The New York herald., 1874-08-15
Mr.. seech-r,s statement.

best, and we cannot doubt but his statement
relieved the minds Of the vast majority of
those who read it almost as il the whole
burden of reproach were lifted away 1t has
cleared the air wonderfully, and if some mists
remain this much is true-with Mr.. Beechers
absolute denial of the charges made We are
under obligation to weigh statement and
counter-statement by the relative credibilty
OF the persons from whom they come, unless
infrinsically there are contradictions aud in
consistencies which invalidate either state
ment, or unless the statements are invalidated
by the incompatibility of their general declara-
tion with facts they admit
Against Mr. Beecher we have first the state
ment of Tilton, who is clearly not entitled to
be believed unless what he says is well sup
ported. There are the declarations Of Mrs.
Tilton that the charges against Mr. Tilton
were true, and her still more vigorous and
frequent declarations that they were not true.
1t seems certainly impossible that sane
woman could admit her own guilt in such
case unless she were indeed guilty and
crushed by the sense of it, while it is quite
possible and quite according to the ways of
women, as well as men, that she should
vehemently deny her guilt in any case; so
that this womans declarations in one sense
appear worthy far more consideration than
the contrary declarations yet she seems to
have created for herself an atmos-
phere so unreal, to have reasoned
so little from ordinary standards, and
even to have been so unconscious of the
possible effect of very plain words, that she
is entitled to only the smallest possible degree
of credit. She .is to be believed only where
it is impossible not to believe her. Could this
woman have falsely impugned her own virtue
and assailed the character OF the man who
was her lottiest ideal Of moral grandeur and
purity? 1t seems to us that she could. Evil
IDENTIFY the Tiltons lived in kind of morbid
world and talked q language peculiar to the
classes of which they are the type-a sort of
biblical slang. just such case of "self-sac-
riice" as that which her husband is said to
have imagined tor her, as recited by Mr..
| Beecher, would be sufficient to determine this
woman to any act whatever, and it would be
accident and not intention which would decide
whether the course were toward heroism or
infamy. The account given of how she came
to make her confession is like photograph of
the intellectual operations of these kind Of
people, and not like an invention of the
broader, healthier-minded preacher.
Furthermore, we have against MI. Eeecher
the testimony of Mr.. Moulton, implied, not
declared, that the documents inserted in Til
toms statement as the letters of Mr.. Beecher
are authentic, while in favor we have the
equally clear implication that this gentleman
has not ventured to Sustain the other declara-
tions of Tilton, but has evaded the trial and
taken refuge in convenient silence. De non
apparentbus ct non cristentbus eodem est ratio.
If he does not sustain the words of Tilton it
must be assumed that he cannot, for the case
has got beyond the sentimental notion of sup
pressing disclosures to spare regulations.
Mr.. Beecher's good name and credibility
stand on such sure foundations that, as
against Tilton's story, supported by the uaun-
derings of the woman whom he has made so
wretched, mere denial is enough. If, there
fore, the pastors declaration does not seem
to all men thoroughly satisfactory, the reason
must be sought in its intrinsic inconsisten-
cies-in the point especially that it's denials
are not readily to be reconciled with the facts
it admits. Tilton is swept away; his wife
may be overlooked Moulton has shirked the
ordeal; but Beecher's own letters remain, and
some that he admits are very difficult, indeed,
to get over. In regard to that important let
ter, SO called, in which he ''humbed himself
kafor b.fo Cf,1
explanation is thoroughly satisfactory. He
has completely destroyed that collection Of
sentences as valid piece of evidence. In the
absence of any denial from Moulton of Mr..
Beecher's account Of that ''letter,' the letter
has no more value in the case than it would
have if it were in whole, as it is in part,
fabrication To assail man with charges
the mere whisper of which is injurious
whether they be true or false; to persistently
and in some degree skilfully torture his con-
science with well contrived pictures Of the
ruin he is said to have wrought; to catch him
with his imagination in blaze on this subject,
and to prate sympathy and charity and friend
ship, and then to gather up his calculations,
his extravagant phrases, his overflow Of sym
pathetic telirium, and to set this ell down and
describe it as his '1etter, is simply despica-
BILE piece Of chicanery. AS we read Mr..
Beecher's statement this is what was done.
He did not compose that letter. It's 'compo-
stion'' is placed at Mr.. Moulton's door, and it
is grave charge. 1t is evident he spoke ex-
travagantly on the occasion referred to, but
equally evident that with only sentence here
and there taken up at random that document
does not present his state of mind on that oc-
casion, and is dishonesty presented in the
charge against him.
But as to some other Of the documents Mr..
Beecher's explanation is less satisfactory. In
the letter of February 5, 1872, are these words,