New-York tribune., 1874-09-19
Mr.. TILTONS STATEMENT.

The long story now given to the public by
Theodore Tilton is probably the most interest
ing chapter thus far contributed to the history
of the Scandal. In clearness of statement and
fullness of detail it leaves nothing to be de-
sired. 1t is arranged with great skill, and
expressed with certain bitter moderation
which cannot fail to produce an effect upon
the average reader. 1t contains, we are happy
to say, none of that gratuitous outside nastiness
which impaired such a favor to the recent
production of Mr.. Moulton. In the distribution
of filth Mr.. Tilton has confined bis energies
to his own household, and has forborne to
bespatter any woman except his wife and his
mother-in-law. Even towards his wife he
preserves an affectation of kindness, for he
expends the first few columns of his state
ment in an effort to prove that she
never seduced Mr.. Beecher. Mrs. Til
"ton was always too much of lady"
to thrust her affection upon any man
unsought, and her indelicacy of behavior"
never proceeded from her own suggestion.
We mention these mitigatiOns of MIR. TiltOn's
disgusting narrative with the more pleasure
because we have so seldom found anything
to commend in the whole course of
the discussion, and because there are
80 few points upon which ordinary
men and women are in contact with
the sphere of these advanced sentimental
reformers. When a husband speaks OF his
wifes adultery as "indelicacy of BEHAVIOR"
holds her to be reasonable being and yet
pure in heart and mind while she is violating
her marriage vows; offers to drop the pursuit
of her seducer if church committee will
testify to the "moral integrity and elevation OF
"charactern of husband, wife, and interloper, all
three; uses the guilty secret to force pecuni-
ary settlement in his favor by means of
threatening newspaper article, and sees in such
thrifty employment of his shame no " indeli-
"cacy of behayior;"- he does all this,
we confess that we are unable to put our
selves in his place so as to judge him with
rigorous impartiality perhaps we do not even
understand his character.
The question to- day, however, is not whether
Theodore Tilton presents himself in any better
light than before, but whether he has sue
ceeded in overwhelming Mr.. Beecher. The
serious parts of his statement are found In
one or two of the extracts from letters OF Mrs.
Morse, and one long letter from Mrs. TlltOn
to her husband, written while he was at the
West in November 1870. At first sight these
do seem to involve an acknowledgment of
the worst that has been charged; and it will
be hard to find any other explanation of them
satisfactory to unprejudiced persons of plain
common sense. With the marvellous achieve
ments, however. in the way of explanation
that have been accomplished on both
sides fresh in mind, we should be rash to con-
clude that Mr. Beecher and his friends will not
account for them at least as well as they did
for the apology, and far better than Tilton
accounts for the use he made of Mr..
Bowen's Woodstock letter. They will tell us
that in the mouths Of wild sentimentalists like
Mrs. Titon words lose their natural meaning,
and there is nothing in her painful and almost
incoherent letter which cannot be reconciled
with her own account of an innocent infatua-
ton with the Plymouth preacher and the re-
morse which followed it. This we say is the
possible answer of Mr.. Beecher's friends but
that a cold and unsympathetic world will be
content with it we certainly do not believe.
The second notable point in Mr.. Tilton's
statement is the reply he makes to the charge,
upon which the Plymouth Committee laid so
much stress, that his original accusation
against Mr. Beecher was nothing more
than improper solicitation. He shows
from the records of Plymouth Church itself in
the matter of the abortive West inquiry which
was quenched last year, that he made the
charge of criminal intimacy" as early as
August, 1870. OF course this proves nothing;
but it leaves the Committee IN a very unpleas-
ant predicament and terribly impairs the value
of their sweeping and emphatic verdict
Upon the subject of the alleged blackmalling
Mr.. Tilton tells US little news. lie repeats
that he was not aware of Mr.. Bcechers con-
| tributions to the support of The Golden age,