Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-12-26
London Scandal.

fFpW tNc EcFtNtHftetH heNttHs
Apart from politics, the fine arts, liter
allure, Shakespeare, and the musical
glasses, there are two subjects which IN
terest ladies and gentlemen during the
London and the country house season
more than any others. One is sport, the
other is scandal. The scandals discussed
with such avidity, swallowed in every de-
tail with Infinite gusto, invariably hinge
upon breaches of the seventh command
ment. II man Is caught cheating at
cards the incident is hushed up as quietly
as may be, and the culprit disappears.
That's too serious a matter for tittle-tat-
tie, because the public opinion Of society
is against cheating at cards But 1t is not
in the same degree against the violation of
this particular article OF the Decalogue.
And so not only the more volatile spirits,
the frivolous butterflies OF bOudOirs and
smoking rooms, the mere trifles, but the
eminently serious and respectable, the
husbands and wives who have never CIV
en- handle to calumny, severest OF ma
| irons and the chastest of maids, gossip
about infidelities and the rumOrs of inf
| delities imminent or accomplished, which
may wreck homes, with as much zest as.
if they understood French sufficiently
well, they would chuckle over the
scarcely yelled indecencies. the in
nuendos, and equIvOques of a play by
Halevy or Albert Milhaud. What is the
storyi What do people say? Is there any
truth at all in it? What will be the end
OF iti How was it done, wnen, why, and
where1 Is it a serious liaison or 1eetng
| plat0nic affair ?-these are the points on
which the most rigidly decorous Of Eng
| fish men and women like N conversation
to dwell. In other words. the derilectiOns
| of social duty, which according TO the
! principle Of English society ought to be
either impossible or deemed unpardOna-
BILE and strictly tabOOed, are, to speak the
| plain truth, the staple Of society's CONVEX.
satiOn. 1t is ludicrOus to pretend, in the
face Of such facts as these, that, however
| genuine the regret which breaches of the
seventh commandment occasion, they
arouse anything like the horror which
they would do If society was bent upon
| putting them down. The aptest compar-
! isOn for English society is perhaps TO be
| found in the Prefecture OF Police in Paris
In that famous detective repository there
exists a complete dossier of all who are
and who are likely to become criminals
! Everything which concerns them is care
fully recorded. But the individuals are
| treated with the greatest consideration
until they make themselves amenable To
law. In the same way society in Eng.
land has the dOssier of all its members
! The contents of these documents do not
prejudice IL against them, nor are they
| held really TO have incrlminated them.
selves until they are arraigned before the
| tribunal orthe English press. Formerly
this press was looked upon by the govern.
| ing classes as a great political engine. II
has now become the custodian and
| inquisitor of our whole social sys-
tenn, the censor OF our homes, and
the critic Of our hearths. II brings all
| Attending RritOna hoWevar Ioftv their do.
gree, before that which they really most
dread, the great jury Of their fellow-coUn.
trymen. No wonder, therefore, that the
publicity Of which 1t is the instrument Is
dreaded and detested by those whom II
concerns.