The Portland daily press., 1874-07-28
Our New York Letter.
The Scandal ngain-The Purify of MIR.
Rcccher's Lrre an answer TO the charges
against him-Hndisnation against Mr.
TiItOn-Beecher she victim of Black
rrsuiI-Etc of

muiI-Etc,, etc.
NEW YORK, July 26, 1874.
The Brooklyn spectre continues to obtrude it.
self, with offensive pertinacty, upon all circles,
and will not be laid: would fain dismiss it
for this occasion, but it stalks before me with
the air of determined ghost that has resolved
to "walk the earth by day" just as long as it
pleases, and not to put up with any sights. 1t
is a most unwelcome visitor. Its aspect is dark,
treacherous and forbidding; its form altogether
repulsive and hideous. And yet we must en-
dure its presence, for it is ubiquitous.
For my own part L make no pretensions to
impartiality in my comments upon the case.
am Thoroughly partisan. have that supreme
faith in Henry Ward Beecher that could not
be shaken by the testimony of a cloud of wit
nesses, or the verdict of a petit jury. do not
claim that he is absolutely without human
weaknesses and fralties. have seen but very
few people in the world who were entirely per-
feet. Probably there are just as few who are
entirely bad. But if one can judge of a man by
the study of his life and bearing for a long Sc
ries Of years, Mr.. Beecher is prodigally en-
dowed with all the qualities which go to make
up a character of exceptional excellence and
worth. Leaving out of view, altogether, his in
tellectual superiority, he is in respect to the
social and humane side of his nature, an ex-
quisite pattern of native nobility. His heart is
an overlooking fountain of kindness and good
feeling. He has always seemed to take the
highest delight in acts of sympathy aud benev-
olence. His disposition is so amiabe that he
has won the love, not merely of his neghbors and
parishioners but of the great city he inhabts,
and of multi!udes in the still greater city across
the river. If any one had been called upon to
name an exemplar- during, say, the past quar-
ter OF century-in our midst, of true man.
hood he would instinctively have turned to
Mr.. Beecher, as representing with great ideli-
ty, the highest attributes which are required 20
constitute such personality.
So great is the respect for, and confidence in
the probity of Mr.. Beecher, that hereabouts
the charges which impugn him are rejected as
utterly violative of probability. Of course We
cannot expect people at distance to treat
far as iey nHHi tpesq Wpeh ncredulity. In so
complainant they may safely be rejected be-
cause he is already involved in such labyrinth
of contradictions, that his testimony is worth
less. But there are certain admissions of of
fences committed, which to parties who Judge
by reason and not by faith, demand elucda-
ton. During the current week it is expected
that the great preacher himself will appear
before the tribunal he has selected to make in
QUESTION concerning the allegations against
him, and then we shall find out exactly what
measure of error wrung from those eloquent
and inspired lips the passionate wall of anguish
which forms the saddest and most touching
chapter in the story that never should have
been begun, aud is still far from being finished.
The evaporation against Tiltop, great as it
was at the outset, seems to me to be gathering
intensity day by day. He is regarded much in
the same light that Wilkes Booth was after his
monstrous crime. The only paliation for
either of them is on the theory of insanity.
The assassination Of character is as indefensib!e
as the destruction of lfe-more so indeed
inasmuch as character is more precious than
life. 1t does not require SO large a deg.ee of
physical courage. 1t does not involve such i'm
mediate expiration, but the penalty in each
case is dreadful. Too severe it could not be
for SO terrible trangressiou. The wickedness
of the later misdeed is aggravated by its fright.
full deliberateness, and by the fact that it was
committed in fragrant defiance of s,cred
compact of perpetual silence.
1t may be said, and the point is not without
force-that proving Tilton base does not ex-
culpate Beecher. Nevertheless nothing could
be more natural than that great resen tment
should be felt at the idea of an attack of such
ferocity being sprung suddenly, after three
years and half of alternate threats of publicity
and promises of silence. The case illustrates
the danger and folly of ever submitting to
menace. If the ilustrious victim in this
instance had courageously stood his ground
and refused to be back-mailed at the outset he
would have escaped all the subsequent misery
OF being bounded and prosecuted as the events
show he has been. The unfortunate letter
written by Mouton, and to which his signature
was extorted was the one fatal step, which
admitted of no retrogression. We discover in
subsequent extracts from what he supposed to
be confidential letters to friend, how keenlv
tho consciousness of the existence of such a
paper affected his sensibilities. And al, A.
whlle that he was pouring out the Utmost
secrets OF his heart with this ingenious fervor
ne was being beiriyed anew to the epemv
whose malignant tongue he had hoped to
silence by extreme self abasement and humility.
The efforts he made to conciliate the two men
in whose power his imprudence had placed him.
were tcrned to weapons of offence in their
hands. And while they were beguiling him
with protestations of affection, and assurances
that bis reputation was safe from any assault
from them, they were whispering in the ears of
hundreds of people, that they held his good
name at their mercy, and could smte him to
the death if they should see fit to do so. 1t
was these omnous giyings-out that led to the
summonng Of an ecclesiastical council in
Brooklyn. The rival clergymen under whose
auspices that tribunal was assembled knew
perfectly well at the time of the insnuations
which constituted SO large a portion of Mr.. Til
tons daily conversation. One of them, at least
mad predicted months before, that there would~
soon be vacancy in Plymouth pulpit. Every.
thing that Tilton has since told was know, r.
hundreds Of Mr.. Beecher's flock great wb;,a
previously except the letters Only the so ca1,ad
confession was known to have had an exist-
ence, and that the black-maler had fa,so,,
averred to have been destroyed. The knowi-
edge of Tilton's accusations did not imnair bu
feathers weight, the trust of Plymeptb
church in the integrity of their minister They
simp'y desired to save the society and the cor-
munity the disgrace of a scandal, which. how
ever innocent the parties implicated in it MIGHT
be. could not fail to bring decentralization and
distre IS in its trair. And now whatever comes
of this, whether Mr.. Beecher's honor shall be
made SO clear that not breath of suspicion
shall heaceforth tarush it, or whether there
will be Just enough room for lingering doubt
and distrust to make him a mark for licentiou.
tongues-in either event his Iarishoners will
adhere to him with all the devotion and tender
ness Inspired by the memories of his eminent
ministry and his charming individuality.
There are certain classes Of people who will
exult over anything that tends to lessen
the influence of SO powerful champion
Of patriotism and temperance. The old
Bourbons of Democracy esnecialJv If tho SoptI, }