Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1874-08-21
NUMBER =

IS vile. and he persistently resisted all effort
:, to identify him with her.
S The full truth of this history require
that one more fact should be told especial
I; as MIR. Iilton has invited it. Money ha
! been obtained from me in the course o
= ! THESE AFFAIRS IN considerable sums. but dit
not at hrst LOOK upon the suggestions that
should contribute TO Mr. Tilton' pecuniar,
wants, as sayoring of blackmail This die
: not occur to me till had paid perhaps Il.
600. Afterwari | contributed lat one time
$4,000. After the money had been paid
, over IN hve : 600 0llls-tO raise which
: mOrtgaged the house live in-I felt very
! much dissatisfied with myself about il. Fin
ally square demand and thrca, were
made to one of my confidential friends that
II $4,000 more were not paid Tiiton : charg-
es would be laid before the public This |
saw at once was blaekmail in it, haldest
form. and never paid a cent Of 1t. but
challenged and requested the fullest exp,s-
ure. But after the summer Ot 1878 became
lnwardly satisfied that Iilton was. inherent
ly and inevitably, a ruined man. no longer
trusted either his word OF his honor.
came to feel that his kindness was but 4
snare and his professions Of friendship
treacherOus. lie did not mean well bv me
nor by his own household; but suffered
all the more on this account As he had
grown up under my influence and in my
church | could never free myself from a Ger
tain degree OF responsibility fOr his mi-lp-
lngs such as visits father for a wrong-do-
ing son, and, IN times % great depression.
this feeling amounted almost t. mania.
Among the last desperate efforts to
restrain him from overwhelming him
self, his family, myself, the church
and the whole community with the letid
| flood of scandal which he had by this time
accumulated, were those connected with the
charges Of Mr.. West and the >ub~cquen;
proceedings Of the Examining Committee of
the church. The prosecution of Mr. Elton
| felt bound to prevent. In any form
would strive 10 prevent the Lelchins forth of
a scandal, but in that form it wa- peculiar
| ly distasteiuI. Ii presented no square ISSUES
| upon which my guilt or innocence could be
! tried. Ii was a roundabout issue, on which
| Mr.. IiltOn could have escaped possibly by
| showing that he believed the stories he told
| about ne. or that he had not "circulated'
them, or by the mere failure on the other
| side to prove that he had done SD, or by the
decision that he was mOnOmaniac ami not
responsible. Any such halfway decision
would leave Inc in the attitude Of overthrow
and yet no party 10 the case. Moreover.
my church against him. and | was blund
he should not think that for i! IT had no.
been for me he would have been dropped two
years before for nOn-attendancc and for his
distinct notice - me that he was ont of the
| church. had got the Examining Commit
tee To postpone the usual action, because he
was letting his wife still attend the church.
and | thought that would gradually iuhI
ence him for good. Indeed be hai dcludel
me with hopes that hc would give up his
bad woman associates and reform his life
| fell that we had No right u claim him
a a member under the circumstances, for
the sole purpose Of his public trial Mr.
Moulton insisted that cyerythin. must be
done 10 prevent that tria.. a. the examining
committee was likely T. be equally diyidri I
whether the facts sustained Mr. Illtou'S |
plea. whether he was ont of the church or
not. was 80 determined % carry out my /.
pledges to Mr. MJult0n ;or hlm and dl all I
in human power to save him even from him /
sell, that | was rea iY % resign il that would I
stop the scandal. | wrote letter of rcsis- /
nation not referring % charges arqInSt me. /
but declaring that had s-riven for ycir- /
t. maintain ~ecre-Y concerning scandal /
affecting a family in the church and that a. .
| had failed herewith resigned. This letter .
was never sent. \ little cilmer thought /
showed me how iaslle IL would be u stop |
the trOuhle-a mere useless ~cli-Sacrihce /
but | showed It to Mr.. Noultou possibly /
he copied Ii. have found the original OF /
1t in my house. 1t could at the moment I
remember any Of the other letters which .
have written 70 Mr. M)Ult1n,I would DO 81. /
If he has preserved all my illusions Of feel /
ing, he mus, have a large collection. I
wished him = bring them all before the /
committee. | should have been glad To get /
such hints a. they may contain To re-
tre~l my recollection of facts and Sc .
quences. have no fear Of their fall and .
iair publication, for, though they would /
doubtless make "a sad exposure of my weak .
ne>>, grief and despontelcy, they d, not /
contain a line conie>sing such guilt a- has
been charged upon me, or a word lncon~is-
tent with ny innocence nor any other
spirit than that o a generous remor>c over
a great and more and more Irreparabic evil.
But however intense and numerous may be {
these expressions OF griei. they cannot pos
siby 0versta-e the anxiety which | con-
>tant.y ielt tor the future (the perils OF
which ii l. now clear did not exar-crate) /
nor the sorrow and remOr~e which ! felt
originally. on account of the injury which
| supposed had unwittinsiy done to a he
loved family. and afterwards for the great
er injury which became satisfied had
done by my uuwi>c. blind AMI useless efforts
to remedy that injury. only. A. It proved,
AZ the expense ot ny own name.
the happiness Of M own family.
and the peace OF my own church
BEECBER TO THE COMMITTEE.
GENTLEMEN OF IHE C0NHrTEE-ln the note
requesting your appointment | asked that
You should make tall investigation of all
sources OF information. You are witnesses
that have in no way influenced or inter
fered with Your proceedings OF duties.
have wished the Investigation To be -
searching that nothing could un>e,tlc Its
results.
have nothing 10 gain by any policy of
suppression OF r1mpromi-e.
For four years have. borne AMI suffered
enough and will not - Il step further.
Will not walS under rod or yoke. II any
man will do me a favor, le, him tell all he
knows now.
1t Is not mine to lay down the law oi
honor in regard to theu~e OF other persons
confidential communications bat IN - FAR
as my own writings are concerned, there l.
not letter or document which | am afraid
to have exhibited and authorize any and
call upon any llviag person to produce and
print forthwith whatever writing they have
of any source whatsoever.
1t Is time for the sake OF dccency and OF
public morals that tins matter should be
brought 10 an end.
1t Is an open pool of corruption. exhal-
ing deadly vapOrs.
For six weeks the nation has risen up and
sat down upon scandal Not a great war nor
a revolution could have filled the ncwspa-
pers more than this question OF domestic
trouble. magnihed thOusandtold and like
a sore spot in the human body. drawing to
Itself every morbid humor in the blood.
Whoever Is buried with it. it l. time that
this abOminatiOn be buriel below all touch
or power OF resurrection.
HENRY WARD BEECnER.
Mr.. BEEcuER's CRoss-EXAHINATIoN.
Q.-Can you tell Us how You came to
write that letter of dependency dated Feb.
;, 1872, to Mr. Moulton? Al would
come back from a whole weeks lecturing,
and would be perfectly tagged ont, and
the first thing on getting hone, there
would be some confOunded development
opening on me In this state of mind. in
which had no longer any reliancy or re
bound in me, | would work the whole
week out. And that Is the way it hap
pened time and time and time again. On
one of these occasions, | went 10 Mr.. MOul-
tons store. Mr.. Moulton had always treated
me with the greatest personal kindness.
He never had refused by day or night to
see me, or to listen to me. never saw HIM
out of mood toward me after the first few
months. lie treated me as if he loved me.
On this occasion | went down to the store
to see him, and his face was cold toward
me. / proposed to walk with him, and
be walked with me in such way. that it
seemed to me as though it was irksome to
him to have me with him, and as though
he wanted to shake me off. Now anything
like that all but kills me. don't wish to
push myself upon anybody; to feel that |
have pushed myself upon any human being
who does not want me, is enough to kill me,
and to be treated so by him at that time,
made 1t seem to me as though the end Of
the world had come. For he was the only
man on the globe that could talk with on
this subject was shut up to every hu