The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1894-04-26
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. SUI
Public Lessons Of the Verdict.

IL VIII ilOt NC ulldH lillOuol( HppiO'NA
no verdict would have been, for that ,
we think, quite generally
anticipated and will not give any
dissatisfaction.
People may and will differ as to the
degree Of tie plaintiffs culpabillty and
the exact extent to which she shared
with the defendant the moral RESPONSE
blity for the shameful relations 50 long
between them. But
there will be no difference Of opinion
as to Colonel BrcCkinridge's behavior
in the matter from first to last. He
stands confessed. Judged entirely out
OF his own mouth and wholly apart
from anything the plaintiff said against
him, he has been one of the graVest
offenders against society.
In broadly moral view of the case
it seems to US that his own account OF
how his unlawful relations with tie
woman were first established, con-
tinucd and finally broken IS more
fatal to MS reputation than her version
of them. The jury evidently declined
to believe, as he told them, that ne |
never had stood in the relation OF a
lover to Miss Pollard, and never mad |
thought about her that rose above Inc
level of passion. In rejecting his
assertion to that effect the twelve good
men and true have really done him a
that he IS not so bad man as he
made himself out to be; that there
was once between HIM and this woman
something more ana better IMAM iuSl'
iecau5c 1t will always be true that
love, unlawful though 1t may be, has
d redeemng quality. The divine
words spoken to the Alagdalene dis
tinctly assert this: "Iler SINS which
are many, are forgiven, for She loved
much.
Nathaniel Hawthorne splendid
romance, The Scarlet Letter, has
been written in vain for those of its
leaders who have failed to learn from
| it the great moral truth that the
darkest moral transgresslon IS palllated
| If the impulse of sincere, though Tor
| bi1den, affection underlies 1t. When
| Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale
met IN the forest to speak to Roger
ChIlllngworth the wretched minister
and hat Old man revenge has
been blacker than my SIN. He has
violated, IN cold blood, the sanctlty OF
4 human heart. Thou and |, Hester,
never dld SO " 10 which the woman
replied Never, never. What we
did had conservation OF It's own. We
felt 1t 50 We sad SO to each other .
Hast thou forgotten 1t NO, have
not forgotten, sad the minister. 1t
Is TINS TACT that through all lheIr
SHINING TINS guilty par had really
loved which hawthorne holds up to us
aS the rtuetmihS line III an otilel"Se
wholly shameful story. 50 we repeat,
the verdict OF the Washington jury
mas gwen BACK TO tolonel breckln-
rldge something OF substantial value
by decllhlho 10 credIt MS statement
that no tie stronger or timer than that
OF mere sensual pleasure ever existed
between Madeline foiiafu ana NM
sell.
| The verdict IN this case, however,
is not the really important point OF 1t.
1t does net change It's moral lessons
nor effect the great social truths which
1t ought to enforce upon the commit
nifty. The ScvereSt punishment that
could possibly fall upon both the
| principal parties to this suit had al
ready fallen upon them before the YER
dict was reached. Both their CharaC-
tiers had been wrecked long before the
case went to the jury. Much was
! said by the lawyers on either side as
to the relative amount of injury and
| suffering inflicted upon the plaintiff
snd detendent In one view of the
matter it is certain that the woman is
the heaviest loser. The verdict Just
rendered cannot restore her. Her So
cial status is hopelesslv lost, for how
ever inherently unjust it may be, yet
it is true that Colonel Breckenridge
may possibly regain larger measure
of respect and recover in a fuller
degree his forfeited position than
| Madeline Pollard can ever hope to do.
| On the other hand, his reputation is in
a widely different sense irreparably
injured. He may recover much but
not all of what he has lost by the trial
of this case. His counsel referred at
length to the numerous historical
| parallels to his oftense. Many OF them,
cited from past centuries, were of no
value whatever in this age, when the
standards of morality are unquestion