THE DAILY EVENING TELEGRAPH PHILADELPHIA, SATURDAY, JUNE 15, 18G7.
277; NEW YORK PRESS.
jpitokiaL oristoss orm Maputo jocMaM
rjPOH CC BRUNT TOriCH COMPILED BVRBt
PAT TOB THK aVBlTfia TKI.KOBAPH. -
Vh Conflict
of ClTll and January
, tbority. -
From the JTeralO. f ' "
As the indications couie from all. points or
VL political, compass, we perceive prepara,
lions for'new strife between the Various fao
Ilons. ' The party Journals seem disposed to
jnfolve tlie country In another quarrel. They
are evidently, eager for a light "Pon Some ssue'
imd they do not seem particular as to what it
Is. -The removal of General Sheridan' from
lis command in' Louisiana . and, Texas, where
lie has apparently- used his authority under
the law Of Congress with firmness allied to
discretion,' and we believe . enjoys the 'full
approbation of General Grant In the perform
ance of his duties, forms a portion of the
policy of one branch of the party press, and
is Just as earnestly resisted by the other. The
decision of the Cabinet council restricting the
functions of the Military Commanders of the
Southern Districts, would seem to leave Gene
ral Sheridan and the other four oommanders
jihorn of their powers. .
It is clear that military and civil authority
cannot be coexistent. They cannot exerci.se
co-ordinate Jurisdiction. Either the military
authority must have free soope to employ its
functions as a police whioh we regard It as
now constituted in the South and remove all
obstructions to the proper enactments of the
law, whether these obstructions appear In the
Shape of civil office-holders or private indi
viduals, or it must be abandoned altogether.
Any "attempt to harmonize the two systems
must prove a failure. Hence the denial of
the right of military commanders to remove
civil officers brings the two authorities at
once into conflict, and places the elements of
the Federal and the State Governments in
hostility.
We are not assured that the President has
accepted the advice of his Cabinet on this
question of the conflict between military and
civil power. We can see through the clouds
and storms that darken the horizon a pretty
clear pathway. Let the programme set down
in the laws of Congress tending to reconstruc
tion be carried out according to the President's
Interpretation of them in his messages, and
there will be little difficulty. But how far are
We from such a result f It is evident that the
different political factions are opening up ques
tions of the most radical and revolutionary
character. Such agitators as Wendell Phillips i
are preaching confiscation of Southern pro
perty and a code of persecution. Senator
Wade advocates in his feeble way the princi
ple of Proudhon, that property is robbery,
and so it is with all the faetionists who are
contributing their little efforts to drive the
country to destruction.
In so far as the adage is universally true
that history repeats itself, we are not at a loss
for a parallel for our present political condi
tion. The war of factions, which may be set
down as an inherent evil in all great nations,
lias produced like results everywhere; nor
can we, with all our boasted civilization,
"modern improvements," intelligence and ex
perience, learned from history, claim an ex
emption from the general law. From the tur
Imlent days of ancient Rome, when Luoius
Cornelius Sylla, the iconoclast of Athenian
art, and the master mind of conscription and
confiscation in hia own country f led the aristo
crat io faction and ground plebeianism into the
dust, until the time of the second Ciesar Au
gustus, fanaticism ruled the destinies of
Jiome. In the person of Augustus the "one
jnan power" was asserted; its hand was
placed firmly on the helm, and the factions
which consummated their agitation in the
liomicide of the first Caesar were brought
under control. From that time faction
lost its sting. Augustus was master of the
Situation. Although renowned as the patron
of art and poetry, he was none the less ob
servant of political events, nor less able to
control them.
We may find another evidence of the mis
chief of faction as developed by the English
revolution of King Charles' time. From the
first evidence of popular discontent with the
administration of the government the country
Was divided into factions, and the Parliament
was the nursery of all the factious feeling that
pervaded the public mind ; but Cromwell sup
pressed them all when he grappled with the
Parliament, and on his individual responsi-
, lDility, with the army at his back, wiped them
out of existence and took the authority into
liis own hands.
In the French revolution of 1789 factionism
ruled the hour. It prevailed in the Conven
tion; it governed the national policy, so far as
there was any policy then existing; it organized
proscription; it inaugurated confiscation, and
it sanctified the guillotine. It was the inter
position of military power by Napoleon which
alone saved France from the anarchy and
, lloody horrors that faction had imposed upon
It. As with Rome, with England, and with
L France, we cannot escape the inevitable event
which follows a revolution; but we reach
the end in a far different way. While other
nations had to rely upon military dictators
and the appliance of arms for their reconstruc
tion, we propose to send our military chieftain
Into power as President of the republic by the
voice of the people, expressed through the
fcallot-box, in accordance with the law and the
Constitution, and we expect, furthermore, that
after the election of Grant we shall enjoy a
government as seoure as that which Washing-
'- ton left us after the Revolution. All the hos
tile and disturbing elements will be subdued.
In the North and the South his elevation to
the Presidency will be equally weloomed, and
; we shall probably find our Gseaar, our Crom
well, and our Napoleon embraced in the one
name Grant the choice of the people, who
Will quietly put all the factions out of sight,
and set the country on its feet. When this
comes about, we shall have no further trouble
about the conflict of military and civil autho
rity in any portion of the United States.
Th President on Dangerous Ground.
Jom Ih Tribune.
The National Intelligencer announces that at
; ."a very recent consultation of the Cabinet it
Was decided that the military officers in com
mand of the five districts- into which the ten
represented Southern States are divided, have
. ' Sxo power to remove civil officers deriving their
'., authority from the State Governments as now
Organized." It is intimated that orders will
. soon be issued "replacing the deposed officers."
Wells will again be Governor of Louiaiana
Monroe will resume the Mayoralty of New
( Orleans, Abell will administer Louisiana Jus
tice, and Withers will take his oflleo in Mobile.
The Intelliotncer trusts that General Sheridan.
; ' who is especially affected by this decision, will
' not apply to be relieved. 11 lie does not ask to
m relieved, we are assured he will not be
removed for what the court Journal calls "his
errors." ft other words, (.lie rreMdiif hai
ronde up hi mind to eonptruo the bill in his,
own way. lie has got an opinion from tau
beiy, and 'will issue Jils orders. If he can
only induce Sheridan and Sickles to execute
these orders, the country will not feel as badly
an would l expected if he wer to remove
hero, i- Sheridan may consider his "errors"
forgiven if he will only do what he is told and
sin no more. ..
If this statement is true, we feel that the
President has taken a very grave stop, and is
treading on dangerous ground. We have tried
o show the purpose of this Military bill, anl
the moral obligation assumed by the lrenident.
We have earnestly entreated the President not
to violate a law which it-was understood ho
Would execute. We claim that it is not exe
cuting the law to restore Monroe red-handed
to otllco, and to give . Wells , another chance at
the four millions which are said to 'have ex
cited his political cupidity. The organ from
Which we are quoting makes no such claim,
but puts the decision upon other grounds.
"Andrew Johnson," it assures us, in that
spirit of elegant toadyism which seems to be
Official, "is no less a patriot in the Executive
chair than he was in the dark days of 18U0"
the radicals want a military regime in the
South to perpetuate their power, "and the
nation cares more for poace and permanent
union than it does for any or all parties." In
other words, this whole measure is a radical
contrivance, 1 intended as an electioneering
dodge, and his Exoellency, the patriot of. 1860,
intends to put his foot down and have no more
of it. Instead of executing laws according to
Congress, these "radical" Generals must obey
his commands. If Sheridan will not, we pre
sume Rousseau will, or, in a last resort, we
have Custar. The country is expected to view
these acts in the interest of "peace and per
manent union."
: The purpose of the Military bill is to give
certain Generals supreme power. To that
end each General commanding is absolutely in
command, and all officers, civil or military,
are merely so many lieutenants for the ex
pression of his will. If any officer interferes
with this duty, he is to be put aside. . Con
gress intended this, and, what is more, the
President recognized the intention. "The
power thus given to the commanding officer."
he said in his veto message, "over all the
people of each district is that of an absolute
monarch. His mere will is to take the place
of all law." "No master ever had a oontrol
so absolute over his slaves as this bill gives
to the military officers over both white and
colored persons." And so on, with the most
elaborate argument. How can the President
reconcile his present decision with the reason
ing of the veto message ? Congress intended
these soldiers to have absolute control. Buthow
can their control be so if under his command
certain civil officers are permitted to exercise
independent and irresponsible powers 1 How
can General Sheridan carry out this bill with a
hostile Governor like Wells, with Monroe con
trolling the police, and Abell proclaiming the
law f If it is wrong to remove Wells, it is, of
course, wrong to interfere with him, and if
that person makes up his mind that the Re
construction bill shall not be obeyed, what ean
Sheridan do f Behind Wells stands the Presi
dent, and he bids his General to stay his
hands, and allow these civilians to do as they
please. He protects them a3 unassailable. In
plainer terms, under the President's construc
tion of this bill, the Generals Commanding
have no more power in the South than General
Meade in Pennsylvania or General Halleck in
California. Reconstruction passes from the
military to the oivil power, and by civil power
we mean the choice of the men who opposed
us for five years in war. It Is an impertinence
to suppose that Congress intended anything of
the kind.
We feel that the President is treading on
dangerous ground not only for himself, but
for the country. His organ assures us that he
does not forget he was a patriot in 1800
which means, we fear, that he is in a comba
tive, ugly humor, and intends to nave another
contest with the radicals. This humor is a
small consideration. We leave the President
and the radicals to fight it out. Beyond all
we see danger to jthe country. Insecurity
comes to the North, anxiety to the South; our
discussions grow angry and bitter; the gentle,
soothing work pf reconstruction is arrested and
postponed. We wish for the best; but we
confess to much uneasiness. We had hoped
for a reunion of these States in the next Con
gress, on the basis of impartial suffrage and
all rights for all. We still cling to that hope.
The President seems disposed to postpone the
day, but he can only postpone it. The day
must come.
Mr. McCullock'i Last Letter.
From the Nation.
On the 30th of April last, forty-three "mer
chants, manufacturers, and professional men
of Boston" cordially invited Secretary McCul
loch to meet them at dinner and give them an
opportunity to express their appreciation of
his ability and integrity.
Mr. McCulloch's answer is dated May 22 a
severe trial, no doubt, to the patience of the
forty-three and is, like everything that Mr.
McCulloch writes, full of wisdom. Though
nominally addressed to forty-three private,
though distinguished, "men of Boston," it is
really an official declaration of the views enter
tained by the Secretary at that time on the
condition and prospects of the national finances;
and hence it can scarcely be on account of its
private character or from regard for the feel
ings of the forty -three inviters, that the letter
has received so little notice from the public
press. The indifference, whatever cause it
may arise from, is certainly not warranted.
It is true the letter is long, without containing
any very striking novelty of statement, idea,
or expression, but there are a great many
good, old, sound, conservative ideas in it that
cannot be repeated too often, and that In this
progressive age we are too apt to lose sight of.
To these Mr. McCulloch clings with steady per
severance and a faith utterly regardless of
consequences; and in addition to the old-time
wisdom there is sufficient new wisdom, in it to
Justify us in giving this ' last letter of our
Secretary's a hearty welcome.
We, and all publio men with us, have to
thank the Secretary for furnishing us with
another striking and warning example of the
danger of writing letters instead of making
speeches. Mr. McCulloch's off-hand remarks
after a Boston dinner with weighty "mer
chants, manufacturers, and professional meu"
could be made light of by those who disagree
with him, while even his friends and sup
porters would scarce dare appeal to them In
seriousness. But when the Secretary, in the
Treasury at Washington, after three weeks'
delay, sets forth his views in writing, his
staunchest opponents are compelled to listen,
while his friends know precisely what to rely
npon. Thus, when ha assures the forty -three
that he will administer the Treasury so as to
merit their confidence, we may laugh at doubt
ing Europe, that values our "promises to
pay" at 73 cents on the dollar, and
repose upon our greenbacks as upon gold
and silver bars. When he assures
them Hint theyjnust, not expect 'het next debt
ptatcii i nt to show a docreaae of I'.ebt, but even .
that a tinrt)rary inr lease is unavoidable, our
first tliOuplit is to measure the possible in
crease. When he assures us that ha has not
for ome months past reduced the circulation
of United States notes, we naturally turn to
rebuke our Wall street friends for their con
stant clamor, against contraction, which they
pretend is the cause of the tight money mar
ket; and when, on the 20th day of May, Beven
days after being written, this important docu
ment is published in the New York papers,
and gold and stocks begin to.advanoo there
upon, we dare not rebuke the heartless men,
Wall street speculators and gold gamblers,
Who insinuate that it was a nice thing for the
forty-three. Bostonlans to have known 'the
Secretary's views in advance of the outside
publio. " r.-...
. If it were not lamentable, however, it would
be laughable to see the contrast letween Mr.
McCulloch's letter dated May 22, and the
statement of the Secretary of the Treasury to
the people of the United States dated June 1.
The increase in the debt, which on May 22 was
unavoidable, has on June 1 become a decrease
of f 5,171,000; the contraction which on May
12 had, for some months past, and for four
excellent reasons, been suspended, has on
June 1 ' resulted in a: withdrawal of cur
rency amounting to the ' enormous figure of
(30,000,000, and the faith of the forty-three in
Mr. McCulloch's ability' to administer the
Treasury bo as to merit their and their fellow
citizens' confidence is somewhat rudely shaken.
! The fact is, . that Mr. McCulloch and all
future Secretaries of the Treasury had better
confine themselves in their after-dinner
remarks or their ante-dinner letters to simple
lacts, and not indulge in prophecy, i lie pre
sent Secretary has scaroely ever made a publio
statement relating ever so remotely to the
future , which has not been completely con
tradicted by himself, or , falsified by events
within a very short time, and each time the
result has been more and more mischievous
In the present instance we can only wonder at
the mysteries of the Treasury acoounts which
could have 1 kept the Secretary himself so
entirely in the dark.' ' We do, seriously and
sincerely, believe in Mr". McCulloch's integrity
or purpose; but we also believe that he is con
trolled in many things, against his will, or
' without his knowledge, by unprincipled un
derlings and a vicious system, both inherited
from the time of Mr. Chase, both symbolized
by Mr. Chase's "private memoranda," both
demonstrated by Mr. Fesseuden's unwilling
ness to put his name to any important paper
emanating from the Treasury, both bearing
fruit m the present condition of the Govern
ment balances in the national banks to which f
we reier ueiow and Dotn lending color to me
rumors current in Wall street that the state
ment has been made to look favorable by the
intentional withholding of requisitions and
other measures well known to the initiated. '
It is not, however, for the sake of pointing
out Mr. McCulloch's minor errors, or in erder
to warn him against the dangers of. prophecy,
that we refer to this remarkable letter. Our
main object is to protest against Mr. (Jul
loch's interpretation of the duties to which he
Is assigned. The Secretary of the Treasury is
appointed to obey the laws made and provided
for the collection and disbursement of the
public revenues. When he seeks to make
laws, when he undertakes, in imitation of the
sumptuary enactments of bygone ages of
ignorance and barbarism, to foroe the people
of the United States, at his bidding, to in
crease their production, to cease their specu
lation,' to diminish their extravagance, he only
renders himself ridiculous. Mr. MoCullooh
wants to check speculation by contracting the
currency. Does he forget that there are bears
in Wall street as well as bulls men as ready
to speculate for a fall as for a rise ? Is he
ignorant that his letter has done more to in
duce speculation than any one event of the
last three months f
Mr. McCulloch wants to increase production
by contracting the currency and lowering
prices. Does he not know that men hesitate
to produce on a declining market, and that the
stoppage of production is more than half due
to his foolish and persistent threats of that
contraction and return to specie payments
which never comes f Mr, McCulloch wants to
restore to the American people their former
habits of economy, all by the magic wand of
currency contraction. The American people
are quite competent to Judge of the wisdom of
their expenditures. They began to economize,
as many a pinched face and threadbare coat
will prove, long before Mr. McCulloch under
took the care of their individual
pockets. Whatever remnant of extravaganoe
may have remained is rapidly disappearing
before a more impressive teacher than con
traction the tax-gatherer. The law autho
rizes Mr. McCulloch to contract four millions
a month. He preaches contraction on all
occasions, but "for some months past has not
reduced the circulation." "He is as muoh
persuaded as ever of the importance of con
traction," but he fails to oontract mainly in
order that contraction may not be accused
of causing some existing financial evils. On
May 22 he writes page after page to make
this clear to all men's minds, and on Juue 1
shows that he has virtually contracted thirty
nine millions during the month.
We have directed Mr. McCulloch's attention
to the national balances in the national banks
for the following reason: At the close of
March it was commonly reported in Wall
street that the Treasury was very short of cur
rency, and no little surprise was expressed on
the appearance of the April debt statement
showing a currency balance in the Treasury of
over thirty-four millions. The surprise dim
inished, however, when the subsequent quar
terly bank statement showed that the Trea
sury had over twenty-seven of the thirty-four
millions on deposit with national banks
throughout the oountry of course free of in
terest. Now, it is a remarkable fact that for
the last six months the amount thus depo
sited has varied very little, and certainly has
not fallen, as far as the publio is aware, below
twenty-seven millions, looking very much as
though these twenty-seven millions were on a
sort of permanent deposit, or could not be en
tirely relied upon to be forthcoming, if wanted
suuaejuy. it is also rumored that even, w
Mr. Chase's time of abundance certain Trea
sury drafts on banks in this city were not
promptly met, and many people are inclined
to think that a good part of the twenty-seven
millions referred to would meet the same fate
if urgently called for. Here are important
topics for McCulloch's next letter.
Tba Future of the Republican Party.
From the Timet. . . i
The Richmond Conference has resulted in
an arrangement which, if followed throughout
the South, will probably avert the division
with which the Republican party in that sec
tion has been threatened. The position as
sumed by the Virginia extremists in favor of
confiscation and other penal measures as sup
plementary to the enacted policy of Congress,
found no favor with the larger and more in
fluential portion of the party. Under the
leadership of Governor Pierpout and Mr,
Botts, a counter movement was set In motion,
pointing if tlxj wm.'structiou plan! an the,
Wis of ri' iy ornMi.atton an l effort! fVna-
tnr Wilff'v and delegates from the Union
l-engue (Hubs iiitervened to prevent a linrup-'
lion which would hav throw u the influenoe
of Virginia against reconstruction, and a call
for a btate Convention liaa been Issued under
auspices which apparently insure the defeat
fcf the Hunnlcutt anarchists. : ' t . r rnu
In Louisiana the same good sense and mode
ration have been averted in circumstances of
yet greater difficulty. There party unity was
In immense Jeopardy.' ' Local Jealousies and
differences had led to the organization of con
flicting int rents, and these again to the moral
weakness of th party. Gradually, however,
Winer counsels have prevailed, and though ex
tremists still carry on an outride struggle,
their influence is insignificant. The - primary
elections for members of a Convention deve
loped both enthusiasm and harmony. "As
for certain factious clubs with fancy names,"
Says the New Orleans Republican, a journal
not open to the charge of exaggerated conser
vatism: ! "If they choose to rehearse In separate bodies
Ihelr part In the political drama which Is to
restore IiOuiRtana, let them do so; but when
the time arrives for their publio performance
they must come on the singe as regular mem
bers of tbe Republican parly otherwise they
doom thtrnHeiVFH to the fate of all schismatic,
They may wentien their friends a little and
strengthen tbeirenemies as muoh by maiotaia
Idb at Ibat Important moment a separate orga
nization; tiietnselvea they cannot beoeUL."
i .The lessons thus taught are at onoe an en
couragement and a warning. They exemplify
the controlling power of the more moderate
element in the Republican party. - And they
convict the Ultra taction who clamor for eon.
fiscation and the imposition of other oondi
tions and penalties yet undefined, of pursuing
a course which, while it "dooms themselves
to the fate of all schismatics," must "weaken
their friends a little and strengthen their
enemies as much."
These facts cannot be too distinctly appre
bended by the managers of the Republican
party movement in the Southern States. They
cannot afford to experimentalize with popular
feeling, to pander to ignorant passion at the
expense of right, or to encumber the party
with more than its proper burdens. Least of
all can they afford to invest with importance
the heads of "certain factious 1 clubs with
fancy names," or to yield to the dictation of
persons whose avowed purpose is to delay the
restoiation of the South to the Union. ,
- The strength of the party at the South is
derived from its proclaimed desire for speedy
reconstruction and its known ability to effect
it. By raising the confiscation standard it
might indeed succeed In rallying the negro
vote, and by dividing the races lay the founda
tion of a contest between them. But such a
policy could not possibly confer power. That
is dependent wholly upon the good faith and
judgment of the party in the working of the
existing law. The plea is that the Republican
party, notwithstanding its exaction of unpala
table conditions, is the friend of the Southern
people. It offers to them, as evidence of this,
the plan matured by Congress, and it declares
through its Congressional Committee that that
plan is designed ' to be a finality. The party
comes before the South, then, as its best friend
as the agency through which it may regain
the peace and privileges of the Union, and the
prosperity which will attend reestablinhed
confidence. There can be no shrinking from
this position without dishonor. There can be
no paltering with its promises, no evasion of
its responsibilities, without destroying the
chance of securing the supremacy of the Union
party in the future politics of the South.
The opportunity, if lost, will not recur. The
tendency among the influential classes of the
South is to gravitate towards the Republican
party. The conviction which animates Gene
ral Longstreet governs the judgment of thou
sands, ihey consider the Democracy the em
bodiment of principles which received their
quietus in the war, and they took hopefully
to the Republican party as that by whioh the
regeneration of the South may be effected.
They take it at its word, and declare their ad
hesion to it as the party of the future. And
they predicate their estimate upon the honest
aim of the Reconstruction law as a peace
offering whose acceptance will end existing
difficulties. In a party as well as in a national
sense, it is essential that these expectations be
fulfilled. They are reasonable and just ex
pectations, in view of the action of Congress
and the more recent averments of representa
tive Senators and members, and the party
must take care that they be realized. If this
be done without needless waste of time if the
confiscationists and malcontents generally be
passed by unheeded, or be treated as abettors
of the enemy the Republican party may ob
tain the mastery at the South. And with
preponderating strength there, the fault will
be its own if the party be deprived of national
power.
To promote party success at the South,
however, the Northern Unionists must make
manifest their moderation and fairness by an
unequivocal indorsement of the reconstruction
scheme as a finality. They owe to themselves
and to those whose cooperation they seek, the
repudiation of the disorganizing schemes
which are put forward as pretexts for prolong
ing the dismemberment of the Union. These
are not trifies which they can tolerate with
impunity. Simply to be snspeoted of a lean
ing towards confiscation would be to provoke
the opposition of ninety-nine-hundredths of
all, North or South, who have aught to lose.
For confiscation as proposed by Stevens and
Phillips, or a division of land as suggested by
Senator Wade, is a war upon property, whioh,
once begun, would not be confined to the
South. The North has its agrarians and re
pudiators, who will not be Blow in turning to
account any movement for dostroying the in
violability of property rights in the Southern
States. Hence the importance of crushing at
the outset every attempt to fasten upon the
Republican party either affiliation with or re
sponsibility for these projects of the extre
mists. The hope of the party's future lies in
its steadfast adherence to the principles which
conducted it to victory, and the policy of re
construction with the success of which its for
tunes are ideutilied.
Women and Juries,
From the Nation.
It appears to be a settled prinoiple of j dry-
made law that offenses against chastity may be
punished with death by the woman's nearest
male relative, or, in default of a male relative,
by herself, and that no warning need be given
to the culprit nor explanation asked of him.
Moreover, it is no longer necessary that he be
taken Jlagi-ante delicto ia order to warrant his
killing, or that the evidence against him be at
all conclusive. A simple statement of a
woman that a man has insulted or seduced her
Is now regarded by Juries as sufficient to Jus
tify his being slain unawares, with all his
imperfections upon his head. We might fill
a column with illustrations of what we are
here asserting. In the shape of stories of
cowardly murders perpetrated by women, or
friends of women, which juries were asked
in vain to punish.
The last case of this kind ia one of whle.
ve
HIE LARGEST '..AND
FIN E O LD R YE - WH I S It I ES
- : IN THE LAND IS NOW POSSESSED BY.' f vjT
j HENRYS.' HAWWIS ' "66.
Nos, 218 and 220 SOUTH TROUT STREET.
I wnoorrrniHESAJiETo tub Titan, ih lots, oh vkrt abtahtasboW'
i . ' , . ' ' ."" ' ' ;'' '' TEBMI.
Thflr Ktk of Rya . WhUklca, IB BOHD, rmr.rU' all tt r.Vnrii.
i extant, asd rnna through. h various months of 1803,'ee, and of th I.
pitiist data. . j " P
Liberal contracts nada for Iota to arrlra at Pannsylranln Rallra r,.n.
Krrtcxon lano barf, or at lion did YVarhos, aa partus may !. " ,,p
; Carpetings, Canton' Mattings, Oil Cloths.
Great Variety, ; Lowest Cash Prices.
E35EVE L.
SO.
everybody in this State ia now talking the
murder of Mr. ULsoock, a member of the Con
stitutional Convention at Albany. lie is shot
suddenly by one of his friends, a General Cole,
and in defense of his crime the murderer tells
three dillerent stories first, that Uisoock had
violated his wife ; secondly, that he had
seduced her ; and thirdly, that he had simply
insulted her all of them resting on the state
ment of the wife herself, who, it appeared, did
not discontinue her intercourse with Uisoock
in consequence of anything that had happened.
The only bit of corroborative evidence drawn
from the husband's observation consisted, it
seems, of the highly suspicious circum
stance that the murdered man asked
him one day, "when was he going
away?" So that if Cole should be
acquitted we shall have fresh support for the
theory that any woman who has a jealous or
crack-brained husband, and little regard for
her own reputation, may have any man shot
or knifed by reporting him as having behaved
unhandsomely to her. In fact, a bad woman
who had tried to seduce a man and failed,
might in this way gratify her rage and desire
of revenge by having him incontinently
taken oil;" and if juries allowed this doctrine
to take root and flourish, the best and most
proper man in the community would hold his
life at the mercy of any worthless couple who
happened to have an acquaintances with him
and might for any reason desire his destruction.
The law, we believe, forgives the slaying by
a husband of a man taken in adultery; but it
does so not because it approves of the praotice
of avenging one's own injuries, but because it
supposes some injuries to be too great for i
ordinary mortals to submit to them in cold
blood. In other words, it is presumed that a
man who witnessed his own dishonor would
be sure to lose all self-control. But there is
in this no sanction whatever for the modern
doctrine that if A. hears or suspects that B.
has been ruining his domestic peace, he may
go in search of him with deadly weapons, and
whenever he meets him, be it days or months
afterwards, kill him on the spot.
In fact, a good many of these moral murders
are now committed not only in cold blood, but '
by gentlemen and ladies who are not much
troubled at all by the loss of their "honor,"
and sleep just as soundly as if they still had
it in their keeping. They kill "seducers"
simply because it is "the thing" to do, and
the public expects it of them; or because they
hink it will procure them a little pleasing
notoriety. Nothing oould better prove the
debauched condition of publio opinion, as ex
pressed by juries, than the fact that some of
the murderers whose wrongs have excited
most sympathy have been themselves rakes
and adulterers of the worst kind, and, after
polluting other people's homes for years, have
been supposed poor fellows 1 to be inoapable
of enduring the pollution of their own.
We all know the way in whioh these beau
tiful justifications of the uncontrollable indig
nation of the injured husband or the be
trayed woman are got up. The murder ia
generally committed in some publio place, so
that there may be plenty of witnesses. Aa
soon as it is done, the murderer, though pale,
becomes perfectly calm, and surrenders with
out diffiioulty, and after giving some slight
signs of intended but easy-to-be-foiled suicide,
is conducted to prison, where he is the object
of marked attention on the part of the Jailor
or his wife, and is waited on soon after by
some of the liveliest and most graphio mem
bers of the "reportorlal oorps."
Then come the most delicious moments of
the whole drama. The murderer cive3 hia
own version of his wrongs, with the delightful
consciousness that he cannot be contradicted,
the only person who could contradict him
being dead, lie tells of his agonies, of "the
fire in his brain," his sleepless nights, hia
horrible misgivings, hia early happiness, hia
passionate love, his wonderful sacriUcea for
"the frail being" for whose sake he has assas
sinated; and down it all goes on paper, and
soon appears in print. And while the tale is
fresh the newspapers are never weary of
making additions to it, and the hero enjoys
more notoriety than ever he hopod in his
'wildest dreams.
When the day of trial comes on it is a grand
day. The court is crowded; the audience and
the Jury lay in extra pocket handkerchiefs;
the prisoner is dressed simply, but with oare,
and wears an interesting and melancholy air.
Thd leading masters of the balderdash at the
bar are euenged for the defense, and the de
fense consists mainly of tlia fulsome raise of
the assassin and abuse of his victim. All
that fustian can do is done to make woman
appear a kind of pretty animal without sense,
or discretion, or conscience, whom any naughty
man can seduce, and whom naughty men
must, therefore, hit alone on pain of death.
Then comes the description of the husband's
agonies, if the husband be the murderer, lie
is presented to the jury as a mad bull, whom
the mere sight of "the dealroyer of his peace"
rouses into uncontrollable fury, and who ha3
to go about trying to kill him by a law of his
being, just as tigers have to prowl and spring
and tear in order to satisfy their hunger.
Now, we think the better portion of the
publio has reached the conclusion that' we
lave had enough of this sort of thing ; that it
is high time that the old doctrine that premedi
tated killing, no matter what the provocation
y o i,
BEST STOCK OF
KNIGHT & BOXT,
I - - -r
&07 cmeshtjt stbget,
(Below tha Oirard House).
REMOVED.
OUR BEDDING STORE
, . . IS REMOVED '
FBOM THE OLI STAND TO
No. 11 South NINTH Street.
5 27 B. Im KMGIIT A SOW.
maybe, Is murder, and deserves, in the interest
of society, to be punished as murder, ought to
be reasserted. The only possible excuse that
can be put forward for the conduct of juries ia
refusing to convict "injured husbands" for
killing seducers in cold blood, is that the honor
of wives cannot be preserved in any other
way ; but this excuse we imagine very few
men would be willing to accept as valid, if
presented to them in its naked simplicity.
If wives need any legal assistance in pre
serving their virtue, it ought to be supplied ia
the regular way, by making adultery a crimi
nal offense; so that when a man is acoused of
destroying anybody's peace, he will at least
get a hearing for his version of the affair; and
even if he is to be put to death on conviction,
will be put to death with decent human for
malities instead of being shot like a mad dog.
But pending the provision of legal punish
ment for these offenses, wives and husbands
must be left to take care of their own honor,
and must find other means of taking care of it
than the use of deadly weapons against any
body the wife chooses to point out as her "be
trayer." We think that, however opinions may differ
as to woman's fitness for the suffrage, very
few people will be found to deny that, in her
present state of mental and moral develop
ment, married women, at least, ought to be
able to take care of their own chastity, and
ought to be made to do it. Their whole train
ing from childhood up is concentrated on their
preparation for this one duty, and society and
the Church have surrounded the discharge of
it with the most terrible sanctions. Married
women, too, have what young unmarried
women have not, the knowledge and experi
ence necessary to warn them of their danger ;
and there is something ridiculous in the popu
lar theory that when they fall they are the
innocent victims, the men the real criminals.
Women, to be sure, are proverbially "fraH,"
but so are men; and in the existing Btate of
opinion a woman briags to the violation of the
marriage vow a much stronger and more deep
rooted sense of the sin of it than a man does,
and is, therefore, on any sound theory of
accountability, by far the guiltier of the two.
The theory of woman's character and position
on which blame, in oases of adultery, is now
distributed, and on which the murder of
seducers is justified, is really very little supe
rior to that set out in the laws of Menu. She
ia so helpless, bo conscienceless, so ready to
fall, that to throw temptation in her way ia
considered the foulest act a man can commit,
and it ia so hard to keep her from falling that
publio sentiment authorizes the husband to
assassinate his best friends in broad daylight
for the protection of her purity.
The case of young, unmarried women is, wa
admit, different. Whether rightly or wrongly,
they are so educated that they neither know
when they are running risks nor how to guard
against them; and as long as thia system of
education is or has to be continued, fathers
and brothers must be armed with summary
powers for protecting them, or the legal penal
ties of seduction must be made vastly heavier
than they are now. But, as a matter of fact,
the women who take the law into their own
hands, and kill their faithless lovers, and
secure impunity from juries, are hardly ever
youthful innocents.
They are generally tolerably mature spin
sters, who know perfectly well what they are
about, both when they are lavishing their
affections on tha unworthy objeot, and when
they are pistolling him for running away, and
there is probably no more repulsive spectacle
to be witnessed than the mock trials of offenses
of this kind by which our Courts are some
times disgraced. In fact, side by side with the
agitation in one portion of the community for
woman's admission to greater social freedom,
is growing up a tendency, in another portion,
to release her more and more from both legal
and moral resp6n:L;:::y. mere ia strong
reluctance abroad to convict a gOod IodIlLn
woman of any offense whatever.
We even doubt whether Bridget Dergan,
who killed her mistress the other day in New
Jersey, would, though not good-looking, have
been convicted had she simply killed her mas
ter. But when it is made to appear that love
is at the bottom of a young woman's crimes,
juries become deaf to the claims of order and
law and morality. As soon as the tender side
of the tragedy begins to show itself in the
evidence, the jurymen wipe their eyes, the
Court blows its nose, the counsel's voice grows
husky and the "poor young thing" is dis
missed with the deepest emotion, and the
friends of the dead man sneak to their deso
late homes amidst the frowns of the indignant
and Tirtuou3 crowd.
(