The Portland daily press., 1874-08-18
Historical Scandals.

''There were kings before Agamemncn,'
and there have been scandals before Mr..
Beecher was accused. Being Americans we,
of course, delight to call it "The Great Sean
dai.'' This is partly the effect of national
pride, which will not concede the Detailing of
even a greater misfortune elsewhere, and
partly OF perspective, which exalts the neigh
boring hill above the far-of mountain, and
makes the last storm "the most severe ever
experienced in this vicinity" while the last
murder is "the most atrocious in the annals
of crime" We are not disposed to under
rate the Beecher scandal. 1t will, no doubt.
be historical. Had he been proved guilty the
world would have felt the same amazement
at finding foul, sensual faint in spirit ap-
parently so sweet and pure and lofty, as it
does in contemplating the cosmic intelligence
of Bacon STOPPING to petty bride. And in
the glad yindcation he has achieved, we may
well conclude, independently of our national
weakness for 'smost remarkable things, that
there never was in the world SO villainoUs a
conspiracy TO break down the character of a
good man. Iago sacrificing The gentle Des-
demona to his revenge severely tries our ere
dulity. But here is man deliberately sacri-
ficing his own wife to his lust for notoriety
and sensation, and his hate of an upright
man who had been his warmest friend, when
the threats of such charges had ceased to be
pecuniarily profitable.
But even ecclesiastical scandals are not new.
In the Pere ia Chase cemetery in Paris repose
the ashes of those two medieval lovers, Abe
lard and Heloise, beneath the same stone
This is the very shrine of romance. To this
spot lovers of all modern ages and countries
turn their faces when they pray. Yet the
bodies and souls of the founder of Scholas-
ticism and MS beautiful pupil were tried by
fiercer storms of affliction and persecution
than swept over the Brooklyn pastor and his
fair parishioner. Abelard was greater
man in the eleventh than Beecher is in the
nineteenth century. BY his own confession
be was as great culprt as Beecher would
have been at worst, for the innocent girl en-
trusted to his care fell victim to his deliber-
ate Vaccinations. Yet he,as well as Heloise
was able to restore his fallen reputation in
after life, and to regain the respect of the
world and Of the church; though, to be sure,
the standard Of morality was not so high
then as now. There is another medieval
scandal of even earlier date which ha, crys-
talized into the myth of Pope Joan. This is
the most comical Of all scandals and probably
has for its foundation nothing better than
Protestant lie, devised for the purpose of
bringing discredit on the church of Rome.
But for centuries all good Protestants be-
lieyed that one Of the Popes was woman
and was delivered of child, whose father
was cardinal, during solemn ceremonial
of the church.
A remarkable feature Of many historic
scandals is the unsatisfactory and dubious re-
suit of them. Does the world yet know
whether Mary, Queen of Scots, was good
woman or wanton? And has not Mr..
Froude's last volume once more cast serious
suspicion on England's "Virgin Queen?
Will anybody ever know whether Napoleon
III was really Bonaparte? Victor Hugo
hurled at him the memorable apothegm, ''He
Is neither the son of his father nor the father
OF his SOM; but some allowance must be
maze Tor the Writer'S fierce democratic
wrath. IL is some thousands of years since
the association Of Pericles and Aspasia, and
we believe that, Notwithstanding the intro
duction of the ethical method in bisto,r
scholars have not yet decided whether tbeir
relations were platonic or otherwise. The
belief that Gen. Jackson loved not visaIv
but too we'll the wife of Gen. Eaton. his Soc.
rotary Of War, was once very prevalent but
it could show no very satisfactory grounds for
its existence. The trial of Queen Caroline
by the House of Lords was as fierce an in
QUESTION as was ever made into the character