, 1874-08-16
4 JUDICIAL VERDICT DEMANDED.

! The conduct of the Beecher- -Ti1tou case By the
| Brooklyn Investigating Committee, whatever
| else it may havo demonstrated, has demonstrate
| ed this: That a voluntary court, bound by no
law as to its course, with no principles to guide
| it but such as it improvises in each Individual
case; with unlimited freedom to act at its dis
erection !; whose code OF procedure is its
own sovereign and undiscplned will which
has no power to subpoena witnesses, compel
their attendance, or to punish their refusal to
appear and estify,-cannotr reach any very satis-
factory conclusions, or como to any intelligent
verdict On the question before it. It is not al-
wars that regular court, even guided BY those
rules for the reception and exclusion OF evidence
tho wisdom of which has been tested bv the
practice of generations, with ample power to
compel the presence OF witnesses, and to elicit
from them the evidence in their possession. can
clear away all doubt, or arrive at truth.
It this be so in the case Of reg
ularly-constructed courts, how much moro
has been trying Henry Ward Beccher The
people have all along feared that the verdict of
the Brooklyn Investigating Committee would be
open to suspicion. for the reason, in the first
place, TINT It is mado IN exclusively of Dcecher's
friends, and tLen because, even il they we're
anxious to obtain all the evidence, they had not
the po~erto compel its production. The fears Of
the public are now confirmed in the latter respect.
One of the most important Witnesses for the
prosocu;ion-Nies Anthony-hns not even ap-
Feared befc-c the Committee. Frank Moul1on
declines to 1ay all the evidence at his command
before it. Mrs. Stanton snys that Miss Anthony
told her that Mrs. Tilton confessed she had hcd
criminal intercourse with alr Dcecner Col.
Anthony, Miss Anthouy's brother, corroborates
Mrs. Stauton's statement. Hiss Anthony
herself docs not deny it, but will not
volunteer to testify concerning what she
heard IN conGdence,-i. C., it she heard
anything at all in confidcnce,-uplcss
forced to do 80 by court possessing the author
lty to unseal her lips. Here is evidence OF the
very greatest weight. which might possibly
Change the whole aspect of the caee, but which
the Committee is perfectly powcrless to obtain. |
The came is rruo of Moulton's evidence. Mou1- |
ton has been peacemaker aud mediator be- !
tween Beecher and Tilton for several yesrs.
Surely he must know what the trouble bctvcan |
Beecher md Iilton was. It is absurd to supDogo
that be does not Ho holds the key to the whole |
controversy, and refuses to give it up. He has !
1t in his power to throw food Of light ]
On the whole question, and will not. |
So long as Moulton holds back his evidence, |
Beecher cannot be, and ought not to bo, finally |
condemned, however appearances may be against |
him. But there is aDother aspect to the affair. !
80 long as Mou1ton refuses to tell the whole |
truth, cloud must hang over Beechcr's charac-
ter. If Beecher is guilty. Moulton must speak
the word that shall convict him. II Beecher is
innocent, Moulton must speak tho word that
5hall acquit him, vindicato and reinstate him in
the good opinion OF the American people. On
the other hand. il Tilton has been slanderer Of
Deecher, it matters not in how slight degree,
Moulton alone can prove it. If Tlton has been
be patient and suffering man he protests he has
,een, Moulton alone can establish it. But
i1oulton Gays that he will not voluntarily pub
ish to the world what he received in confidence.
nsinuatinE that, if compelled to by civil court,
10 would do go. There is no option, then, left to
Beecher or Tilton, whichever of them Is in
ofeo by the suppression OF Monlton's
'Faoenoe but to tx1nsfar tho case from