The Psychology of the Attentator

The most noted writers and poets discussing the psychology of political offenders have paid them the highest tribute. Could any one assume that these men had advised violence, or even approved of the acts? Certainly not. Theirs was the attitude of the social student who knows that beyond every violent act there is a vital cause. The reading of the details of vollant's execution left me in a thoughtful mood. I did not believe the execution would take place in the first place. No victim had been struck with death. And it had long been the custom not to punish an abortive crime with the last degree of severity. Then this crime, however terrible in intention, was born of an abstract idea.