The New York herald., 1875-02-21
A Review Of the Weeks
Proceedings.
LIFE, FAME AND ETERNITY.
Necessity for a Judicial Hear
ing Of the Facts.
AN EVENTFUL PERIOD
Salient Points of the Testimony
at Hand.

II is more than ever evident that the Brooklyn
trial is injurlnR the morals or American society
since II has ceased to be farce. For good
while the public treated 1t like Hamlets cloud
now weasel. now a wnale. Public opinion
manufactures were started upon 1t and worked
DAY and night, regardless OF Sabbarhs and hOli-
days. The roads OF conversation were lined with
sharpshooters to pick OF reckless disputants, and
whoever hesltated was lost. We all finally grew
to the belief that the Plymouth set was not class
fable; that the language used over there was not
intended to express ideas, but merely ecstacies
rhapsodies and stages OF metempsychosls In
short, we thought all things in statu quo ante BEL
lam, and expected new marriage Al around as
soon as the combatants had surleited the pubic
with their sensation.
Since Mr.. nlron has stepped from the stand a
number OF
SINGULAR WITNESSES
have been adduced. None OF them seem to be
actual Piymouthers. They testify short and TO the
point They describe apparently naughty things
without adJecrives or smiles. They do not reler
10 Frank MOulton as Sir Philip Sidneys successor,
nor describe Mrs. Tllton as looking like a stone
statue OF one OF the Saxon or Tudor saints. They
rise up, like William Riley OF minstrel memory,
and get of their stanza OF evidence short and
murderOusy. They stab with daggers, instead OF
testirying OF their opponents as Tennyson sug-
gests:-
Shot through and through with cunning words.
There has been too much sentimen talizng about
the dreadful moral consequences OF this trial.
The immoral consequences ceased when the trial
begun. fair and muscular combat at law Is the
end OF much gascOnade and banter. Reputation,
relatively nigh or low, has nothing to do with the
issue. The law is made for reputation and for
high and for low. That Is it's solvency. The
sl0moering scandal is always more immoral II it
reaches the imaginations Of great number OF
people than the challenged and open scandal as
suming the dignity OF a cause at law.
For several years Mr.. Tllton had been In q posi-
tion to give anguish to the soul OF his antagonist
To that anguish the trial was relief. For the
same period OF time Mr.. Tilton had been called
many opprobrious names, such as ''knave" and
"dOgn and 'ingrate.n The trial stops such
badinage. Between these two mutual oppressors
was woman, whose status was underlined. The
trial came on and she chose her place. There
was
GREAT CHRISTIAN SOCIETY
In doubt and mystery over the truth or falstty Of
the scandal Nothing cOuld relieve 1t but a trial.
The expense OF such trial and the time spent on
II are inevitable, because sucn trials carry their
lesson to the ages to come, and the community
which shoulders the burden OF COST Is uncOn-
sc0usly giving some future Shakespeare theme,
some Comic suggestion ana the race knowledge.
1t is because there has been evi either In act or
accusation, that trial is necessary to indicate
the offender. Except this trial in court, before
Judge, embodying the flaming spirit OF the law,
before jury listening with sealed lips, before
public weighing the evidence day by day, and
among lawyers who Will take care to meas
ure up the evidence on each side without
off roct n no "a
Tor immortality. II will be an everlasting COM
mentary on the morals ana methods oi this gen.
Grafton II so great scandal can subside without
trial, q verdict and penalty. The accuser is
Infinitely worse than what he expected the re-
spondenJ to be proved II he has come to court
without case. II he has case let it all e1er-
vesce and leave no residue to bother the future.
II the defendant has character let IL all be
concentrated upon this issue. Wide, general
preaching Is no answer. The greatest sermon in
the world will be an innocent Beecher confound.
ing guilty Triton in court. Out OF court all
sermonizlng is "caviare to the general" We
have in a great play now produced among as the
lesson OF "Henry "" for Mr.. Beecher-
In peace there's nothing so becomes man
1 As 1t, st%ess es az ana 1ar 6owy ears
Then initiate the action Of the tiger '"''
The trial is Mr.. Beechers
LIPE, FAME AND ETERNITY.
1t should be fought out with perfect regard to
his station and calling. To be acquitted by mutual
mud-throwing would be death to real lame, as
his should be- For rilton is nothing but the plain
un against Beecher. II Beecher in a like cause
was the plaintiff against Tllton the latter would
take dignity from the relation. Therefore the
Woodruff gang as feature OF this trial seems
TO be like the ballet dance which Mr..
Nacready introduced into "Hamet" and made
Nj. Forrest hiss the production. A vast cause at
morals Is on, and the question before the Court
s:-Did Rev. Henry Ward Beecher deprive Theo-
dore Tilton OF MS wile's loyalty and purity, and, If
80. what ought Henry Ward Beecher pay for it?
And II this proposition is not met by demurrer,
but by asking obscure conundrum, to wit
Did Theodore T1lton not also bask with Victoria
Woodhul9 we cry, 'The Offset is legal straois-
mus r' eyes right" is now military and judicial
One OF the curses Of our period is loose reason
ing, derived from too general. smattering
knowledge-an accident OF newspaper read.
ing. We cannot look five minutes at
one thing. But unless our society in and about the
metropolis Is to lose all standard we must hold
the Brooklyn trial down to its original purpose
and Obect--nas man lost his wife by seductlon?-
NO matter who is the seducer and who is the man.
Mrs. Mouton, who testified last Friday, is vic.
tim rather than an agent in this scandal. She was
threatened two months ago, with kind OF i'm
puRning which wonld have challenged murder in
the court room, not for anything she had done or
could have done, but because the matter had got
TO be q sublime game OF blur. Now sne has
testified, and these vapors or the miasma and
Odors OF the upas tree have not affected
her. All witnesses, all jurymen, all men should
remember, when they approach this case, that It
IL chapter OF the times. The length OF 1t and
the gravity OF 1t show how 1t has been ordained
by Providence TO rebuke either the loose morals
or she loose libels OF the period. 1t is part Of
the craftsmanship OF the times.
THE PAST WEEK
mas been more eventfu than any Otner In the
uncompeted history OF the Beecher. Triton case.
The other weeks were dull and proftess. MouI-
ton and Tton put together revealed but trlne
more than the public mad already heard
or anticipated The scandal was not