The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1902-06-14
BAcCHANALIAN REyELRY.

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and low, rich and poor, on Monday
night, June .. From sunset to sunrise
it was one round of drunken rcvelry
and the great city was given over to
the vile and lawlcss The like of it
has not been seen for years in the
modern Babylon Oh the Thames. The
order and dissipation. The people
We're rejoicing over the victory so dear
Africa, and the proper way to rejoice
was to get beastly drunk and create Il
pandemOnium. Scores of men and
women" says the correspondent of the
Chicago Tribune, LAY drunk Oh the
pavements Of fashionable West End
thoroughfares at midnight, and the
horseplay reached the point of murder,
which was committed Through sheer
passion for violence" He adds that
the decent people of London feel dis
graced and that they dread a repeti-
ton of the orgies during the coronation
days. Some respectable persons are
thinking of leaving London during the
coronation celebration to avoid such
scenes as those witnessed there on the
first Monday night of this month.
In no city on earth can there be
found such degraded specimens of hui
manity as in London, and they are of
both sexes There is no crime on the
calendar of which they are not guilty.
Their social vileness is utterly I'M
speakable. 1t is not only amang the
very poor that vice is seen in it's most
l.ideous aspects; it is seen in all ranks
and classes of society from the lord to
the bcggar. Lest we may be accused
of exaggeration we shall quite from a
series of papers published by Mr.. Ar
mold White, an English publcist in
the London Chronicle. He describes
what is socially known us the smart
set" and this is how he does 1T:
THE note by which bad smart So
cicty may be recognized is its contempt
for family life-its loathing Of home
Luxury and overlooking seven days Il
week kill desire for au%lt else but
feeding and luxury. Plays and music
halls, restaurant dining, eternal card
playing and the race-course produce
safety, and safety of the senses is
the tomb of duty and honor.
''rhc art of conversation in smart
society is extinct. Slang shibboleths,
composed of baby talk and Italian or
French tags to the Queens English,
form the dialect of the smart set Dis
reputable women who affect the COLI
duct of I.ais without her graces, are
among the leading spirits of smart So
ciety. When the morals Of the poultry
yard flourish in the atmosphere of THE
stable, it is only natural that the in
telligence Of the jockey should he ap-
piled to the problems of the empire.
ITO enter the charmed circle, neither
brains nor breeding, birth nor influence.
are necessary. All that is required is
money, and then more money-with an
insolent contempt for the laws that are
the unseen foundations of civilized So
ciety. A useful adventurer thus
equipped can buy his way into illus
trious circles as easily as he picks up
Il yearling ut Newmarket. Every now
and then an explosion takes place, and
the public learns with bewilderment
that cheating at cards is not unknown
In smart society. and that women who
are Circes in all but name are no more
tabooed in smart society today than
they We're excluded from the pavilion
at Brighton in the days of the prince
described by Ilackeray as The First
Gentleman and most finished, black
guard in Europe
''The secret influence on government
welded by this Comus rout of Circes,
sybartcs, cynics and tinancicrs is sub
tie and profound. 1t is revealed to
the public only in it's effects. Legisla-
ton. foreign policy, taxation is not al
ways settled in parliament. The real
decisions are first made in smart draw
ing-rooms in the season; on Sundays in
country houses; IN boudoirs and res
taurants. Is Il man straight or a
lady modest, and do they decline to
bow the knee to bad smartness? Their
reputation and chances are destroyed
by the aid of the janissaries Of Il smart
society, always on hire to the highest
bidder. The wrong class of American
womell-people who are not received il
New York or Washington-are pushed
into what is seemingly, but not really.
exclusive society,""
u What can be expected of the lower
classes in the British metropolis when
the higher classes are so disreputablei
The king himself has been a rake all
his life. He mingled with the "smart
set" described by Mr.. White and docs
so vet. He learned to play baccarat
and cheat like an ordinary gambler
and when forced to the witness stand
IN Il court of justice he swore like a
gentleman to shield his confederates
from prosecution. On his coronation
day London will have an Anglo-Saxor
celebration of which decent English