The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1883-05-13

btOW0 on tho cOntTuTy. htohttosa w
question which ought not to have been raised
at oil after the persons implicated were In their
graves. and which. II seemed. had been finally
and wisely laid to rest. ho has compelled us to
recognize tho weak points In the defence un.
dertnken by Byron's friends. and to remind the
reader that. while Mrs. Stoves assailants!haye
unuuestionably arrayed q strong pre-
ponderance OF probabilities against the
truth OF hor charge. their counter evil
dence foil short OF certainty. and must
remain so as long As explanations OF
certain mysterious incidents arc not forthcom-
ing. II haR undoubtedly been shown-and on
this head Mr.. Jeafrreson merely condenses the
briefs ind arguments OF other advocates OF
Byron-that not only during tho short term OF
her married lifc. but during the proceedings
for q separation. and for more than twelve
years afterward. his wife continued In the most
intimate and afYectioDate relations with byron's
sister. Mrs. Leigh. 1t Is mainly on account
Of this intimacy that the most dispas-
sionate and Trustworthy participants In tho
controversy have pronounced Mrs. Stoves
story essentially incredible. This conclusion
ia fortified by the equally authentic fact that
for some days after Lady Byron returned to her
fathers house-ony Just 30 long however. rs
she believed that her husbands Offences. what
ever they were. could be attributed to insanity
she contemplate n resumption OF the con-
nubial relation. 1t should also tell heavily In
tho scale OF judgment that the foul imputation
was not publicly made until Byron's sister. as
well as the poet himself. had passed into the
helpless silence OF death. But while all this Is
truo and competent opinion had dismissed Mrs.
Stoves charge AS being not merely n on proven.
but counter TO the weight Of evidence. Mr.
.IcafYreson's book has actually weakened the
cBse he tries to strengthen By dwelling
with curious emphasis on the dark places In
Byron's history which the dcnouncers OF Mrs.
stowe fail to olncidatc. and by suggesting. not
explicitly. but by Implication, On explanation
OF the inconsistency between Lady Dyron's
treatment of her sister.in-law between 1916
and 1928 and the revelation which she nude
many years afterward to Mrs. Stowe.
1t should not, indeed be forgotten, although
Mr.. Jenfrreson like other champions OF Byron.
is disposed to forget 1t. that Mrs. Stoves 70.
sronsibility for tho atrocious stigma which she
tried to fix upon the memory Of the poet and
his sister stops with the publication OF the story.
or the culumny. II such 1t was. Lady Byron
herself was the author, and Mrs. Stowe was not
by any means the only person to whom she
rcpeutcd it. II tho charge was groundless.
Iady Byron was guilty OF deliberate false
hood. OF pcrpetrnting tho evilost and most
damnablo decd that has been wrought
in our generation. No attempt. We
should remember has been mnde to prove
that Lady Byron mt tho tlme whom she made
this shocking imputatlon. was insane or even
suffering from any feebleness Of her intoliec-
tual faculties. She then entertained precisely
the same moral and religious Vows upon which
i,yron'- defenders lay SO much stress when
they dssrnnt upon tho inconceivability OF her
maintaining kind relations with Mrs. Leigh for
some twelve years after tho supposed discovery
OF the lattcrs fearful sim Lady Byron was,
according to the admissions OF Mr.. Jeaf!reson
and the other opponents of Mrs. Stowe Just
tho same truthful. high minded, God fearing
woman that .hc had been in 1916, when. az they
aver she concoc.ed and u,t cred n black and moi
some lie. tho only difference consisting in the
that she was now very near tho
grave and about. us she believed. to meet her
Maker. Tho cnsr accordingly resolves itself in
to nm anthith.sis of improhahilitias. 4. i- 80
,,'; 80 - :, In -, ' byron woulu so tHr
stowo,s byn,thasis Wrs mo ol Which by MrY.
n ma, tl, accomp,lcc ia To remain on torms q,
c,os. ;ntir,cy viii, b.r s,s,er-ip .,aw for many
,,.rs ,,,,r Nh. di.cov.r- ~ tho orronco nutitIs
r,st,,uo,,v uriiLo,v that. 1vnr-on hoiry
-. -. -. IN Ii. . A. .s...........