The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-04-03

H
4 dered, ii was said, four pictures of her
\ self to be painted after a peculiar
fashion, which shall be nameless. In
one of them, which has been completed,
she is represented as Cleopatra, as she
rises up in her unveiled beauty before
the 'dull, and cold-blooded Cesar y
into whose presence she had been intro
duced within the folds of a carpet. This
speaks volumes, and needs no COM
ment. II such tonnes are the rage OF
the fashionable and artistic world OF
! Paris, we cannot be surprised that
there should be any approximation to
an eHteHte cordidIe between the beau.
1 monde and the denIi monde. We re-
member to have heard some wears ago
an Englishman, who had married a
foreigner, declare that he would never
allow his wife to have French woman
for her friend, as he believed there was
scarcely one good one among them.
IhlS was sweeping condemnation
against Which We were not slow to pro-
test, because we have ourselves known
several who are examples of all that is
4 good and pure. But after the reyela-
t1ons that have lately been made, we
are inclined to fear that general society
is not conspicuous for its morality.
Paris has reached a climax, in what
Is generally called civilization that
cannot be surpassed. She has adorned
and beautihed herself with rapidity
oHA 6PtSu0OE lndI are without q par
allei- She IS the most beautiful cap
ttal in the world-the queen OF cities /;
she has put out of sight all that can
onend the taste OF the most refined
critics; she has driven further and fur
ther back all signs of poverty and labor
which might offend the eye or suggest
thought inconsistent with the opu-
lence and gayety with which it is her
] desire to impress her visitors she is a
| VerV Syoarlte OF cities but with all her
magnihcence of decoration, with all her
lavish outlay and ever-changing ca
price, which constitutes her the leader
| OF fashion throughout Europe, she
carries within herself the elements of
her own ruin, which cannot be far dis
tant. No society can last long which is
| 50 rotten at its core, where profiigacy
[eigns, and all sense of propriety is at a
discount.
The history of the world supplies
abundantinstan ofcitieS which have
reached climax of refined splendor,
and, being lifted up in their pride,
have overlooked virtue, and have
been dashed to the ground, and have
crumoled to ruin nor need France
go far to look for such an example.
In the period before the great French
Revolution society had become corrupt.
They who oughtto have been examples
OF virtue made use of their high and
exalted position for the indulgence of
their evil passions, and saw in Il only
opportunities for vicious life. Even
now men tremble at the recollection of
the awful- judgment that fell upon
them, which has left that fair and beau
titui country in a state of ferment from
which there seems to be no repose and
which can only be kept under by the
hrm hand OF great military power
Which Is ever ready to repress the first
indication of the popular mind daring
to think for itself
We lave said that there is a deeper
and graver question underlying the
present aspect of society in Paris.
May il not be that there is throughout
society, in every part of the world,
general uprising against restrictions of
all kinds2 Freedom and liberty are
the watchwords of all parties and all
nations, and the separation between
them and licentiousness and license is
very narrow and quickly got over.
Under their high sounding names
much wrong is done; spOliation and
lawlessness shelter themselves there.
and every one claims for himself the
right to do what seems to him good in
his own eyes. 1t is impossible to help
seeing that there is growing dislike
to all authority, to everything which
imposes fetter upon the human will.
Children are quick to throw off the re-
straints OF parental authority; married
people to live more separate lives:
scholars to sit in Judgment on their
teachers; congregations to dismiss their
preachers; the clergy to set at uaught
their bishops; politicians to foment dis
cord and rebellion when it suits their
purposes to do So. The disposition to
reduce the law of both Church and
State down to the very minimum of its
letter is one of the prevailing faults of
the age. The first promptings of the
human intellect of the present day is
niEnnEa at n
which IS made upon it in the name of
authority; and we believe ii to be this
temper which tends to the severance of
those ties, and the depreciation of those
maXims which are the bond and safe
guard of society. sa-a..s..l
There are certain usages and customs
better known by the somewhat indef-
mite term of the eonUeTldRees of society,
which have become to some extent law.
and have prescriptive. right to our
respectful attention and consideration.
Against these the mind of .he nine
teenth century rebels. Old customs
and traditions are. treated with the ut
most contempt and set at naught, and
in the manners OF the rising generation
there is expressed the most decided re-
sistance to that delicacY of thought and
consideration for others which former
ly served to- make men keep out of
sight any infringement against good
4hOAdASs II u4dS Do Sdlu IldI Lu9 motive
was low-that it was mere feeling OF
human respect, and, as such, of but
little value; yet, even if so, il surely
had the advantage over that most cnl-
pable disregard for appearances which
leads to the public exhibition of vice,
In the fact that men dare not associate
publicly with vicioHs companions there
lies protest on the part of society in
general against their evil doings; but
the moment they cease to restrain their
conduct within due limits, and unblush-
ingly pursue their course, and society
still toleI ates them and winks at their
ef1rontery, there is no longer any safe
guard against its utter decentralization,
We owe a vast debt to those who have
raised their voices in condemnation of
the attitude of the beau monde towards
the deIa6 monde of Paris. We do not
entertain the opinion held by some
that 1t Is better not to speak OF these
things, but simply to ignore them as if
they did not exist; for If we have a Sc
rious malady, or a wound in any part
OF our bodies, we dc. not gain ANYTHING
by pretending that we have it not; and
we hold that it is, to say the least, un-
wise to shut our eyes to the fact that
revolution of an important character
has taken place in society. I'd
In public matters there is nothing
wrong In pointing cut scandal where
it exists To ferret out a neighbor's
faults, and to expose them to the pub
lie gaze, is an infringement of the law
of charity. But thai which is a blot on
the intercourse of individuals with
each other, ,chameleon-like, changes its
hue altogether when IL becomes a ques-
ton OF nation against nation. Nation
al customs, national tastes, national
faults, are a safe mark for other nations
to hit at pleasure. In ths fiEst place,
n ia 1eaa