The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-12-06
sPrR1T OF THn PRnss.
Editorial Opinions Of tho Lending Journals
Upon Current TOpics-COInpiIed Every
Dny for the Evening Telegraph.

If such friends of Richardson as Vice
President Colfax and the Rev. Henry Ward
Beecher had not affronted the public sense of
decenoy by ostentatious sympathy for Sc
ducer and justification of his conduct, the
press would have no other duty in connec-
tion with this tragedy than is laid upon 1T in
the similar cases which are of such frequent
occurrence Richardson was no such novice
rs not TO know that q man who seduces wife
from her allegiance carries his life in his hand,
and NAV expect to forfeit it to the vengeance
of the outraged husband. He dared the conse-
uuences, and they came. He doubtless
Thought the prize worth the risk and the for
felt: and we will do him the justice to say
that, so far as the public is informed, he met
his fate without any unmanly quaillng, or any
protest against its righteousness. The aveng-
ing Nemesis, which is ever on the path OF
such transgressors, speedily overlook him;
and if his eulogists had not attempted to blunt
and pervert the moral sense of the commu-
nity, it would be safe, as we'll as charitable,
to dismiss him to his reward without any re-
marks.
But when the most popular and eloquent
divine in the country, and the second func-
tionary in the Government, undertake to
t'blazon evil deeds and consecrate crime,
their attempt to lower the moral tone of the
community cannot pass without rebuke
Whatever lenity might be practised towards
the infatuated parties to this tragedy in con-
sideration of their terrible punishment, is
swallowed up in feeling of indignation and
disgust against those who have prostituted
their influence and talents in defense of an
intercourse which the moral sentim ent of the
community condemns.
Mr. Beecher cannot escape by turning
upon the public, as he did in his funeral re-
marks and denouncing, in a strain
of coarse vituperation, those who regard the
marriage tie as sacred. ''Fhe lion in his
strength said he, meaning Richardson, 'and
in his own fastness, is able to defend himself;
but no sooner has the arrow of the huntsman
laid him low than he is set upon by every vile
thing every fly, every crawling worm Now
that he is down fresh flies are all around
about him, and death, that is to most men
truce to old enemies, is the very arraying of
the battle against him." 1t is not against the
dead seducer, but against y0u, Mr.. Beecher,
and such as you that the public indignation
is let loose on this truly mournful occasion.
Had you, and such as you, been con-
tent to cast a silent mantle of charity over
the erring, and withhold the public eulogies
by which you have shocked the sensibilities
of right-thinking people, there would have
been no OCCASION for you to stand deiantly
on the defensive, and interpose the perforated
corpse of your dead ''lion" as shield be-
tween you and the public censure. 1t is
against you and such as you that the scorch-
ing breath of incensed virtue is directed; you,
who, without the apology of temptation, free
from the passions which blinded those illicit
lovers, coolly insult a Christian community
by fulsome and indecent praises of their
guilty connection. But for you and such as
you, this terrible case would have operated as
an impressive warning; by your eulogies and
hold If
example.
The Indiana divorce was a fraud and a
sham. You married the parties knowing it
to be q mere Indiana divorce, procured on
er p0rt6 representations, without notice to
the offended husband in place distant from
the real residence of the parties. You know,
MIR. Beecher, and everybody knows, that Mrs
Mcfarland would not have dared to apply for
q divorce here in the State of New York,
where the parties resided and the facts would
have been investigated. In the eye of orr
laws and by the rules of our courts the mar
riage with Mcfarland has never been dis
solved; and your performance of the marriage
ceremony made you not only iustifer OF
seduction but an abetter of bigamy.
In the light of the sworn testimony taker
in McFarland's application for the custody oi
his children, this is as clear case of seduc
tion as was ever proved by evidence. The
that Mrs. Mcfarland applied to her for room
for Richardson, and that he came there il
consequence of an arrangement which she
had made for him. The room ad oined hers
and the inmates of the house testify that she
was frequently in it in the absence of her hus
band. All this might be innocent enough il
it were not for the light thrown back upon il
by the subsequent developments. She after
wards abandons her husband and puts her
self under Richardson's protection When hC
is wounded she goes to Mr.. Sinclairs hous,
and takes care of him, passes whole days anC
whole nights alone with him, bestowing tn,
most endearing caresses upon him, and per
mitting it to be understood in Mr.. Sinclair
family, and by other acquaintance, that sh
and Richardson were under an engagement
of marriage. 1t is impossible to resist tn
conclusion that she forsook her husband il
the expectation of marrying Richardson; tina
he had knowingly excited that expectation
and had thereby alienated her from her hus
band; and that the Indiana divorce-procure
probably by the friendly Intervention and as
sistance of Mr.. Colfax-was the consumms
tion of a purpose which had been forme
while the parties were occupying adjoining
rooms in Amity street.
And upon conduct such as this Mr. Beeche
bestows his blessing and benediction Witt
this history before the public in the shape O
sworn testimony, he had the effronterv t
stand up beside Richardson's corpse, and de
clare that ''both he, and she who is left I
mourn his absence, have always lived in
prudential manner! !"
THE VALUE OF THE CHINAMAN.
From the NJ Y. Times.
However difficult it has been for the repr,
sentative of any power to open negotiation
wit EmnarOr China a