New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1876-02-17


here for benefit, and his friends of quar-
ter of a century should rally to his support.
A farce and the Royal Japs fill the bill at
the Academy of Music.
Mrs. Woodruff and Her Peculiar Theories.
Not the least remarkable of the revolu-
tiOns wrought in the sentiments, feelings
and conduct of the people Of this country,
and in the tpne of the public press, is that
which has taken place in respect to Mrs.
Victoria Woodruff and the peculiar theO-
ries of which she is the especial and distin-
guished exponent.
A few years since this lady was the object
at which the poisoned arrows Of slander,
cOntumely and scOrn from q thousand
quivers were directed. Every vile and dis.
graceful epithet within the vocabulary of
our language was hurled at her devoted
head. All that the ingenuity and malignity
of the most INSCRIPTIONS could devise WAS
done, not only to blacken and make infa-
nous her private character and drive her
from the public rostrum, but to make her
the one social Outcast in whose behalf
neither Justice should be invoked nor re-
spectful consideration be awarded.
With few honorable exceptions the en-
tire press of the country lent itself to the
ignOble work OF abusing and mallgnlng
this lady; attribnting to her sentiments she
never expressed or avowed-theOries she
was never in atfillation with, and charging
her with u.terauces which were foul libel
on every feeling Of her heart. Trampling
under foot every generous and manly teel-
ing, losing sight Of her claims upon them
as u woman and mother to courteous and
respectful treatment, the press every where,
in its zeal to pander to mOrbidly dis
eased public sentiment, left nothing un-
done to heap odium on her personal char
acter and make infamous her public
teachings. Nor was this all. The power
and authority of the federal government
must needs be invoked to aid in the nefa-
rious work of crushing this weak and de-
fenseless woman, whose only offense was
that she had stripped away the mask end
revealed in all it's hideOusness the sorrow
and suffering, the mental and moral abase-
ment that permeated the social life Of our
people. She had probed the outward seem
ing and discovered the leprOsy within; che
had torn from certain pampered social pets
the hypocritical cloak that concealed the
deformity of their actual lives and 10! the
government and press must rush to the
rescue, and by abusing the prerogatives of
each seek through defamation and abuse to
break the force of the truths uttered.
Had the evils go boldly declared by Mrs.
Woodruff to exist been but the tgment Of
a diseased brain; had it not been seen and
known of all men that her statements were
true: had not both men and women in the
privacy of their own homes admitted the
absolute necessity for some radical change
in our present social system, there can be
no doubt but that this lady, under force of
all the appliances used for her destruction,
mud Dhave been driven into an Obscurity
from which che could never again have
hoped to emerge.
But what do we see9 Mrs. Woodhull-
who but few years ago was the target at
which thousand envenOmed shafts were
aimed, againet whom myriads of tongues
were wagging and myriads of pens ecrib-
bling, who was held up as cOnsummate
moral leper gainst whom every mans voice
and hand should be raised, who could lind
only second rate halls in which to be allowed
to declare what her views really were, and
had these most UNANIMOUSLY distorted-is
today admitted to be engaged in a great
and noble work. No longer Stunned, her
society is sought By the best and purest in
the land, and from being an object of
yituperation and abuse she has become one
of courteous and respectful attention at the
hands of all No longer driven into obscure
garrets and out-of-the-way halls, she finds it
impossible to comply with one twentieth OF
best audiences in the land. An end has
come to misrepresentation, too; and now the
press everywhere discovers an eagerness to
acquaint it's readers with the views Of this
lady as declared by herself.
This change, go creditable to the people
and press OF the country, can not fail OF be-
ing especially gratifying to Mrs. Woodruff.
She has battled against the moet tremen-
dous odds and won . signal triumph.
Through contumely and scorn; through sad
ness, imprisonment, and tears; through
never faltere1, but with q courage and he
rOism born of conscious rectitude of pur-
pose has devoted herself with singular fidel-
ity to the work of regenerating her race
and lifting the fell incubus which has we'll
nigh crushed out all purity from the social
life of our people.
In the relentless storm of obloquy
through which she has passed, IN the deep
est gloom that has enveloped her steps, in
that has come upon her life, this lady has
never for one moment allowed her faith in
final vindication of her own character
and the correctness of her principles to BE-
shaken And that vindicati0n has come;
not in the general acceptance of her views
perhaps, but in the acknowledgement Of
their right to respectful consideration, and
in the disposition everywhere manifested to
admit that Mrs. Woodhull's advocacy of
them in no sense derOgAtes from her claim
to recognition as a lady.
1t is gigantic step forward in the direc-
tion of solving this vexed social problem
when the best men and women in the land,
admitting the necessity for it's candid dis
cussion, no longer malign those who devote
themselves to that behalf; when there Is q
disposition to call things by their right
names, and demand that the standard Of
moral excellence TO which one class is re-
quired to measure up shall be that BY which
:he lives of all classes must be judged.
With the advent of this new era, Mrs.
Woodruff will fill altogether q different
place in the estimation of the public from
that which ignorance and malice have
hitherto assigned her. From being de-
nounced as the enemy of q wise, pure, and
we'll organized social system, she will be
recognized ss among the ablest of those
who have striven to establish it; FROM being
thought inimical to the sanctity of home,
she will be looked on az prominently the
advocate of unions that shall be unto death
as the upbuilding Of homes on whose affairs
will ever be enthroned . desthless and
changeless love; and from the lips OF many
who have denounced and abused her will
come forth blessings ON her name.-St.
Louis Journal.