New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-11-28


I SURRENDER To PUBLIC SENTIMENT.
Mr.. Abbey has taken the public by surprise.
While the Corporation Counsel was, perhaps,
busy with his books considering the question
whether the Common Council could regulate
public amusements so far as to forbid the
production of a play which many call sac
religious and few insist would be religious
and while various clcrgymen, from Mr.. Tai
mage to DR.. Newman were no doubt ponder
ing what they should say OF it on the morrow,
the manager whose plans had aroused this
storm of protest had abandoned them. lie
communicates his decision to the public in a
letter we print elsewhere. His reason Is
frankly set forlh--that, as a manager depen-
dent upon the GOODWILL of the public, he
does not propose to fly in the face of the
sentiment of the community though 1t be, III
his OPINION, mistaken one This is not, perhaps,
the most exalted view that might be taken
of the matter, but Mr. Abbey unquestiOnaLly
proposed to produce the Passion Play for
practical reasons and it need astOnlsh no one
to learn that his reasons for concluding not
10 produce il are practical also. The letter
lays stress upon the statement that he had i'll
tended to devote all the surplus receipts over
the ordinary expenses to the benefit Of the
Door. If this intention had been generally I'M
dcrstood it would have modified somewhat
the feeling of the public-not with respect to
the play, but with respect to Mr.. Abbey's
motives III presenting 1t. He must have
credit for the intention, as well as for his
PROMPT submission to the popular verdict.
II is satisfaction to think that no one will
ever again propose Passion Play IN this
city-peIhaps not in this country. We said
yesterday that while there would be a uni
versal demand for legal action upon the sub
ieci if the Common Council should be found
to possess the power it would be a much
more effective rebuke if the play should be
produced and tail because self-respecting peO-
pie would not go to see 1t. a still more singing
rebuke has been given now. The play VIII
not be seen because Mr.. Abbey read in the
press, in the utteTauccS of the pulpit, and in the
indignant protests of actors and managers, the
signs of coming disaster. He foresaw failure
so clearly that he would not even attempt the
experiment. The seal of public displeasure is
set upOn such q dramatic representation more
firmly than if the municipal authority had
eniomcd it, or than If ii had been brought
out and had starved to death. And the seal
has cut so deep that it ought to last for all
time.
One element in this demonstration should
not be overlOoked-the fact that some
of the most earnest circumstances on
the subject came from the profession
with which Mr.. Abbey is connected
Managers have protested. not only be-
cause they felt that an injurious reaction
against the stage would follow such an aiiront
to a Christian city, but on higher grounds.
Actors, conspicuous among them Edwin
Booth, have denounced the project unSpar-
ingly; and now the offending manager HIM
self accepts their judgment. 1t is pleasant to
think that the result Is, in part, the work of
the men and women of the stage. 1t Will
strengthen them in the good opinion of our
people, and remind us all that the worthy
members of the profession do not always re-
ceive as large a share OF the general esteem
as they da serve.