At a meeting of his constituents he laid down his confession of
faith. A special act, he explained, was in no way justified, would
indeed be ineffectual, and lead away from the object they had in
view. The government would be guilty of libel if it made the
Socialists answerable for a crime committed by two half or wholly
insane persons; it was the duty of the government to prove that
these attacks were the work of the Socialists: that proof, however,
it had been unable to discover. Moreover, no special act in the
world could hinder people of unsound mind from committing insane
deeds--the crimes of a Hodel or a Nobiling could not be predicted,
but neither could they be prevented by any kind of precautionary
measure. The sole result of a special act would be to make the
Socialists practically outlaws in their own country. That would
constitute not only a terrible severity against a large class of
their fellow-citizens, but a frightful danger to the State. In
hundreds and thousands of hearts it would destroy the sense of
fellowship with the community in which they lived; they would look
upon themselves as outcasts, and become the enemies of their
pursuers. It would be exactly as if some thousands of Frenchmen were
set down in the midst of the German population--in the army, in the
cities, the factories, the arsenals and railways, where they would
only wait for a favorable opportunity to revenge themselves on their
conquerors.
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