THE MORALS OF AMERICA'S PRESIDENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXII, Issue 7222, 10 January 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE MORALS OF AMERICA'S PRESIDENT.

The following letter of Dr. Ball speaks for itself : —Buffalo, September 16, 1884. Rev. D. H. Muller, D.D., Cleveland. —My Dear Brother,—You request information for yourself and others respecting Mr. Cleveland. This you ask not as a political partisan, but as a Christian teacher, and as such I reply, " The paramount issue of the Presidential election this year is moral rather than political." Grover Cleveland was little known iu Buffalo till nominated for Mayor. He averaged fairly as a lawyer, and many years ago served as Sheriff, but lived secluded from general society. He was brought before the public by accident. Politics in the city and state were in confusion. The people were incensed against "rings," "packed caucuses" and " manipulated conventions," and eager to vent their displeasure. Mr. Cleveland became tho escape-valve for pent indignation. Any other man would have done as well. His private morals were presumed to be correct. Before the nomination for the Presidency his deeds of darkness" began to coma to light. Democratic papers—the Rochester Union, Boston Globe, and others— advertised his uuchastity. Prominent Democrats in Buffalo confirmed the bad reports. Physicians, police officers, detectives and other citizens whose professional duties or business relations made them cognisant of the facts, related them privately to some of our pastors. The shocking disclosures were discussed and mentiooed at the ministers' meeting ; letters were written by several of the pastors to editors of Christian journals to put them on their guard. Investigations disclosed still more proof of debaucheries too horrible to relate and too vile to be readily believed. For many years days devoted to business have been followed by nights of sin. Ho has lived a, bachelor, had no home, avoiding the restraints even of hotel or board-ing-house life, lodged in rooms on the third floor of a business block, made those rooms a harem, foraged outside also iu the city and surrounding villages—a champion libertine, an artful seducer, a foe to virtue, an enemy of the family, a snare to youth and hostile to true womanhood. The Halpin case was not solitary. Women, now married and anxious to cover the sins of their youth, have been his victims, and are now alarmed lest their relations to him shall be exposed. Some disgraced and broken-hearted victims of his lust slumber iu the grave. Since he has become Governor of this great State he has not abated his lecheries. Abundant rumours implicate him at Albany ; well-authenticated facts convict him at Buffalo. His repeated visits to this city have been preceded, with one or two exceptions, by the appearance of a veiled female at the foot of the stairs leading to his rooms. She has entered the rooms, set things in order, remained with him while he remained, and departed when ho returned to the capital. Both of them have been freely exposed in their night-clothes, and seen by several reputable witnesses, who are ready to appear and testify in court when properly called. The last amour of thia nature, clearly verified, occurred so late as April, 18S4. He was here on July 4th and sth last, but the veiled woman, for some reason, did not appear at his rooms, yet elsewhere his conduct accorded with his current tastes. The3o allegations do not rest upon rumours, hearsay, or second-hand statements, but upon the testimony of men and women who were personally cognisant of the facts related. Seven of our pastors have acted as a provisional committee to listen to the testimony given, A written summary of the evidence has been reviewed by able counsel and pronounced surprisingly full and conclusive. Fully thirty of the ministers of Buffalo, after hearing this summary read, do not hesitate to pronounce him guilty of habitual unchastity and. iutemperance. The feeling has become deep and widespread in Buffalo that he is indeed a "moral leper," as the leading Democrat, Purcell, months since declared. The possibility .of his remaining in the field after his true character has been exposed, alarms us. The plea that personal character is of small account in high officials shocks. The claim widely made that the disclosures will help more than harm his prospects, and the tremendous efforts the baser elements of society are making to elect him, warn us of impending danger. All tho forces of evil are moving to this end with tremendous energy. This issue is evidently not between the two great parties, but between the brothel and the family, between indecency and decency, between lust and law, between the essence of barbarism and the first principles of civilization, between the degradation of women and due honour, protection, and love to our.mothers, sisters and daughters. This is the feeling that deeply moves us in Buffalo. For publishing the truth and warning the people I have been cruelly maligned. The spirit of persecution evidently lingers on earth. The view our ministers' meeting, composed of Presbyterians, Methodist*, Episcopalians, and Congregationalists, take of this persecution is expressed in tho accompanying paper. lam profoundly grateful for this spontaneous and very earnest endorsement at this trying moment. — Very truly yours, George 11. Ball.