Now let us take an outrage upon--say a church.

Horrible enough at first sight, no doubt, and yet not so effective as a person of an ordinary mind might think.

No matter how revolutionary and anarchist in inception, there would be fools enough to give such an outrage the character of a religious manifestation.

And that would detract from the especial alarming significance we wish to give to the act.

A murderous attempt on a restaurant or a theatre would suffer in the same way from the suggestion of non-political passion: the exasperation of a hungry man, an act of social revenge.