Every political code, either from a defect of its constitution, or from the corruptness of those who are entrusted to execute it, will be found less perfect in practice than speculation had promised itself.
"A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson"
Watkin Tench
And by his so doing had aroused an enmity, and determination from the lawless element to stop his utterances, even at the cost of his life, so when he attacked in his paper, one James P. Casey, a lawless character, gambler and ballot box manipulator and Supervisor, as having served an eighteen-months sentence in Sing Sing, N. Y., before coming to California, who also published a paper, "The Sunday Times," it brought matters to a crisis, for Casey taking offense at this and other attacks on his ilk, shot King on the evening of May 14, 1856. The shooting of King was the cause of the formation of the Vigilance Committee of 1856 and the direct means of cleaning the city of the corruptness that had had swing for so many years.
"California 1849-1913 or the Rambling Sketches and Experiences of Sixty-four Years' Residence in that State."
L. H. Woolley
The effect of speech like this, and more in a similar strain of frank corruptness, was to cleanse Wilfrid's mind, and nerve his heart, and he denied that he had any desire to meet the Countess Ammiani, unless he could perform a service that would be agreeable to her.
"Vittoria, v8"
George Meredith