New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-04-25
NEW YORK DAILY TRIBUNE, THURSDAY, APRIL Is, 1878

TO leave sour and rancid taste in every
readers mouth each day of the week, and to
convince mankind that whatever is, is wrong
1t never builds up anything, but is constantly
pulling something to pieces. Whether 1t at
tacks public institutions or private reputa-
| tons, it acts like corrosive acid upon pub
! lie morality and private virtue. Its methOdS
are well illustrated in the case OF the octO-
genarian Bishop of Michigan Here Is man
of advanced age and unblemished reputation,
who has been faithful to his charge for forty
two years. He resigns his Office on the score
of bodily infirmity and old age, and takes
passage for Europe. AT once, every scandal
mOnger stands with distended nOstril and
sensual leer and snulfs social carTiOn from afar.
Suddenly the Bishops reputation is blackened
with scandal nastier than prairie mud or
Chicago filth. His guilt is assumed from the
outset he is denounced as "mitred leper,"
and his "amorOus epistles" are linked to-
gether with garing headlines, just as highly
favored sausages are tied together with pink
strings and the religious community to which
he belongs, as well as the Christian min
istry OF all denominations, is insulted
day after day by such title-lines as They
call do it," "Jacks in the Pulpit
"The Reverend ROSTERS" and the like
Clergymen and public men are button-holed
and crOss-examined; special dispatches are
ordered from every town in Michigan, and
what our correspondent calls the sensation
" of the hour is worked up. The Bishop Is
accused, tried and condemned by newspaper,
and there is general hilarity and gOdlessness
and we doubt not that if the case should ever
be taken into the courts and set before a
jury, there are journals that would sum up
the case in pamphlets, and assume an nfalil-
bility in passing judgment on the evidence
that will hedge close upon Divine omnls-
cience.
Now, we do not affirm that the Bishop of
Michigan is guiltess We certainly think that
his piotracted service in his church and his es-
tablishcd reputation for integrity and picty
ought to count for something, and that he
ought not be condemned in advance without
trial, without hearing, and without respon-
sible accuseT. Who has brought these charges
against him The Presiding Bishop? Oh no.
The standing committee Of his diocese
Not at all. The husband or father or
brother of the woman whose morals he Is
accused Of debauching BY no means.
The giddy creature herself7 On the contrary,
she denies her guilt and his, and maintains
that the letters which she received from him
were not unchaste His accusers are utterly
irresponsible, whatever may be the truth or
fal,ity of the charges. Our correspondent
wastes breath in insnuating that we are
shielding an Episcopalan sinner" 1t hap
pens that the men and women who read The
TRIBUNE do not cry ont to us with one ac-
cord, Z" Give us this day our daily smudse"
We know from the high character of the
bench of Bishops in the Protestant Episco-
pal Church that the accused will be brought
to the bar, if the charges against him have
any weight. Meanwhile, we suspend judgment
and keep our columns free from unnecessary
filth.