The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-01-12
Mrs. stovv.,s esoSSa S 4 Nhrfasive. I s s : i,,.,:

j tiSn Mhiob wiz shfer most by this new
"fey9Iationp lArsA ,St6we'& viuaication
of her statespsnt cencexhin5 Lore Byron
and Mrs. LEIGH y that Of Mrs. Stowe
hefself. Not only has she mo new evi-
I dence' of any Kind to oifeR, but she an
wolves herself in 80 strange o mesh of
contradictions and Inconsistencies that at
tor who feels himself bound to press the
charge even after he has discovered the
innocence of the accused. She seizes
upon every straw that comes in her way.
She puts her own Interpretation upon
passages In Lord Byron writings for
fthe.purposs-of Identifying the poet with
the creations of his fancy. She contra
diets her former "true story" she con-
tradiots the story which she now de-
clares that Lady Byron told her; and
/ lastly shecontradicts. in, thelast part of
her present volume, the ACCUSATIONS
which she makes in the first part. We
are far from entertaining any desire to
give pain to lady from whom the whole
civilized world has received substantial
benefits. But we are compelled to be-
lieve that Mrs. Stowe is as much the
victim of morbid delusion as ever Lady
Byron herself was, and that on this par
ticular subject she has lost the power to
discriminate between truth and fiction.
Wa invite the reader to form nm inde-
pendent judgment upon AIRS. Stoves
second story by closely analyzing it and
comparing it with the first In her first
story she distinctly and repeatedly
4 assured MS that Lady Byron knew of the
intimacy which existed between Lord
Bylon and his sister from the time she
was married till the day when she could
support her i'll treatment no longer, and
Quilted her husbands roof. Everybody
who has read the first "story" will re-
memberthe stress which Mrs. Stowe lays
upon this knowledge of the guilty
secret" Te-euote ana passage only:
''The two years (sic) in which Lady
Byron was struggling to bring her hus-
band back to his better self were q series
Of passionate convulsions." The nstound-
ing fact has now to be told that Mrs.
Stowe ignores the whole of this state
ment, and, without word of explana-
tioh, substitutes totally different and
irreconoilable series of alleged facts. In
an elaborate argument she shows that
Lady Byron did not discover the "full
extent, of the guilty connection until a
slater period" No new circumstances
have come to Mrs. Stoves knowledge to
induce her to change her opinion thus
suddenly on vital part Of her case. But
letters Of Lady Byron to Mrs. Leigh
have been published by third persons
letters written after the separation-so
full of affectionate and trnstful express
sions towards the ''guilty'' sister that
Mrs. Stowe cannot quite close her mind
to the evidence they present. She feels
herself obliged to account for those
letters, and as she instinctively discerns
that q wife could not write to her hus-
bands mistress as Lady Byron wrote to
Mrs Leigh, she at once presents US with
!, totally new set of conjectures. We
are asked to discard that picture pre-
sented in the first story of Lady Byron
wrestling with Lord Byron for his soul,
: and to believe that not until after the
separation-ho long Mrs. Stowe is eau
tious enough not to say-did the wife
learn of the husbands guilt. E,ss Il
But now comes the most startling and
: inexpicable part of this second nara
tive. In putting forward the hypothesis
just mentioned. Mrs. Stowe not only
contradicts herself, but flatly alters or re-
pudiates the disclosure made to her by
Lady Byron. In the extended relation
which she now gives of her conversation
on the day when the secret was confided
to her, we are expressly told that Lady
Byron found out the intimacy soon afls,.
her marriage. Lady Byron told Mrs.
Stowe, as the latter now declares, that
one day she saw Lord Byron taking IL
bcrties with his sister; that she (the wife)
: demonstrated, and that Lord Byron ex-
ulted In his crime, saying that the depth
and horror of it t'were the very attrac
tions-that he had worn out all ordinary
: forms OF Gin. and that he lopged for the
stimulus of q new kind of vice" These
were Lord Byron's words to Lady Byron,
D as reported by the latter to Mrs. Stowe
But now, Mrs. Stowe sees plainly that
Lady Byron's letters to Mrs. Leigh alone
3 disprove her charge, and she seeks to
explain away the Inconsistency by assign
} ing the discovery of the guilty secret to
vague and unknown period.
Nor is this all. Mrs. Stowe. having
first depicted Lord Byron as monster
OF depravity, now submits to the world
singular medical argument to prove
that he was not in his right mind. Then,
even supposing her charge to be true.
/ what becomes of the prisoners moral
: accountability? She says that the poet 8
, excesses, combined with Immense
draughts on the brain-power OF rapid
, and brilliant composition" probably
'ended in that abnormal state in which
, cravings for unnatural vice give indica-
: tons of approaching brain disease" In
fact, she constructs two or threo totally
new theories to meet the circumstances
. revealed to her by Lady ,Byron's own
! letters-those letters in which, after the
, separation, she implores Mrs. Leigh to
be with her brother as much as she DOS
sib)y could, and ascribes the separatioa
itself. to Lord Byron's 'ayersion TO the
married state. ;" First. then, we have
Mrs. Stowe, alleging that Lady Byron
knew OF her husbands intercourse with
his sister, directly after the marriage;
now, Mrs. Stowe asserts that she did not
|, find it out till Ulatar narin6 - rrLi,alsl