The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-12-30

chanan.
Crime and immortality in High Life
Abroad.
We give in another part of this paper re-
ports, extracted from our foreign files, of two
very remarkable cases-one civil action
brought by wealthy English commoner
against a peer of the realm, the latter having
been guilty Of adultery with the wife Of the
former; and the other the trial and conviction
in a French criminal court Of mother who
burned her daughters child, born out of we'd
lock, and under the most remarkable, not to
say revolving, circumstances.
We believe that we should be quite false to
our duties as American journalists did we not
lay the full particulars Of these cases before the
public On the one hand, we find peer of
coronet as means whereby to debauch the
wife of his friend. The influence Of the privi-
legged class of England can hardly be under
stood in this country, where there is no aristo-
cracy save that of money, and that obtaining
no special respect. But an English peer is
vastly superior being to the commoner, no
matter how rich, how learned or how clever
the latter may be; and when this position is
prostituted to base ends, the Nervousness Of
the actual crime is proportionately increased.
The shameless way in which the Marquis of
Anglesey and his paramour lived together in
fashionable hotel in the centre of London re-
calls the history Of the orgies Of the titled
proaigates in the reigns of the Third and Fourth
Georges, and presents but sorry picture Of
the morals ur tho D1ieiea. ~.i=tearaoy Of the
present day. If we look to the middle renks Of
Lie IN Great Britain, we shall lind this faint
running through them, and occasionally
breaking out in cases like that of Madeleine
Smith, or the more recent one of Doctor
Smethurst. Lower still in English life, the MUIR
der Of an old man by his mistress. Maria
Manning, and the scenes at the execution of the
murderess, go far to prove that England, with
all its glory, wealth and power, hath not yet SO
far emerged from barbarism that the London
Times can with propriety get itself up as the
teacher Of moral code to foreign nations.
The French case is horrible in its details. A
young girl, brought up in the midst Of luxury
and refinement, handsome and accomplished, is
SO unfortunate as to have her mind tainted by
bad book. She breaks through all moral re-
straint, in manner which seems to show that
lasciviousness was with her disease, and
finally descends to an amour with servant,
who was not only vulgar, but positively ugly.
This man she chooses as her husband, and
bears child by him, in order to force her
mother into consenting to the marriage The
scene should now properly change to Dahomey,
instead of the loveliest part Of the most polite
nation in the world But we are, unhappily,
dealing with facts, not fiction, and we have the
horrid details of the burning Of the child by
the grandmother, "to save the honor of her
daughter" We have not read in the annals Of
crime more sad and revolving account than
that of the Lemoine infanticide.
There is special lesson in these cases which
should be needed by such journals as the Lon
don Tines and the Paris Constitutional, which
are fond Of sneering at the model republic, as
they call US. They are especially industrious in
collating from the American newspapers all
the criminal news, and commenting upon it in
the worst spirit If border ruffian, thousand
miles from the metropolis, shoots his COM
rade, the Constitutional Immediately writes
an article to show that there is no law in any
part Of this country, save that which is admin
istered at the point of the Bowie knife or the
muzzle of the revolver. If negro, who has
committed some diabolical crime, is lynched
in Mississippi, the London Times straightway
argues that the hanging Of slaves by their mas
tiers is among the every day amusements Of the
Southern planter.
Now, what we say is, that this Pharasaical
tone-this get thee behind me, for am holier
than thou, order Of arguments sufficiently
impertinent at any time, but with such state
Of morals existing among the higher classes in
England and France as these recent dcvelope-
ments seem to indicate, It is absolutely absurd
The model republic is as yet new country
To it the European governments send roguas
without number. We have to keep them in
order as best we can. But, with all our faults,
we are still behind the French and English in
cool, calm, deliberate rascality. The greater
part of the premeditated crime in this country
is committed by foreigners, who have fed from
the vigilance Of the French and English police.
But among American citizens Of the respectable
class, We claim that there rcigns purer and
better code Of morals than that which obtains
among the upper and middle classes OF England
and France. We have given today the facts 10
verify our statement. And until the foreign