The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1895-04-08
The Lansing SANDER. on I'll
President.


No doubt every honest man in the
country shares in the indignation which
the President expresses regarding the
vile SANDER uttered by the so-called
minister Of the New England conference.
If the President were a private citizen,
the clerical libeller would not nave dared
utter his monstrous calumny for the law
would speedily punish him as he deserves
According to the spirit of our institutions
abe President is too high in position to
seek the ordinary forms of redress, such
as are open to other citizens, and at
the same time our laws afford him nc
special protection such as the President
of the French Republic enjoy.
As a rule, the public sense of decency
Is protection enough for the Chief Magis-
trate of the nation. The general respect
for high personal character and the feel
ing hat the honor of the nation is per-
sonified in the Office of the President.
operate as a shield against personal ex-.
cesses of wanton partisanship. 1t is sell
dom indeed that a reckless politician or
a ribald dominic insults public opinion
and outrages alIsdecency by an ebullition
Euch as that OF Lansing.
The accusation of intemperance made
tgrotesquely improbable. The fierce
light of public observation beats about
the Presidential chair as pitilessIy as
about any throne, and the President en-
joys none Of the divinity that doth
hedge a King. His daily life is a matter.
of common report and it is impossible
to the last conceivable degree that any
conditions sueh as Lansing described
should exist without at once becoming
matters of public notoriety.
But Lansing had his story from a polls
eagerness to think evil, especially ofshisS
superiors. he swallowed it whole and then
spewed it up again accompaniedswith his
own venom. TO the disgust of all right
ASCtlHS iLlGuk ESIldpS Jle IlOSL QlSQSarl-
ening feature of the whole affair is the
action of the Conference at large. You
would think, on general principles, that
the utterer of such hideous SANDERS on
the ruler of the country would be in
Simultaneously expelled by the Brethren
from their midst, as a moral leper whose
presence was pollution. But no, they
temporized and qualified, and ended by1-
%expunging the incident from their min
utes, while the speech went into the
newspapers. 1t is sad that so faint a con-
ture should exist in so important a body
of Christian teachers.
The President has shown marvellous
self restraint in enduring the attacks of
his enemies. But, obviously, this last
outrage could not pass without some
rebuke. The Presidents answer, this
morning, is as dignified as it is frank and
manly. 1t incnlcates an important gem
eral lesson which society in general may
well take to heart in this age of insane
evil thinking. This is what the Presi-
dent says
This is simply an outrage. Though it
is not the first time a thing of this kim
has been attempted, / cannot avoid a
feeling of indignation that any man who
makes any Claim to decency, and espec-
tally one who assumes the role of a
Christian minister, should permit him
self to become a dissemination of whole
sale lies and ~calJumnies. not less stupid
thar they are cruel and wicked.
IT easily recall, other occasions when
those more or less entitled to be called
ministers of the Gospel have been IN
strumental in putting into circulation the
most scandalous falsehoods concerning
my conduct and character. The elements
or factors Of the most approved outfit
for placing d fal5e and barefaced accu-
sation before the public appear to be-
First. some n with baseness and mo-
tives sufficient to invent it; second, 2
minister with more gullibilfty and love OF
notoriety than piety, greedy willing to
anxiously willing to publish it.
For the sake of the Christian religion,
I am thankful that these scandal mon
gering ministers are few, and on every
account 4 am glad that the American
people. love fair play and justice, and
that in spite of all efforts to misqead
them they are apt to form a correct esti-
mate Of fhe character and labors of their
pnblic servants.
Reform That Degrades Politics.
The arrest OF Messrs. Clausen, Stratus