Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-06-11
which were in the nature of circumstantial
or argumentative confessions.

a.
t which were in the nature of circumstantia
: or argumentative confessions
u THE THEORY OF THE DEFENDANTS CASE.
!, The general theory of the defendants S cas-
A is this-that the relations of Mr.. Beeche
I and Mrs. Tilton were, in the Judgment an
feeling and appreciation of both of them, a
i Mr.. Beecher understood while those rela
, tions were growing up and going on, entirel
; moral, faithful, true, wholly above suspicion
on the part of others as they were who'll
free from suspicion that there could be mis-
construction on their own part. Both thes
people recognized the duty not to be led vii
lingly into temptation. Both recognizes
the external duty of avoiding the appear
f ance of evil. Could either imagine tha
either by careessness or attraction there wa
anything that was not as open as the day
that was not as clear in the inspiring mo
tiyes and in the actual sentiments developed
in their intimacy as the best and severes
judgment could require Then came. what
was revelation to Mr.. Beecher, the deser.
ton By the wife in the month OF December
OF her husbands house and his protection
and an appeal to the Judgment of the pas
tor, and of his wife on his suggestion and
then the church was consulted There came
to be very distinct, very iamentable occa-
sion to discover the household not to have
been happy, and growing faults, and grow
ing discords, and growing opprobriums to
require some remedy, or some action that
was temporary and restricted to bring about
hoped for correction and reinstatement That
| hal mai tor tf md far NJ
Beecher was concerned, and no longer formed
an element of duty or of solicitude with him,
or on his part that then there came to be
the new, the equally sudden, the equally
unexpected, and the equally unintelligible
assault upon him in the name of Theodore
Tilton, brought to him by Mr.. Bowen upon
the Goth of December, in which, with all
the pride Of an emperor, Tilton required Mr.
Beecher to quit further obedience to the duty
If preaching, and to leave Brooklyn That
interview came to an end, so far as Mr.
Bcecher was concerned, in its power to dis
| turb him, after about five minutes duration.
| That was the end OF that. lie neither sought
nor cared what wild inflammation of fenmity,
| or of suspicion, had started this arrogance or
this malice on the part of Mr.. T.lton. The
testimony leaves all this undisputed that
be did not move hairs breadth OF seek
for any interview with anybody, and when
my friend Mr.. Fullerton, thinking he was
going TO put poser TO him, said, - Then
yoI settled down on your indignation, did
you, all that week - Mr.. Beecher an
swered, ''No settled down on my work -
and that is exactly what he did, and that he
has done always at every stage of this mat
ter. There has not been an interruption,
whether with alarm mainly for others
mainly for Tilton and his family. or disturb
ance or appreciation Of the turmoils and be
wilderments that would grow out of ire
sponsible and unregulated meddling by peo
pie in other folks afldirs-none of these
have interrupted a sermon, a prayer meet
ing pastoral duty, public service, or a
nights rest. That then in the same week
OF the Goth or Goth of December, Mr.. Tilton
opened to him grounds Of complaint which
be had against him. which were serious and
which excited serious commiseration for the
disasters that had fallen upon the family,
and although he might not approve Mr.. Til
ton, great responsibility and anxiety for
his restoration tina. thereupon Mr.. Tilton's
character and life, as Mr. Beecher had rash
ly misconstrued it on insufficient evidence,
was restored by the aSseyerations Of Mr..
Moulton concerning it, and any part that
Mr.. Beecher had taken in either increasing,
or confirming, or assuring Mr.. Bowen's con-
demnation, and dismissal OF Mr. Tilton. be-
came the occasion Of seli-reproach to Mr..
Beecher. But more than all. that Mr. Til
ton complained then. that there had been
bred in the affections of his wife strong
attachment and conflicting feeling as be-
tween Mr.. Beecher and her husband, that
had disparaged the absolute devotion and un-
questioning submission that had formed the
whole fabric Of their marriage before and
then that this lady had, either by some con-
fusion OF mind, OF by some unhappy sub0r
dinatlon to a wicked purpose, to make peace
with her husband. been led into max ing an
extraordinary accusation. We shall see that
under the impulses (Which were pressed upon
him and developed and executed hy these
Vartles) Of c0mmiSeratiOn toward the iami-
ly suffering these unhappy disasters, and OF
selt-reproach for any share, either IN these
external matters, or in the unconscious and
careless and thoughtle~s progress of a wo-
mans attraction beyond the duty of undi-
vided submission 10 the husband, Mr..
Beecher was led to concur in the great duty.
as well as the unmixed interest, that there
should be a reparation for the broken for
tunes of this family as far as justice and
truth, kindly and literally measured by al
fection on his part, should carry him and
above all, there should be an exclusion from
the public eye Of these unhappy dissensions
in the family and of any connection Of him
self, however innocent, as their cause that
thereafter, what was called " policy of 81
lence, which he supposed was an honest,
an open, an upright purpose il good faith TO
secure the protection OF this family, was
pressed upon him by Mr. Tilton as the sole
object Of his resort to him, and by Mr..
MOulton, a. Mr.. TiltOn : agent and friend ,as
the first duty. That all the efforts in regard
10 the improvement Of the affairs of Mr.. I'll
ton. to the establishment of paper for him,
and in regard TO pecuniary assistance, were
all faithful, honest, and Just efforts, liberal
if YOU please, growing out of an exaggera-
ted sense of duty and responsibility ON Mr..
Beecher's part. but still in accord with his
whole natu-e-that all these efforts, which
have been turned into arguments and eyi
dence of consciousness Of gHilt, were all
of this elevated, straightforward, plainly
ineligible character and motive that all
anxieties, that all efforts, in any form, were
simply to maintain unhroken against
strangely inexplicable and adverse influences,
as We now look at them-to maintain un-
broken this good faith and this promise and
prospect of restored domestic confidence and
improved business relations for this family.
THE ACTION OF THE ACCUSED.
Gentlemen, you are here because You are
practical men, because you know something
Of our common nature, because you come
from the bosom of the very society in which
these parties moved, and in which their ac
ton is taken and by which it is to be judged.
Now, ask you thls-do you believe that
there could be u relation of paramour and
mistress between a man eminent in society
and woman the wife of a man prominent
in society, and moving in the circles of So
cial intercourse, of religious association, OF
public notice, that belonged to these people
do you believe that that relation between
paramour and mistress could have continued
for eighteen months, and then, by chance
much more if by confession from the wife
come to the knowledge of the husband and
then, everything being lovely and quiet be-
tween them, 50 that there was no outbreak
there-do you think the wife and the mis-
tress would have left the paramOur six
months unadvlsed that somebody else knew
OF it, that that somebody else was the hus-
band, and that husband the hater on indie
pendent grounds of the paramour? Do you
think 50 ? No, gentlemen, common sense
discards that Well, if wife, conscious OF
this final, deepest guilt of a woman as to-
ward her NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. of the long
course OF seduction concealed from him, and
of the long pollution of the marriage bed
and contamination of the offspring by a
stain, had confessed and found iorgiving
husband ready to conceal, unwilling to re-
sent against the injurer-do you think that
that wife, with that knowledge of her own
conduct and of her husbands privity to it,
will be the first to pick quarrel. and desert
the shelter Of that ROOF? What shelter
against discovery, against publicity, against
ruin 50 safe as that? What could break
the compact of immunity, of secrecy, Of
restored and continued love ON the part of