The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1874-07-09


Between these two alternatives, which are all that
s ss sS s TO ss requires
10 choose the second
l authorize you az such be your, pleasgrel TO cite
me ut any time within the next thirty days 10 APP
pear at the bar Of Plymouth Church for trial on the
charge heretofore made against me--namely, that oil
" circulating and promoting scandals derogatory to
the Christian integrity Of the pastor ana 10
My only stipulation concerning the trial Is that II
shall not be held with closed doors nor In the ab-
sence of the pastor. Truly yours,
TnEoDoRE TIToN.
To the above communication / received
the following reply from the Clerk of the
church:
BROOKLYN, May IS, 1874.
DEAR SIR: Your note of the 4th instant inclos-
ing a letter addressed to Mr.. Bcecher, Mr. Halliday,
and m self, was duly received.
This letter has been read by Mr.. Halliday, with
whose concurrence IL has been submitted TO the
Examining Committee; and We deem its contents
to present question which should be decided by
that committee, and which should not be submitted
TO the pastor of the church, to whom therefore the
letter has not been shown though he has been adj
vised rs to Its substance.
Having consulted the members of the committee,
am informed by them that they no reason for
lore the church. Yours truly,
THOMAS G.. SHERMAN.
Mr.. THEODORE TILToS.
1t now remains for me TO give you some
reasons why / have been prompted, after
years of reticence, to lay before you the
grave matters contained in this communities
ton. Nothing could induce me to make
present use of the foregoing facts except the
conviction which the events of the last year,
and particularly of the last half year, have
forced upon my mind that Mr.. Beecher, or
his legal and other agents acting i'm his inter-
est and by his consent, have shown them
selves willing to sacrifice my good name for
the maintenance of his. have come slowly
to this judgment-mOre slowly than my
personal friends have done; but that l am
not mistaken in it you will see by few il
Illustrative instances:
The church, at public meeting, OH Fri
day evening, October 81, 1878, by an official
document which was published next morn
ing in every leading journal i'm New York,
gave the public to falsely understand that
had been cited to answer charges, when
had really been requested not to answer
them---a. piece of ecclesiastical misrepre-
sentation which was the more grievous to
me because it was subsequently accepted by
the council as authentic, and because ii is
still widely believed by the public.
Mr.. Beecher's journal, the Christian Union,
published this official falsehood to wide
circle of readers, and took no notice of the
correction which I addressed at the time
brief note to the council. If every other
only the files of the Christian Union should
remain, that journals report OF my case
would represent me a culprit first, who had
slandered a clergyman next, who had been
summoned before the church to answer for
this elimination next, who had evaded
this summons by resOrting to the safe shelter
of nOn-membership and the last, who OH
account Of the moral pSltroony, had been
dropped from the roll. Such is the record
which Mr.. Beecher's journal contains of my
case up to date.
During the council and when there
seemed probability that Plymouth Church
would receive condemnation and be dis
fellowshipped by the neighboring churches,
Mr. Beecher inspired "a message from his
church to the council, closing with these
words:
We hold that II is our right, and may be our duty,
to avoid the evils incident TO public explanation
public trial, and that such an exercise of our
ference Of other churches provided we neither re-
tain within our fellowship nor dismiss by letter.
in regular standing, persons who bring open dis
honor upon the Christian name.
The adroit insinuation against me is what
you as n Moderator of the council knew to
have been the turning point i'm the fortunes
of Plymouth Church before that tribunal.
The councils verdict borrows almost these
identical words. 1t says: "The accused
person has not been retained i'm the church
nor commended to any other church"
Do not misunderstood me. | will not say
that in my unsuccessful management of this
unhappy scandal i have brought no eds
honor on the Christian name," the one name
which of all others / most honor. With in
finite sorrow / look back through the past
few years and see instances i'm which, by the
fatality of my false position, have brought
dishonOr on the Christien name," all of
which l freely acknowledge, and hope yet
to repair. But solemnly aver, and no man
shall gainsay me, that the reason why Ply
mouth Church avoided an investigation into
the scandal with which / was charged was
not because /, but another man, had brought
dishonor on the Christian name" And yet
this other person, clergyman, permitted
his church to brand me before the council
with an accusation which, had / been in his
place and he i'm mine, would have volun.
tarily borne for myself instead of casting OH
another.
] will adduce further instance by a
quotation from a letter which / had Occa-
sion to address to Mr. Beechcr, dated May 1,
1874:
Henry Ward Beecher:
SIR-Mr. +. b. Carpenter mentions to me your
saying to him that under certain conditions involv-
ing certain disavowals by me, a sum of money would
could he raised to send me and my family TO Eu-
rope for q term of years.
The occasion compes me TO state explicitly that
long as life and serespect continue to exist together
either directly or indirectly, any pecuniary Of
other favor at your hands.
The reason for this feeling my part you know Sc
well that will spare you the statement Of it,
Yours truly, THEODORE TILToS
Furthermore, ] regret to point you to the
evidence that Plymouth Church, or rather
the attorney who now acts as its clerk, is at
tempting to make up a false but plausible
record concerning this case for the purpose
of appealing to il in future to my disadvan.
tage. Ii was to this end that Mr.. Shearman
ingeniously incorporated in his letter to me
dated May Is, 1874, the following words:
We do not understand your letter as implying that
you have any charges to make, but the contrary.
readily entertained and fully investigated them.
The manifest object of the above reply is
to enable the church to say, year or five
years hence, that if ever had any charges
to make against Mr.. Beecher the church had
long ago given me an abundant opportunity
to make them. Mr.. Sherman is still more
bold in his communication to the Independ-
CIT, dated June Is, 1874. He therein says of
the church:
rade given every facility for investigation that could
reasonably be desired, even by the most captious
critics
The above statement by Mr.. Sherman is
ostensibly in my interest, and which am al
ready accused of having inspired. This leads
me to disavow the declaration l have last
quoted as insncere and at variance with the
truth.
Not to multiply instances needlessly, there
Is one other to which my self-respect compels
me to allude with painful explicitness. In
your New Haven speech you characterized
Mr.. Beecher as the most magnanimous of
men, and in the context referred TO me as a
knave and dog. You left the public to infer
that had become in some despicable way
the creature of Mr.. Beecher's magnanimity.
Early i'm April last called Mr.. Beecher's at
tention to the offensiveness and Injurious
ness of your statement, and informed him
that should insist on its correction either
by him or me. In order to provide him with
on easy way to correct 1t, involving no hui
initiation to his feelings, addressed to you
the following letter:
BROOKLYN, April 3, 1874
The Rev. Leonard Bacon, ID. D.:
MY DEAR SIR have just been reading the Trio
unes report Of your Yale speech on the Brooklyn
Council, In which Occurs the following paraQraph: