PUBLIC FEELING ON THE SUBJECT.

Otago Witness, Issue 1762, 29 August 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

PUBLIC FEELING ON THE SUBJECT.

A niember of the Lords' Committee on the Protection of Girls 1 writes us as follows : — As I see a paragraph in the Pall Mall Gazette that you have received some spiteful and reproachful • letters for your manly and conscientious exposure of the horrible wickedness that is unknown and considered impossible by the ordinary public, I must have the pleasure of thanking you most heartily for the masterly way in which you brought light into those infernal regions which are mainly frequented in consequence of i the darkness in wftich they are enveloped. ! A nobleman who held an important post in ! the late Administration writes to us as folj lows : — I admire heartily the pluck and ability I which have enabled you >to put your ghastly I statement before the public. ■ You certainly j have not done the thing by halves. . . . f If I had had to edit the articles I think I should ' have prnned them down somewhat, arid perhaps have shortened them a little, but they would have been less dramatic. The justification of their publication is that if these evils are in any • degree to be remedied they must' be known, and now, when there was a doubt about the passing of the Criminal' Law Amendment Bill, was the moment for publishing them. If you succeed in carrying the vital portions of that bill you will have been more than justified. A Liberal peer, well known for his philanthropy, writes to us as follows :— -All who take even a small share in the various efforts to promote morality must have become aware, to some extent at least, of the existence of evils and ! atrocities such as those which you are now exposing. The blast has not been toned down, but you have faced and performed a terrible task, for which, I believe you deserve honour and gratitude from all who have at heart the promotion of the cause of humanity or (and it is the same thing) the cause of Christ. A well-known north country bishop writes to us as follows : — The statements in the Pall Mall Gazette of yesterday (Monday) are simply appalling. But in my opinion the deadness of public feeling on this matter will require some further evidence before sufficient legal steps will be taken to, render such hideous abominations impossible. The subject is intensely difficult, and you will be severely criticised for the boldness of your action in printing such fearful details. Yet it seems to me that the time has 1 come when the mask must be stripped from the ■ face of society. If not, the classes which now for lucre afford " sport" for the lecher of the moneyed class will assuredly some day take out an awful revenge in blood. I have for long I felt very deeply on this subject, and though it 'is painful enough to think of the necessity of t publishing such details, I feel it is a necessity, f and that your course is wise as well as bold. { A member of Parliament of the highest \ standing sends us the following balanced and well-weighed judgment ;\ — I need not assure you of my most sincere conviction that you have entered on your new campaign with the purest motives and the most absolute persuasion that you will work an immeuse amount of good in a direction where, God knows, there is enough to do, and where stupendous efforts are clearly required. . . . Whether the mode you have chosen is the best resource I will not presume to judge. I think you yourself would admit that some harm is done by sowing such statements broadcast, but you will contend that the end to be obtained is so unutterably important that you must proceed in your methods quand mcine. I have seldom found it more difficult to decide in my own mind what ought or ought not to be done. But you must not think people " squeamish" if they shudder at such revolting scenes being placed in the full glare of light before everybody. ' Mrs Josephine Butler writes to us as follows : — A certain noble lord, writing to me recently to warn me against divulging the name of any of his own class who may have been discovered , haunting the London Inferno, whose depths I ou have disclosed, reminded me of the words |of Scripture, " Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, i saith the Lord " — that is, vengeance (he [ argued) is not our attribute. Would the noble lord apply that principle in the case of a man who had murdered his friend, or even a burglar who had robbed his place ? Pure vengeance is not our obiect (I think I may speak fer the women of England on this). We are actuated in our severity by the keenest, tenderest pity for the wronged and outraged, the weak, helpless, and poor. We are filled with the holy wrath which mothers feel against the men of to-day who " murder the fatherless, and yet they say, the Lord shall not see it." But what would it avail us to punish such men otherwise than by the light falling upon their deeds? The great end which I personally desire to see, arising out of your courageous unveiling of these horrors, , the end of which I have long desired, is that I the rich and aristocratic culprits in this matter ! should be judged by the people — that public j opinion should measure them and pass sentence I upon them.