National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-08-17
TIE pRRss UPON BEE0HkR

The great majority OF our exchanges, 10
lengthy editorials upon tho defence q Mr.,
Becchcr, substantially take the ground
which THB NATIONAL REPUBLICAN, took
Saturday mOFnlng-that Mr.. BOeoheT Ia
Innocent a the RcCuHAtlonI made against
him by TlliOu and his OO.oonBpiRtOTB, Tho
New York Tri6UA6, World, and othOr Jour.
mails Of tho amo city chRTRotorlzs hlb de-
fence "a complete and satisfactory answer
90 tho charEa The World, which doB
not love MI DeoChor, his faith or his poll.
tics, has tho manlIneSs 10 dofLm justice.
"l1o has, n ayA spoken cut like man,
land no dasorveS ~ wo have not tho least
"doubI he will receive, manly judgment
"at tho hands Of bis fellow oountrymeb,
"As for tho vEmlH who have preYed upon
"hlm, II IL a unnecessary 30 dwon upon
"thelr monstfous oTlmo against society o.
at Is dlGleuh - see how that crlme oAn DO
adequately punished" Tho Argus, pub
llshed In Mr.. Beeoher's own city, and cd.
tied by ono Of Theodore Tlltoh's Conf.
dentlal friends" endeavors 10 divert the
bolts which Beeeher has hurled against
Tilton; but tho lamo and impotent way In
which 1t does 90 only shows the weakness
of the course Il is ehdeavorlng TO uphold.
The Brooklyn Union, which was formerly
owned by one q the parties indirectly con.
cerned, Bowen, and edited by Tilton, lie
itself entirely satisfied with the defence,
but doubts that Il will be conclusive
10 a large number of people who
are expecting that 1t will go to the courts,
and to "men Of the world" who will be in.
capable Of cOnceiving that generous and
noble mind could, from honorable motives,
consent to acts which might be regarded as
evidences Of cowRrdice and guilt. These
are two Of the three daily papers-One, the
argus, friendly TO Tilton, and the other,
the Union, somewhat neutral. The re.
manning journal, the Eagle, is the champion
of BeeCher, and, of course, sustains him
Printed in tho community where the facts
are known TO every man, woman and child
capable Of understanding anything, their
expressions are Of special value.
Coming 10 Philadelphia, tho Journals Of
that city are almost unanimously upon the
side Of Beechrr The Pross, the Telegraph,
the DullcffH and other papers believe that
his defence Is very nearly complete. The
Baltimore gdssit5 and Am6rtedH tnke tho
aame ground The former, which detosts MF
Deechrr md his teachings, Declares "The
COMMITTEE may aequit, and Plymouth
"churgh may invite him 10 resume his
hhoFs In tao pulpit, but before tho bar OF
"puhiIo opinion the most lenient verdict no
a. can expect 10 got will DO the Scottish one
"of Not proven The AmsTieaR is
certain that I'VE express the opinion Of
"nino leHlhgo the intelligent and vlFtuuus
"pooplo Of the country who will read this
"mobL impressive statement that Mr.
IloCohUr has not only made such show
cling Ia HE own behalf ~ entities him 10 q
"vordlCl Of ACQultthl under tho rulua and
Limitations Of judicial procedure, but that
che has absolutely aud unoqulyooally %.
"tublIBhUd hia own innocence II must be
remembered that he IL dealing with on
"neeusRtlOn that can rarely DO sustained or
"feftilpd by positive evidence, Except
"that tho element Of violence IL wanting
Tho offence charged IL precisely similar 70 !
tone Of which great English juFlst said
at IL easily made, hard 10 prove, and still
harder 10 dlspFoye' All that can DO done
"is ~ submit the evidence, ana guilt OF In,
innocence Is iaatteF OF inference, After
carefully Weighing tho facts presented by
"MF, BeeeheF and viewing them In the
eight Of his explanations, there can be but
zone inference, aud that is, he Is not guilty."
The New York EEprsSI. which Is TO-
garded as the secular organ In New York
OF the EpisOOpalian Church, is equally en-
phatic in its judgment 1t says; ITO us,
with no paTtialities for the accused, 1t
"bears internal evidence of truth, and of q
"cOuspiracy to eKtOrt money as the price
"of silence on the part Of Mr.. Beecher's
"enemies. The evidence given is not only
"of conspiracy, but of treachery, greed
"and malice" We might give extracts Of
q similar import sufficient to fill columns
and columns Of this journal, but what
would be the use2 We have no special in
terest in Mr.. Beecher or in Mr.. Beecher's
church, but this terrible scandal the de-
tails of which have for so many weeks
flooded the country, is evidently the pro-
duct of base conspiracy against him, and
every man in the community who values
his reputation is directly interested In See
ing that it shall not be successful, and that
Mr.. Beechers vindication shall be made
known of all men. OF course, a large
number of people can never be made to be-
Ieve that he is innocent They do not
want to believe it, and man convinced
against his will Is of the same opinion still.
They will interpret the Plymouth pastor
by themselves; but as he says himself in
his cross-ezamination, he and they live