The New York herald., 1875-02-25
The Besehsr csss-oive the Woman .
ChanesI

The Besehsr cass-oivs the Woman
ChancsI
General Tracy opened the defence for Mr..
Beecher yesterday, and elsewhere we print
full report Of his speech. 1t was reported
that Mr.. Beechers counsel would move to dis
miss the suit on account of the failure of Mr..
Tilton to present case worthy even Of the
consideration Of the jury. This is an in
credible story; but the Brooklyn Eagle an
nounces, on what seems to be official authority,
that Mr.. Bsecher absolutely forbade this
action. Any termination of the trial other
than verdict by the jury upon the
fullest evidence would be verdict Of guilty,
so far as Mr.. Beecher is concerned. In the
meantime the relation of Mrs. Tilton to the
case. as presented by the HERALD, has at
tracted unusual attention. One of our cor
respondents, representing "many readers"
in letter published in the HERALD recently,
says:-"As you say. there cannot be any
justice in the law that allows . man to
swear his wife into infamy while 1t prevents
her from opening her mouth. Why not Pc
tition the Legislature to so amend the law
that the wife may have tho same latitude it
already accords to our worst criminals, allow
ing them to testify in their own behalf?'' This
correspondent further says that, if a petition
were presented to the Legislature asking for
an amendment to the law in this respect it
would receive "the signature of every rep
utable firm in this city,"
Nothing could be more pernicious than the
policy of changing statute laws to meet the
exigencies of any particular case. The laws
of this Commonwealth are made for the peo-
pie, not alone for Henry Ward Beecher or
Theodore Tilton. A petition to the Legisla-
ture asking to have the law of evidence SO
amended that Mrs. Titon can 20 upon the
stand would be improper. But the real mean
ing of our laws may be gathered from a trial
like this in Brooklyn. 1t is hardship that
Mr. Tilton should be allowed to testify to
the crimes charged against his wife while she
should be prohibited from asserting her
own innocence. The argument upon which
Mrs. Tilton is ruled out is practically false
pretence. The theory of the law is that
in actions for criminal conversations the
wife shall not be o witness because it
would be such cases-that between hus-
band and wife there would be col
lusion for purposes of blackmail. In the
eyes of the law Mrs. Tilton is not "a party"
She Is not concerned in the ISSUE" Mr..
Tilton brings suit against Mr.. Beecher
fNr fo ~s~
and theoretically does not involve Mrs.
Tilton whatever. This is the law, but it is
essentially false. Even the presentation of it
reads like a grotesque paraphrase of jus
tice Mr.. Tilton sues for ''money'' which
he has publicly proclaimed he would not
honorable to him, because it proves that he
does not seek emolument, but the vindication
Of his good name. In other words, the issue is
not one hundred thousand dollars of Mr..
Beecher's property, but whether he himself is
slanderer. The whole trial turns on this
point. We have not heard word from the
counsel for the plaintiff about damages"
This suit is to prove the crime of Mrs.
Tilton-no more and no less. Yet, upon
the theory Of the law that it is q suit
for money, the most important witness in
the case, the one person in the world who
knows whether she is guilty or inno-
cent, SHINING or sinless, is debarred from
the witness stand. On the other hand,
Mr.. Tilton. who knows nothing of tho
case except by hearsay, confession" sus-
picion, statements and inference, who, We
repeat knows absolutely nothing of his own
knowledge of this crime, is allowed to
testify for days and days, to fortify
his evidence by bis opinions, his emo
tions, his letters to his wife, the letters of his
wife to himself, the whispered conferences of
the freside, his remembrances of the most ten
der and sacred relations of the family life. Let
us suppose that Mr.. Titon were not an honor
able man; that he were governed by ambi-
ton, or anger. or revenge, or any one Of those
qualities which sometimes exercise control
ling influence over human actions; that,
like other men of enthusiastically,
Byron, Dickens-he had become tired of
his wife and sought more congenial associ-
ations; that, like other men of power, he
had fallen into hatred and resolved to destroy
rival-what would prevent him from swear
ing to every possible phase and token of guilt
to accomplish his aim, to crafty MS ambi-
ton or satisfy his revenge? Where would
be the redress? The one witness who
can contradict Mr.. Titon on the vital points
of his testimony is his wife. The one human
being whose honor is most in question is his
wife. And yet the law rules her from the
witness stand.
If Mr.. Beecher is convicted he resigns his
Christian Office and sinks back into the SYM
pathy of his thousands of friends, who will
support him whether right or wrong. forget
ting his crime in his genius, glorying in his
repentance and remembering that David wrote
the Psalms, even il he violated the hearth