The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-12-04
TWO RECKLESS LIBELERs.

Two remarkable ISLANDERS have been uttered
upon their respective peoples by distinguished
if not representative men, the one promi-
nent journalist of Paris, the other an cello
quent7 preacher in Brooklyn. Both these ut
terances were made on Sunday last, Paul de
Cassagnac speaking for publication, and I.
Dewitt Talmage for the edifcation of his aud
itors and such as might find his words in the
daily press. Speaking of the Hughes NORM
assassination, the former said: ''What care l
for the body of an assassin of honor7 Norm
was murderer. In France, if people would
earn the right to look their neighbors in the
face, they must be ready to slay." Mr.. Tai
IMAGES SANDER, while less bold-less ''honora-
be-" because less courageous-is none the
less insulting because uttered as an innuendo
He said: II wish that somehow our next
Congress might take the 800, 0O0 900 of sur
plus in the United States Treasury which the
Republicans did not steal and before the
Democrats get a chance to steal it, and in
some way expend it in establishing new lines
of shipping" etc. 1t is easy to discover why
NJ. Cassagnac should be guilty of such
an insult to the French peo-
pie and to modern civilization.
A bully and freebooter in Partisan society
and in the politics of France, instant to take
umbrage and constantly seeking cause for re-
elimination, generally expected to eliminate
in meeting in the Bots or across the Belgian
frontier, it may be understood why he should
wish to bring others into the same category
with his selfish brutal self. To earn the right
to look neighbor in the face, one must be
ready to slay Was ever doctrine moro
monstrous2 1t speaks the spirit of
the era of Caligula and Nero De
nouncing the dying assassin of character"
he eulogizes in the same breath the assassin
of life This is a remarkable not to say in
famous, commentary on civilization as under
stood and enjoyed in France The naked
African, with his knotted club and boomer
ang could scarcely conceive of anything more
brutal and uncivilized. Civilization, accord
ing to the brilliant, but erratc Partisan journ-
alist, is at best truce to barbarism, and if any
in society would 'earn" the right to look a
neighbor in the face he must be ready to COM
nit murder. This is what makes
Cassagnac, at least in his own es-
TEEN, so eminentiy respectable, for he
earned responsibility by repeated attempts
at staying. NJ Cassagnac deceives himself
when he imputes such savagery to the require
ments Of civilized society. He may swell in
his own Importance, and strut and buster,
and ''look his neighbor in the face" But for
all that, the very neighbor into whose eyes he
impudently stares, recognizes in it and in him
nothing but the bully and braggart, devoid of
all the instincts of gentility and manly selfre-
spect. His opinion of society is of little value
to anybody except as revealing the views of
a murderous man Of honor.
1t is more difficult to explain or apologize
for the little less libelous, but more cowardly,
utterance of Mr. Talmage Officiating as pas
tor of a large and intelligent church organiza
ton, it is naturally expected that he should
preserve that honorable and dignifed equi-
poise so becoming and so essential to a man
occupying the position he does. 1t goes with
out saying, however, that Mr.. Talmage is
excitable, as well as outre and eccentric. His
own ''aie ale" have often wrought him
up to fervor or frenzy of re-
ligious excitement in which his utter
auces are incoherent. if not indefensible. But
how he could so far forget himself as to even
are but thieves, to trust whom is but to invite
defalcation, is hard to comprehend "The
800, 900, 900 that the Republicans did not
steal is but a small portion of the thousands
Of millions that have been collected and dis
bursed by that party, and with that scrupu
lous fidelity to every trust that has reduced
the losses from all causes to the minimum, so
that our public service is unquestionably the
best in the world, so far as official honesty is
cOhcerneu' 1here Is TIE odre possibility tHat
Mr. Tamage, in the first clause of the SEN
tence quoted, put stress OH the adverb mot"
and not on the noun implied in the sum
named; so that instead of intmating that the
800, 900 900 was only that portion of public
treasure that escaped Republican rapacity, he
meant to refute the partisan charges that the
administration was dishonest 1t is probable
however, that he was swept away by his own
'eloquence," and catching from memory the
thought suggested by false accusations against
Republican officials, he classed all public men.
officials present and prospective, as