New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-10-22

a household. have been morally justified In his
course of actiOnf
To illustrate this point, we may cite cele-
brated case In the English courts. Ten years
ago solicitor brought charges of glazing i'm
morality against the wife of a well-llnown Eng
lishman prominent in society, public life and
the Established Church. He had attempted
to extort money from her, but had finally made
his charges public and been prosecuted for
nbei in a police court During the trial, which
attracted general attention, as 81 her Ladyship
had been presented at Court and was q cOnspic-
uous figure in London society, the evidence
seemed to be going against the solicitor, ana
there was good prospect of his conviction.
Suddenly the prosecution was abandoned and
"her Ladyship" disappeared. Her guilt was
conceded on all sides, the common impression
being that she had hastily resolved upon Hight
OH being made acquainted with new evidence
which she would be pOwerless to refute. APP
parently tho solicitor had told the truth ana
expected to be cOmplimented by the bench tor
performing q public duty. In this respect he
was disappointed, for the magistrate turned
upon him with gesture of scorn and words Oh
loathing. ITO the end of your days, said he,
for your conduct in making these charges
u as part of your defence in this court, you will
probably be an object of contempt to all we'll
shrinking men,"
The magistrate was right. The English So
lictor was not justified, in a moral sense, in
telling the truth about this woman when there
was no provocaton for divulgins l.. She had
emerged from the period OF her guilt, had made
not only a reputable but brilliant marriage,
and was leading an honorable and useful life.
The effect of the malicious truth-telllDg was
to remand her to those evil courses which she
had abandoned The effect would have been
the same in the Prescott case, II the libel had
been sustained, as happily it was not. The
fact that the charge is true does not, rs
matter of course, justify mischievOus, wanton,
unprovoked and unnecessary defamation. 1t
NAV do so in courts of law, but it does not be-
fore the bar of public morals and Christian
ethics. The truth must often be blurted out,
and impoStors thieves and scoundrels be e1-
posed in private as well as public life ; but
not always. WantOn truth-teling in some in
stances is an outrage as deadly as the most
cunscienceless defamation.
Not long ago there was a most pathetic story
in our news columns. A convict escaping from
Sing Sing had settled in a neighbOring city,
turned over new leaf, earned an honest liv-
ing prOspered in business, and after several
years of reputable conduct asked a woman to
marry him. Not one of his acquaintance sus-
pected that he had ever been convicted of a
vulgar offence and confined in the State prison.
His conscience was sensitive. He did not con-
slider it honorable for him to marry under false
pretences, so he told the parents of his ali
81 10 trrt oil hot o had
never committed the offence for which he had
been punished but had been convicted on false
testimony. They Immediately sent for police
man, and the next morning the runaway con-
vict, whose innocence we are inclined to as
sumo, was on his way back to Sing Sing, and the
startling story was told with display-type in tie
local newspapers. 1t was the truth. cold and
cruel and it was more deadly in its way than
IL reckless and wanton libel would have been.
1t must have convinced that innocent man that
even if he had never been pickpocllet, it was
altogether too late to mend, that the stigma |
of that unjust conviction could not he removed |
by years of reputable living and persistent |
effort, that reformation did not render the
original charge any the less disreputable in the |
eyes of the world, and that the truth as told by
himself and those TO whom he had cOnfided it |
had blasted his prospects in life. Truth may |
be as poisonous barb MS calumny. Of course, |
this would be a better world if there were more |
truth-tellng; but it would be a still better |
world if there were less of some kinds
of truth telling. Indeed there are few things
which society can afford to dispense with so
readily as superhuous truth-truth that is told
wantonly. capriciously and maliciously-truth
that is as Improbable as it is unnecessary.