The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-07-19

We have collected and reprinted in our im-
| preston of to day number of articles comment
ing upon the last act Of tragedy the details
Of wbIch are as yet too fresh in the public mind
TO ueed more particu ar reference in this place
| In some aspects, however, the case is a remarka.
Die che. A member of the federal House of
Representatives, having ascertainei beyond doubt
the tact OF the inddelity OF his wife and the iden
tity OF ser param0ur, kills him. The injured
husband IL tried for murder. In his hour of peril
ne receives he strongest expressions of affection
! rom his friends, the warmest sympathy of ma
o,ity u tie public, and the almost unanimous sup.
port OF the press throughout the country He is, OF
course, acquitted, and few months afterward
receives the erring and repentant wife to bis for
giving srms. Wherenpon, as is generally re.
ported the hero of the tragedy is dropped by the
friends who supported him during his aiiliction,
and, as may be seen by the copious extracts
we print elsewhere, receives the disappxobation
Of the very journalists who took his side while
the trial was in progress, and who are presumed
to represent, at least in degree, the present
drift of public opinion about the matter. Some
Of them it is said represent the views Of his spe
ciai political and personal friends.
Such is the present phase Of one of the most
curious events of singular epoch. 1t is po-
sition OF affairs which was not altogether uneX-
pected, so far as we were concerned. We be-
lieved and predicted at the outset that the face
of public sympathy would result in an acquittal
Of the outraged husband. 1t was also our
impression that the parties would eventually
resume marital relations. Such was the opinion
of all who are familiar with the secret history of
political and social life in this country. By the
initiated no other result was looked for; and this
impression was not founded altogether, or per-
haps in any part upon the personal character or
mental idiosyncracies Of either or both the par
ties involved They are just now representa-
lives Of bad state of society, wherein political
success and power are to be had at any sacrifice
of personal honor and private morality. They
are the types, net the founders of the school;
and in the whole history of the affair." from the
first to the last, there may be read most
mournful and dangerous indication of the cor
ruption, the Generalization, the dishonor and the
debauchery that seem to be inseparable from
the political history of the country in these
latter days. We are quite conscious that the
politician by profession claims to have one code
OF morality for his private life and another for
his public career; but this is false, logically and
practically. Here and there one may find an
exception, but, as rule, the corruption, the
thieving, the lying and general immortality which
obtain in political circles are carried into private
life, staining alike the senatorial robes, the gen.
tlemans honor and the woaan's chastity. The
legal maxim, false IN one thing, false in all, ap
plies equally, and perhaps with greater force, to
this fancied distinction which is bypocritcally
get up between mans private and public
character. The thief in tie lobby, the liar in
the forum, the slanderer in the Capitol, must be
the same in private Life il common sense view
of She matter.
For our own part we have had but one opin-
ion upon the general merits Of this particular
case from its inception to the present, and upon
it, therefore, we have no new views to advance
no novel comments to make no violent change
Of sentiment to apologize for. Our suggestion
il the beginning to the chief actor il the tragdy
was that he should withdraw himself at least for
time, from this neighb07hood; that he should
seek In some of the border States, or upon the
Pacific, al asylum wherein he might commence
new career. We believe that time will show
that this was the wisest course that could have
been adopted. Already it appears that the men
who supported him in bis trying hour-and it liz
probable that nearly all of them were actuated
in their zeal for him by interested motives
have been struck with the same sudden change
of opinion which is apparent in the journals. 1t
is said, however, that the last phase Of the affair
was brought about through The advice OF his
lawyers This may be readily imagined from
the remarkable views of private morality and
public duty brought forward by the distinguished
counsel during the trial; and if we are not mis-
taken, one of the chief authorities quoted by the
| defence, the Bible, would be found equally use
| full in advocating the turn which the matter has
lately taken
However this may be, the circumstances of the
whole affair, the petition Of the parties, the pub
licity given to their condnct, both here and
abroad, make the subject one of the grayest and
| most serious import. The case is quoted in Flu
rope as picture of society in the capital of the
model republic, as type Of the morality of the
nation, as an example Of the effect Of democra-
tic institutions upon the morals of the people in
| high places. And it seems to us, in justice to
the people so represented and out of ordinary
respect to the memory Of The founders Of our
government, the sacred names of our Revolution.
airy fathers, Of whose probity, chastity and
strict honor, public and private, Washington
was the type and the exemplar, that the Con
eress Of the United States should in some way
| officially notice the dangerous tendencies evil
examples and final consequences Of such cases as
that of which we write. If we are eventually
| to NIapse into barbsrism. let US at least make