The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1859-03-16

of the most able and efficient men ever con-
nected with the public service. He was a
Democratic Statesman of the old regime
man of rare ability and infexible~ integrity.
Of his successor in office, Mr.. Holt, the
Louisville Journal, the leading opposition pa
per of Kentucky says: "The appointment is a
good one. Mr.. Holt is an able and practical
man"
The .'Fa.hioneSIs SSsiety'' OF our Amer
We cannot agree with some of our cotempo-
raries in charging upon Washingto ton society the
causes and Consequences of the crime OF Mr..
KEY and Mrs. SIcKLEs The regular and
established society of the Federal Metropolis
is as staid and pure a society as can be found in
any city of equal population in the country ;
and it cannot be justly held responsible for the
crime which resulted in the late tragedy, any
more than can the society of New York, of
Baltimore, Philadelphia, Ashland, or Melmore,
in Seneca county.
The fashionable society" as it is termed, OF
all our cities is Indignantly ulcerous. Al
though men and women of high intellect, and
undoubted virtue, sometimes move in 1t, yet
the class who establish its conventionalities and
ethics, and who give it tone, are composed of
persons whose claim to distinction is based
upon wealth alone. This wealth is ostentatious-
ly displayed, and expended with a p~rodigality
and folly not surpassed by any aristocracy of
any country upon the Globe. The leaders of
American Questionable society" are a mush-
room, pdrrenu aristocracy-mere imitators,
whose assumed Uirtues do not rise to the digni-
ty of the vices of the hereditary aristocracy of
Europe. The members of this aristocracy, if
they do not end their days in "high life" upon
the gallows, or in the penitentiary, or by sui
eide, generally finish their race in foreign lands,
as f~agitives from justice. All our distinguished
fnanciers, our big defaulters and big forgers,
stock-gamblers and faro-gamblers, are the vic
tins of Questionable life" Once fairly initia-
ted, and drawn into the maelstrom of this
s'life"-would not death be a better word p
and the yotary finds himself placed upon a
scale of expenditure which the income of a
Principally would scarcely meet. Money
must be obtained-honestly if it can be-but
it must be obtained! For the swift consequent
ces, see our criminal calendars and files of the
Police Gazette.
But one of the most demoralizing character
istics of fashionable life" in our cities, is the
divorce which it practically DEGREES between
husband and wife. 1t is not fashionable" for
q husband to accompany his wife to the opera
or party, or other place of gaiety. The wife
must have her special "beaux" to attend her
In her fashionable reunds-the children, if, I'M
fortunately, there be any-must be placed in
charge of the governess and nurse and the
husband must either become an exile from his
own house-honne, alas !! he has none-or seek
the companionship of some gay woman to sup
ply the place of her he sometimes calls his wife.
such demoralizing social habitudes should
end otherwise than in wretchedness and igno-
miny, can certainly surprise no one who gives
the subjest reflection. The practices of "high
life" are ~repugnant to nature, to Christianity,
and to all sound morality. That the denouc-
n,eat of such practices do not more frequently
result ia eatastrophes which sent the migrate
and fool, KEY, to his account,
'sCut off even IA the blossoms of his sin,
UnhouseId, disappointed, unaneald;
No reckoning made, but sent to his account
With all his imperfections en- his head
has long been a matter of marvel with every
man and woman of good sense throughout the
land, Law-abiding men cannot justify the act
of Mr.. SIoKLEs, by which he took into his
hands that redress which human laws
were inadequate to give him, and the vengeance
belongs alone to the Most High. We
will not speak of that, But of KEY, the rep
"incestuous, the adulterous beast
the creature who ~wriggled himself into the
-.-GI1-a4 20 Cr1rr-C -h4 -IS1o -o-kI1--I
Of the hospitality and friendship of Mr.. S., was
debauching his wife, and affxing a stain upon
his innocent child for this Judas, we have
no pity, and no regret for his doom. It was
righteous here it will be righteous in the eye
Of the Just One before whom he will appear
We reproduce this week two able articles
,ne from FoRNEY's Press, the other from the
Allen Co. Democrat-upon this subject, with
the general spirit and deductions of which we
concur.
The moral deducible from the whole matter
Is, that, to the eye of a right-principled and
Intelligent man, we have in this country a
.fa~shionabe' and a "good society;"-that the
former, if it were really a po1er.in the State,
would soon subvert all that is of any value in
BUR society and politics; and that the latter,
which gives tone and character to American
and constitutes its heart, is the conser-
tatcr of our social and political institutions.
: Il is the great msiddhng class of this country,
who oeeapy the intermediate ground between
and that bloated wealth which gen.
has its origin in soap-boiring establish
nents, in fsh-markets and dung-hlls, and
the basis of our "high life"-it is this
great MODELLING LASS which holds in its
hands our political and social honor. The phi
mind of NJ. D~ETooUEvILLE, COM
pretended the true social condition of our
when he said of the aristocratic or
fashionable element, that it "has always been
feeble from its birth" and hat eve can scarce