The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1891-12-06
THE VICE OF ARISTOCRACY.

What is a lordling's pomp? a cumbrous load.
Disgusting oft the wretch of human kind
Studied in arts OF hell, in wickedness refined.
Although Earl RUSSELL won the case in
the great legal separation suit and the law
says Countess RUSSELL must continue to
bear the relation of wife to him, the facts
brought out in respect to the earl prove the
truth of what BURNS said above Nor do
the facts reflect on Earl RUSSELL alone
the mischief does not end there-but they
make ordinary people suspicious of the
whole aristOcratic class. The theory of
those who favor the existence Of an aris-
tocracy is that born in affluence and by
that birth made heirs to titles of nobility.
and in theory pledged to sustain charac-
ter in harmony with and worthy of those
titles, the aristocracy form a great conser-
vative element which restraints the demo
cratic element and prevents it running
to wild extremes. Moreover, where
the aristocracy is long standing, as
in England, those born heirs to
its privileges are supposed to be restrained
from disgraceful conduct by a desire to
keep unsullied the family escutcheon, while
the long line of ancestors with here and
there character illustrious for wisdom in
the councils of the nation, or for valor on
the field in the hour of the nations peril.
is supposed to fire them with a praise
worthy zeal to initiate the example of these
sages or heroes. Add to these incentive to
nobleness of conduct all the advantages of
education that is given to the aristocracy,
and it would seem that every element was
combined necessary to produce a race of
men and women that would encompass
within their character every virtue that
adds nobility and greatness to man, and
that would adorn while it honorsd the
country wherein it lived.
But alas How often is gilt-edged theory
dispelled by the rude list of actual exper-
fence As often as pleasant dresms end in
the harsh realities Of waking life! The
instances where the aristocracy has been
disgraced by its pampered sons are more
numerous than those which have brought
honor to it.
The examples of villainy and unre-
strained centiousness that may be cited
from the ranks of titled aristocracy are
sufficient to convince the rejecting that
wealth, education and inherited privileges
are not sufficient to secure right conduct in
man. And although these things are of a
discouraging nature TO those who look to
the refnements of life which education
and wealth bring to redeem our race from
following that which is low and degrading
it is an encouraging circumstance on the
whole for the reason that it teaches a more
numerous class that wealth and leisure are
not absolutely essential to refinement and
right living. There are positive disadvant-
ages that accompany wealth and leisure
which in the effects upon morality more than
outweigh the advantages they bring. First
is the matter of leisure itself, very dan
gerous as it is very questionable blessing
that but few minds are capable of employ
ing to advantage, and which makes ten
converts to vice where It makes one de-
voice of virtue. Gan idle mans brain ia
the DEVILS workshop" is now very hack
neyed saw, but its truth is daily illustrated
not alone either from the LOADING class thai.
idle away the time on the sunny side of
street corners, but from that class also that
have the means and the elegant incentives
to noblest INSTRUMENTATION the nobility
And when that mischievous leisure is
accompanied by wealth, then not ONLY ia
there time for mischief but the means to
encompass it; and insatiate desire throws
loose the reins on the neck of qualification
until ruin and disgrace end the career.
Then again, in the matter of the relation
OF the sexes, it is a mistake to sunnose
that the titled nobility or wealthy are freer
from the vices that grow out of those rela
tons than ordinary mortals On the con-
trary, those temptations become even more
alluring to them from the fact of beina
| connected with the elegance which wealth
produces. AS GIBBoN very Justly remarks
The retinements of lite corrupt while thew
pollsn the intercourse of the sexes The
gross appetite of love becomes more dan.
gerous when it is elevated, or rather. in
deed, disguised by sentimental passion. The
elegance OF dress, of motion and of manhood
gives lustre to beauty and inf1ames tba
senses through the Imagination" This ia
true, and since every means for the graft
hcauon or those vitiated tastes are at
hand, is it any wonder that they soon tire
OF ordinary vice and seek out the most dis.
gushing excuses that will administer tn
their depraved naturesa
Let not the hardy sons of labor complain
at the providence of that COP who has
condemned them to unremitting toll. Thew
can rest assured that He has ordered all
things well; and those hard conditions
that compel the great bulk of humanity tn
labor shall yet be recognized as the great
est blessing conferred upon man, as it ia
the chief cause of his activity and thus in
directly becomes the chief support of
virtue.
The SHOCKING affair in the office of the