EDITOR'S TABLE. 



619 



EDITOR'S TABLE. 



A SOCIAL EXPERIMEyr. 



"TTTE observed, a while ago, the 

 V V meeting of two gentlemen who, 

 after salutation, broke at once into mu- 

 tual and vehement expressions of dis- 

 gust at the Beecher trial, and then sat 

 down and discussed it for an hour. 

 Such has been the general experience, 

 Newspapers have bemoaned the neces- 

 sity of publication, and then howled for 

 the extension of the proceedings, mean- 

 time sending out their interviewers in 

 all directions, to rake the gutters of 

 scandal for further and filthier details. 

 Similarly, by the mass of readers, the 

 reports have been first deplored and 

 til en devoured to the last crumb. The 

 protests were hollow concessions to de- 

 cency ; what followed revealed the act- 

 ual and honest mental condition of the 

 parties. 



This aspect of the trial, as an index 

 of public taste, is not without its in- 

 structiveness. It was evidently rich in 

 elements that are appreciated by our 

 people, and that take a deep hold of 

 their feelings. It fed the craving for 

 personal and prurieut gossip, and, more- 

 over, left something to bet on. It com- 

 bined, in its various phases, the fasci- 

 nations of the tea-party, the prize-ring, 

 and the regatta. The lower education, 

 by bringing the masses of the people up 

 to the capacity of reading the newspa- 

 pers, and the higher education, by ally- 

 ing itself with the horse-racing passion, 

 have well prepared the community to 

 enjoy the drama lately acted on Judge 

 Neilson's stage. True, it was the old 

 story of private suftering turned to pub- 

 lic sport, but with what refinements in 

 its modernized aspect ! A dash of bru- 

 tal bloodshed, a little gladiatorial human 

 butchery, were indispensable to the per- 

 fection of a Roman holiday ; but, in our 

 higher Christian civilization, we get up 



a six-months' carnival of keen excite- 

 ment by mangling a single reputation. 

 It is certainly worth something to find 

 out how our people can be best amused. 

 We are far from agreeing with thoso 

 who have filled the land with lamenta- 

 tion over the unmitigated evils of the 

 Beecher trial. It has undoubtedly had 

 its mischievous influences, but these we 

 believe will be transient and far out- 

 weighed by the public benefits that 

 cannot fail to arise from it. It was, of 

 course, most painful to Mr. Beecher 

 and he has our deepest sympathy but 

 no one better than he could afford to 

 make the sacrifice needed to insure the 

 permanent good of such a thorough- 

 going social experiment as this trial and 

 its preludes have furnished. The case 

 is of peculiar interest as a problem of 

 the forces acting in society. It is a 

 great mistake to suppose that the Plym- 

 outh pastor was alone on trial. Action 

 and reaction are equal and opposite in 

 things social as well as in things phys- 

 ical. The strain took eflfect all round ; 

 and the triers have been on trial as well 

 as the defendant. "We know a great 

 deal more about lawyers and the law 

 than we did before ; we understand 

 better about judges and the judiciary 

 than we did before ; and we have con- 

 ceptions of the jury and the jury-system 

 which we had not before ; while the 

 result of the new knowledge is not by 

 any means to raise our estimate of 

 them. They have been brought to the 

 bar of common-sense and the public 

 judgment, and nothing 'has happened 

 in the history of legal proceedings in 

 this country that can compare with this 

 case in exposing the weakness, the 

 anomalies, and the vices of the system 

 under which we live, called the perfec- 

 tion of reason, for the administration of 

 justice. Nowhere in society are in- 



