DICK CROWDING SHIELD, T1IE ASSASSIN, ZACHAKY TAYLOB, THE SOLDIER: DirrERBHCE BETWEEST THEM. BY HENRY C. WRIGHT. HOPEDALE, MASS. NON-RESISTANT AND PRACTICAL CHRISTIAN OFFICE, 1848 , Dick Crowningshield— his Employers — his Joseph White lived in Salem. He was old and rich. Joe and Frank Knapp lived in the same town. They coveted his property and expected to inherit it at his death. The protracted life of Joseph White was considered by them as opposed to their interests. They wished to destroy it. They called on Dick Crowningshield, a young mail living in Sa¬ lem, who had studied the art of human slaughter at the West Point Military Academy, and said to him, in substance :— “ Will you enlist into our service ?” Dick. —“ What to do ?” Knapps. —“ We wish to kill Joseph White.” Dick. —“ What harm has he done to you !” Knapps. —“ None; save that by bis life we are kept out of the possession of property which we expect to inherit. We have no resources but to kill him.” Dick. —“ But he is innocent of all evil intentions towards Knapps. —“We know he is; but his life is in our way, and we wish to get rid of him.” Dick.—“ But would it be right to kill him ?” Knapps. —“ Give yourself no trouble about that. We will be responsible for the right or wrong of the deed. If you enlist to do it, you have nothing to do with that ques- Dick. —“But suppose I think it murder ?” Knapps. —“That is our concern, not yours. If you en¬ list into our service, we wish you to enlist to do our pleasure, even though you think it to be murder. ” Dick. —“ Who is to be benefilted by his death ?” 3 Knapps. _“Ourselves, of course. We do not wish to kill him for his good, but solely for our own.” Dick. —“ So, then, I am to understand that you wish to enlist me into your service, to kill an innocent man, at your instigation, and for your benefit ?” Knapps.—“ That is our wish. Will you enlist ?” Kick. —“ What am I to get for doing the deed ?” Knapps. —“ One thousand dollars.” Kick. —“ Do you wish me to kill any others ?” Knapps.—“ Kill this one man, and the money is yours, and we will discharge you from our service as soon as the deed is done.” Kick .— 11 Well, I see no more wrong in enlisting into the service of two men to kill one, at their bidding and for their benefit, than in enlisting into the service of millions, called a State, to kill thousands at their bidding and for their bene¬ fit. So, I am at your service, and will execute your pleas¬ ure upon Joseph White.” The Knapps furnished their recruit with a dirk and blud¬ geon. At midnight, he entered the back window with a dark lantern, crept up the front stairs, and entered the sleep¬ ing chamber of Joseph White. He was asleep. Dick struck him on his head with a club; then turned down the clothes and stabbed him thirteen times in the region of his heart; then covered him up, left the house, hid the bludgeon under the door-steps of a church, and melted the dagger. Dick and the Knapps were taken up and imprisoned. While awaiting their trial Dick hung himself. The Knapps were tried, condemned and hung. AVhat would you call Dick Crowningshield ? A hikcd Assassin, is the answer; and all will insist that this is the only phrase in the English language that can truly designate his character and position. What would you call the Knapps ? The instigators and prime movers in the deed—the Em- 4 plotters of a hired Assassin. The relation between Crowningsliield and the Knapps was that of a hired Assas-l sin to his employers. The community would not endure the presence of the employers or tho employed among them, and they put them all to death. Zachary Taylor—his Employers—his Business. There is a town in Mexico called Monterey. It contains say 20,000 inhabitants, more or less. They never injured the people of the United States, even in thought. Yet their existence is opposed to their ambition, and lust of gold and of oppression. They wish to destroy the town of Monterey. So, those who compose the United States, through their agents, the recruiting officers, go forth to enlist men into their service. They meet Zachary Taylor, and ask him, in sub¬ stance:— “Will you enlist into our service?” ■ Zachary. —“What do you wish me to do 1” People. —“We wish you to kill the people of Monterey.” Zac] t.—“ What have they done i” People. —“ O, nothing, only their existence is opposed to our interests.” Zach.—“ They are, then, innocent of all evil intentions and actions towards you ?” People. —“ Yes; they never injured us, and never intend¬ ed to injure us.” Zach. —“ Why then do you wish to kill them !” People. —“Simply and solely because they are in our way, and there is no other method to get rid of them.” Zach. —“Would it be right to kill them l” People. —That is our affair, not yours. We wish you to enlist to do our bidding, and kill whom we wish, right op, wrong,” Zach. —“But suppose I know them to be innocent — People .—“Yes; if we bid 3 -ou.” Zach. —“But suppose I believe that to kill them would be murder —must I do it?” People. —“ Yes, if we bid you kill them. We wish to enlist none into our service, its soldiers, who are not willing to swear by the great God that they will kill any and all whom we hid them kill, even though they believe it would be murder.” Zach. —“ How many do you wish me to kill ?” People. —“ No particular persons, or number ;'but we wish to enlist you to butcher men by the day, till we have gained our end.” Zach. —“ So, then, now I understand you. You wish me to enlist into your service, to kill human beings, without regard to their guilt or innocence, at your bidding, and for your benefit. You wish me to swear by the Eternal, that I will kill men, women and children at your discretion, even though I know they are innocent, and though I believe that to kill them would be murder ?” People .—“ Y'es, such is our wish.” Zach. —“ But suppose I should enlist, and then should not be willing to kill all whom you command me to kill; and suppose I should wish to leave your service ?” Peojile. —“ Once enlisted, you must do our bidding or be killed yourself; and if you attempt to leave our service without our consent, we shall shoot or hang you.” Zach. —“How much money will you give me!” People. —“ Two hundred dollars per month.” Zach. —“ Well; the Ministers and Churches say War is a right and Christian practice. If so, then it is right to en¬ list;- and when enlisted to go for my employers, right or wrong. So I am your man. Henceforth I am ready to kill all yon bid me kill, though I know them to he innocent, and though I believe it would be murder.” People. —“You are the man for us. ‘Rodgh ash Ready’ is your name henceforth. We have work on hand at this moment.” Zach .—“ Name it and it is done.” People ■—“There is a town in Mexico called Monterey. Go, slay its inhabitants, and destroy it.” Zach .—“ Give me the means, and the deed is done.” ■ So the means are supplied by his employers. Now, be¬ hold Zachary before the devoted town. It is Sunday. This is the day chosen by him to make the attack. See the scenes enacted by Zachary, the soldier. He is acting as the agent of twenty millions. Had he bombarded that city as the agent of two —how had he been the execration of man¬ kind ! Look at that Nursery! See that mother watching her four little ones lovingly at play in one corner. Zachary dis¬ charges a gun loaded with grape-shot at them; and in a mo¬ ment their limbs and bodies are torn to fragments, and the mother sits amid their mangled remains. In another nurse¬ ry is an infant sleeping in the cradle ; the mother sits by it rocking, and singing its lullaby. Zachary hurls a cannon ball at that mother and infant, and tears them in pieces. Look into that dining room. There are a father and moth¬ er and five children at the dinner table. A ball thrown by Zachary enters, and the father and children are torn and killed around the surviving mother. There is a school- house. In it are 75 children with their teacher. Zachary throws a bomb-shell among them. It explodes, and the torn limbs and dead bodies of 50 of those children are strewed about, and their teacher and companions are covered with their blood. There is a daughter standing by her broken. 7 hearted father to comfort and sustain him. Zachary hurls a cannon hall at her and cuts her body in two. and there she lies a mangled corse before her father. “ For the Love of Heaven spare that house !” cries a young mail to Zachary, as lie is aiming a deadly missile at a particular dwelling. “I cake not if evekv other house in town is blown to atoms —hut do not de¬ stroy that one.” Zachary .—“ What is your reason?” Young man .—“ My betrothed lives there. She whom I love as my own soul.” Zachary .—“ All love and domestic affections must he for- Young man “ But no spare that one. One of your own companions begs you to spare it.” Zachary. —“ It is the bidding and for the interest of our employers that that house and all in it should he destroyed. We must go for our employers, RIGHT OR WROA’G.” Young man .—“ 0 spare it! To what dangers is she whom I love exposed ! Think of the agony I must feel to find her a mangled- corpse !” Zachary .—“ Young man, you seem to care nothing about the other houses, and are willing to see them ‘ blown to at¬ oms.’ Yet every ball and bomb-shell we throw tears to pie¬ ces some wife or husband, some parent or child, some broth¬ er or sister, all of whom are objects of affection to others, and their death causes as much agony to surviving relatives as the death of your betrothed would to you. She must die. Such is the bidding and pleasure of my employers. A bomb-shell is aimed at the house; and in an instant it is a heap of ruins. The shell comes into the parlor where the parents and their children are assembled, and explodes. A ragged piece of iron strikes the young woman and tears away her head and shoulders. 8 . See that Mexican woman. What is in her hands ? She is carrying bread and water to the wounded American sol¬ diers. She raises the head of a wounded man, gives him food to eat and water to drink; takes a handkerchief from her own kind bosom and is binding up his wounds. Zacha¬ ry aims a gun at her, and tears in pieces that angel of mer¬ cy,—A FACT, and the eye-witness who relates it, says : “I involuntarily raised my eyes to Heaven, and exclaimed— GREAT GOD ! IS THIS WAR ? Passing the spot the next day, I saw her body still lying there, with the bread by her side and the broken gourd with a few drops of water in it—emblems of her errand.” Now Zachary, with his comrades, enters the city in per¬ son. He cries to them as lie enters : “ NOW GIVE THEM HELL 1” So, to do the pleasure, and promote the interests of his employers, he goes about the city from street to street, enters the houses of rich and poor, violates and massacres the women and children, till the kitchens, parlors, nurseries and bed-rooms run down with blood. The city is sucked. Rape, cruelty, robbery, murder and indiscriminate butchery accompany Zachary from house to house. He violates and murders wives, mothers, daughters and sisters in the pres¬ ence of their husbands, sons and brothers, and thus he “ GIVES THEM HELL,” as the agent and for the interests of his praying, meeting-going, republican employers. A description of the scene by one who witnessed it, and who aided Zachary in the work of death, is substantially as follows: “ Zachary’s face and the faces of his men were covered with sweat, dust, and blood, as they toiled for their employ¬ ers in the work of slaughter. Men, women and children were slaughtered ‘ LIKE HOGS AT A BUTCHERING.’ Here and there were seen a ghastly mass of flesh and crushed bones. It was sickening to hear the shrieks of wo- 9 men; to see them struggling in the arms of Zachary and his men, and begging for death; to see them cut to pieces; to see the bodies of infants and children tom asunder; but; ‘SOLDIERS MUST SICKEN AT NOTHING.’ On Zachary rushed with his men—hands dripping with blood- intent on ‘ GIVING THEM HELL,’ and on standing by his • employers,‘RIGHT OR WRONG.’ The feeble, the in¬ nocent, the helpless, fell beneath his sword, and were torn to fragments by his balls and shells. Icouldheartheshrieks of the dying—the pitiful cries of children over the mangled remains of parents. I saw them crushed, mangled, dying, dead 1 Save me from ever witnessing the bombardment and sacking of a city ; at least, if I must see it, let thdre be none but men within its walls. There is some glory in killing men, even if they are innocent. This is the soldier’s trade, and his only way to glory; but there is no comfort nor glory in crushing and mutilating women and children. This is now the trade of Zachary and of every soldier.” Zachary promised the people protection if they would yield. They did. IIow did he protect them ? Let an eye¬ witness tell. Zachary, “/or the sake of popularity, neg¬ lected to restrain the passions of his volunteers.” “ MUR¬ DER, ROBBERY and RAPE were committed in broad day-light; and, as if desirous to signalize themselves at Mon¬ terey by some new acts of atrocity, they burned many of the thatched huts of the poor peasants.” Says another eye-witness of the doings of Zachary,—he “ committed outrages against the citizens of the most dis¬ graceful character: stealing, or rather robbing, insulting the women, breaking into houses, and other feats of a simi¬ lar character. * The women hare been repeatedly violat¬ ed, (almost an every-day affair,) houses are broken open, and insults of every kind have been offered to those whom we are bound in honor to protect. ” 10 Says another eye-witness of the doings of Zachary : “ It was an awful sight to look upon the dead—some shot with cannon halls and some with small shot—some with their heads shot off— some with their kgs off— some with their bowels scattered on the ground Says another eye-witness of another scene : “ bodies of Mexicans were lying all about in every direction—some with their heads entirely or partly shot off— others without legs or arms— others with their entrails torn out. I crept about on my hands and knees, and at every few paces I woakl come across dead bodies; and at one place I discovered the body of a beautiful Mexican girl , STAKED through her heart.” The above is substantially a truthful narrative of deeds perpetrated by him and his men in Monterey and other towns in Mexico, at the bidding and/or the benefit of his religious , republican employers. The Difference. Now, what is the difference between Zachary, the sol¬ dier, and Dick the assassin ? In the following particulars they are exactly alike ; The assassin killed a man whom he knew to be innocent; the soldier did the same. The assassin killed the innocent at the instigation of his employers; so did the soldier. The assassin slew his victim for the benefit of his em¬ ployers; so did the soldier. The assassin entered into a contract with his employers voluntarily; so did the soldier. The assassin killed his victim intentionally and deliber¬ ately; so did the soldier. The assassin “ killed a reasonable creature,” and was 11 “of a sound mind and discretion;” so did the soldier and in the same state of mind. The assassin killed an innocent man “ with malice and forethought,” “ with a sedate, deliberate mind, and former design;” so did the soldier. As to the state of their minds towards their victims; as to their motives; as to the character of their victims; as to the nature and character of their acts, there is ail exact resem¬ blance between Dick the assassin and Zachary the soldier. In the following particulars they differ : Zachary had millions of employers; the assassin had but Zachary killed thousands; the assassin killed one. Zachary’s sword, halls and bomb-shells, were accounted Christian weapons to slay men; the assassin’s bludgeon and dirk were considered unchristian. Zachary broke the limbs and tore the flesh of his victims and left them to die in protracted agony ; the assassin killed his instantly and without protracted pain. Zachary’s deeds are said by the priests and churches to be God-approved and Christ-like; the assassin’s are de¬ nounced by them as evil and only evil. Zachary is hailed as a Christian patriot; Sick is shunned by all. Zachary, as he returns from Monterey, his face, his hands and garments dripping with the blood of innocent women and children, is welcomed “ by the smiles and kisses of his countrywomen;” they shrink from Dick with horror. Zachary is held up by mothers, by teachers, by priests and politicians, as an example of piety and patriotism; Sick is held up by them to execration. Zachary is made a life-member of a Missionary Society; Sick is cast out as a heathen. Zachary is counted worthy of all honor by a professedly enlightened, civilized, republican and Christian people, and is by them elevated to the Presidency; Sick, by the same people, is elevated to the gallows. 12 Such are the different results of killing one at the bidding and for the benefit oft wo, and killing thousands for the bene¬ fit and at the bidding of millions. Such are the points of agreement and difference between the assassin and the soldier. They differ solely in reference to incidental circumstances, that affect not the nature of the acts, nor the position, motives and character of the per¬ petrators. Zachary Taylor and Dick Crowningshiekt stand in precisely the same relation to their God, and to their em¬ ployers. Zachary Taylor and every soldier voluntarily hire themselves out to kill innocent human beings, at the bidding and for the benefit of their employers. Dick CrowningslheUl did the same; and if lie is an assassin, so are they. Does killing one innocent man at the bidding and for the benefit of two make a man an assassin, and killing thousands at the bidding and for the benefit of millions make him a saint? Does an act performed for the pleasure and at the instigation of two make a man a murderer, and the same act done at the instigation and for the pleasure of millions, constitute him an angel ? Does murder become a pious, Christian act, in proportion to the number who commit it: Does the assassin become respectable, Christian, and worthy of confi¬ dence in proportion to the number of his employers ami of his victims. If not, then is Zachary Taylor and every sol¬ dier as certainly a murderer and an assassin as was Dick Crowningshieki Not only so, hut every advocate of defensive tear is as truly an instigator and" promoter of murder as were the Knapps; and is as accessary to and responsible for the death of the. people of Jlontercj’ as were they of the death of Joseph White. Zachary Taylor is the agent of all that advocate war, as.really as was Crowningshield the agent of the Knapps. The acts of their agents are their acts. When he entered Monterey and violated and murdered the women and children, they did the deeds. Let just and truthful words be used in speaking of all w arriors and their advocates. Let all soldiers and all advocates of war be tohl that they are murderers, and let this truth he brought home to them on all occasions, till they feel its force; and then, and not till then, will men learn and advocate war no more. Framingham, Railway Station, I Friday Jan. 21,1818. 5