The morning call., 1891-06-11
THE BACCARAr VERDICT.

There is nothing in the verdict of the
jury in the bacearat case which calls for
special comment. There will always be
cheats in the world, and experience teaches
that the cheats will sometimes be found
in the class which is supposed to consist eX-
clusYely OF men Of honor. But the utter
ances OF the London press and the language
and bearing of social leaders are of interest
as to some extent revealing the state of pub
lie opinion in England on delinquencies of
the kind of which Gordon Cumming has
been found guilty. There are communities
in which rOguery involves no loss of caste.
There are others in which the knaye is
ostracised. To which of these classes does
English society belong?
1t is painful to note certain marks of SYM
pathy which the blaekleg received. Here was
a man who had not only cheated at cards,
but had confessed IN writing that he had
done So and yet the verdict of conviction
was received with Kisses by the ladies IN
the audience. They affirmed by their tokens
of disapprobation that they regarded cheat
ing as venial. Has the sense of right and
wrong fallen so low in the best English So
ciety that the representative ladies of sta
ton and character condone an offense Of
this kind?
The leading British newspaper does not
90 so far as to condemn the verdict. But it
reserves its chief censure for the persons at
whose house the cheating was committed,
and for the Prince of Wales. whose conduct,
since the scandal occurred, appears to have
been entirely correct. We have no means
of knowing the position which is occupied
in journalism by the Chronicle. 1t is new
al in, Of old
ing Chronicle, which died several years ago
II it speaks for any substantial portion of
the English people. their opinions are pecu-
liar. 1t berates Chief Justice COleridge for
partially, though to observers at this dis
lance, his charge seems to have been free
from bias, and it affects to believe that Cor
don Cumming signed the confession to
screen the Prince of Wales. What non
sense this is! The fault of the Prince was
in taking part in q gambling game; the
fault was rather aggravated than dimin-
ished by recording in writing the fact that
the game was not only a gambling game
but was one at which the gambling was not
always on the square. 1t was obviously the
Princes interest that every trace of the
unfortunate STAIR should be wiped away
and forgotten. He was the last man in
England to make Gordon Cummings con-
fession public.
Mr.. T. ?. O'ConnOT, who, in a small way,
is power in English journalism, holds the
Prince of Wales responsible for the de-
! moralization which he denounees as preva-
lent in English society He says that it is
largely due to his example that the society
of London is deterioIating more every day,
and that 1t is coming TO a reign Of ad-
yenturers and adventuTeSSes." If that is
50 the Princes future is clouded. But is it
as certain as Mr.. 0'ConnOr fancies that
English society is deteriOrating? Is it so
much worse than the society Of George Tvs
time, or the society which Thackeray de-
picts in Henry EsmOnd," or the society in
which Fielding iluriShed, or the society Of
which Lord MOhun was leader and Orna-
ment or the society of the Restoration.
when a stickler for tue decencies of life was
Spurned as a Puritan and a roundhead?
Do not let Us rush into the belief that all
England is rotten because a wild guaTdsman
cheats at cards ana a parcel of empty
headed women pity him and depl0re that
he will have no more opportunities Of dUu-
bling his stake when he mas seen his oppO-
nents hand.
1t is well, too, in these matters 10 look
carefully over our own coat before we point
too exultingly at the hole in John Bulls.
Was it at Long Branch that United States
Senator broke the bank the other day, and
was invited by way of reward TO deliver the
annual address at the New England So
ciety? This Gordon Cumming, with lie
in his mouth and the brand of a cheat on
his brow. went out Of court to drive with
his American faucee, whom he led to the
altar on the very day that he was being ex-
PEELED from his clubs and released from fur
Their service in the Amy of the Queen, as
having been guilty Of conduct unworthy OF
an officer and gentlemen. If corpSeS could
move, the body Of the late William Garner,
high-to American gentleman as he was,
would writhe in the coffiu at the news that
this champion BLACKBOARD of the English
aristocracy had found solaee for disgrace
and surcease of sorrow in the arms Of his
daughter.