The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-12-30
THE BYRON SCANDAL.

On neT Ol byron anu MS blslcT is an-
nounced for publication in few days by Fields,
Osgood & Co., who send us the Introductory
chapter as a sample of the style of the work.
CHAPTER I.-1NrRopucrIoN.
The interval since my publication of "The
True Story of Lady ByTon's Life has been one
of stormy discussion and of much invective.
have not thought it necessary to disturb my
spirit and confuse my sense of right by even an
attempt at reading the many abusive articles that
both here and in England have followed that dis
closure.
Friends have undertaken the task for me- Civ
ing me from time to time the substance of any
thing really worthy OF attention which came to
view In the tumult.
1t appeared to me essential that this first excite
ment should in a measure spend itself before
there would be possibility of speaking to any
purpose. Now when all would seem to have
spoken who can speak, and, it is to be hoped,
have said the utmost they say there seems q
propriety in listening calmly, if that be possible,
to what have to say in reply.
And, first why have made this disclosure at
all?
TO this / aas,rcr JyjeGy because considered 1t
my duty 10 mate IL.
/ made it in defense Of a beloved, revered
friend, whose memory stood forth in the eyes of
the civilized world charged with most repulsive
crimes, of which | certainty knew her innocent.
L claim, and shall prove that Lady Byron's
reputation has been the victim of a concerted at
tack, begun by her husband during her lifetime,
and coming to its climax over her grave. / claim,
and shall prove, that it was not | who stirred up
this controversy in this year 1862 shall show
qrbo did do IL, and who is responsible for bringing
on me that hard duty of making these dis
closures, which appears to me ought to have
been made by others.
! claim that these facts were given to me un-
guarded by any promise or seal Of secresy eX-
pressed or implied; that they were lodged
- with me one sister rests her story with
another for sympathy, for counsel, for defense.
Neuer did l suppose the day would come that
| should be obliged to so cruel an anguish as
this use of them has been to me-. Never did
l suppose that, when those kind hands that
had shed nothing but blessings, were lying in the
helplessncss of death-when that gentle heart SO
sorely tried and to the last so full Of love, was
lying cold in the tOmb-a countryman in Eng
land could be found to cast the tOulcst ISLANDERS
on her grave, and not one in all England to raise
an effective voice in her defense
l admit the fcebleness Of my plea, in point
of execution. 1t written in state OF
exhausted health when no labor of the kind
was safe for me, when my hand had not strength
to hold the pen, and l was forced to dictate to
another.
have been told that [ have no reason to
congratulate myself on it rs a literary effort.
o my brothers aud sisters. is there then nothing
in the world to think Of but literary efforts;
1 ask any man, with heart in his bosom, if he
had been obliged to tell q story so cruel because
his mothers grave gave no rest from slander
ask any woman who had been forced to such
q disclosure to free dead sisters name from
grossest insults, whether she would have thought
of making this work Of bitterness q literary
success
Are the cries of the oppressed the gasps of
the dying, the last prayers Of mothers-are any
words wrung like drops of blood from the human
heart to be judged as literary efforts?
My fellow countrymen OF America, men of the
press. ] have done you one act of justice-Of all
your bitter articles, | have read NOT one.
/ shall never be troubled in the future time by
the remembrance Of any unkind word you have
said of me, for at this moment | recollect not
I one. | had such faith in you, such pride in my
countIymen as men with whom, above all others.
the cause of woman safe and sacred, that |
was at first astonished and mcrcdulous
at what / heard of the course of the
from the impossibility of being heard, but from
grief and shame Bnt reflection convlnces me
that you were, in many cases. acting from mis-
understanding of facts and through misguided
! honorable feeling; and still feel courage, there
fore to ask from you fair hearing. Now, as
have done you this justice, will you also do me
the justice to hear me seriously and canddly?
| What interest have you or l, my brother and
nv sister in this short life of ours to utter any
] thing but the truth? Is not truth between man
| and man and between man and woman the
| foundation on which all things rest? Have
you not, every individual of you, who must here
| after give an account yourself alone to God, an
interest to know the exact truth in this matter
and duty to perform as respects that truth
Hear me, then, while tell you the position il
which stood, and what was my course in rela
tion to it.
| shameless attack on my friends memory
| had appeared in the BluckCOOd of July, 1869
branding Lady Byron as the vilest of criminals
and recommending the Guiccioli hook to
4 Christian public interesting from the very fac
4 that il was the avowed production Of LorC
! Byron's mistress. No efficient protest was made
| against this outrage in England, and LittelP
| IiUin9 Age reprinted the BLdckicOod article anC
| the Harpers, the largest publishing house il
America, perhaps IN the world, republished tn
1 book.
Its statements with those of the BIacI
qcood, Poi lidH Gazette, and other English peri
/ odicals-were being propagated through all til
! young reading and writing world of America.
/ was meeting them advertised in dailies, and mad
/ up into articles in magazines and thus the gene
1 ration of to-day, who had no means OF iudgin
4 Lady Byron but by these fables OF her slanderers
were being fouly deceived. The friends VIII
\ knew her personally were a small select circle i
I England, whom death is every day reducing
They were few in number compared with th
great world, and were silent.
saw these foul ISLANDERS clystallizing into hi,
tory, uncoutradcted by friends who knew he
personally, who, firm in their knowledge of hC
virtues, aud limited in view as aIistocratic circle
generally are, had no idea of the width of I'll
world they were living in, and the eXgency
the crisis. When time passed on and no VolI
| was raised, | spoke. l gave at first slmp
story, for / knew instinctiycly that whoever pI
the first steel point Of truth into this dark clou
of SANDER must wait for the storm to spend itscl
| must say the storm exceeded my expectation
| and has ragged loud and long. But now that the
is comparative stiffness / shall proceed, first,
prove what l have just been asserting, an
second, to add to my true story such fac
and incidents as | did not think proper at first
state.
GENERALIIIES.
john Reals Life Depending upon Her