Evening journal., 1894-05-08

social customs, MS persistent ViO-
latiou OF his marital vows and
the statutes against adultery will
give him valuable support in his canvass
He Is mistaken in employing emotion,
either real or part Of the stage business
OF an orator, to stir the sympsthies Of
men in opposition to their judgment. tie
Is mistaken in shaking a quivering fore
finger aloft during forid sentences and
thanking God with too much famil.
lar confidence that he will be excused
for the sins he has committed because
there are some others which he has not
committed. He is mistaken in relying
too much on the art with which she says
things and too little on the things he has
to say. A correspondent for one Of the
papers writing from Lexington, KY,
says:
While most Of the people opposed to
Colonel Breckinridge. who either heard
or have read the speech, agree that il
was a fine piece Of oratory, they have not
been shaken in the least by the colonel's
presence or his eloquence. "But, said a
gentleman. to-day. conspicuous in South.
ern banking circles, ut is not Colonel
Breckinridge It is the good name Of the
people Of the most famous Congressional
district In Kentucky that is involved
Colonel Breckenridge is not on trial. His
trial Is over. It's the people Of Kentucky
who are on trial now"
As a matter Of fact Colonel Breckin-
ridge has nothing TO say that is new or
germane to the issue. The issue is shall
the people Of his district return him as
their representative TO Congress2
He admits that he defaulted in the
most sacred Of all duties to his wife and
children against his own better nature,
against his Judgment, and, no doubt,
against the sweet persuasions Of a gentle
and loving wife, He continued that
default even with the dread of an abso-
lutely certain exposure threatening him
for years. He says
IL has not been hypocrisy that nv
life has not been consistently wrong. 1
knew the secret sin; tried TO atone for
IL In ways that it Is not becoming In me
to more than slluds TO- How many kind
words did this Rtonement produce to
others How much of self control and
how much Of self sacrifice, how much Of
earnestness and labor In aid of good
things and TO good causes When I came
to make public utterance, under any
circumstances, TO any audience, how eau.
tious was | that no word of mine might
tempt others to be guilty as / was
guilty; that in what / would say no
trace Of what was not noble could be
found. thank God that In the almost
numberless utterances which ] have
made, whether upon the stump to tbe
most miscellaneous audiences, or to the
most select audiences in the most select
places, no word was ever uttered that
would not help the weary and the strug-
Cling wrongdoer; that would not give
hope to him who was dOwncast. This
was not hypocrisy; this was felt by the
heart and delivered in the soul; this
was what the brain approved; this was
part payment for secret sin.
That's no credit God and man re-
quire those things Of every man. It is a
mans own pleasures his own reward 1t
is a foretaste Of heaven; it is the only
heaven some men have or hope for-to
do good, to be kind, to help the weary
and succor the sick we meet in life.
But how can the people Of his district
entrust the man with great public
affairs who felt thus to everybody else,
while he was wounding his wife; killing
her, perhaps, with that keeuest OF
womanly agonies-a husbands broken
vows2 Is 1t possible for man to be
honorable, noble, faithful, Trustworthy
in the public interest who has nine
years record with a Madeline Pollard9
In similar cases OF recent times, those
Of Parnell and Conkling, the confession,
were not bold and fragrant They main
tained absolute silence; they did moi
dare to hang out their soiled linen ex-
pecting public admiration They diC
not confirm and elaborate the suspicion.
Of a few persons into a shocking scandal
which has arrested and compelled publ,
attentionll
The world forgave Parnell ant
b kitty" society inflicted mild penalties
only upon Roscoe Conkling, the eloquent
Adonis Of the Senate, and Mrs. Sprague
his beautiful inspiration.
II they were bad. the world and societ,
did not know how bad. Breckinridg
has spread his nsstiness throughout tn
country and to the whole world.
He makes the mistake now of banking
on that exposure as II it were an honor
or at the worst, a misfortune. He seem
9 to have no conception that having
touched him and found him rotten, tn
t people do not wish to touch him again
I just now.
OF course nobody wishes to punisl
d Colonel Breckenridge; but as he is in tn
Z condition Of freshly washed linen h
= should hang himself out TO dry. Hi
publicity now is suggestive, il no
actually offensive.
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