St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-12-22

Inc Qealn OF tr1nciS ~. MOustOn IN the
prime Of life sets one musIngon the peculiar
interest be excited in the Beecher scandal aud
trial as The family friend. An entertaining
screed might Be written on the family friend
and the clients friend.
Sometimes you viii see in a LAWYERS Office
the person anxious FOR, the Intervention Of
the law, and the friend assisting with cum
tenanee and moral support You will OBJ
serve that the lawyer knows enough Of hu-
man nature in such cases to direct his chief
powers OF persuasion, his tactics Of blandIsh-
ment AID his force Of argument to the
clients friend-with the calm certainty that
thereby he has an ally with patent, back
action Of infalfble potency on the client
He makes the effort with the
absolute conviction that he has established a
circuit Of persuasion-a momentum OF II in
fact which win continue and keep going
long after he has actively dismissed the mat
ter from bis own mind.
OMoulton was par excellence the family friend
who was viciimizrd BY his unusual capacities
for such relation. De was warm hearted,
sympathetic. candid, aud yet trusty with the
queer trio which like continent streams, met
in his confidence.
But his worst bIunder was in giving ear 10
the forbidden experiences which il seemed
Mr. Beecher must confess in his remarISable
conversations, and write down in yet more
remarkable letters. There was the quick
sand which caught poor MOultOn. Perhaps,
too, little graiifed vanity in being the con
fdant of such q bright and renowned mind
was tie first snare Of his warm
admiration. Every great and exalted
mortal Graves his friend. Victoria had Bea-
consiield TO complain TO perchance OF the
wildness OF Wales, his spendtbrift WAYS and
his ex4sperating impecuniosity, brought to
parliamentary discussion OltenIimes with the
consequent thrusts OF disloyal and ribald
press, that she did not assist him out of her
royal savings, nor turn over 70 him some Of
the revenues Of his thrifty father. Then, too,
she had Brown 20 join her in drinking CON-
memoraiive aud melancholy Ehiskey punches
to the lamented departed prince eonsprt.
Beecher turned to Moulton with a recogni-
ton that was hattering enough, but had in it,
too, the touch OF fatality. He barred his Sc
crets. bis agitating delights aud spprehen-
sions without hypocrisy and without stint.
He became the monster Of unsparing literal
ness, and bore down upon the mental health
Of his chosen recipient until he lOathed him,
and his peculiar ministry at the time blended
with his unprecedented czndor in
private discourse, made MOulton regard him
as a power for evil unequaled in the observ-
alton Of any living man.
Nine. Roland wished 10 write the Thoughts
tta4 - -, H.
the scaffold, and Moulton likewise at the
hour Of death must have had memories and
impressions of that fateful period which
would have made strange, and even solemn
reading; for, to him had MeKanna appeared
without veil, In his most noisome aspect
and with it, as the teacher, leader and guide
OF his people.
There, anent, the most thrilling reference
to Beecher was made by Stewart L. Wood
ford in Brooklyn in the late presidential
campaign.
There lives in this city one OF the most elo-
quent elergymen In the land, and one whose
services in behalf OF humanity have been Of the
most eminent character. 1 believe most thor
oughly in the honesty and purity Of that gentle
man. Ny confidence and faith in that man are
absolute. Bat not many years ago there
i
there was nothing between him and utter ruin
but the confidence OF the loving hesrfs OF the
people OF Brooklyn. There were letters pro-
duced and read upon public trial then held IN
this city, and which lasted many months Had
these letters been read and interpreted in the
| spiri; and by the methods pursued by Mr.
schurz in reading and explaining the Fisher let
tiers against Mr.. Blaine, they would have driven
that clergyman from every pulpit In the land
and from every home and fresidc in the country
| Immense and prolonged cheering, mingled with
| cries Of "That's So" And why, my friends,
was not that base attack upon the char
acter OF this man successful! simply and alone
because the good people OF Brooklyn had faith
| in the honesty and integrity OF their neighhor
| lGreat eheering.l We stood firmly between him
! and his slanderers. and we saved him. l9reat
| applause. / want for my old friend who entered
the Fremont campaign with me in 1856, who for
thirty years has lived in the full sunlight OF pub
| lie life, who faced Ben Hill and his rebel col
leagues, whose name is forever associated with
| all the great issues which the Republican
| party has carried through want for that man
the same kind OF justice from the people OF
Brooklyn that they have exercised in the past.
Let Brooklyn be to-day as just TO the statesman
as she was a few years ago TO the clergyman.