The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-02-09

faithfully try the one charged with the
awful crime Of adultry, but to drag be.
fore you the man who, by his silence.
has actually led people to believe he ala
know something about Mr.. Beecher.
Such evidence of justice, impartialitv.
brother]y love and fair dealing, I com.
mend to your respectful consideration.
l was long ago told that it was the secret
intention Of Plymouth church to 90.
TRANCE me if possible; and that was in
any event to be driven from its commnn.
ion. could not then believe this, but it
now appears that others had better in
formation than myself. For more than =
year it has been evident to me and to
others that this serious threat would
sooner or later be put into execution.
But how was this to be done! The fol-
lowing tells the whole story:
From that day to this have been
wickedly and Indignantly assailed in nv
business affairs. All sorts of crimes and
misdemeanors have been charged or hint
ed at, and l have been held up to the
world as a man totally unworthy of eth.
er respect or public confidence. Every
one of these charges or intimations I now
pronounce to be totally false. their au-
thors slanderers, and hereby challenge
Plymouth church to appoint its own com.
m'ttee TO Investigate openly and vigor.
ousIy my words and my deeds, either in
or out of the church. from the day of my
birth to the present hour.
l am ready for the trial. do not prc.
pose now to give in detail the facts which
have come to my knowledge, as the Incl
dents, disclosures,ia nd confidential COM
munlcations which have from time to time
been presented or communicated to me
in regard to the character of H. w.
Beecher--to his dishonorable conduct in
business affairs to his treacherous treat.
ment of friends; to his breaking of writ
ten covenants; to his untruthful state.
ments in courts; to his lodging all
thorough Investigation into his conduct
and character; to his stolidity and indiffsr-
ence when unjust charges and malicious
ISLANDERS have been made against particu-
lar members Of his church to his recent
contradictory uttcrances as to what he
characterizes as ''hodge.podge couucil,''
composed of wolves and foxes, like Drs.
Storrs and Burlington, which council at
one time he said he had never positively
agreed to, but in regard to which he did
on another occasion positively say, Il
won't have anything to do with it, and
hnalIy at his coarse abuse and slanderous
charges of perjury, uttered boldly and
publicly In his own lecture room against
IN honest Christian woman, who had
dared, as she alleged, to speak the truth
concerning him.
with this brief reference to matters
which have had an influence in, forming
my judgment, l will now hasten to tell
you frankly what are my conclusions in
regard to the character of tho pastor of
Plymouth church. have known Mr..
Bcecher quite intimately since the dav of
his arrival in Brooklyn. have been &C.
quainted with him socially and privately,
IN cnurch and in family, in business mat.
tiers and in religious matters. I have
heard attentively but with profound grief
what has been said to me confidentiallv
against him. have felt my heart stirred
to its depths for dear friends who, years
before the present scandal was published,
sorrowfully begging my counsel, as they
assured me that their pastor and mine
had craftily betrayed the sanctity of
their homes, the very charge long after
presented to ME by Theodore Tilton in re.
gard to his own home. l never can or
will be base enough to allow a single
name to be bruited before the world, al.
though am now ready to testify to the
essential facts before the proper tribunal.
These disclosures l heard with a sad
heart, and tried to accept the evidence
brought to me that MIR. Beecher was grief
stricken and penitent. have read much
that has been said for and against Mr..
Beecher in the public press. have with
utter amazement read and re-read and
pondered over his published letters, and
written confessions in regard to the
serious accusations made against him. /
have tried to weigh all the evidence
which has come before me, with the
charges which have been published to the
world against him. I have seen those
charges again and again hurled at him,
and he calmly and boldly challenged to
appear before any impartial tribunal to
meet them. Ihave seen him, with all
this cloud of darkness gathering about
him, apparently dcfying public opinion,
defying the advice of his old lifelong
friends, embracing the soundest, ablest
and best clergymen in the country, and
seemingly defying again and again the
very God of heaven himself to cast him
down.
Now being summoned here to speak,
and to speak the truth, solemnly give
it as my unwavering opinion, in view of
all the facts and evidences presented to
me, that Rev. Henry Ward Beecher,
without even the shadow of a doubt in
my mind, is guilty of the awful crimes
o. adultery, perjury and hypocrisy.
inns say again, and before the bar of
this committee, is my deliberate opinion,
and may be permitted to affirn fhat I