On the record
No one can say that if the perpetrator of this fiendish deed be arrested, he should not undergo the extremest penalty of the law known for crime; none will say that mercy should interpose.
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gutenberg.orgJames Blaine: “No one can say that if the perpetrator of this fiendish deed be arrested, he should not undergo the extremest penalty of…”
Editor's note · Context
Blaine emphasizes the need for justice in response to heinous crimes, reflecting his views on law and order.
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More from James Blaine
If this view of the subject be correct, as I think it is, then the Union must utterly perish at the moment when Congress shall arm one part of the people against another for any purpose beyond that of merely protecting the General…
You can use force only to repel an assault on the public property and aid the Courts in the performance of their duty.
Without the exercise of those functions which belong exclusively to the civil service, the laws cannot be executed in any event, no matter what may be the physical strength which the Government has at its command.
But this is a totally different thing from an offensive war to punish the people for the political misdeeds of their State Government, or to enforce an acknowledgment that the Government of the United States is supreme.
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