New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-01-16
THE BROOKLYN TRIAL.

Judge Nelson is perfectly right in the earnest
request which he has addressed to the news
papers to avoid arguing over the various stages
in the trial which he is conducting with such
dignity and discretion.
We believe that VIC may safely venture to
congratulate all decent people upon the grav-
ity and attempt at decorum with which the
Brooklyn scandal is now brought, for the last
time, as we hope, before the public. We miss
the i'll favored jests, the ribald gustO with
which every suggestive detail was descanted
upon when Mr.. Beecher was on trial in the
newspapers; there is cOmmendable effort to
cover up the indecent thing as far as possible
in decent words. We fear this is not attrIbu-
table to any sudden publication Of the public
taste The eagerness with which the Nor
daunt and Beecher cases were seized upon and
gloated over in the last two years by the
reading classes in England and this country,
would almost force us to believe that society
is not whit more chaste or modest in
It's secret inclnations than when Mrs.
Aphra Behn furnished the novels and
Wycherley stocked the stage for the titled
rakes and courtesans WHO led the town.
The object of THE TRIBUNE, and as we be-
this case again in extensO to its readers. is
assuredly not to crafty any craving for
uncean material for gossip, but simply to JUS
tify to the public the verdict whatever 1t may
be- by which one of the greatest men of his
time is to stand or fall. If Mr.. Beecher's ruin
is to be confirmed, let the causes be set forth
plainly for the Judgment of men; or if he is
to be reinstated in his old place, it is due to
him that his innocence be fairly proved, as in
open sunlight; for the actual Importance of
the matter does not rest upon the fate of one
man, however famous, but upon the doubt
which will be raised whether Plymouth Church
will unduly shelter and protect him. For the
sake of Christianity, Mr.. Beecher must stand
apart from his profession and be tried on the
same level. openly, and inexorably as the
commonest reprobate. Anything short of that,
his friends must know, is destruction to him
self and deadly stab at the cause he has
upheld. For this reason, the republication of
even the offensive matter has been necessary.
For the sake, however, not only of decency,
but of the patience of long-suffering public,
LET the recital be limited to the facts. This
miserable drama, with its Outpouring of
washy sentiment, was emphatically played
out in the newspapers to its wearest con-
clusion. No wonder that even Mr.. Beecher
now gapes over it. Through long, long
Summer days Mr.. Tilton talked and posed !;
Mrs. Tilton wept; Mr.. Beecher wrote letters
of inwardness, until the whole nation was as
heartily sick of them and their tender emo
tons as were Squeers's pupils of their daily
dose of birthstone and treacle. When, during
the present trial, an ambitious reporter is
moved to recite how "TiltOn's thin, sensitive
I" face flushed" or "Elizabeths red lips and
"heavy jaws were coquettish aud alluring,'
a universal nausea passes over the country,
and men are ready to cry out, How long,
"Oh Lord, how lOngr The same reasons
which should hold the pens of these too ready
writers will, we hope, deter counsel from setting
the stage of the court room in any dramatic
fashion. or attempting to affect the jurors by
other means and arguments than those pre-
sented by the evidence. The jury represents
tho public, AMI the public have had quite too
much of the sensational and affectional ele-
meut Of this complication, The Utica bust