Year: 1876

The Springfield (Mass.) Republicans,
taking for its text the downfall of the
late Secretary of War, presents this
homily:


The Fort Sill incident, however, is not
without its moral for women in general
1t is not entirely a matter of accident
that almost the first fragrant instance
of direct bribery in this whole epoch of
corruption should be traced to Eve rath-
er than to Adam. An act of dishonOr
from which properly brought-up man
and especially soldier should recoil,
may carry with it no reproach to the fe-
male conscience. The conscience of
woman has been trained to be shocked
at mistitting corsage, or mismatched
ribbons, or the social eccentricities of
the Smiths and Browns, or by the dis
tiHctive dishonor of the sex itself, till it
has no recoil for genuine disgrace in
pecuniary dealing, and in some other
departments of morals. 1t is said that
in France a woman who will cheat in
business loses caste more than one who
is libertine. We shouldn't prefer the
French state of affairs, but why not cul-
tivate the conscience of the sex to ap-
preciate properly both offenses? Lying is
another Offense which is estimated very
differently from the standpoints of men
and women, and comparatively few
women consider a charge of lying of
sufficient moment to demand retrac-
ton and apology. But a man of honor
regards such a charge as lasting inn
putation. As Bismarck said, the other
day, when condemning the policy of
silence on the part of public men charg
ed by the press with corruption, "God
help us, when the insult does not bring
the color to the face"


Men are more subtle and roundabout
in their corruption, just because they
are aware of the existence of this feel
ing of honor and of the necessity of
quieting it and getting round it. Credit
mobilierism is one of the devices of this
kind. Some men and professions have
it more than others. The soldiers pro-
fessiOn cultivates it as an ennObling dis
cipline, a kind of second conscience
which will sustain an officer in a mo-
ment of peril and temptation when
nothing else will. 1t did not sustain
Gen. Belknap, but it gives him agonies
of remorse afterward. On the other
hand, Rev Mr. WinslOw has apparently
no sense of honor, or of his disgrace.
OF course, it would be absurd to make
the Belknap affair the occasion of hOmi-
lies to the sex in general, but the rising
position of woman, giving her more
and more influence in life and greater
responsibilities in affairs, undoubtedly
necessitates a broadening of her moral
perceptions in directions where there is
new occasion for them.


The event, of course, will have pro-
found SOLDERING effect in Washington So
ciety. The poignant disgrace of high
Kentucky family of bellies, furnishing
two successive 'cabinet ladies'" will
suspend, for a moment, the society
chatter over nothing. Probably either
of the unfortunate women in question
would have preferred beforehand the
risk of such an exposure to that Of-say,
of being generally voted "dOwdyn-
but after the explosion and its fearful
personal consequences, more serious eS-
Inmates of the business are likely to pre-
vail. 1t IS likely to make domestic re-
trenchment more tOlerable in high cir
cles, and the prOpriety of the ''spread''
and ''style" which must be maintained
at such risk will be soberly questioned
nv bOth SpNpS