The Sumter watchman. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1855-1881, 1870-01-19

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it is that Mrs. Stowe really believes
about this affair in her own mind
II Mrs. Stowe makes it an additional
charge against Lord Byron that he wrote
tho verses "Fare thee well aud if for.
ever" on March II, 1916, "whilo nego,
tihtions for separation were pending" p
Mrs Stoves forgetlulncss and confu-
siou arc simply unacoun,ablc. Lady
Byron quilted Lord Byron's house, "nev-
or to return" on January 18th, 1916,
and Dr.. Lnshington's letter declaring
that the vito never coulI be rcconcilcd
to her husband was dated January
list
We have said that Mrs. Stowe has no
proof Of her 6rst story to offer. But in
this second story sl,c supplies, unawares,
some confirmation Of tho supposition
that Lady Byron was tho victim of q
hallucination when she con6ded her Csc
crct" to Mrs. Stowe. We ask the pur-
ticular attention Of the reader TO this
pint, because Mrs. Stove, in the warmth
Of her advocacy, has SO arranged her
materials as t. mislead those who care
cssly follow her statemet. She takes
great pains to show that Lady Byron
was in her perfect mind, but when VIC
discover that it was not ut this healthy
period the disclosure was made. We
arc not given tho exact dute-N1rs.
Stowe evadcs her dates in most unsat
| isfactory nanncr-but she is obliged to
admit that when the great conversation
took place Lady Byron was seriously
i'll. When she was ,ccN she spoke of her
dead husband to Mrs. Stowe just as she
had always written of him to Mrs.
Lcigh-that is 70 say, with sorrow ond
respect. We regard this as q most im-
portant piece of evidence, although Mrs.
Stowe mentions it in cursory manner.
It was not until Lady Byron was "pros>
trated" with illness that she accused her
husband Of incest. Before that time,
Mrs Stowe herself declares that no one
would have conjccturcd from Lady BY
rou's romarks concerning her husband
"that there were under all any deeper
recollections than the circumstances of
an ordinary separation might bring
But at the timc the "sccrct" was divulg-
cd all was different with Lady Byron:
Mrs. Stowe says Of hcr state at this poS
riod: "Hcr hands were like ice her
face was deadly pale, and she converse
with a restraint aud difficulty which
showed what an excrtion it was for her
to keep up at ALL" (Pago 230.) Again
she says that she found her Gin one Of
those periods Of utter physical cxhaus.
tion to which she was subject, on &C.
count Of the constant pressure of care
beyond her strength" (Page 2-9)
On the very day ofthc unfortunate con-
vcYsaton there were two other visitors
with Lady Byron at the moment Mrs.
Stowe entered the room. When Lady
Byron got up to go out, says Mrs. Stowe,
they (thc otncr gncsts) "lookod after l.cr
'oith a singular expression of respect ard
affections" aud gave utterauce to fears
lest "her unsclfshness might be leading
her to over cxcrtion." When lady by.
ron made the revelation "shc became,' .
says Mrs. Stowe, $50 deadly pale that I
feared she would faint" AS for the
paper which Lady Byron afterwards lcnt
to her visitor, Mrs. Stowe seems to be
unable to give us any account whatever
of it. Lady Byron told Mrs. Stowe
that she thought Of making her story
public some day, because Lord Byron
was looking on from another world at
the mischicfh he had done, aud he could
not "be at peace until this Injustice
was ri.hted. Now tako these facts in
connection with the letters Of Lady BY
ron to Mrs. Leigh and others, and which
becomes tho more probably conf &C turc-
that Lord Byron and Mrs. Leigh wcrc
guilty, or that Lady Byron, towards tho
| I % ko,. In f,,n Icr
of her faculties (?
We have passed by all minor point:
in Mrs. Stoves second narrative. W.
shall not criticisc the manner in whicl
che has performed her tas&. Her strange
rhapsodics, her spasmodic bursts o
sentiment, her disordered array Of sucl
facts as she has to offer, we will pu
wholly aside. But there is one particula
/, in Which her moral sense is strangely n
fault, and we must call her attention t,
; it ere we leave the subject, as we trust
forever. She vindicates herself fo
publishing her unsupported and rcpul
sivo "story' upon the ground that sh'
wished to defend "a wife and q mother
Is it possible, then, that she does no
perceive that in reality sho has come
forward to dc/ame wife and mother
No one accused Lady Byron Of immorali
ty. But Mrs. Stowe has charged Mrs
Leigh with the most shocking Of al
O. O. 'cs, aud she thinks that it is enough
tos tantiatc her charge if she show!
that 'Byron was man of very ba'
charact .Shc has asked whether Lor'
Byron Wa cupaJic Of committing thi
crime, and, having satisfied herself tha
he was, she proclaims that tho whole
case is proved. But, by Oh incredible
, pcrversity, che makes no account Of the
fact that there must have boon tw,
parties to tho sin. If Lord Byron wa
pronigatc, does Mat prove his hal
sister was as bad, or worse? Mrs Stove
has not yet said one word against Mrs
I.cgh. She merely assumes that if Lore
, Byron wished to commit tho specified