The New York herald., 1874-08-20

| Sing ularittes or Mr.. Beecher's Defence.
On the publication of Mr.. Beechers state
ment the public mind WAS SO occupied with
its bearing on the main question, upon which
| the general verdict is favorable, that few were
struck with the amazing seif-portraiture by
| which Mr. Beecher character is placed IN an
unexpected light. His admirers have always
/ supposed him to possess strong faculties ana
resolute courage; aud when their first eftsf-
vescence of JOY over his defence has had time
! to subsidc they will be mortified and aston
| ished at Mr.. Beechers utter and abJect weak
ness in those parts of his character in which
his strength was thought to lie. This man OF
pre-eminent sense and vigor suddenly presents
himself to the public view as having, for the
last four years, acted the part OF q dupe a
coward, the terror-stricken slave Of false
and faithless man, who held him in pusillani-
nous moral subjection by brandishing over
his head a false accusation! History may
perhaps furnish more deplorable examples of
human weakness; but none we dare say, in
which the victim was credited by his contem-
poraries with so much sense and character.
| 1t should be evident to everybody now that
the judicious part Of the public press which
ill-advised gave him good counsel. 1t now
appears that his stubborn reserve and ap-
parent apathy were the work of the artful
Moulton, into whose hands he had blndly
surrendered himself. Mr.. Beecher had de-
cided to make clean breast to the public as
early as June, 1873; but Mr.. Moulton dissuaded
him and prevailed on him against his own
judgment 'to patch up another hollow peace
with Mr.. Tlton. When Mr. Beecher paid the
last five thousand dollars of hush money Mr..
Moulton told him it was the best investment
ne ever made in his life Subsequently he
told him that he had better give his whole
! fortune rather than allow Mr.. Tilton to come
before the public with his disclosures Mr..
Beecher is sensible that he ''grievously erred
in judgment in his long and cowardly skulk-
! ing from publicity. 81 chose tine wrong
path" he says, ''and accepted disastrous
guidance in the beginning and have, indeed,
travelled on a rough and ragged edge in my
prolonged efforts to suppress this scandal,
which is an implied acknowledgment that
|
sound advice At any rate, it is the very
opposite of that he received from the alleged
blackmailers who traded on his silence and
fears, and misled him into believing that con-
cealment was his only protection from ruin.
1t is evident from MIR. Beecher's statement
that compunction for having advised MIR.
Bowen to dismiss MIR. Tilton from his edito-
l~.o x>1rx,r for hoxy o6U fCQd
Mrs Tilton to separate from her husband,
formed but small part OF Mr.. Beecher's
bitter anguish. There is, indeed, broad and
strongly marked Inconsistency between the
parts of his statement in which he dwells upon
and exaggerates these topics and the express
sions in which he discloses the real cause of
mis- inexpressible wretchedness But Mr.. Til
ton accused him on these heads and of as
sailing the chastity of his wife in the same
memorable interview at MIR. Moulton's house,
of which Mr.. Beecher presents so graphic q
picture. The comparative Importance he at
/ taches to the two kinds of accusation appears
in his own recital Mr.. Tilton stood up be-
fore him, he says, and made "a set oration. >
, While Mr.. Tilton was going through with the
, Bowen employments and the advice of sepa-
ration Mr. Beecher states that he 'listened
With some contempt" But the moment that
Mr.. Tilton accused him of improper behavior
to his wife, and said that she had confessed it,
, Mr. Beecher says that he was shocked" and
, absolutely thunderstruck. No reader
can have forgotten that remarkable
!, piece of description in which he states
his feelings as he set forth on that bleak
December night to verify from Mrs. Tilton' S
own lips the fact of her having made such a
confession II went forth like sleep-walker,
while clouds were flying in the sky. The
winds were out and whistling through the
leafiess trees, but all this was peace compared
with my mood within" Nor is it any wonder
that this took such deep and sudden hold on
him, while TO the other charges he ''listened
with some contempt" Notwithstanding the
absurd way he exaggerates them in parts OF
his statement those other charges were really
trivial Mr.. Bowen would have equally dis
missed Mr.. Tilton whether Mr.. Beecher had
advised it or not and the advice to Mrs. Tilton
did no harm, as she had already gone back to
live with her husband. There was nothing in
either to justify an agony of terror, remorse
and despair. What made Mr.. Beecher SC
supremely miserable was Mrs. Tilton's con.
fession to her husband of assault on hel
virtue. His exaggeration of the other topics
can make no impression on discriminating
readers But what he says of the gravel
charge has an air Of reality: -"From the
anger and fury Of Mr.. Tilton 1 apprehendet
that this charge, made by him and supported
by the accusation of his wife, was to b.
at once publicly pressed against me
!, and if it was 1 had nothing but my simple
: word of denial to interpose against it. Thi