Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1886-12-15
wANTED-A 1oRAL REVOLUTION.

Thu trials now going on in London anG
New York furnish spectacles for the won
derment, if not the admiratien of tn,
world. The man who follows up and reads
the accounts Of the Lord Campbell divorc,
case and the McQuade trial must be q
most cheerful optimist il he does moi
seriously question himself whether the
the World is not witnessing the decadence
Of about all that is good in man and
woman.
In the former case the highest representa-.
tives Of English respectability are involved.
Lord Colin Campbell is connected with
royalty. His fortune and the society in
which he moves, it is supposed. would
place him far above the temptations which
surround those who occupy a lower social
sphere, and hedge him in from their vices
and weaknesses. But what do we see Z?
The very innermost secrets OF the private
life OF his wife and himself. They are given
to public gaze in all their nastinees, and
the principals themselves shown to be the
very ~eemmonest OF common mortals with
all the faults and frailties which charac-
terize the ignorant, the wretchedly poor
and the bass.born. Such Q trial and such
exposures have q most demoralizing effect
upon those who occupy humber walks in
life and lead them to question whether
there is anything good in man that hate or
ambition will not destroy.
In New York a crime was committed by
representatives Of the higher metropolitan
life, men who occupy exalted stations in
by reason OF their intelligence,
wealth aid influence. They too prove to
be of earth-earthy and that
Of a very dirty kind. For not one
citizen Of the United States who
and thinks is ignorant OF
The fact that the New York Board of Alder.
men accepted brides openly and shame
essly. They know all about it, down to
he minutest detail. Everything. a thous-
times more than was necessary to con-
fiction. was brought out upon the trial OF
Md. McQuade. The public knows who were |
the exact sum OF money paid to each
nan, the places where the Infamous COM
act was ratified, and the persons by whom
nd to whom the price of dishoner was
aid. The guilt OF Tweed was not as over
1helmingly demonstrated. And yet, af-
er days and nights of deliberation, just
hree out of the twelve good and true"
TODD out for conviction. The other nine
aved from Sing Sing the first OF the
retches who had not already sought
afety in Canada or Europe, and justified
he serene confidence of the bride taker, in
he midst OF the most damning evidence,
nat he would be acquitted.
And now the farce of a second t,ial ia
eing enacted after the city u New York
I'D been secured to find twelve ~ignora-
fuses who knew nothing OF the facts in the
ase, or OF the case irself. The result cam
be doubted even at this stage of the
.roceedings. Out Of the twelve men who
id not read the accounts of the former
.ial, or had q mind in which all opinion
'uld find judgment, there will be found
lose who, without a very severe applica-
on OF the rule OF addition, division and
lence," will see no guilt in the doodle" \
herman.
And then turn again to Chicago. These
he men are in jail under sentence of death.
law has pronounced them common, /,
llgar, bloody assassins. There can be no J
'iense for them except the plea of insan.
Y, which has never been offered. These ,
were. most happily, convicted OF their !
lines because they had a speedy trial. ,
re thew left like nlapne-smittan onoe 70 =
ar the curse OF their eternal infamy?
n the contrary, heaven and earth are /
ing moved to saw their miserable lives, C
1ousands upon thousands have been
lsed in money to help the wild prophets =
the commune of blood. The best tai. :
t OF the land has been solicited, and has
red to lend itself, for a price, to help S
infamy. A stay Of that just verdict G
s been, through almost superhuman et- Z
It, at last secured. And bodies of hon !.
:, well-meaDing men have SO far forgot -
that justice is the highest mercy as to y
peal Tor clemency on behalf of those, the fs
'rst criminals who ever polluted our soil.
n view OF these amazing things, amaz- 4
\ not only because they show great a
raj depravity, but amazing. because it h,
hown to exist in a most pronounced ct
'ree among representatives OF grades of
iety SO far removed from each other
It the contagious character of the crime
each could not well reach the precincts
the Others, who will not say that the ~
rid needs a moral revolution? Ia