St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-08-07
Scandal i'm the Campaign.

We do not believe that the American
people will ever elect notorious liber
tine and profiigate to the office of
president of the United States. At all
events, we shall never lend our aid to
the election of such man. Presump-
tive evidence that Gov. Cleveland is
not such, is furnished by his election
as mayor of Buffalo and as governor
of New York without the breath of
suspicion that his character was of the
kind ascribed to him in the disgusting
story printed in the Buffalo Telegraph
and circulated in other ways; also by
the fact that the story when printed
caused almost as much surprise at Buff
falO as i'll other parts of the country.
A seducer and debauchee comes to be
known as such in his own neighbOr-
hood without mistake, and it is unIea-
sOnable to suppose that if such were
Gov. Cleveland's character, the best
people in Buffalo flor they were the
best and not the wOrst) should have
chosen him for the highest office in
their gift, and that the clergyman who
now writes to the Advance should
have remained dumb while all this i'm
morality was going on. The case
bears all the marks of an isolated and
lOng-past error, revived, not by any
aggrieved party, but for the purpose
of drawing attention away from Mr..
Blaine's railroad transactions, and ex-
aggerated and cOlored to suit the most
depraved tastes.
If it is intended TO set up a standard
which would have ruled Hamilton,
Iaf Nnh,t.,. (Hl,,-
ont of public life, the attempt will
hardly succeed. Nevertheless, we
shall not knowingly support seducer
or notorious protiigate for any high
office. The charge preferred against
Gov. Cleveland that he is a seducer is
made on its face impossible by the fact
that the charge relates to a widow.
The remaining allegations are that he
subsequently treated his "victim" with
cruelty by locking her up in an insane
asylum, and that i'll other ways he
acted dishOnorable part. All this
we venture to say, is lie. 1t has no
support whatever, lis not authenticated
10y any responsible person or anybody
who claims to know the real facts. 1t
is evidently put forth on the SUPPOSE
ton that, as there is one grain of truth
in the whole mass, and us there is IL
woman in the case who is, perhaps
leading respectable life, those who
know the real facts and who could
contradict the lies will keep silence foI
her sake, and in order to spare the
feelings of friends and relatives. There
are scoundrels base enough to work
upon this hypothesis. If this is the
basis and theory of the attack upon
Gov. Cleveland, as we believe it is, the
recOil upon its authors and promoters
will he something that they will re-
member long after the campaign is
ended.
We may add further, rs a valid
reason for not discussing an isolated
charge of this kind against any public
man, that there is no worse place for
the examination of such charge than
the columns of newspaper, and no
worse time than heated campaign.
We have too much respect for human
nature to insist that any respectable
man shall defend himself against such
an accusation through the columns of
the press, and everybody knows well
how many rascals stand ready to
invent or magnify such accusations
against anybody. even the purest, who
shows any sensitiveness to them.
Plenty of offers to cover Mr.. Blaine
with slime of this sort are already
atloat, but we trust, for the credit of
the American name, he will never be
called to meet any imputations but
those which touch his official conduct.
New York Evening Post, ind.