New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-05-08
BRECKENRIDGE At HOME.

The same amazing faulty that led Congress
man breckenridge to undertake defence be-
fore court and jury of conduct which upon
his own confession was without excuse. and AZ
the bar Of enlightened public opinion without
palliation, continues TO control his action and
direct his procedure. How n man Of his OK
perience and knowledge Of the world could be
guilty of the inconccivable folly OF permitting
the suit against him 10 come 10 trial when 1t
was open to him TO have suffered default, or,
confessed judgment and allowed the assessment
Of damages with little or no publicity of details
which nj the best degraded and diSgraccd him.
seems ncomprchcnsbc In the first place. That
he should take an appeal from the verdict Of the
jury the Judgment Of the court and the uni
vcrsal consensus of public opinion to his con-
sttucnts OF tho Ashland District Of Kentucky,
in the desperate hope Of vindcation nj home. Is
still more amazing. No longer attracting pub
lie attention as the defendant in scandalouS
lawsuit: having stated curiosity by his own dis
closures Of what had been the mysteries OF his
private life; and having learned. as he must
have learned that 10 the condemnation Of the
purc-mindcd and virtuous for his liccntionS
course he had added that Of all men Of ordinary
intelligence. whltcycr their notions Of moral
ity, for the supreme folly Of his defence, he
must still keep himself before the public. still
anront the public sense 81 proprciy and de
cency, still parade his shame The Interest
which attaches TO him now outside # Ken
lucky Is chiefly as a singular psychological
study.
The man seems so absolutely. abnormally
scf-conscious. 80 utterly in love with himself,
and so wrapped in the dcluson that his charms
and his graccS his rhetoric and his cloqucncc
are irresistible that he loses sight oi every
thing and every body else, and himself fills his
own horizon. No other man could ancc; humil-
ity with such conscious vanity. nor Haunt
pretended pcnitcncc with such unbrundd As
surancc that II was sufficient not only 10 atone
for his offences. but command continuance
Of the confidence he had forfeited and the trust
he had betrayed And so he asks the voters
Of the Ashland District-not 10 let him 90 into
the obScuriiy which alone can hide his dis
grace not to walk backward with avcrtcd gaze
and hide his shame but 10 take upon them
selves his dishonor by saying 10 al The world
that. in the Ashland District Of kentucky. the
conduct Of which IT'S representative confessed
himself guilty. but attempted before court and
jury to defend consistent with truihfuncsS
and honor. merits approval. THE Courier
Journal" Of Louisville well says 1T is qucs
ton which transccnds The limits Of the Ashland
District, and OF Kentucky itself 1t Is qucS
ton in which the people Of the entire Nation
are deeply Interested" But it IS one that has
primarily a close personal interest for every
voter OF that district. For it discoscs 10 the
world the social conditions existing there and
the standards Of honor and uprghtncss which
govern II.
We do not for a moment permit ourselves TO
believe that Colonel Breckinridgc will receive
the vindicatiOn he seeks The Ashland District
cannot afford it, the State OF Kentucky cannot
afford IT. the Democratic party cannot afford
it, Nor. finally. can Colonel Brcckinrdgc him
self afford It. He is already mad with vanity.
1t would be a sin against him TO do anything
to promote the growth Of such monumental
self concet. The best thing the Ashland Dis
trict can do for their disgraccd representative
is to command him with unmistakablc cmpha-
sis and distinctncss To sit down and show
lcsS