Year: 1874




Tilton and Francis D. Moulton upon Grim
inal charge of SANDER Mr.. Beecher has shown
the sense that he failed to show when he did
not call in policeman to arrest Mr.. Bowen
as the bearer of the celebrated letter demand
ing his withdrawal from the pulpit, and Mr..
Moulton as the carrier of concealed weapons.
We read that in Washington the other day
the criminal court sentenced a man named
Murdoch to three years Imprisonment for
having carried to Fernando Wood a letter
threatening him with exposure if he
did not pay money. The letter which
was carried to Mr.. Beecher was similar
in character, as it virtually commanded
him to retire from his pulpit, his
newspaper and his employments, and accept
ignominy and poverty, under the threat OF
infamous disclosures. We are glad to see that
the law takes notice of these transactions IN
Washington for it is crime to write or send
or carry threatening letter to any man, no
matter what offence he may have committed.
If Mr.. Beecher had been guilty OF crime
Mr.. Bowen had the laws of his country as his
remedy, and as good citizen he should have
invoked them. We cheeriully note what has
been done in Washington as a step in the
right direction for the protection of society.
Mr. Beecher should feel encouraged by this to
invoke the Intervention of the law, and every
citizen, no matter what he may feel about the
matter in ISSUE will rejoice that he has
done SO.


Tbic Drno1y1x,v, cnon1a1 hoe rhornu which
have not been considered by any Of our con-
temporaries. Society has rights which should
be remembered. If any citizen can 60 into
print with elaborate attacks upon another
citizen, without any responsibility for proof;
if to destroy the reputation Of one who
is inimical he can drag in entirely out
side parties like Miss Proctor, whose sex,
no matter what she had done. should have
been her shield in the eyes of gentleman;
if are to have plague OF slander, scandal,
falsehood, obscenity, defamation, and no
redress from the law, can we be
said to have any law? Even suppos-
ing Mr.. Beecher to be guilty Of
every offence charged against him, the argu-
ment holds true. He is citizen bound to be
deemed an innocent man until he is proved
guilty. His good name is secured to him by
the law. From the publication OF Mr.. Tilton's
letter to DR.. Bacon two things have been
eviSeIA to us-namely, that there was no
longer any compromise possible, and that
Mr.. Beecher would sooner or later be COM
PEELED to go to court


Ac To- {ha rs {bnca fria1c ~ would ho
idle to speculate Mr.. Beecher has only one
tribunal for whose opinion he need really
care, and by that tribunal he has been &c
quilted. He is to-day stronger in Plymouth
church than at any time in his ministry
Plymouth church is in the humor that no
matter what verdict any jury may return it
will support Mr.. Beecher. The victory re-
mains with him, so far as it materially affects
his work and gains. He retains his news
paper, his pulpit, his revenues from
the platform, and, as was seen by
his reception in New England, more than
his old popularity. This is, to be sure, not
all, but it is something to have saved from
the tunultuous wreck. He can never be
the Henry Ward Beecher that all Ameri-
cans once regarded with pride. He surren-
dered this supreme renown when he signed
his name to the letter Of contrition. In the
eyes of the outside world-we mean the world
beyond Plymouth church-the writing Of this
letter was an act of degradation as deep
as any offence charged against him
and no ingenuity has been able to
reconcile it with any hypothesis Of absolute
and complete innocence of conduct unbecom-
ing clergyman. But all Of this has been
forgiven, forgotten, condoned by Plymouth
church. That body means to continue its
worship of Henry Ward Beecher. His recep-
ton on Friday evening and at the Sunday
service yesterday shows that he is as much the
Messiah Of the new religion of sentiment as he
has been at any time Of his career.


This is something to have saved out Of the
wreck Mr. Beecher will accept our congratu-
lations upon what to him must be strength
ening and gracious triumph. Whatever his
errors, or sins, or crimes, his genius has no
superior in America, and he may yet do great
good. The best of us are better when the
Lord chastens, and Mr. Beecher will even be
of more use to Christian society and his
ministry if he will teach the old truths
and shun those new, fantastic, pleasant,
but unwholesome teachings which form
the sreligion Of gush." As for Mr..
Moulton, the sooner he goes into
bankruptcy in his "mutual friend business,
and returns to honest barter and sale in his
downtown store, the better it will be for .
gentleman who is just now the most seriously
battered of all. IT he has not parted with
that pistol let him keep it for any agonized
clergyman who may come to him with letters
of contrition. As tor Theodore, he is just now
in the position of fine intellect running
to seed There was never such an illustration
of genius rusting for honest work. What
this young man needs is work, good healthy