, 1874-09-13

TIE RETRIBUTloN.
Goethe, in his celebrated criticism OF 'ho pay
OF Hamlet" says that Shakespeare enoeeSo1eu
tn show how 9 great crime once cotnnAtteo
.+o,ks ;, an inevitable and temorseless retrlbu-
tion. tranpling dowr all who happen to stand III
its iron ratl, ard turning into grlnning mocAers
all attempts to hinder its course. Alter the
King hes killed his brother aud seized the crown
there must bo day Of judgment. AL make
shifts and devices to avoid it only servo to az
.rayate and ueighten the terror OF tho catassro-
phe Nor do the guilty alone st11er. op"etao'
Loe.4es, Polonius, and Handel, being too near
tle vortex. ara caught and carried down With the
Einc and Queen. Such is life! says tho German
critic, and such was the greet magic'ans con-
ccpttou Of 1t when lie wore together tue threads
OF that worll-moving tragedy.
The Beccher case bids f2ir to furnish another
illustration OF the fatality that attends crime,
and frust!atc ell attempts to conceal It, Sup
Dosioc. for the purpose OF illustration, that Mr.
Beeclcr is guilty as charged, what spectacle
of retribution grinding the innocent and the
guilty together in III iudistusuishable mass Is
disclosed to the view! Beccher himself, alrs.
Tilton {und perhaps others not yet named)' the
children OF both, 3Ir. Tiltou. brothers and sls-
ters on both sides. parents. fsieads, churches,
and societies! Nor does lIoulton miss his share.
1Ie ia too near the vortex to escape. Having
been engaged in an attempt to suppress tho
truth. he awakes to find all his efforts fruitless,
and himself standing in the attitude of one Who
prera1,cates in order that another may be Sue
cessful hypocrite. He earns tue condign wrath
OF all thoae whom lle sought to serve, and
gets nothing in place OF It but the
discovery TINT his preyarications arc now turned
asninst him to discr11it the truth. Whatever
may DO the upshot Of the controversy, his rehec-
tions must be bitter and eclf-accusiEg. Nor is
Mr. Ioulton tho only cuttle-tlsh Who has been
smotleSol i'll his own lux. II we may credit his
Etatement. Mr. u. 3, Cle!lin, ono Of the 1nveRti-
gatipg Committee, was long ago IN possession OF
.he whole story from first hands, and nevprthe-
less joined with Moulton in efforts ut conceal
ment, and afterwards allowed himself to be so-
lected IS one who was fresh in the business and
therefore an impartial judge. Henry c. Bowen
sppears, too, IN the attitude Of n hunted ostrich
hiding his uead in the sand and exposing Ills
postcrior to tho SHIFTS of his pulsuera. The
slaughter Of regulations is tenfold worse than if
everybody had said in the beginning: fThis is
3 crime against God and n1an--we will not soil
ourselves with covering it up-we will not io
about it-let tho Divine wrath find it out in its
own good time"
Enough has been said to show the most ardent
friend and :he most obdurate enemy of Dir.
Beeeher that tho machinery now put in motion
must grind out its dolcful grist. II Mr.. Beecher
s guilty, he must suffer, and no ONO can wish his
fate to be worea thnn it will be. II he ia inuo-
ccut, his accuscrs must suffer. Somebody must
he punshcd,-wil be punished. Devices have
been tried and proved worthless. They have
turned into stings and b1anding-irous in the
hands Of Their inventors. The parties to the
controyersy-one or The other-must 20 down.
They are as
Two spent swimmers TINT do cling together.
The waves will close over one of them, and
that right speedily. There really never has been
q chance Of compromise since Tiltou published
hie letter to DR.. Bacon, and all talk Of compro-
mise now. either side, isa sheer death-1attle.
they couldn't compromise if thcy would. The
Law must take it's course, both tho civil law and
the moral law. Tho former is merely the hand
maid and detective officer Of tue latter to point
1,,tf
meEtors. In the forthcoming suit before Judge
Nelson, Tilton will lie on trinl as much as
Beeele1, and both can 60 on the wituess-stsnd if
they choose But whether either elects to do so
or not, the Brnreps OF tho law wall reach out hiB
hundred hands aud pull in the reluctant witnesses
from every quarter. Once in tbs grasp and juris-
dict1on of the court there need be no fear TINT
the real truth will not bo twisted out Of them.
Tried this case must be, and, even though it ea6
in tragedy. it must end in establishing the
facts to the satisfaction Of tha. great jury of the
American people before whom it has come.
Moulton's last stctcuent makes the case so
much worse than it WAS before. that we fancy
I'll those nho thought that even though Ecccher
were guilty It were better that no exposure had
been made, must change their opinion For, il
guilty. 1I. Beecher Was systematic destroyer
Of female virtue, anu every day that he renamed
unwhipped Of justice YVES frauglt with peril to
the families with whom ho came in contact. It
is strange that tiia view did not occur to lroul-
ton when he discovered that Mrs. Tutontwas not
the only woman from whom y letter. at retrac-
ton ras necessary We concur with Dr.. Leon
id Haaon, whose mailed hand kaoelad open ths