The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-12-30
MRS STO IVES DEFENSE.

uSuludJlOn Oh ner HrJlCl6 III Iue ntUtttC
Monthly of September last, entitled ''The
True Story of Lord Byron, and the conclu-
sive proofs that we're brought forward of the
groundlessness of her slanders on the dead
poet and his sister, that she would either have
the grace to maintain silence on the subject
forever after, or else present such an apology
as would satisfy outraged public opinion and
convince the world that her original publica-
ton was merely grave error of judgment
and not piece of malicious mischief. A
fondness for apologizing, however, is not
Beecher trait, but love for notoriety at any
cost is; and yet Mrs. Stowe might have taken
a hint from her brother, the Rev. Mr..
Beecher, who managed lately to make himself
o party to a very scandalous transaction,
and who found it expedient to pay some
Difference to outraged public opinion 10y
making an apology and oonfessing his error.
But women are proverbially more obstinate
than men, especially when it comes to ao-
knowledging themselves in the wrong, and
that Beecher woman should do anything of
the kind is not within the limits of proba-
bilty. Mrs. Stowe, therefore, is about to
come before the world with book in which
Byron and Mrs. Leigh, and in which she
promises to put in the possession of her
readers facts and incidents that she did not
think proper at first to state.
In order to give this work all possible pub
licity, Mrs. Stoves publishers, Fields, Osgood
e. Co., have taken the pains to forward to the
newspapers the Introductory chapter, in
which the originator of the scandal gives her
reasons for her first article and for this de-
fense of it. We would be very glad to avoid
advertising this performance, but the interest
felt in the subject is SO great that it is i'm
possible the press of the country can remain
silent upon it; and there is nothing left for
us to do but to sift Mrs. Stoves arguments,
and show the shadowy ground upon which
she builds such a gigantic superstructure of
loathsome scandal. OF course, if she pro-
duces positive proofs of the guilt
of Lord Byron, we will be
obliged to believe. In such
case as this however, the burden Of proof
rests upon the accuser; and Mrs. Stowe will
be obliged to give us something more sub
stantial in the way of facts than she has done
heretofore, before her story will be entitled
to the slightest credence. On tho appear
ance of her article in the atlantis the press
of the United States Immediately exposed the
incorrectness of its statements of fact and
the utter fallacy of its arguments, and when
it reached England, evidence was forthcoming
which convinced every dispassionate reader
that the accusation of Mrs Stowe was false
and malicious slander.
In the Introductory chapter of her new
book, which we publish on our seventh page,
Mrs. Stowe gives as her reason for making her
disclosures, that she considered it her duty
to do so. This may be satisfactory to her,
but it will not be to any one else, and the
criticisms bestowed upon her original effort
indicate what she may expect if her reitera-
ton of the slander falls short of absolute
and incontrovertible proof. Mrs. Stowe,
however, claims and says she will prove
THAT it was not who stirred up this contro-
versy in the year 1869. I shall show aoho djd
do at, and who is responsible for bringing on
me that hard duty of making these disclo-
! sures, which appear to me ought to have
been made by others"
AS regards the disclosures made by Lady
Byron, Mrs. Stowe states that there was no
injunction of secrecy, but that the facts were
given to her to use as she saw fit; and as
regards the feebleness of her plea, she urges
in excuse the exhausted state of her health
when the article was written, ia the following
extraordinary language:-
81 have been told that have no reason to Congra-
tuate myself on 1t as literary effort my brothers
and sisters! Is there then nothing in the world to
think of but literary efforts? ask any man, with
heart III his bosom, II he had been obliged TO tell
story so cruel, because his mothers grave gave no
rest from SANDER; ] ask any woman who had been
forced to such disclosure TO free dead sisters
name from groSsest insults, whether she would have
thought of making this work OF bitterness 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 eiorts?"
When penning these words, did Mrs. Stowe
have no thought of the unhappy children of
the woman whom she branded with infamy !?
Towards the press of America, Mrs.
Stowe adopts lofty tone of compassion,
stating that she has read none of the attacks
on her-which by the wayne do not believe:
it is not in woman nature-and then puts
in as plea for further hearing the reasons
that urged her to take the course she did
These reasons were the old ones of the publ
cation of the Countess Guiociolis book and
an article attacking Lady Byron in Black
qc00dS MdgaziRe for July, 1869 These ex-
cuses were declared insufficient before by
the public of America and Europe, and they
ingly sentimental style of this Introductory
chapter does not promise very we'll for those
that are to follow. We did hope that the last