Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1866-04-18
MORALS OF NEW YORK.

\ writer in the New York Express takes issue
with the New York Times for certain remarks re-
lecting upon the state of society in Paris, and
says:
Admit it to be all true of France that is here sta.
ted, is not equally true of ourselves, and how much
more occasion is there, therefore, for the Editor to
lift warning voice, and sound the alarm in the ears
of his own countrymenl No one can doubt the de-
cay of public and private virtue in this country I'M
der the rule of the powers that be-" The very
foundations of public morals have been subverted,
and vice and fraud and injustice are now looked up
on with cOmplacency, and tolerated in the most " Sc
ect political and social circles Then again, on
the score of the decencies and proprietes" of life,
and the general aspect of public morals have We
anything to boast of over our neighbOrsl Let any
foreigner pass through Broadway at night, and oh.
serve the signs and transparancies which indicate
the entrances to the dens of vice and infamy which
everywhere abound that street. and tell me if we
have anything to boast of over Paris! Such infa-
nous institutions would not be permitted in that
city, or mt all events such Indecent display" of
them would not be permitted. know of nothing
in which we are behind Paris in these things. We
have public restaurants fitted up with private
apartments for ladies and gentlemen We have
places of public amusement which are VIGOROUSLY
rendezvous for improper persOns-assgnation places
under the disguise of places of amusement-pcture
galleries used for the same purpose. Houses of ILL
repute everywhere abound, and are well patIonized.
Hotels i'm which persons VIGOROUSLY reside in the
most shameful illicit relations, Anatomical Museum
too disgusting to be visited by any decent person,
are kept open on most public street and render
ed conspicuously attractive by gorgeous display of
" gas-lghts," and into which all applicants are adj
mitted without regard to age, sex or condition. The
vice of intemperance too, is infinitely greater in the
city, and in this country than in Paris or France
Every American who has been abroad knows this to
he true And as respects admitting improper persons
into society," don't think we have anything to boast
of in that particular either. At the Bal d opera
few evenings since-proiesSedly most select and
recherche ahar-persons might have been seen quite
as obnoxious to remark rs Mdlle. Therese- and as
for prOpreties of behaviour, am constrained to say
that never saw exhibitions of such gross disregard
of the common decencies of life in any Sale in
Paris as saw at the Academy of Music on that Oc-
casion. ! saw man take liberties with the person
of female at the supper table too disgusting to
mention, and which would not be tolerated in the
lowest dancing garden in Paris. | also the son
of the editor of the leading (sO-caed newspaper of
this city so drunk and disorderly that two policemen
had him by the throat and collar ejectng him for.
ciblv from the house. saw ndecences in dress
and costume that would have compelled the wearer
to have retired from any company in Paris to which
decent people are invited