blast If Tulloch
had not peached.-News and Courier.
Does Tammany intend to submit TO a
mummy government or TO ysterious
messages from a distant oracle. TO rid
dies from Delphos or Dodona, TO strange
murmurs and mutterings from a Mem
non in a faraway country? Croker
should rally his servile hordes with
straight talk right here, spoken in per-
son on the spot, or he should become a
brooding Buddha in politics, with never
q sound from his sOured and silent
Ips.-New York Tribune.
1t is said that the car Nicholas
weaknesses are so evident TO ali his
court and the great mobiles of the realm,
that il is becoming the common belief
among them and even with members
of the imperial family that his taking
off would be a patriotic accomplish
| ment, and there is even said to De a
possibility of another Servian affair on
a large stage. That is hardly So, but
it is clear that Nicholas has not the
| full sympathy nor loyalty of the ruling
| circles Of his empire, for there are rul-
ing circles about even the car of Ill
| the Russians, and, autocrat though he
| IS, his will is by ma means the law. a
! dreamer. an ideaIist, a liberal far ad-
| vanced. Nicholas is not suited to the
TASK set for him.
The old belief in the efficacy of fight
ing the devil with fire has passed
somewhat with the growth of civilized
institutions. The best principle of the
law today is far removed from the an
Gent demand of IAN eye for an eye and
a tooth for a tooth. Crime is no cor
rector of crime, ever. though it may be
held as righteous in The eye Of the law
10 take the life of a auman being who
has himself taken human life. But
his law which jIstifies the orderly STAY
ing Of slaye establishes certain safe
guards against mob murder. Lynch
4 ing is no less 4 nlITutT Ildl - LIe crime
winch has Infatuated the crowd. Della
wares man burners are at heart no
better citizens tian was the wretch
whose trembling form they wrencheC
from the hands Ct the law and whom
they killed with asvful tarrures. Man
burning is an arrocity, an outrage
against the community, u bid for dis
order and crime. 4 complete subversior
of the law. It is not in principle {
srlyer offense than the mere hanging
of a criminal by 1le mop. II differ;
only in the degree. OF fiendishness dis
played by the crowd of criminals
Washington Post.
A horrible crime ruDre horribly aveng
ed, are the only words for the Whining
ton lynching. Let us recall that tn
Clored brute stood legality charged wit
his crime and that there was no rea
sonable doubt that he would pay tn
penalty with his life. But the process
eI-of the-law, upon which the father I
. the murdered girl had begged his fello
{ citizens TO wait. We're too slow for tr
maddened mob. The spectacle Of IA
l defined, a prison stGTmed, and a huma
, being burned at the stake tisgraceS tf
state of Delaware, and again calls in
question the reality of our rellglC
= and the efficacy Ct our civlllZatlo
Possibl.. the worst effects IRE to folio
9 for a community that has combined
4 override law is like a man who has on
n Eyieldei TO. criminal fury. Morale is Pc
II Rmanently impaired Prison doors ma
:. be repaired, ashes swept from the hlg|
= road, and all may look Us before, b
4 that community iaS acquired an insiC
: Gus contempt for law, has committ'
: the objectionable sin against the stat
Only a resoiute search for the ringlea
= ers and their exemplary punishrne
can clear the sErte Of Delaware Of I
mirch incurred asst notwithstanding,
Post: