The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-03-21
The Great Scandal Case in Ireland-Au
Example We May ProAs nv.


The Great Scandal Case in Ireland-Au
Example We May PROFIT BY.
The latitude which Is allowed 10 young IN
married ladies in English society has been long
and often commented upon by the French as
countenancing impropriety, and by the more
straightlaced OF their number 1t is regarded
as little less than q reproach. Custom is, how
ever, everything; and because the French inn
mure their girls in converts till their education
Is complete and they have reached . mar
riageable age, that is no reason why the whole
British nation should do likewise. Neyerthe-
less, there is limit to the freedom of single
women IN England conventional barrier OF
which none can plead ignorance and which
ought not to be passed, and can seldom be
passed with IMMUNITY. We have an instance
in point in the Yelyerton trial at Dublin.
which has disclosed an amount of weakness
on the part of the woman, and heartlessness
and perfdy on the part OF the man, which Is
almost unparalleled. 1t was perhaps to be ex-
pected that young lady who, like Miss Long
worth-the heroine in this case-had received
her education in French convent, and been
vanties and temptations of life, should, on
finding herself outside the convent walls. be
more liable to errors Of propriety than one
schooled in the world. Not only would she
have to contend against the natural tendency
of the female mind to escape from the tram
mels of propriety, according to its conventional
Interpretation, but she would have to resist
hQ INN Lo~ e.
isolated mode of life and the restraints which
it imposed. A lark is never so wild as after
being released from cage, and every one who
has been deprived of his liberty for time
feels strongly disposed to make the most active
use of it when restored. But unfortunately
there is a growing tendency in England and in
this country also to violate propriety, a. a
thing ft only for old maids; and among NO
class is this more conspicuous than in what are
called fast young ladies. We distinguish be-
tween propriety and prudery. The former ought
imperatively to be observed, but the latter is
as Objectionable as violation of the other. II
was violation of propriety for Miss Long
worth, when returning to Boulogne by the
Dover packet boat, to sit up all night on deck,
whose acquaintance she had just previously
made on board. 1t by no means followed that
she would afterwards contract secret mar
riage with that individual; but she did 30, and
she has since reaped the bitter penalty, by his
openly repudiating its legality and marrying
another lady. A more villanous course OF
conduct was never practised by man occupy
ing an honorable position than the trial to
which we have alluded has SO far revealed to
us. And yet this man, who is heir
to the Avonmore peerage, has had the
audacity to come forward and confess, under q
rigid cross examination, to all his baseness and
shameless selfshness. We have nothing but
contempt and disgust for such a man, and we
sincerely hope that the result of the trial,
which he might have avoided had he not re-
fused to pay for her support, will be to prove
his first marriage legal although we cannot
but feel extreme pity for the one with whom
he contracted the second alliance. We must
not, however, entirely overlook the fact that
Miss Longworth was to blame in negleoting
the proprieties in her relations with Major
Yelverton; and young ladies had better take
warning by such an unfortunate example, and
remember that to be fast is not to be sure,
and that retiring modesty is always more
graceful and wins more respect than the
afectation Of that abandon which many of the
rising generation SO foolishly cultivate, thought
less of consequences.