The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-09-13

all go to swell the strength of alien or |
Indifferent powers. If there had been no |
Canada and no Australia, there might have |
been more Fenians in the United States. The |
sense of dignity which the connection with |
her gives to the colonist is compensated by
the corresponding sense of empire which so
often saves English politics from that vul-
garity to which they seem naturally prone.
The distinction between these cases and those
other services which the colonists seem to
expect from the mother country is that the
latter seem to be all on one side. If the
writers of this circular can disprove this appa-
rent difference, they will do great deal to
advance their cause.
MRS. STANTON ON THE BYRON CASE.
From the NJ Y World.
If the illustrious poet-ord who died at
Missolonghi half century ago is permitted
still to contemplate the affairs of the world
across which he famed like a meteor and
upon which the after glow of his transit yet
rests. he must, even in his spiritual estate.
experience some of the earthly emotions of
bewilderment and wonder. The sorcery of
his name has done what the lever of Arch-
medes would have attempted if the philoso-
pher could have found basis for his fulcrum
1t has moved the world. Probably no man
of the later generations whose ashes have
been blown about by the winds of five decades
retained a stronger hold upon the hearts
of mankind. Although dead in the flesh his
spirit was alive and alight, like the lamp in
the urn of Polybius. He ruled us from his
grave, like the dead and sceptred sovereigns
of whom his song dscourses. The rehearsal
true or false, of his misdeeds has awakened
tempest of indignation which blows round
the world. All hands are outstretched to
shield his memory from contumely. He was
not saint and contemporary censrlre was
natural enough. But death condoned his
errors, and there remained in the minds of
men throughout all lands and attitudes
only the vision of the singer with his singing
robes around him and the memory of his
immortal song. 1t is not strange that the
attempt to roll the stone away from his
grave, and cast therein a posthumous bill of
indictment, should awaken the indignant re-
sentiment and animadversion of the world.
The unanimity with which Mrs Stoves
public action is condemned makes any de-
Tense of it notable, and, for this reason alone,
we gave place to a manifesto of eXculpatory
sort from Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton, which
will be found elsewhere. 1t will not fatigue
the reader by its conference, He will rise
from its perusal with that agreeable sense
of incertitude as to the writer's meaning
which is, perhaps, the pleasantest fruit of
literary recreation. In a general way, the
writer seems to desire to shelter Mrs. Stowe
from the censures which her indecent essay
have brought upon her. But she takes a
roundabout way of eXculpation, and involves
the question in a whole labyrinth of other
questions which have nothing to do with it,
Whatever Mrs. Stanton may think the Byron
scandal is not suitable text upon which to
build discourse touching the relations of the
sexes and the necessity of revising them by
statute. This latter theme engages, of late
the attention of some of the foremost thinkers
in the world. For Mrs. Stanton to invade
the council where these deep-browed philoso-
| piers sit serenely upon their tripods, endea-
voring to disentangle the inextrcable and
solve the insoluble is perhaps natural enough
| in view of her well-knOwn earnestness and
| energy of character. She would beard the
| Archangel Michael, or clamor amid the Am
| phictyons, OF contradict the seven wise
men of Greece, if her humor seemed
to impel her to these courageous eX-
| ercises. We don't think she helps the
question which she tries to advocate
very sensibly, and she puts in only very
| feeble plea for Mrs. Stowe Like most women
| and many men, she is inconsecutive, and
| when her discourse ceases to be turbid it
foams into platitude She thinks, for exam
| pie, that the statements Of Mrs. Stowe must
| be true, because in womans subject, de-
| graded condition she has no protection in the
| heart of man." Is this Mrs. Stantons idea of
evidence? She might as well adduce in proof
of the chastity of Mary of Scotland the fact
| that no plums grew in Devonshire in the year
| of the Armada. The truth or untruth Of Mrs
| Stoves revelations is to be determined, like
any other question of the sort, upon the
specific testimony brought forward in support
of the charges, Where testimony fails, each
mind will adjudge the probability to suit
| itself. No general propositions touching the
| inherent sinfulness of mankind nor the sub
ject attitude of women can help to its sou-
ton in the least The mild, illogical old
patriarch who thought that Tenderden steeple
| was the cause of the Goodwin quiclIsands,
| because they never vexed the harbor till after
the spire was built, had about as clear a per-
ception of the validity of evidence. OF of rea-
soning from premise to conclusion, as Mrs.
Stanton evinces.
There is one sentence in Mrs Stanton S
letter which leads us to believe that she
sometimes uses language without any ade-
quate sense of its import. ''rhe true rela-
ton of the sexes is the momentous question
at this stage of our civilization, and Mrs
Stowe has galvanized the world to it's con-
sideration. 1t is a question, too, on which
woman will have word to say; and verify
the world will stand appalled, she reveals
the tragedies of home-life, where the Bea-
trice Cencis struggle to-day in nets set by
their own household" This is a very omi-
nous style of writing Does Mrs. Stanton
believe that the dark and mournful story
of Beatrice has frequent parallels nova
5 days? If she has any evidence OF the sort,
she ought to convey it to the authorities en-
powered to punish crime; if not, she suIpasses
the lady she has undertaken to detendln the
raclElaCSOaSs oO5 inHaoaOoU Of her aVGrmentS.