The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1869-09-05
Engnsh MoraIity.


The record of crimein England for some
time past has been absolutely .frightful.
Take any given period-say eight or ten
days2and othe list of murders, suicides
and horrible outrages supplied by the press
seems appa1lng-indicating condition of
society sunk to the lowest degradation. On
this subject an English paper says;
"There seems to be no end to the varieties
of wife-beating, wife kicking, and other
domestic diffieulties,' which are just now
cropping ont in different parts of the
country" But it is not wives alone who
are the victims of the mmrderous pro-
pensities which are now common in
Eaglhnd; sons and daughters poison or
stab their parents; parents poison, choke,
or drown their children; libertines destroy
their paramours; 'slovers" kilktheir sweet
hearts. The state of things is positively
England" the progress of public morality
appears 10 be from bad to worse.
THE Nun >SToRY.--It is precisely because
of the debased ncd filthy condition of the
English mind that the English people are
SO ready to put the worst possible con-
struction on every fact and incident having
relation to Catholic converts that seems to
promise them an "exposure." They cannot
believe in virtue above the level of their
own, and they are unable, consequently,to
regard converts and monasteries as any,
thing better than secret scenes of crime
and horror. Whenever, therefore, "con
vent story" is started for them they rush
at it eagerly; and if the original vendor
has not made it suggestive enough for their
! taste, the English press know how to dress
! and season il so that it shall be sufficiently
spicy and sensational. All this false
coloring is Invariably stripped off from the
Hconvent story" when the full truth comes
to be known, but meantime the lie has done
its work in pandering to the prejudices and
! passions of Englishmen. So it has been
! with regard to the latest story of the i'm
prisoned nun at Cracow. shocking
aspect was ut first put upon the case by
the enemies of the Catholic religion and
tile believers in none; but the publication
| of the strict truth, as ascertained and de-
| clared by upimpeachable authorities, has
now blown the SANDER to the winds.
In dwelling upon this point we are
careful not to draw on authorities which
might be thought prejudiced. Conformably
to this view we take the following from
the Pal MaH Ga=ette, which is a staunch
defender of John Bull:
There seems to be no end to the varieties
of wife-beating, wife kicking, and other
domestic difficulties which are just now
cropping up in different parts of the
country. At Ashton under-Lyne, one
Martha Leach gets drunk again and again
with sovereign her husband had given
her, and is at last locked up by him in a
room alone. At nights she is so tremendous
iy uproarious that her husband goes in and
beats her. In the morning she is found
dead. The jury acquitted the man on the.
ground that she might haye died ofIBjuries
caused by falling around the room during
her drunkenness. AT Bow, in Middlesex,
woman is half murdered by her husband
and her eldest son, who came home drunk.
The ROO holds hia mother down up0n 81
sefa--(the family is described as 'trespect-
ADJ - while the father strikes her about
the head with heavy candlestick; and
they are, it seems, in the habit of ILL
treating the miserable woman. Father
and son are now. sentenced to hard labor
for two months. In Whitefriars, the
landlord of decent public house is said
to be the most tender of husbands when
sober, but in his cups he is a very demon
to his wife. Last year he had six months
hard labor, in return for the pleasure he
found in nearly killing her, and now he has
been exhibiting the same alienation of
7 love and brutality. A policeman says that
he has often sat on the doorstep, expecting
every moment TO be called in to prevent a
murder-a function of the police which
some people will think remarkable. He
has sat, however to little purpose, for the
woman has been nearly Killed over and
over again. The husband is now sentenced
to another six months hard labor, and is to
find sureties for his future good behavior.
AT Wells q young man about twenty-four.
years of age has been trying to poison his
wife with arsenic. The jury recommended
him to mercy because of his excellent char
acter; but heartless judge has sentenced
him to twenty yeara of PENAL seEvitnde.
-
KEEPING ONES EYE 0PEN.--Nobody is
more like an honest man than a thorough
rogue. w hen you see n man with a great