It is stated with a certain authority that Great Britain
has agreed to a common plan for watching and expelling Anarchists, thus in practice driving them from Europe. We do not believe it. That Lord Salisbury has replied appre- ciatively to a proposal for a Conference on Anarchism, or that he has promised to keep special watch on Anarchists, is quite possible, bat it would be vain for him to propose a "Law of the Suspect" to the House of Commons. There is no wisdom in driving all Anarchists to America, there to plot assassinations unwatched ; nor, if there were, have we any right to set aside the plainest principles of justice. The Thuggee Law of India was not put in force upon men under suspicion, but upon men against whom irrefutable evidence
of murder had been actually obtained. The way to make Anarchists is to convince violent agitators that they are out- side law, and can defend themselves, or avenge themselves, only by resort to the dagger. Whether an attempt tc. assassinate should not be punished like an assassination is a question for experts in criminal law. Morally the offences, are the same, but we suspect that if they were equally punish- able fewer attempts would fail. That society in a rarer emergency may shoot down a group of its enemies as it might shoot down invaders we acknowledge ; but, then, it should not pretend to be giving them the benefit of a fair trial.
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