The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1881-02-24
MORAL unlrHMAan.

toroal characters by their bioGraphers, with
tho object Of nskIug them appear 70 be q
very respectable, decent kind Of people, that
we think may appropriately DO cslled 'p"'
clio, Of moral whitewash, as II IS giyon II
the intention of renewing their blotches End
b iding some serious deiocts-just rs n coat,
or several coats Of whitewosbing are given to
hide soiled and defaced wall-the elior! 10
make that which is black and foul appear
tolerably white and clean. Those who are
fond of high sounding words call Il tho pro-
cess of rehabilitation, or putting that which
had become distorted bsck into It's true
form. Ia the front rank of these white
washers" stands Lord Macauey, who en-
beavers to persuade us That the man whose
name we have been accustomed to think OF
as synonymous of treachery and decait'
has been misunderstood and msrepre
sented. He tells US that Machiavelli was
true patriot. and that in all his schemes and
vaccinations, the motive that moved him
was the good Of his country--thst in every
thing he did, how best to advance she inter-
ests of the nation, was his first thought and
desire. Then, too, the general temper and
! custom of the dimes in which he lived are
| not sufficiently considered. The lying, the
double dealing, the sub!ilty and prevarics-
ton, that have made his name notorious,
were characteristic of that period and of those
BY whom ne was surrounded, consequently
he must not be condemned with the came
severity with which we treat our own CO.
temporaries, and very properly, too, in our
present honest and straightforward age.
Such things ia those days were the rule, not
the exceptions. And 1t is human nsturo to
be more or less influenced by the people
about us, end the age in which we
live. So if Mschiavell was lying
and treaeherous, it was for the well
fare OF his country, and the means that
he took for her good must be overlooked in
the motive that actuated him. A genuine
patriot is always admirable of whatever ns-
tionalty he may be. Among the other
doubtful characters that need considerable
whitewssh to brighten them up into Ordinary
decency, comes the royal and very much
married Henry the Eighth; and Mr.. Ffoude,
the historian, has undertaken the rather %
erous task, trying to prove that after a he
was not so vers bad husbar9 md perhaps
he does prove ito his own satisfaction
We are asked to credit him with real aUd
sincere cocsciectious acruples in getting rid
of some of his unhappy wives, (after he had
tired of them) and if he did go rather too far
bringing some of his unfortunate and
helpless victims to the BLOCK, and thus rid
ding himself of them, to make way for osn-
ers, it cannot be denied that they coursed
their fate, in giving him great prov.
ocation. He was led estray
by the force of circumstances
and taking everything into consideration,
and making due allowances, be vas about as
generous and kiod-hesrted as could be OK
pee ed And so "bJuf King Hal" is rehaoli-
tsted, and receives his coat of whitewash.
1t is neither strange nor wrong that avery
reasonable effort should be mais to shisd
the reputation aud redeem it, OF genius
such as Goethe, bus the whitewash must NOS
be laid on 80 thick 80 to conces all evidence
of the original material, no matter how
charitable or prsissworthy the motive may
be- And tina. he did write some very silly
aud very wicked letters, hi. greatest "dvo-
Gates and admirers must admit. Also, that
L IL onud wall
do to corrupt the times in which he lived,
wrote and acted. Il is not strange either shat
Byron's host of admirers should pu! in tbe
plea that such an extraordinary genius as his
should not be judged by the same rules that
we apply to ordinary intell0cts. He drank
a great deal of liquid, which was
stronger than water, it is true, and
it cannot be denied that ne
wrote some very wicked and immoral verses,
bot probably we are indebted to that babit
of induIging in strong drink, for come OF his
too imprisoned poetry-if that is any ex-
cuse. And, too suppose that he did sbuse
his wife, and afterwards desert her? She
was probably most trying and aggrsvsting
and deserved sll she got-she could not baye
been congenial, nor spprecistive; then why
not put her out of his life, why allow her to
clog that transcendani genius, on account ct
which we must make every allowance posi- |
BILE foT the evil that was ia hin. Coleridge,
another intellectual giant, msu Of thought,
poet philosopher, theologisn--not m'ny
have done more 70 form and stimulate the
mind of the age than he. Bat, alssl his
frsilties were almost as conspicuous as his
virtues. Would that they had never boon
revealed In cur opinion no one needs 70
be more charitably judges. s.thsn he
no one more teDderly treated. In
his case a lite whiiewssh is not objec-
tionsble Poor Edgar A. Poe hiss been isiore
sssiduously whiiswashed and .blackwash,d
thsn any. Sull, in our opinion, be deserves
mo e COMMUNICATION than censure. Pecg-
i-rly constituted and orgsnizef, his genius
WAS without question, and il would have