The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-03-04
NOT WORTH THEIR fame
unw0rthy Characters Nho Have. Be-
come Popular Ideals.
ALL FRAUDS OF HIGH DEGREE
Sympathy Wasted on Mon and Women
Who Deserved Their Fass-Artistie
and Poetic Heroes and Heroines
Who Mcritcd the Gallows.
From the Globe Democrat.

From tho Globe-Democrat.
Although the world has the reputa-
tion Of being terribly hard-hearted. 1t
is not devoid of sympathy for misfor-
tune, particularly when the misfortune
OCCURS to a person of high station, or
when it has attracted the attention of
some writer able to tell about it in a
style that compelled the world to listen.
Then. indeed, the world pours forth Its
tears. bewails the. cruelty of fate and
weeps over sorrows that came to an
end several centuries ago, as though
they were of yesterday and could be
Boftened by this lavish display of ten
derness. Human nature is full of con-
tradictlons. and not the least strange
of the number Is that impulse which
causes people to grieve over the woes
or some historic character and neglect
the misery that is daily forced upon
their notice. Time, In such cases. has
the same effect in historical narrative
that distance gives to q landscape: II
softens all the asperities of character,
tones down the rugged points and pre-
1ents u harmonious outline to the eve
Of the observer. A notable of history,
iooked at across a gap of three or four
hundreds, or as many thousands OF
years. Is like a mountain seen from u
long distance-the general outline only
Ia observed, the details, the roughness,
can not be seen. Only by close eXami-
nation, by making ourselves as far as
possible the contemporaries OF the man
or woman whom, We would study, 10 we
gain a;proper idea OF the real character.
OF course, it Is possible for the con-
temporaries of u hero or heroine to have
extremely false ideas: to underrate or
Over-eStimate the man or woman VINO
lived In their midst, and such aberra-
tionS of opinion are sometimes correct
ed and sometimes confirmed by pos
terity, SO that 1t is quite within the
bounds of possibility for historic mis-
takes to be perpetuated from age to
age simply from the sympathy felt for
the sufferer.
FALSEHOODS OF HISTORY.
"Read me anything but history" said
England's greatest statesman on his
deathbed. that. ] know, is not true,
and the apparently strange and harsh
statement is fully borne out by study
of the manner in which the historians
have been biased by their sympathies
In dealing with dozens of characters.
Some, utterly detestable, have been so
transformed by the sympathy of the
historical writer's that they become OF
almost superhuman excellence; others
only moderately wicked, have been
ers again, men and women, in their own
time, of good repute, who lived hon
est upright lives, are either altogether
forgotten or are remembered IN tnat
half-slighting way that is worse than
oblivion. Many men and women have
been made the pets of the historian.
He will acknowledge for the sake of ar
gument, that they were not all that
they should have been; that here and
there they deviated from the strict
paths of rectitude, but there is always
some excuse for their shortcomings;
they were not quite so much to blame
as they looked, in fact. they were hard
ly to blame at all. OF course, there
was wrong doing in the case, but the
fault was that of some one elese. on
whom the blame is promptly saddled,
and, whether he deserves 1t or not, he
Is forced to carry it. for the world has
made up it's mind on the subject. and 1t
is useless to try to effect change IN
it's opinion. For history has its scape-
goats, and not only are all the vices
and crimes of a whole race or genera
,tion loaded on the back of one man. but
often all the discredit of a long life OF
viciousness is transferred from the
shoulders Of a pet of history to the back
of a contemporary in order that the pet
may go free.
MARY STUART.
One Of the most highly favored of
history's pets was Mary, queen of Scots.
To use familiar colloquialism, nothing
Is too good for her at the hands of the
historians. Grave writer's men OF in
telligence and probity, have moaned
over her long confinement and sad TAX
ing off as though these were Affections
personal to themselves; women have
wept over her sorrows as though these
.,1, I,pe, tod
to such n pitch that not many years
ago proposition was gravely discussed
to present to the church her claims to
sainthood. Yet nothing is more certain
than that the sufferings and execution
Of this woman were the result Of her
own crimes. There Is little doubt that
she was one of the gayest young women
of the French court while she was the
wife OF the DauDhin, for the memory
Of her intrigues at that period has come
down to the present day: there is none
at oil that she was unfaithful to Darn
ley. and was the leading spirit in the
plot to murder him. This is the only
murder, In her long career of crime,
that can be directly traced home to her,
but the people OF her own time suspect
ed her of several others, and probably
not without good cause. Her faithless-
ness was so well known that the coun-
selors of Elizabeth, much as they dis
liked to take the step. were compelled to
lock her up as soon as she sat her foot
In England, and during the whole time
or her imprisonment she was perpetual
ly engaged in plots, one after another.
until 1t was found out that the only
way to make her good was to cut off
her head. This was done, and at once
all the sympathy of Chiistendom was
enlisted in her behalf: her murders and
other peccadillOs We're forgotten, and
she is deemed suitable subject for
Eunday-schOOl tableaux.
THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE.
Napoleon's first wife is the object of
an endless amount of sympathy, solely
on account of the fact that she was
divorced against her will. Writers who
ought to know better bitterly inveigh
against Napoleon for his treatment Of
her, one going so far as to declare that
Napoleon's good fortune deserted him
as he deserted Josephine. and came as
a punishment for his injustice. The
truth is that JOsephine's infidelities and
frivOlities were so numerous that Ma
poleon had abundant cause for divorce
long before he actually sought and pro-
cured n legal separation. Among the
annalists of NapoleOn's court were a
number of very clever women, who, in
their narratives, give much attention
to the daily doings of the imperial cir
Gle. and among these gossips, great
zeal Of unquestiOned truth about Jo-
sephine came out. AS regularly as Ma
poleon' left Paris on a campaign just so
regularly did his wife engage in some
new scandalous affair. 1t Is true that
the emperor was no better, but that fact
does not excuse the unfaithfulness of
Josephine The emperor was long kent
In ignorance Of her doings. for he ap-
pears to have entertained no suspicion
of hes,y but when once he learned part
OF the truth his spies soon put him in
possession Of all the rest. With this
evidence in hand. he reproached lose i
phine with her misconduct, and gave
her to understand what. were his inten-
tions. To avoid publishing her shame.