The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1872-02-26

USDDeseu IN tu0 ternko-heiotW ." Tuu.
Tic Opinion.
We print this morning an extraordinary
story. The history Of Erie has many fo-
mantic-many villanous features, and the
strange chapter elsewhere published will
throw food Of light upon the extraordinary
methods by which great corporations strive to
control public opinion, and the still stranger
facility with which a newspaper press may
become an instrument for evil in the hands Of
bold and ambitious men. A revelation Of this
kind will do more to clear the atmosphere,
and show the Vaccinations of the desperate
men who would make themselves masters of
public opinion, of the Legislature and the
press, than any contribution that could be
made to the discussions of to-day.
| With the worthless Bohemian who makes
this confession we have nothing to do. He
represents his vile Bohemian class. A great
journal like the HERALD is served by all
classes of men-adventurers and gentlemen,
spies and scholars, mountebanlss and thinkers.
There is class, of which this man is an
example, who thrive on infamy. As a
|
rates vermin and typhoid and noxious
vapors, so an atmosphere tainted with crime
and bribery calls into life all manner of
vagaponds and scoundrels. There might be
moral deduced from all this. When people
wander from the straight paths of rectitude and
| honor, when men feel that there is devious
road to wealth and power; when distinction
and profit can be gained by the processes
which gave Rob Roy and Jack Sheppard
notoricty and power; when it is possible for
| an influence like Erie to rise into
power in a season and absorb the functions of
something wrong in public opinion We see
! an example of what might be called moral
| epidemcs in history. The Roman republic
was founded by austcre and virtuous men.
The time came when luxury took the place OF
probity and crime superseded law, and it
was a blessing to mankind when the rude and
warke tribes of barbarous Europe overrun
the empire, stamped it out of an infamous
existence and established upon the ruins the
noble nations of France and Germany. We
saw reaction from one of these epidemics,
the rise of the Commonwealth in England.
The reign of the corrupt Henry and the fool
ish Charles with the absence of manly honor
and patriotism, the development of an ambi-
tious Church, the establishment of Star
Chamber and the violation of the prlnci-
Piles of Magma Charta were followed by
the severe reign of Cromwell, when
a king went to the block and the
ancient castles of noblemen were battered to
the ground, and Ireland and Scotland were
harried and smitten. We saw what France
became under the Regency. Luxury, |
pomp, folly, prostitution, infamy, cowardce |
reigned in high places, and the armies Of |
France were marched to defeat and shame at |
the bidding of Pompadour. But France
arose. The Revolution came like the lava
which swept from Vesuvius, and out of the
bloody and murky flames Of this wonderful
time, with their massacres and executions and
upheaval Of society, we see even now-lumi-
nous and beautifnl-the brave and virtuous
forms of Roland and Vernigaud and Carnot
There came nobler and purer public senti-
ment-a France that became the arbiter of
Europe, and but for the reckless ambition of
the First Bonaparte might have retained the
mastery until to-day.
Is it possible that America is passing through
he same ordeal; that we are at the end of
We are afraid that the darkest pages Of Roman,
English or French history will not surpass what
our own history has shown in the last ten
years. What Casarism did for Rome, and
Bourbonism for France, slavery has done for
America. We saw power grow up in the
into our politics, our society and our religion.
Public honor was debauched. Men and women
were bought and sold, and families torn asun-
der for purposes of merchandise The manners
of the plantation were introduced into our
legislative and official life. Then came the
war as great purifying infuence--to be to
America what the invasion of the Gauls
proved to Rome, the rise Of Cromwell to
England, the outburst Of the Revolution to
France. But every war brings evils. After the
Revolution came Bonaparte and Imperialism.
After Cromwell we had the Restoration and
the Stuarts. So after our own war we had the
whiskey Ring and Tammany Hall and Erie.
The history of these stupendous frauds will
always form q dismal page in our records
The love of money and the unsettIing of So
ciety generated the frauds upon the revenues,
when even great government threw up its
hands aud confessed that it was unable to en-
force its laws-when Senators were bought
and sold, as We saw In impeachment-wbe
Legislatures were bought and sold, as we saw
in Kansas and Pennsylvania. With this came
the prodigious and fearful rise Of Tammany,
which ruled New York, sat in the chair Of
In. 81 al, .oI To oh fbo