[untitled]

     THE assassination of President McKinley has aroused a feeling of horror and indignation in the breasts of the American People which will doubtless find expression in appropriate legislation by Congress. The fact that the President lived, rallied, got better and was expected to get well, brought strongly to the public attention the question as to what should be the punishment for an attempted assassination of the President of this Republic. The universal opinion, so far as we have been able to see, is that it should be death. The wretch who took the President’s life will suffer the extreme penalty of the law, and doubtless that was what he expected when he perpetrated the horrible act. But if the President had lived his life would not have paid the forfeit.
     Any attempt against the life of the President should be punished with death. It is a far graver offense than an assault upon any other person, because it is a blow aimed at him as the head of the nation. The American People are in the humor to grant to Congress whatever power may be needed to deal fully with this subject, and also with those who teach and practice the principles of anarchy.
     The South, in common with the other sections of our Country, feels a deep sense of bereavement, for a great and a good man has been taken from us. He, probably more than any [391][392] other man among the leaders of his party, felt for us, and appreciated the trying circumstances of our peculiar position. There were others to say hard things about us, but he never did. The South mourns for him with genuine sorrow.