Nelson Chronicle, Colne Observer, and Clitheroe Division News. — 1901-09-13 (Nelson, Lancashire, England)

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 1901  AMERICA'S GRIEF. THE attempted assassination of President McKinley is one of those crimes for which it is impossible to find any adequate explanation. The wretch who murdered President Lincoln had some vague idea that he was serving the cause of the South. But of those crimes of which General Garfield and Mr. McKinley were the object, there is no explanation at all, beyond that combination of insanity and wickedness, which goes to make an Anarchist, and accounts for the commission of so many crimes. In guch cases the murderer seems to select. the victim against whom the least can be said, as we see in the case of the most recent assessinations and attempt.. There was no particular reason why President Carnot should have been selected for assassination ; the Empress of Austria seems never willingly Ito have hurt anybody; the King of Italy I was justly popular with all classes of his subjects; and the crack-brained youth who attempted the life of our present King, could not account for his selection of the then Prince of 'Wales as the object of his malice. And so it is in the case of President McKinley. His tariffs, it is true' are not very popular in this country; but he is essentially it patriot and a man who had deserved well of every citizen of the United States. The fiscal policy which he represented was believed to have brought the country to a I state of unexampled prosperity, and his fellow citizens had paid him the highest lionour which it was in their power to bestow, by electing 'Ma a second time to the Presidency. There have been men, as we know, who have been willing to sacrifice their own lives if they could bring death to a tyrant, or, as it has more often happened, to one whom they conceived to be a tyrant. It has truly been said that that man cannot be compelled who is not afraid to die, but whilst that maxiin may serve as a watchword to the martyrs, it is not a pleasant reflection that the most precious lives in the world are at the mercy of any ruffian who cares to give his own worthless life for the satisfaction of murdering ii Severeign. Possibly these men would not be so enthusiastic for murder if the mob Was allowed to have its way with one of them. However degraded the assassin might be. one would not wish to see a repetition of the revolting tragedy of which Hypatia was the victim, but at the same time there are some of us would not be sorry if the police were in a little he hurry to rescue the murderer or wouldbe murderer from the fury of the crowd. Because there was no excuse for the crime at Buffalo, therefore the news of it was received with profound indignation throughout the civilised world. and by no means least in this country when‘ the nation's sympathy and regret has been expressed by the K.ing with his usual admirable taste. Happily there is every reason to hope that Mr. McKinley, though grey iously wounded, will make a good recovery. and yet fulfil the second term of his high office. With the citizens of th, United States, people of our own race, we have a strong bond of union. bid wherever sueli an outrage might have occurred, it would have excited indignant horror, and all countries alike have an interest in endeavouring to prevent the commission of crimes like this—crimcs which make the Aniircbists the enemies of the whole human race.