New-York tribune., 1874-09-14
MR.. MOULTONS PORTRAIT OF THE


n
| If Mr.. f. d. MoutOn has thrown no new
| light upon the character and conduct OF Mr.
Beecher, he has at any rate succeeded III
flooding the figure of his friend Tllton in q
perfect blaze of illumination. And he does
| not seem to be aware of it either. We have
known all along-for TiltOn himself has told
us-tbat the injured husband never felt the
necessity Of avenging his wrongs until DR..
Bacon remarked one day that 1ilton had
offended Mr. Beecher and had been forgiven.
This was an imputatiOn too griey0us TO be borne,
and rather than rest under it Mr.. Tilton imme-
diately dragged his wife through pool of
filth. trampled upon her in public. broke up
his own home, and destroyed the domestic
happiness of a great number of innocent and
reputable persons. He could forgive Mr.
Beecher for seducing his wife, and his wife
for dishonoring her marriage vows but he
could not forgive DR.. Bacon for calling him
"a dogr and "the creature of Mr. Beecher's
"magnanimity."
But now Mr.. Moulton undertakes to prove
that, admitting the charges against Mr.
Beecher to be true, TiltOn Is dog after ALL
For he tells us that after the publication OF
the letter to DR.. Bacon (Which was, so to
speak, menace Of the bitter war to follow,
Tilton "pledged himself to peace and final
settlement" if Mr.. Beecher would make from
the pulpit the substance of statement
drawn up by Mr. MOultOn-a statement to the
effect that the preacher had committed an
"offense against Theodore Tilton," but "no
crime.n and that TitOn upon the whole
had behaved very well. Nor was this all.
For after Mr.. Beecher had refused to
make any such declaration. after the
investigation had fairly begun, after Mrs. Til
ton had given her testimony and produced, as
her husband learned, "a very fine impress
siOn' we find this Noble Avenger drawing
up with his own hand "ReDort" which be
wished the Committee to sign, generating
and praising everybody, and dismissing the
scandal as trifing dead and gone misunder-
standing not worth revival! And the Report
finished with the following remarkable words: (:
"The Committee are Of the opinion based on the tes
mony submitted to them that unpreudiced court Of
inquiry could have reviewed this thus presented
in person by It's principal figures phou being sikgly
Impressed Nth the moral integrity and eieration Of char
acter Of the parties; and accordingly the Committee
not to state that the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher
Mr. Theodore Tlton, and Mrs. Tton land in especial
manner the latter must and should receive the in
creased sympathy and respect Of Plymouth Church and
congregation"
This was neither more nor less, in plain
English, than o proposal to concur in the
acquittal of Henry Ward Beecher, provided the
Committee would give their signatures to
very handsome eulogy upon Theodore Tilton,
written by himself. And it makes it perfectly
clear that the object which Tilton pursued in
this affair was not the punishment of al
adulterer, nor vengeance for an outraged
home, nor the publication Of desecrated
church, but simply his own glorification. AS
he had used the Bowen letter to force the set
tlement of his claim for damages, 80 he seems
to have been disposed to use the Bacon letter
to force a certificate of "mOral integrity and
" elevation of character" from Plymouth
Church.
1t is rather curious to find Mr.. Tilton, "A
short time after the failure of this scheme for
collusive verdict, declining to hold any fur
ther communication with the Committee, on
the ground that they were @ Mr.. Beecher's
" friends, appointed by himself, expected to
"act in his behalf, holding secret sessions,
shaving no power to compel witnesses, and
giving no opportunity for the opposite side
"to cross-exsmine such as voluntarily ap-
"pear,n and because their verdict, if they
rendered one, could not possibly be based
"on the full facts" This is the most stu
pendOus mbug of the age.