Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1885-07-22
why Americans are Deeply Interested
In the London Scandal.

". 4. Oe0.
We are not surprised at the widespread
and poignant interest excited on this sid =
of the Atlantic by the CHASTITY disclosures OF
pstrician vice in London. The feryent sp-
prevail Of the course pursued By the Pail
Mall Gazette, in which the most honored
representatives of English Christianity con-
cur, is echoed here by the clear sighted and
pure.minded men and women who sway the
Judgment and the sympsthies Of the Ameri-
can community. Our people know when
s0eamishness means modesty, and when 1t
means hypocrisy, and they can see that de-
prayi,y 80 rsmi6ed and contumscious IS
that which rears its head in Parliament and
browbeats the metropolitan police can be
dealt with only in one way, namely, oy such
merciless exposure as shall shame the courts
of Justice and the officers of Government
into resolute, impartial assertion OF their
punitory powers
II is no less plain to those whose sbhor-
renee of iniquity is genuine and who would
safeguard our society from the pollution to
De feared through the persistent mimicry Of
the British aristocrscy, that for Us as we'll as
Enghshmen the London scandal was 8
hing to be blurted out, not glazed over, a
thing to be unhinchingly laid bare in all its
devihsh significance and strocious details,
not extenuated, shrouded. and hushed up
by vague, eouivoeal illusions and pithless
gtnerslities. What our people needed to
behold in this instance was the concrete
gravamen ofthe charge, the text of the ter.
rble Indictment launched BY the Pail Mall
Gazette against the rich and titled profit
gates, who in spite of seeming concessions
to decorum and reform have continued
to dominate and de6le the British nation.
The details of the internal organization
whose existence has been conclusivelY estsb-
hshed by the Investigating Commission,
were indispensable not only to recognition
of the vast revolutionary import of the
Pail Mall exposures, but also to compre'
hension Of the opportune and solemn warn
irg which they should convey to US. Since
the Diamond Necklace" affair By uncover.
ing the shocking impurity of Versailles
dealt the ultimate and crushing blow to the
French aRcisa regime, Europe has beheld
no incident pregnant with more tremendous
consequences than the inquisition forced
upon the British heart and conscience by
the Pail Mall Gazette. Nothing but for
eign war. on which the nations fate should
be suspended, can block the work of expurga-
ZION and retribution now begun. War itself
could but for briet period postpone the
ruthless demolition ofthe British aristocracy
and the complete reconstruction of Eng.
lands political and social fabric. Ii
bodies i'll tor privilege and title, and for all
the power and influence built upon proscrip-
ton and prestige, that the infamous en-
ployment of these gifts will for some months
to come be bruited from pull pit and from
rostrum, until the lowly millions, who next
autumn will be summoned for the first time
to the ballot box, feel that at last God is on
their side.
Here in this country we are, or trust We
are, as yet uncursed by such scourge ofor-
gsnized stupration as has for years wrought
havoc in the homes of London's poor. But
how long can we reckon on such happy i'm
munity from systematic devastation in
presence of the myriad eosdjutants to the
multiphI alton of great fortunes, the
tendency of the opulent and idle to
ggregation in large cities, and their noto'
torious propensity to emulate the luxury
and the vice of foreign capitalist After all,
if we look sharply at the facts, the upper
class in England is less an aristocracy of
birth than an olgarchy ofwealth. Well,
are there not parts of our own country
which seem fast drifting into the clutch ola
plutocrscy2 and who knows but New York,
like London, may even now hsrbor men who
look upon the virtuous poor as the prey Of
their foul appetites, and who, could they
once acquire the British assurance of impu-
nifty, might essay the preparation of like re-
voting crimes2