The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1875-02-24
Thu Great Scandal

Wednesday, Tsbrussy a. 1876.
The Great Scandal ii
The Rrooklyn scandal has been 20 long
before the country, and was 80 tnorougavi
vehf;iafed bv the formal statements OF the
nrinGpal actors through the medium OF
the public press before legal proceedings
commenced. that the triaiitse Is deprived
of much of the popular interest which
would otherwise have been awakened.
Even those who are not 80 disguised with
the whole business that they do not care
10 hear any more about it, feel that there
Is not much more to learn, and that among
the vast mass of contradictory stories it
must necessarily be impossible to ever get
at the real and exact truth. Yet, however
threadbare the strange tale has become by |
constant repetition in variety Of shapes, |
and however much ie has lost OF that noy- |
city which IL the most powerful charm at |
taching to affairs of this sort, nothing Gao
entirely obscure the Immoral grandeur OF
the spectacle now presented to an aston
ished world. Twenty or fifty years hence
its proportions will seem Tar more colossal
than they do to-day; for, from Social
moral, and religious point OF view 1t Is un-
auestionably the greatest trial IN the whole
history of Jurisprudence. Look at the
dramGtis persona.
Saw what we will and think what we may
of Henry Ward Beecher now, when, like
Lucifer he has fallen from his high estate
never to rise again" the intellectual force
of the man, his immense aud long contin
ued success in the pulpit and upon the
platform, and the almost Unreasonable in.
fuence he has exerted in the domain OF
Protestant theology, have given him a
place in the annals OF the nineteenth century
which he is not likely to ever lose. The
descendant of a long line of Puritan ances-
try.all renowned for clear heads and strong
hearts the son Of thelman who vac selee
ted by New England orthodoxy as its ablest
champion TO defend Calvinism against the
keen assaults Of William Ellery Charming;
the head and front OF a family of brothers
and sisters distinguished for brains; him.
self for more than twenty-five years the
pastor OF the largest regular congregation
in Christendom; power in.the church, q
power in the state, power in society, and
o power in journalism-Mr. Beecher' s
pre-eminent ability is conceded even py
his bitterest enemies, and until lately was
the Just object OF national admiration and
national pride. Neither Massillon nor
Bossuet, neither Whitfield nor Wesley
surpassed him as q preacher, and his tri
umphs in that department-scattered far
aud wide by means of books, pamphlets
and newspapers-have given him solid
fame among all classes and ON both sides
of the ocean.
His antagonist is not altogether unwor
thy Of him. We're Theodore Tilton out
of the shadow Of his gigantic adversary
his mental endUwments. would show t.
much better advantage. The vicinity o
the two provokes comparison, and BY com
parison the brightness of the lesser Egh
is partially obscured. Yet Tilton is il
many respects an extraordinary man
Commencing as poor boy, withou
friends and without influence, at the low
est round of the journalistic ladder. h
worked himself steadily upward until b
had achieved brilliant reputation nc
only as political writer, but as q polite;
speaker, an author and literary lecturer
His writings were terse and vigorous an
always elegant and eloquent, and his or;
tory possessed peculiar fascination
manner and matter which none who ha,
felt it can easily forget, while his persons
appearance and address were rtul of TIL
magnetism which is born and not mad
Up to the time when he was undefstot
to have embraced free love doctrines, al
used his pen to adv oeate various soci
heresies OF somewhat similar characte
Theodore Tilton was regarded by the pu
lie generally as young man of remark
BILE promise. He had in him the. groun
work OF great possibilities, and the futu
seemed certain to do for him more ev,
than the past had done. That he won
have realized the anticipations of |
friends by making the most out of brig
and versatile genius had not the worst
misfortunes befallen him, is, we thin
quite evident. How much this misfortu
had to do with those vagaries in polit
and morals which finally blasted his pr.
poets and crushed his hopes, we sh
never know.
Here, then, we have the great preach
and his former pupil and companion Gu
fronting each other in deadly combat
over what2 Over the ruins of a on
happy home, which the former, wheth
innocent or guilty, has hopelessly
stroyed. Taking his own statement
truth, Mr.. Beecher has, by injudicio
attentions and bad advice to the wife of
friend, made an utter wreck OF the hap
ness OF the pair whose youthful maria
vows were plighted at his altar and santit
ed by his prayers fixed an ineffaceaI
blot upon the children on whose heads
sprinkled the baptismal water, and W
were taught from earliest infancy to 10
up to him as spiritual father and guild
and prepared the way for the outburst
o foul scandal which will exhale its pes
len,lal odvrs long after he has gone to t
grave. Taking the statements of the OF
er side as truth. and what has Beech
done Atan age when the heat of pa
sion is supposed to have cooled, and VIII
experience if not principle has enforc
the necessity of keeping the baser instins
under strict control at such time, al
when he had attained the summit OF
nown in his sacred vocation, and sto
without q peer at home or abroad-he COZ
mitted crime, the full meaning a
strength Of which no human Judgment q
measure. In the guise of an angel
light he wrought deed which "a de,
with devils damned" would blush to ow
As the tried and trusted friend OF q Lii
time, as the beloved and revered teach
whose counsel was better than gold, he G
tered Eden and made it q hell. Using
influence which had swayed the opinio
of great sects and parties; using an e.
quence which had stirred the souls Of mi
ions; using opportunities which only !
priestly character could have afforded