The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1875-08-05
DR.. Leonard Bacon on the Result of the
Beecher Trial.

The New York Tribune contains letter
from the. venerable Congregational theo-
Logan, Rev. DIR. Leonard Bacon, of the
theological department of Yale College.
in reply to certain structures, by friend,
on his course toward Plymouth church and
Henry Ward Beecher. Iuasmuch as it
was letter from DIR. Bacon that fastened
the Tilton- Beecher scandal case to its cul-
mination. his opinion as regards the result
of the trial has peculiar interest. We
reproduce the closing part of DR.. Bacon's
letter, as follows:
There is one point on which my friend
does not challenge me to speak, but on
which, in present circumstances, I can
hardly be silent. Hot partisans on both
sides will charge me with evading the real
| issue, if do not explicitly declare what
my position is on the specific question
whether MIR. Beecher is guilty Of the charge
preferred against him by the firm of Moul-
ton and Tilton.
The man who is charged with an iufa-
nous offense and denies the charge NAV
rest his defense upon his character. We
accept his denial and wait for proof from
the accuser. Mr. Beecher has denied ex-
plicitly and under oath the charge pre-
terred against him: and having denied it
he has right to be regarded as innocent
till his guilt is proved. Messrs. Moulton
and Tilton having slowly accumulated
through period Of three or four years
their material of war, and having had the
help of General Benjamin f. Butler in de-
vising the plan of the campaign, made
their attempt. They had the power of the
state of New York to compel the attend
ancc of witnesses, and to make them tes-
tify. They had professional advocates of
the most distinguished ability to examine
and cross examine witnesses, to marshal
their evidence, and to argue for them.
Their side had the first word OF statement
to the jury and the last. 1t is difficult to
say what advantages they could have had
which they had not. But after protract.
ed trial-the most protracted, | believe,
save one 10 the history of litigation-the
result is, on their part, a failure. They
undertook to prove Mr.. Reecher guilty of
a definite otfense, and they have not done
what they undertook to do. He, therefore,
stands just where he stood at his first de-
NAL of the charge. The attempt to prove
him guilty having failed, the legal anc
common-sense presumption of his limo
cence remains unimpaired.
L have no right to demand-nor has any
man a right to demand that he shall posi-
lively prove his innocence. The burden
of proof rests on those who accuse him
: Our duty is to wait not for proof of his in
nocence but for proof of his guilt.
!, Shall be told that there are othe
charges not yet Investigated? Those 9th
er charges rest on the sole authority of Mr.
J Henry G. Bowen. who, however reluctant
ly, has expressly withdrawn" them
though without admitting that they ar
false. .Ifthat member of Plymouth churcI
still insists, even by nod and wink, or b,
expressive silence" that his allegation
: distinctly rehearsed in document ap
pended to the ''tripartite agreement" am
by him s'withdrawn"-ar nevertheless
true las Calico is reported to have said
! brushing the dust from his knees afte
7 humbly withdrawing his allegations abou
the earth's motion, Nevertheless
moves;' then it is for him to prove wha
he cannot deny that he has said, or else t
stand before the church of which he is
member, aud before the world, as being
presumptiyely and probably, the origina
tor of that great scandal of which Mr.. Ii
e ton was the promulgator. h
8 We are waiting to see land there ar
/ many of us) what the Plymouth churc
: and its pastor will do about those othe
e charges Mr.. Tilton's otherwise incred
e bile story gained credit and a sort of cred
ii bility from the incomprehensible manne
ln which the author of it was treated b
It those who ought to have brought biz
i speedily to serious reckoning. Thos
10 other charges-overshadowed Cor yea
y by the one specific charge which Messr
s. Moulton and I'ilton undertook to prove
d are not yet disposed Of The unpleasal
a. fact that, Notwithstanding the failure
. the plaintiff in the late trial, there a.
he many land not all of them bad menl wi
W feel that, after all, Mr. Beecher has n
,e been completely indicated, is better e
w planned by the known existence of tho
" other charges and the policy of silence
Is regard to them than by anything els
st Let US hope that there is good time cor
lg ing when Dir. Bowen shall have made op,
and creditable profession that. in his 81
, cere conviction, the allegations which,
~ made by him, and rehearsed in Tiltou
I'd too famous letter, are untrue. That W
IS. be the best time for triumphal receptit
he in Brooklyn. MAY be there to see!'
y LEONARD BACON
lis New Haven, Conn., July ed, 1876