The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1857-07-29

WIN some sort OF iDAenned rlghts over the utn-
mus Her newspapers were full Of poems Of VIC
tory; her Mosus were celebrated as though they
had been Bonapsrts aud Washingtom rolled into
one This evidently, was the moment when
Costs RIGA could discharge her debt to her old
and valued friend, Mr.. W. b. G. Webster.
How has she fulfilled the expectation By tra-
ducirg and deoouneing Webster in every way,
and tone, and language and manner that could
be theaght Of; by having him abused from
Washington, and abused in New York; by using
her utmost power to make hin out rascal, and
a kuave- and fool, and traitor. In one word.
che had done with him, he could be Of no more
use to her; he had claims upon her. and this was
the simplest way of paying theneoG
L~futare negohators with Central American
States take warning by his example.
The GLASGOW PoIsskING CAsa.-Yhere is q
highly important moral lesson to be deduced
from the remarkable criminal case taat has re-
Gently absorbed public attention in Scotland
the case Of Miss Madeline Smith, indicted for the
murder by poison Of one who YVES her lover, her
affianced husband, and-aA it would appear-her
eeducer. The case was one well calculated to
excite public attention and sympathy. The vic.
tim was o young, gay and fascinating French
man, named l. Angelier, who had been engaged
in mercantile business in Glasgow. The accused
was young lady, the daughter OF wealthy ar
chitect of that city, herself handsome, fashiona-
BILE, accomplished to a remarkable degree, and
possessed of peculiar powers Of fascination
The parties had formed an intimacy, having met
if we mistake not, at ball She was reputed
to be one of the most graceful dancers of all
elegance and correctness of we'll educated Pa
risian. Her attractions for the young Freuchman
were therefore irresistible, and he appears
to have been no less attractive to her.
Whether as the result of impulsiveDess in her
character and Of love that knew no restraint
or whether as the result Of settled plan of Sc
daction put in operation by him, the virtue of
the woman yielded, and she surrendered herself,
mind, body and SOUL into the power of the man
whom she loved with all the ardor of her passion
ate pature.
But a change came over the spirit of her
dream. The ardor of her love seems to have un-
dergone gradual abatement. Although she had
been afaanced to LAngelier, and had been in the
habit of addressing him and treating him as her
husband, she permitted another and a Weather
sutton to seek her hand. With remarkable de-
gree of artfuness and guile she endeavored to
lull the suspicious and dissipate the jealousy of
the young Frenchman. For time she succeeded;
lint tha frs,th pn<l ho Cd
would seem that he then resorted to the plan Of
coercion He was in possession of packages Of
her love letters, revealing not only the srdor of
her former love for him, but the abandon
with which she had given proof of it.
He threatened to disclose ALTO give the letters
to her parents and proclaim her shame to the
world. In vain she implored and entreated him
to have mercy on her. From the number Of her
letters, in which this was the prevailing theme,
he would appear to have chung tenaciously to
that dishonorable resolution.
II was then, if at all, that she formed the despe-
rate determination of getting rid of him. She had
but two alternatives before her. The one was life
of infamy, either as an abandoned woman or as
faithless wife, made faithless by force Of the ter.
rible secret which her former lover held over her IN
erTorem the other was to procure the death Of him
who thus held her destiny in his hands. Most
women would have adopted the first alternative.
II required one Of intensely passionate feeling and
geatforce Of character to resolve upon the second
Madeline Smith was such a woman. Murder
was lees terrible in her eyes than the exposure Of
her shame or possibly life of coerced in6delity.
Her seducer died by poison, and she was put on
trial for his murder. The theory Of the defence
was very ingenious and plausible. II was that,
through disappointed love, he became a suicide.
A jury acquitted her.. but nevertheless, few who
have read or heard of the facts entertain doubt
as to her guilt, no matter what may be their OPT.
Mon as to its justification.
This case we have said, contains an important
moral Lesson 10 all young, ardent and thoughtless
females in all large cities. We know with what
dangers young women are environed in our
fashionable hotels and boarding houses. Ro-
nance reading, shopping, promenading and other
frivolous occupations engage all their time.
and the tasks and habits thus engendered
make them too often easy victims Of some
ol the sWatins V auNenturers Oh all NATIONS VINO
are on the watch for the slightest indication Of
laxity or indiscreticn on their part. Under no
other system in the civilized world are the oppor-
tunities for seduction greater than that system
Of hotel and boarding house life which American
society encourages. When such ii0isop as that
Of L'Angelier and Madeline Smith could be car
ried on in her fathers house and in Scotch
city, where social formalities are 30 strict,
how comparatively easy can such thugs take
place in other cities with persons who know
little Of the sanctitcs that surround a
home, ard who grow up with the small
est possible subsection to parental supervi-
sion Every community is infected with gay
fashionable. smooth tongued villains, who regard
the ruin Of woman as one of the most Iaudable