The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-07-28
Experimentation JUDGMENTS.

| BEECHER-TILTON JUDGMENTS.
The Chicago Inter-Ocean attempts to be
calmly impartial: The testimony is not all
over yet. At present the evidence is fright
fully mixed and conflicting. Candor COM
pels a suspension ofiudgement, and patient
waiting until other witnesses have told
what they know, and all the testimony duly
sifted and weighed. And even then there
may be remain no little difficulty in arriv
ing ut clear decision. The harm TO the
| result from Milling every mind with things
SO foul and vile, is partly offset by the ex-
| pressed adherence OF vice, and the impress
sion made of the infinitely lamentable con-
sequences of it. At all events, it is the scam
dial of this generation.
| The New York Tribune is hopeful for the
best: The explicit aud manly defense of
Mrs. Tilton which Mr.. Beecher addresses To
the public will be received with unslloyed
| delight. The denial of Mr.. Tilton's allega
tons is. unequivocsl, direct and absolute;
and both Mr.. and Mrs. Beecher appear as
the defenders of the assailed wife. The ex-
| PLANTATION of Mr.. Beecber's own letters
| which alone have harmed him-is limited st
rather than detailed; and it would be a
serious mistake for the committee to act on
he theory which Mr.. Beecher seems to
have adopted, that the full explanations
need not reach the public st the earliest
moment. Meantime decent people will re-
joice at the great encouragement given by
Mr.. Beecher's preliminary statement.
The New York Herald speaks seriously of
it: The anxiety in reference to this affair
has been so long continued, the interests
involved are so delicate and widespread, and
tho ,rhola oforx itcolf &c on y,,,,oL q o.,...,..,
upon our domestic and religious life, that
we can not exaggerate the impression
it has made. We can recall no one
even since the murder of Lincoln
| that has so moved the people as this
question whether Henry Ward Beeeher is
the basest of men. If the story of Mr.. Til
ton is true, then neither history nor fiction
shows character so dark. IL is certainly
a noble trait in our people that they have
resolved to stand by Mr.. Deecher with the
! largest and noblest charity and con iidence,
to believe that he has done no wrong until
the evidence comes in such shape as to
leave no room for doubt.
The Brooklyn Eagle puts itself on record
thus: We believe Mr.. Beechsr is disposed
TO confess as much to the church and to the
world as he did to the man who has made
so base use of his self-incrnpatory admis-
sions. When it is said that Mr.. Beecher saw
tilial and strong religious affection, border
ing on and probably entering in upon the
domain where husbands influence should
be supreme, aud failed to recognize at once
the danger to which he was exposing
others, if not himself, the extent of the Of
Tense which has been magnified into so great
scandal is, we believe. summed up. The
Eagle reterates its conclusions that Mr..
Beeeher. as a man, will fully vindicate him
self, and that as a Clergyman, he will stand
in the future higher than ever before in The
confidence of christian men and women, uD-
less the name christian has adifferent mean
ing now from that which the Master intend
ed it should bear.
The New York Tribune is calm and con-
siderate: The commanding personality of
Mr.. Beecher so dwsrfs every other figure in
this melancholy drama, that it is hardly
worth while to waste time in dwelling upon
the peculiarities of Mr.. Tilton's extraordip-
airy statement. The feverish and unwhole-
some atmosphere of emotion in which the
ers their Written and their fe oral
assertions equally doubtful and un-
trustworthy. Upon any theory of the mat
ter ii is inexpressibly mournful to see amid
what a poisonous cloud of mean passions,
temptations jealousies, and even deyotions
teacher habitually walked. In a few days
we shall learn what answer he has to make
to these grave accusations. III he
be stronger than ever for this
trial and triumph. If he fails, it is not too
much to say that all christendom will de-
plore a loss hardly to be measured by words,
and in our own country his lapse will be re-
garded as well-nigh irreparable disaster.
IL he should come alive out of this ordeal,
he will be priced more than ever. If not,
the pistol shot of Booth caused q national
sorrow no deeper and not SO hopeless.
The Chicago Tribune is critical and logical
as follows: 1t is so hard to comprehend
that any man, much less man holding
Tilton's high place before his fellow
countrymen, should deliberately shatter bis
own home, malign his own wife, blast his
own future, and disgrace his own children
without cause, that, with all due respect
to woman battling in her own
defense, Mrs. Tilton's statement must
be regarded as the most inconsistent
of all the inconsistent utterances accredited
| to her. To admit that Tilton did all this. as
his wife now charges, with the desire TO ruin
Mr.. Beecher, and from jealousy of Mr..
| Beecher's greater success in life, is to call
1ilton devil incarnate, to whom nothing
| on the earth below or in the heavens above
ever was or ever can be sacred. His charac-
| ter would be thousand times worse than
| the character of the hideous libertine
Lovelace which Richardson drew. There
| is as yet no place for such character. If
| Tilton has been misled, then the documents
which he has quoted have certainly fur
nished sufficient cause for his error; and
| they must be explained to the full satisfac-
ton of impartial spectators before he can
reasonably be expected to hold them HARM