Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1869-09-12

ness of statement, Of the elimination
Of immaterial facts and issues, and of
close logic. 1t contains more and bet
ter arguments than we have seen in
all the previous newspaper articles on
the subject, put together.
As to the lawyer-like method OF
treatment, this, it seems to US, IS just
what the controversy most needed.
The laws of evidence which are en-
forced in the courts, and which are so
ably put to use by Gen. Butler, are
founded in the accumulated good
sense, experience and observations Of
the most severely disciplined minds
of unnumbered generations past.
1t is well enough sometimes to sneer
at these strict rules, but they are, on
the whole, as perfect as the wit OF
man has ever been able to devise.
We are glad, then, that so acute a
LAWYER as Gen. Butler has devoted his
| attention to the Byron scandal, and
submitted it to rules of evidence uni
verSaliy assented to. He proves, con-
clusively to our mind, the following
propositions:
A cursOry examination of Mrs.
Stoves article shows that it contra
venes all of these as well as every
| other rule of evidence. 1t is the story
of the wife-admittedly Justly ag-
grieyed by the gross misconduct Of the
husband in other respects-cOnsisting
/ largely of conversations with the hus-
band, narrated more than fifty years
after the events, and ret0ld thirteen
years after the telling of the tale, of
most improbable and almost incredi-
bic fact OF horrible outrage upon her
self and society, affecting deeply the
rights and feelings of other and innO-
cent persons; unsupported by any
other evidence; told c~onfessedly for
her own standardization while con-
Tossing that the wife had caused the
memoirs of her husband, wherein his
side of the story had been told, to be
destroyed more than a quarter of a
century previously; and herself had
waited until every mouth had been
closed who could, as living witnesses,
contrOvert the statement.
COntradicted, as will be seen, by
every other circumstance of the lives
of the persOns-LOrd Byron and his
sister-tO be affected by it, the True
Story of Lady Byron's Life" as re-
lated by Mrs. Stowe, illustrates more
forcibly the reason and good sense Of
/ the rules of evidence, than any case
that may ever be tried in a court of
Justice, and is equally suggestive as to
the danger of taking the story of the
wrongs of domestic life, solely from
the lips of one of the parties.
We have no space for even an allu-
sion to the various steps Ofthe demon
I -E-aN.aN vrhToh EeNHnwr-a Nj N s--V.
suspicious feature of the Stowe story
escapes Gen. Buffers keen vigilance,
while the exposure of each adds to the
general effect of the closely followed
argument. We will simply give his
concluding paragraph:
upon review of the whole matter,
in the light of all the evidence of con
tempOraneOus facts, of the suppression
o fan documentary evidence by the
wife, of the extraordinary manner in
which this story is given to the pub
lie, is it not more %cOns0nant with hu-
man reason to conclude that the story
of Lady Byron, if we have it correctly
detailed to Us, was a delusiOn or a
mistake than that this horrible crime
in two persons has been committed
and remained unrevealed, except to a
select few until this day? We may
admit that Lady Byron herself be-
lieved this story. We may admit.
without scruple, that Mrs. Stowe be-
lieves it; but Lady Byron may have
believed upon very insufficient evil
denee, and Mrs. Stowe evidently has
taken her belief for the proof of the
fact without the slightest examina-
ton of the grounds of the statement.
But, it may be asked, what motive
could Lady Byron have for putting
forward this story? Mrs. Stowe, in
apolOgiZing for her, feels. that there is
a necessity for some explanation for
the manner in which, and the causes
for which Lady Byron separated from
her husband. The world has felt that,
up to to-day, accusing him of the or
binary infidelities ola husband would
not be sufficient. She took him with
those; she lived with him with thOsef
she invited him to her bed, and caused
her mother to indOrse the invitation,
after learning them all. In the Ian
guage of the law, she cOndOned all
these. May she not have felt that no
other excuse was left her except the
one now so unfortunately, and We
may hope-without an unkind thought
toward her-so untruthfully put for
ward? But we are not required to
find motives, we are dealing only
with the facts-and the evidence to
sustain them"
BYRoN's VERSES TO HIS SISTER, AT.
GUsTA.
In connection with the above we
publish, as q matter Of great interest,
and to refresh the memory of our
readers, the following verses of Lord
Byron, expressive of his affection for
his sister, so fOully and disgraeefully
aspersed by Mrs. stowe:
My sister, my sweet ~sister!i If q name
D5arer and purer were 70 Mould he thine.
Mountains and seas divide US but / claim
No tears, but tenderness to answer mine;
Go where VIII. 70 me thou art the same
A loved regret WHICH ! would not resign,
4hefe Tet are two thing in my destiny.
A world TO roam through and a home with
thee.
The first were n~othing-had I stm the last,
It were the haven OF my happinessi
But other claims and other lies thou hast.
And mine is not the wish 10 make them less
Astrange doom is thy fathers sons, and
past
Recalling; as 1t lies beyond redress;
Reversed for him our grandsire's fate OF
He had no reai at sea. nor on shore.
. o o o
! feel almost at times a. I have felt
In happy childhood; trees and lowers and
brooks,
Which DO remember me OF where I dwelt
Frenzy young mind was sacrificed to books,
Come as Of yOre upon me, and can melt
My heart with recognition Of their looks;
And even at moments could hin / sec,
Some living thing to love, but none like
thee.
Here are the Alpine landscapes which
create
A fund for contemplation to admire
i a brief feeling of a trivial date
But something wOrthier do such scenes in
spire;
Here to be lonely Is not d~esoIRte,
For much / view which 1 could most desire,
And, above al, a lake l can behold
LOVeiier, not dearer, than our own of Old.
The world is all before me; but I ask
OF nature that with which she will comply.
It Is but in her summers sun TO bask,
To mingie with the quiet OF her *
To see her gentle face without a mask.
And never gaze upon II with apathy.
Ehe was my early friend. and now shall be
Ny sister-tn ] look again on thee.
LOekjaw Cured by Tobacco,
A writer in the Scientific American