The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-07-08

Observe that down to this present time we
AVE this charge only upon the authority |
# Mrs. Woodruff. No one else down to
his time, absolutely no one else, has pre- !
tended to make it. Of Mrs. Woodhull's |
charge Mr.. Tilton, in his communication of
June q, 1874, distinctly says: After
many calumnious whisperings near and
star (since evil tales magnify as they tray
"eD weekly paper in New York in No
"vember, 1872, published a wicked and
horrible scandal" If the English Ian
guage has any meaning at all these many
brief one. A wicked scandal is simply
q Islander" and Islander" is simply q
lie. The charge made by Mrs. Woodruff
was charge of adultery. That is not a
charge which ''magni6es as it travels. 1t
begins its journey full grown-either a full
grown truth or full grown lie. If it was
lie wher it came out in Mrs. Woodruff s
infamous newspaper it was lie when it
began to travel towards Mrs. Woodruff 8
infamous newspaper. We have, then, Mr..
Tilton's deliberate assertion in June, 1874,
that the charge made against Mr.. Beecher
in November, 1872, was absolutely not
true. So far the case is clear. if words
mean anything and Mr.. Tilton is person
, capable of reason.
:. Now, what remains? Mr.. Tilton tells
us that in 1870 he learned that Mr.. Beech
er had committed against him an offence
e which he (Mr. Tilton) ''forbears to name
or to characterize There are offences as
0 Governor Dix knows, inter Christians nan
: ,,onaiuanda- to be named among
Y Christians. But they are not of the kind
a that come by heresay and they. are
r not in order here. The offence which 1t
a is charged by Mrs. Woodruff that Mr..
e Reecher committed against Mr.. Tilton
d has very distinct name. If that was the
e offence which came to Mr.. 1iltons knowl-
d edge in 1870. how comes it that in April,
4 1879. we find Mr.. Tilton talking Of his
It ''Criendly spirit toward Mr.. Beecher, and
|. Mr.. Beecher deeply regretting the causes
!. for suspicion, jealousy, and estrange-
q meDt" which had come between Mr..
Titon and himself? Is this, on any con
f ceivable theory, worldly or other worldly,
$ the sort of language to be used in the set
g Element of difficulty" between two men
s arising out of the interference of one party
t with the conjugal rights of the other? To
a ask such a question is to answer it,
Y In all this matter, from beginning to
e end, we get no glimpse Of what the real Of
. fence may have been which in 1870 Mr..
C Tilton learned that Mr. Beecher had
committed against him. For that offence.
s whatever it may have been, Mr.. Beecher,
, on the lst of January, 1871, expressed his
q deep and intense contrltlon III letter OF
a which Mr.. Tilton has now, in June, 1874,
f published a fragment On the same day
=. on which this remarkable letter was writ
ten by Mr.. Beecher-January |, 1871 -
/ Mr.. Tilton. as we learn from the trlpartite
y agreement OF April 1872, wrote a letter to
c Mr.. Bowen, reciting Bowen's tales and
a inuendoes" against Mr.. Beecher. Whatev-
t er these tales and iunuendoes' may have
!. been and whatever may have been Iilton
:. motive in recitng them to Bowen on the
It very same day on which Mr.. Beecher was
y so passonately expressing his regret tor
IS some grieyous wrong done by hun to IN,
e ton, this at least is clear, that Bowen had
IS quite as much part in the whole business
IS as either Triton or Becchcr And when
Y we consider the character OF Bowen 1t
: must certainly be conceded to be likely
IS enough that the offence of Beecher against
), Tilton was really an offence of temper and
S sin against what these people call
n christian brotherhood.
e Be this as it may, what that offence was
not, the words, the dates, and the whole
:, tenor of the story as we haye gone through
!. with it, do appear most conclusIVely to
r show. 1t is possible, Of course, that MIR.
g Beecher may be black>hearted wretch,
: and IL moral wreck. and all sorts of sad
:. and shocking things. There are purvey,
J. ors and consumers of garbage here and
y there, both in the press and cut OF it, we
C fear, who will ask little evidence to con
o vince them of so savory u fact.
y But down to this time Mr.. lllton has
J. given the public absolutely no evidence
e whatever on the subject. 1t is the fashion
= of the average editor to speak Of the aver
r age iuryman as an ass. But we regret tC
!. be obliged to confess that the average ju-
t ryman would shrink from conyictlng no
c torious pickpocket of the larceny OF pa
!, per of pins without better and palmer tes-
:, timony to the larceny than has suthccd in
C too many instances to satisfy the average
n editor that the most eminent Christian
c clergyman in America has trampled under
l. foot his own self respect, the ri gifts Of an
r other man, and the most sacred command
S ments OF the religion he processes. ~ J.
r, World, JUly /,