Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-01-24
IMMORAL PUBLIC MEN.
France Winks st Lapses Like Mr.. Parnell's I'm
Her Own Statesmen.


Lucy Hooper's Letter 20 50. Louis Post Disp.sch.
am very much amused at the amazement
expressed by the Partisan newspapers at the
Developments n the Parnell affair None OF
the French Journalists can comprehend why
the immorality in private life Of public per-
sonage should be held a. an obstacle TO the
career Of that parsonage. II Ii not so in France,
else would Gen. Boulanger have failed 10 exer-
cised any influence over the voters Of the M
ton, and Gambetta himself would have been
relocated to private life long years before his
death. to say nothing Of N. Theirs. from whose
married life Ouida took the plot Of her novel
Moths" In fact . prominent Frenchman is
thought none the less Of but rather the more. for
his breaches Of the seventh commandment. and
he is apt to announce his love affairs of the left
hand with much blare Of trumpets and beating
OF drums, being even willing TO invent few
little romances Of the kind with himself for the
hero II there are none that really exist. The
attitude Of the English public is much more
respectable, it is true, and tends far more to
preserve the outward purity and decency which
form the wide difference between the literature
and Journalism Of France and England. One
has only 70 compare the successful novels and
plays Of the past decade in the latter country
with those Of the former to perceive the whole
some check exercised by public opinion in the
one land with the wholesale license permitted
in the other.
But, and here comes the rub, there is moth
ing on earth much more inconsistent than
British prudery. Mr.. Parnell, and before him
Sir Charles Dixie. have been hooted and hunted
from public life for conduct not one whit the
worse than that Of most of the princes Of the
royal family: Thatexquisitely sensitive flower,
English public opinion, can endure with hardi-
hood the fragrant and countless liaisons Of the
Prince OF Wales, while smitten as with the sud
Den frost at any revelations OF radical misde-
meanors. Duchesses can faunt their lovers
and countesses their illegitimate children in
the very face OF society, and society will accord
them not one invitation or one visiting card
the less. British aristocrats may leave their
welded wives at home and go travelling around
the world with those of other people and Brit
ish prudery closes its eyes and stops its ears
against all revelations concerning their pro-
ceedings. In fact, the present code of moral
lily OF English society seems to be: "Princes
and powerful mobiles and great ladies can be as
naughty as they like. but the rest Of the COM
munity must respect appearances"
Consistency, thou art a jewel" Is a proverb
that has q good deal Of truth in it, but that
gem is certainly not found adjoining the British
treasury. Even Queen Victoria, that most
severely proper Of all old ladies. and the chief
OF that sternly virtuous class, the British
matron, did not hesitate to welcome to her
home few months ago one of the most inn
moral women in all Europe, simply because that
woman was a queen. She has refused to re-
ceive at her drawing rooms far more respecta-
BILE women than Isabella of Spain.
However. 1 must confess that prefer even
these partial demonstrations of English pro-
priety to the half indifference to all such mat
tiers that sometimes characterizes the actions of
French functionaries. / remember the indig-
nation aroused, for instance, in the British
mind by the action of one of NJ. CREWS min
listers, who sent as ambassador to London a
gentleman whose home and heart were openly
presided over by lady who WAS the wife Of
another man. And the funniest part of the
whole affair was the amazement of the minister
aforesaid at the objections raised by the Eng
iish government to the reception Of the new
ambassador on account of the irregularity Of
his private life. He could not imagine why his
appointee, whom he knew TO be a true patriot
and brilliant statesman. should have been held
unacceptable for SO slight cause. However,
the ambassador was sent to Coventry so de-
cidedly by London society that after a very
short stay in the British capital he resigned his
position in disgust