The Portland daily press., 1874-09-10
TERMS $500 PER ANNUM IN ADVANCE

OF some one on whom, for any reason, the
worlds gaze is turned, and ii legal proceed
ings follow, there is no possibility Of prevent
ing the publication of every detail connected
with the matter. A prominence altogether
dlsproportloned TO its Intrinsic Importance is
thus frequently given to some unpleasant or
discredltable relation iniwhich a distinguished
parsonage may be involved; but in England,
even when the law demands publicity. -ea.
sonable limits of inquiry and of comment
are set by the very TACT that public Justice
has taken the controversy in charge, With
out the intervention of law, there is no ex-
cuse that would at present be admitted i'm
this country for the open discussion and un-
authorized investigation of scandal impli-
eating a man of em;nence. Whatever NAV
be the imperfections OF our legal system, il
does, to considerable extent, secure fair
hearing for man whose character is i'm
peached, and its decisions generally govern
the DRIFT OF public opinion. But the sort of
trial to which Mr.. Ward Beecher is now be-
ing subjected has no limitations whatever; il
is confined within no bounds, by regard eth
er TOR truth, or justice, or decency. GosSip
sits upon the judgment-seat, and every one is
by turas, or sometimes at the same moment,
Judge and advocate, jury and witness, report
er, commentator and executloner. Every
thing is evidence, and nothing is one whit
better evidence than another. The columns
OF hundred Journals are open for the recep-
tion OF a llm!tless mass of matter, which NAV
have no other relation of relevancy TO the
charge that is being tried than the caprice or
the cunning Of the editor who contriyes to
connect it with the exciting topic of the day.
There is no arrangement, no balancing OF
testimony; public opinion is formed upon iso-
lated statements of fact, or more often upon
mere statements of impressions, and day af-
fer daV each assertion nf IL
ged out OF its relation to the rest of the story,
gives footing for new movement of the
public mind. The newspapers surrender
themselves without scruple to the task of sat-
isfying the craving of the public appetite, and
in their competitive ardor they soon lose sight
OF the interests OF truth and justice. In a
short time, too, almost every person in the
motley jury OF millions, which IS the self
constituted tribunal that takes cognizance of
the cause, loses what little of the judicial
spirit he may have started with. Everybody
forms theory, and out of the mass of revei-
ant and irrelevant testimony is able 10 put
together statement of the case that will
square with his theory. The absence in
''trial by newspaper" Of any tests of the
relevancy or the trustworthiness of
the evidence adduced makes it next
to impossible to attain the truth in
this way; or ii one man chances
to reach certainty thus, his next neighbor,
arguing from different evidence differently
presented, and following different line Of
reasoning, is pretty sure to reach different
conclusion. So, in any case, the probabili-
ties of injustice are multiplied. But a worse
sort OF injustice is still more likely to follow
from the enormous disproportion of the pen
atty compared with the ofrense. Trial by
newspaper exercises no discretion in its
punlshments. 1t either acquits by acclama-
tion-and this it does seldom,-or it inflicts
upon the accused "a stain like wound"
Such stain, once flung upon the character
OF great leader OF men, or a revered public
teacher, is almost ineradicabe; ii unde-
served, it is a calamity of the most deplora-
BILE kind, for it not only paralyzes a force
that might be powerful for good, but it gen.
crates cankering distrust OF goodness ITSELF
and scoff1ng joy over the humiliation of
what seemed to be goodness.
This is one, and only one, of the demora-
lizing effects that would flow from the uni
versal adoption Of trial by newspaper The
direct contamination of the offensive details
with which the American newspapers fill
their columns is bad enough, but the exulta-
ton of base souls and narrow minds la the
fall and trampling under foot OF some charac-
ter that typlfied lpftier ideal of morals, or
a wider sweep of intelligence, than the creep
ing ethics or the purblind mental vision Of
''the herd" can tolerate,-this Is a disease
which strikes more dangerously and deeply
into the constitution CT community than q
mere appetite for literary garbage Tho
same ungenerous instincts that delight in
crying, "How are the mighty fallenr' make
themselves manifest also in a cruelty exult-
ing over the exhibition of domestic tortures,
of moral anguish, of the bitterest hatreds.
and the foulest treasons. We do not desire
to diminish by single jot the severity Of that
punishment, which is the heaviest and most
effective that can be applied to offenses
against public morals, the penalty OF publci-
ty; but the manner in which the penalty
should be applied, and the limitations neces-
sary to minimize the demoraizing Ell ct
upon the lower thought of tho community,
seem, in the United States, at any rate, to
require not little revision.