The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-09-02
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 1869.
THE BYRON SCANDAL.

is the great literary sensation of the day, ana
shows that indecency and shamelessless can
be made as profitable to magazine and book
publisbers as to stage-managers. The true
friends of the authoress of "Uncle Toms
Cabin" deplore the prostitution OF her talen'
to SO foul a purpose; but this sacrifice OF her
fair fame adds to the excitement OF the hour'
ON the principle that Ristori, as the heroine
of a nude DRAMA would draw even larger
audiences than a Menken.
The excuses which Mrs. Stowe gives for her
shocking disclosures are so transparent, and
her statements are so loose or absolutely false,
that it would be an insult to her intelligence
to suppose that she really had any higher OBJ
iect than that of the razor strop man-to
make an article that would sell. In this aim
she has succeeded beyond her most sanguine
expectations, but only by loss in solid repu-
tation and in the esteem of all whose good
opinion is worth having, for which unenviable
notoriety is but paltry compensation.
Mrs. Stowe does not even pretend that she
was authorized or requested by Lady Byron
to publish the shameful story to the world.
She was only consulted in regard to the pro-
priety of its publication, for the purpose of
counteractin,, the effects of a cheap edition
of Lord Byron's works; and according to her
own showing she advised Lady Byron to
s.leave the truth to be disclosed after her
death" recommending that ''all the facts
necessary should be put in the hands of some
person to be so published Lady Byron, on
second thoughts, and acting under wiser coun-
sells, decided not to infict this posthumuous
stab on the memory of her husband, and if
Harriet Beecher Stowe was a woman of proper
feeling. or uncontaminated by an inefably
disgraceful itching for notoriety at any cost,
she would never have kicked the dead lion.
Feeling that she must find an excuse for
her article, she gives it in the allegation that
it is necessary or desirable to refute the ''san-
ders of the Countess Guicciolis book" that
is to say, because the Countess calls Byrons
wife cold and correct woman, as all the
world has called her for the last half century
she emeanwhileconsidering this characterization
as a compliment rather than an imputation.
Mrs. Stowe must now rush into print, with
revolving charge against the dead poet, which
she received under the seal of confidence
and which she herself said should not be pub
lished unless by proper authority, and unless
it was fully substantiated by all the necessary
facts.
The late publication is not only condemned
by Mrs. Stoves own theories, but with almost
unbroken unanimity by the American press
She has not only done bad thing, but she
has executed her infamous task in a bungling
manner, and managed to crowd into her state
ment so many inaccuracies and false deduc-
tons that she throws discredt upon her entire
story.
The accusation rests exclusively on the allie
cation that Lady Byron believed her husband
to have been guilty of incest. 1t is part of
the same story that at or about the same
time Lady Byron believed him to be mad
Events proved her to be mistaken in the lat
ter charge and if she was capable of an error
on this point, why not ON the other? 1t is
unsafe to give full credence to any statement
of either of the parties to a matrimonial sepa
ration or divorce suit, especially when the
''green-eyed monster construes ''triHes LIGHT
as air into confirmation strong as proofs of
holy writ, and lords and ladies are
as prone to error on such subjects as the
plainest of plebeians. Byron himself has told us
that his wife tried to prove him to be ''mad,
but failing in this, sought justification for
her desertion in the belief that he was bad.
10 give the keenest possible edge to this
charge, it was necessary to make him very
bad; but it has remained for Mrs. Stowe to
dish up, in an ostentatious and offensive man
ner, the worst count in the indictment framed
by the runaway wife.
That Mrs. Stowe has been at no pains To in
vestigate the charge is evident from the OBJ
vious errors in her article She has shown
none OF the impartiality of the Judge. and she
has not even displayed the care of iudicious
district attorney, who seeks to know at least
enough of the history of the criminals he
arraigns to be satisfied that there is sub
stantial ground for prosecution. OF the real
facts OF their married life she is deplorably
Ignorant, and while the force of her accusation
Is broken, If not totally destroyed, by the
misstatements with which it is interwoven, it
is rebutted by the strongest evidence for the
defense that could well be presented against
charge of this nature. wiz
l. According to the statements of all par
ties concerned, Lady Byron left Lord Byron's
residence at his own request. Mrs. Stowe
herself makes this point in defense of her
heroine. If Lady Byron was then fully salts
ned that he was the monster he is now repre-.
sented to be, and if that guilt was full JUS
nhcation for her separation Gas Mrs. Stowe
now apparently eontends), Lady Byron should
nave abandoned her husband voluntarily after
the discovery of his crirna