Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1885-11-22
To the Editnrs Of tho Arrc,I.


Dur ng the rev lati MS Of the PaH MaH Go-
7,ifs the APryAL manifested great interest. 1t
took occas on time after time to insult resident
social system. EUglishm, II Of rank, collective
ly, hput exception, Were represented as mon
stcrs of immoral ty, hide us "iepers.' Now, il
ID mo- unknown that this class of u en- in England
will compare most inyorably in all those quail les
WHICH couSti'uts gentlemen, with any other class
Again: Ii was compaccut'y Photographed that
Editor Stead was ere { admirer OF the Amer
lean method in urnalism, his unblushng Oh
scenity, l suppose being an example Of that
Ii is not denied that Stead had good motives;
hut II is well known turt he flooded the English
speaking world with indecency, and his hna
all good men.
In vies Of an that is pas, how does the APPEAL
IN tify ITS cuurso in thus circulating aud approx
rug shameful falsehoods and filthy accounts of
HUGH THORNTON.
Iasrsr.-Mr. Thornton ia as much mis-
taken as to the fairness, frmness and
courage Of the APPEAL as he is in the con-
structiou he puts upon Mr.. S,ead's prose
cuiiou aud punishment. Mr.. Stead is in
the Middlesex jail not because he pub
lished what Mr.. Thornton terms "his un-
blushing obscenity," but because he il us
trated by example the methods adopted
by the Jlase old roues who, in London,
make it primal purpose Of their lives to
purchase young girls for lewd and libidi-
nous purposes. In accomplishing this
purpose Of illustration and realization
MIR. Stead played into the hands of his
enemies, and 50 fell just that much short
OF following the example Of the
American journalism which, in the
Pal Mall Ga,sHe he himself stated he
admired. MIR. Stead did a great, good
work by his exposures in that paper; a
work indorsed by Cardinal Manning and
the Archbishop of Canterbury, as high
authority as even Mr.. Thornton could ask
for. Asto the British aris.ocrscy we have
only to refer Mr.. Thornton to the lives oi
the four Georges, the S,usrts, including
the ossa whom Cromwell behesded, and oi
Henry VIII. The Greville memoirs are q
rich expose, but tar richer is the history
that traces the descent OF some of the ex-
isting ilustrious houses from the bastaTds
of the "Merry Monarch" But richer still
even than that as proof for Mr. Thornton
is the long list Of crim con. cases supplied
bv the immoral sr.stocracy that was fol
centuries 2 privileged class in more senses
than one The hack-ltlir revelations o.
Queen AIMS reign would be much more
obscene reading than Mr.. Stead has fur
nished, and to 20 10 farther, the
house Cf Marlborough rests on {
foundation OF rotteunes5 and corruption
OF course all this is exceptional and no
general sven with the aristocrscy. There
are nobemen in Englsnd in both senses
of tue word. men Ilu-tTious as examples
of purity of life and intellectual worth
aud there have been such in all the year
during which Eaglsnd has had an exist
enee a a nation and the class called gen
tlemenr especially cannot be surpassed by
sny similar in any ether country for higl
breeding and moral worth. They have 81
ways upborne England's name, the proud
est in contemporary history for the pur
pose in civilization Ola great nation. o
these and OF all worthy EAglishmeI
Americans ere Justly prond as &insmel
beyond sea.