The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-10-06
THE SCANDAL REVIEWED.


THE GROWING PeRFIDY OF MR.. BEEcHER-
THE RINGS WHICH SUPPORT THE PLYMOUTH
PASToR-JUSrCE VS.. MONEY.
The Esrlville (Ill.) Transcript, a weekly
newspaper, has just made public very full
and interesting letter which is on the great
Brooklyn scandal, The reason for lts pub-
iicstion Is given in the following introduc-
tory note: We take unusual vet we think
justifable, liberty in giving the following
private letter, recently received, to the pub
lie. The Beecher- Tilton controversy GER
tainly now belongs to the public, with all
the facts and philosophy which may con-
tribute to the solution of the private as well
as public questions involved. We can not.
therefore, conscientiouslv withhold Mrs
StaDton's very able and interesting letter
from our readers.
TENAFLY, MI, Aug. "A, 1874.
DEAR FRIEND: You ask. in a recent letter.
my views OF the great social earthquake that
has recently Jared so many theories and
regulations that once stood firm. have a
double interest in this sad page of domestic
history; first, because il involves great
principles of social ethics; second, because
those who have accidentally been forced to
illustrate our Ignorance of these principles
are among my personal friends. To those
who take a surface view of 'the scandal"
It is prooably "prurient." "disgusting,"
"nauseating," as our refined metro
politan press affects to consider IT, al
though the first news sought for by the read
ing public, by gentlemen and ladies alike
has. presume, during the last two months,
been 1.-THE Plymouth Church Investigations
This, to my mind, is an evidence not of a
depraved popular taste, but of a vital inter-
estin the social problem that puzzles and
perpleX the best OF us. The true relations
of man and woman, the foundations of the
family and home, are of more momentous
importance than any question of State, or
church. can possibly be. Hence the intensa
interest reused to every new page of social
history-summoning some Darwin, Spencer,
Tyndall, to fearless investigation of the
sources of our present social evils,
and their scientific remedy. The true
social code, whatever 10 is, must be the
same tor both sexes. 1.-THE testimony given
in this case be all true, and if it be proven
that such men as Henry Ward Beecher and
Theodore Tilton find the marriage laws of
the State of New York too stringent, both
being discordant marriage relations, might
it nor be well TO review the laws, as well as
their violations? To compel unhappy hus-
bands and wives, by law and public senti-
ment, to live together, and TO teach them
that it is their religious duty to accept their
conditions, whatever they are, produces,
ever and anon, just such social earthquakes
ing. Whilst the many are eager to discover
the facts in this one case, let the few seek
tor those laws which, if followed,
would prevent like cases in the future
If ALL THE HOMES WE'RE UNRooFED,
many husband might be painted in darker
colors than Theodore Triton, and many a
wife weaker than his, and many man more
perplexed and miserable than "the Great
ill
deeper interest i'm this ''scan0al" than the
guilt or innocence of the actors. Society has
played fast and loose with the religious con-
sciences of woman long enough, educating
her faith in one code of morals and affections
in another,-thus leaving her ever liable,
in an hour OF weakness, to betray the man
she fain would save The lesson for lad
vanced thinkers"-for such men as
Henry Ward Beecher-.o learn is
the necessity of teaching the women
in their circle of friends, if from
no higher motive than their own protection,
the man-philosophy, such as Leckey teaches
in his History OF Morals" if that is the Ill
timatum of mans wisdom. In this way
only can woman maintain her self-respect
and true dignity, while. living under the
same moral code by which man governs
himself. To educate woman's conscience in
the line with the generally received views
OF social morals, in the latitude in which she
lives. and then tempt her to sin against her
conscience and public opinion, is making
towards and hypOcrites OF men and women
on every side. In spite OF the various
relations in which men and women of
all ages have lived, and still live
there must be a true condition; and,
to my mind, it seems that might be
found, with love and quality, in true mar
riage of one man to one woman. The trouble
with the man philosophy in all these mat
tiers is, that the best interests of woman have
never entered into the consideration of the
whole question. What holocaust of wom-
anhood we have had in this investigation!
What a football the committee, the law
yers, Mrs. Beecher and her husband, have
made of Elizabeth X. Tiltoni What state
ments and counter-statements they have
wrung from her unwilling lips, then like
witht red flower, tsthe Great Preacher casts
her aside, and tells the world ..she thrust
her affections on him unsought,"-
THE GROWING PERFIDY
in that bill of impeachment that blackens
every one who dared to hear or tell the
most astounding scandal of the nineteenth
century! In common with the rest of the
world, members of the national woman's
suffrage association heard and repeated the
scandal, as other men and women did and,
forsooth, Mr.. Beecber dubs them, 'shuman
nyenas'' and free lovers" though his own
sister was enc of the number, and who, by
letters and conversations that, through him
and his brother, were published to the
world, is represented as"insane, "deluded,"
"weak-minGed." Those who know Mrs.
Tilton-her natural diffidence, deli
cacy. and refnement-will read
ily believe her true story. that, through
months of persuasion and argument, her
love was sought and sealed. Bewildered,
racked, tormented, tempest-tossed in the
midst of misery and weakness, in her last
act on leaving home, and in her statement
before the committee, a touch of grand
womanhood is revealed, after all. In the
face of law, gospel, conventional sIlI, ready
to leave her home forever, she says: "The-
odore, the end has come; will never take
another step by your side" And to her
brother, in announcing herdecision'she said: