SUICIDE AND SOCIAL LIES.

We last week introduced this subject with a complaint, that while great pains are bestowed upon its vulgar aspects none are taken to investigate its bearings on Social Morals. Such a subject is not wisely left to "crowner's quest" philosophy and the declamation of the pulpit ; it is fraught with other interests than belong to the cognizance of either of those tribunals.

It is indeed generally surprising, how few organs of public opi- nion are sufficiently divested of exclusive aims to admit of any considerable enlightened survey of the moral condition of soejetY. To clergymen, for the most part, that phrase Conveys' bet, ono, meaning—a clerical one : it means the spiritual wants of 'the people;" and that means parish matters—pews and •churels,rates. And as for our pulpit eloquence for which no country in past time—not France herself—put forth more solid claims to edit-mar tion, one can only say of it at present, that as much as is not employed in fanatic diatribes against every thing elegant and cheerful—as at Norwich the other day—(0b, STORED—Is either poured forth in furious sectarian crusades and bigoted doctrinal warfare, or administered to the faithful in a lulling compound Of the orthodox, the threadbare, and the undeniable. Turning to poli- ticians, we find that if, at odd moments when they are not tearing One another to pieces, they look forth at all on society, it is still in the narrowest political sense--;-a mere squinting, that proposes no covcry to itself—that wants a peg, it may be, to hang some theory, on, or a dash of reality to give new colour to a favourite lie„ .Ia fact, this class of writers is apt to look upon any topic conaectui withinorality es foreign to their business,—which, in some pert, it is. They would have their readers, like Mrs. Quickly, "not think

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Gsd.yes"They consider morality a. Sunday 011ie; .80. pest ppm). it ; 0;he parSens ;. who," for. their parts, further it with what efficiency , oe have seem The politicians regard this c:onyenient division of' labour' whieh leaves them irresponsible for public n PerS,. Much in 'the same Way as the lad at the Sunday-school regarded the division of the Creed amongst his classfellows fer he, hiving duly repeated his belief "fn God the Father," and. the catechiser, in forgetfulness of the arrangement, further suggest- Wand God the Sell," replied promptly, pointing to an inferior teholar, "No, Sir, it's this here little boy as believes in God the SW" The only legitimate source from which any reflections on this Subject are to be found proceeding, is the judicial bench ; whence smeetimes, if the prosy fit is on, a heavy calendar in review, or smite peculiar case of moral perplexity invites the philosophic ana- lysis, we get a prelection or two on things in .general,—which also sometimes, however, " formosa superne, desmit" in party, sliding into that much-deprecated thing a political charge. Social morality, then, which properly is one of the main cares, if not the very end, of political government—the special study of the clergy, the direct. affiiir of the laity, the true purpose of the law, the best aim of the public ,press—shares, it seems, the usual fate of "everybody's business;' nobody attends to it. To the generally careless, too often superficial, if not actually false views of life, developed in the pages of modern novelists, one has to be referred for all the knowledge current on the subject of those gigantic errors qf society that lie, like imprisoned Typhons, at the bottom of our life-mountain, making the earthquakes. To con- sider Suicide, is to consider the tragic part of the great proportion Of those errors ; and as the general- subject of social morals is far too extensive to be handled in the columns of a newspaper, we can- not better accommodate it to our limits than by narrowing it to this one point. i • There s not a vice more characteristic of the age, nor a more fruitful cause of self-destruction, than that ignoble vanity which places in worldly appearances all its honour or all its shame. This is that vulgar-spirited class-pride—that wretched serainhle thr front seats—that love of hollow shows and empty differences— that lying word-worship and fretful meanness, which plasters the Whole face of society as with one odious mask, making happiness impossible to high or low. In very truth, the Devil himself could never have devised a surer trick to banish peace from the world, than this, by which, a word being first given of no fixed signifi- cance—a word with a thousand and-one-disputes belonging to it, human happiness is next bound to that word and made to depend from it. If a man, wanting to sleep comfortably, should make himself fast to the tails of twenty Kilkenny cats, this would be reasonable compared with what is done every day by those who would be surprised to be told they were mad—" respectable" men, and men seeking to be " respectable"—shame-faced gentility-hunters, with or without gigs—"gentlemen," who Are yet not satisfied of their position," uneasy in their minds and sensitive to their coat-tails— families cutting a certain " figure " in society, to whom that parti- cular reputation is life, the want of it death—in short, all those ingenious self-tormentors and voluntary slaves who seek content- Mont in the applause of the world and consent to draw their life Own the hreath of opinion. ]. This is the class of persons that chiefly sacrifices to the genius Of Suicide; none other peoples the realms of' Pluto so "fast and ibriona.", Let us- consider for a moment the appalling case so lately occupying the public attention. A young lady throws her- self' from the top of the Monument. Evidence is gone into—what lithe result ? In truth, a very poor one, if we take it solely from the mouth of the Coroner or the Jury. The latter find a verdict of" Ternporary insanity ;" with which, for the reasons stated in our last number, we will not quarrel, though we cannot omit to re- mark that the net was one of those already described as being ",emmnitted in derangement but not through derangement." The formerohe Coroner, Or the sum of all his meditations on so extra- Ordinary a case, presents us, or rather the Corporation of London, with this great moral inference—that mankind ought to place a railing round the top of the Monument. Thus drops this subject to theground, like the poor girl herself; for a moment terrible to behold—then withdrawn and Ihrgotten, leaving behind no mark, no lesson; no moral result on the public mind of one kind or another. An uneducated man reads the report. What does it present to his miad? A Mere scene on Fish Street Hill—nothing more! He laments that the young woman should have been overtaken With madness just there ; laments that the Monument should be SO high, and that, there should have been no railing round the top Of it; -Writhes that madness—such a thing as it is, that can go to that height—that can induce a young woman to take such steps to kill herself! This is the sum total of his reflections, probably. Xadness being declared father to the act, you shut from his mind any necessity for examining any antecedent causes, had he the wit to do so ; and the absence of all instructive commentary on the event leaves his ignorance without disturbance. ' But what, we repeat, did the evidence disclose ? What sad in- sight into into mistaken views of life—into artificial unhappiness, and sentiments Use as fatal? We collate a few scattered sentences from the evidence of the witness who was best acquainted with the

deceased and her family. " ••

Mr, Mayes has a large fan-lily of daughters growing up, and lately the ne• Cessity has been 'seen of some of thein goingfionilionie to get their living." 9.The determination of some of the daughters, and athong 'others the de,, ceased, being sent out to situations, was come to it Month or six weeks ago. ,4‘,Margaretwai,theFfirst 'for WhOM R. situation was to befound."- , ." It is difficult to say whether the dejected state of her mind proceeded from tbe illness of her parent or from the prospect of going out to earn a live- It was intended to give her a situation in a confectioner'S shop."' "On the subject of going out to a situation being mentioned to her, I hear& her. say ' I take it to heart ; I cannot get over the feeling—and yet Fm atuasT it is the right course." " I have inquired, but I am told that no branch of the family has been ject to insanity."

And the following is from her sister's evidence- " The idea of going out into the world to get her living preyed upon her mind."

This poor girl, if we mistake not, was a victim of that linlgarest of errors, which annexes disgrace where it ought to attach in creased respect—to misfortune. That she had causes for sadness. it would be inhuman to deny—not the least, indeed, being the very reflection that the world (her section of it) would act towards' her according to this kindless reverse of natural feeling': she had also some afflictions, as the evidence showed, arising from real Causes: In herself she had not one : she was, it seems, a virtuous, excellent girl, with a cotiscience clear of all offence; which is only to say,' that, preposterous artificial notions of " disgrace " apart, she Was possessed of a solid and inalienable fund of prospective happiness:' What a subject for a suicide—and a desperate, reckless stucidet? To suppose that the duties of the proposed situation could alone' so frighten and repel her as to account for her meditating self- destruction, is not reasonable : she was the daughter of' a baker, and the situation in prospect was at a pastry-cook's ; the transition was gentle enough, and, in a practical sense involved little, if any thing, that could be felt as a serious hardship by a girl in her rank of life. But the grief was not practical—it was sentimental; it 'had reference to matters of imagination and feeling, not to matters' of fact. We fear this poor girl threw herself from the Monument lei& Miss Smith the grocer's daughter in the next street might 4 take it upon her to be compassionate when she learnt her friend's " grace." We fear she was even herself in part persuaded that the sustainment of unavoidable misfortunes, to begin with; mop: itself a species of disgrace, (including the death of a moth*, and a father's illness!) and that the acquisition of an indes' pendent livelihood ood by useful and virtuous industry would hava consummated this disgrace, and rendered her naturally an ject of contempt to idle and fortunate Miss Smith! If .nhe was, as we say, in part persuaded of this herself, it was not that she had reasoned on the matter and had come to these con- clusions in that way, (young women do not usually deal in :apt!: ments of philosophy, nor should it be any part of their necessity

to do so,) but that, as in the case of most young persons; her notions and feelings were compounded from the prevailing tone of society ; and this, as we have seen, is simply that of a sickly, cowardly, lie-loving, most idolatrous age to whose brazen 'gods-- not worth an old candlestick—we are called on to sacrifice honour, sense, happiness, and self-respect, and which brazen rids are yet not to be propitiated without the blood of' innumerable victims, who drown, shoot, and hang themselves in this precious faith front day to day.

"How we abuse that article, our life! Some people pluck it Out with a knife—some blow it up with powder—others duck it" One thing is sure, and Horace*

Has already said it for us,— .

Sooner or later, all must kick the inevitable bucket." t This "inevitable bucket" is continually anticipated with as little real cause as it was on the occasion to which we have advertecI; and poor MARGARET MOTES is distinguished front the Mass of victims by the manner only, net by the causes of her destruction. The satne enormous social, ME is at the bottom of all such acts— the old lie about suet and habeo—the lie that says that huinan

beings are estimable and honour-worthy, not for what they are, but for what they have. For this, individuals may 'not be fairly. blamed—assuredly not the young and unreflecting ; but the sin lies heavily on society at large—on the upper classes, and those from whom manners and opinions primarily descend.

When persons in the rank of life to which MARGO= MOTES belonged, make away with themselves in the first wind of a misfor- tune, deeming themselves lost wretches though possessed cif health, youth, and innocence, we pity them too sincerely to be able to apply harsh names to them ; we regard them as weak victims Of a system for which they are nowise responsible. If they are not very mad, they were perhaps never very sane ; and they have a right to a verdict which, at any rate, stops the unkindness of the world from pursuing them beyond this life. But We confess we often feel a wish that fools of' a higher quality, when they burn themselves at a fire of their own lighting—a fire, at least, which they have been principally active to maintain—should come by their right sentence and description. He whose whole life was set on manufacturing a "respectability," on the realization of a certain " establishment " and a certain "figure "—such and such gigs, and such and such reports of them—ought, in our opinion, if he die in so noble a cause, to have the fitet emblazoned to the world. " Tent.; porary insanity !" no such thing. Let Juries do their duty : "Died of a dwindled dinner-party"—" died of a dismissed foot- man "—"died of a shooting-box less than last year"—" died of having only twice instead of thrice as much as he knew what to do with"—" died of Mr. ThOmson's gig"—"of Mr. Smith's com-

parisons," 84c.,&e. •

. *The Coneis# oft& Comet.- " luesitabiloletlutm," Sm.