Year: 1874

| Boeoher Case.


That is indeed marvellous development Of
social life where any part of these Brooklyn
revelations can be enacted. Every feature OF
the case is dark and sombre, and the whole
story seems like proof of the moral rottenness
OF the society where these things are possible.
There is literary glamour about it all which
saves it from the bare exposure of its innate
vulgarity; but if Mr.. Beecher is to be be-
lieved, it is after all only the panel game in
Plymouth parish. Stripped OF all verbiage
Mr. Beechers counter accusations amount to
this, that Tilton used his wife to make up an
apparent case of seduction and criIninahty,
and then sent his nfederates-Moulton and
Carpenter-to extort money from the clergy
man by working upon his fears. The woman
is at once the instrument and the victim of
both the accuser and the accused II they
are to be scorned she is to be pitied; II they
are not to be scorned it is because the impure
atmosphere in which they lived gave them
distorted notions of right and wrong
and elevated what the world regards
Us vulgar crimes into the highest
forms of moral and intellectual purpose. The
philosophy of which Mr. Beeoher was the high
priest, though full of Christian aspiration,
practically broke down the barriers which So
ciety and religion had set up, and sanctity
and sin became so mixed that people of SIM
pie faith know not how to apply their old
fashioned notions Of virtue to this peculiar
and luxuriant growth. 1t is transcendental-
ism engrafted upon Christianity, the subtleties
of the literary mind making refined vice pref
erable to rustic virtue, ana even clothing the
vulgarest of offences with glamour superior
to Christian purity and hope.


If we would measure these people it must
be by the standard they apply to themselves,
but not to each other. Viewed from his own
standpoint MIR. Beecher is spiritual guide
and pastor who became almost as familiar
with the children and homes of his people as
he was in his own house. Ordinary people
would regard this extreme familiarity as i'll
judged and unnecessary, and will not be sur
prsed that such social and moral condit ons
should lead to just such scandals as were pro-
duced in this case. The people Of Plymouth
church, including Mr. Tilton, did not share
such belief, and were proud Of their pas
tor and bis visits, especially at the
time MIR. Beecher was most emf
nently worshipped. 'During these early
years." says Mrs. Tilton in one of her letters
to her husband, ''the mention of his name, to
meet him, or, better still, q visit from him
my cheek would flush with pleasure-an ex-
perience common to all his parishioners of
both sexes The next sentence betrays the
danger. 1T is not strange, then, darling"
she says, ''that on more intimate acquaint-
ance my delight and pleasure should in
crease" 1t is only in an exceptional society
which is guided by exceptional notions in
religion that such sentiments can become the
commonplace utterances Of wives to their hus-
bands. But 1t is just such utterances as these
which prepare Us for the extraordinary avowal
in the famous Catherine Gaunt' letter. 1t
was nearly five years later that the poor
afflicted woman wrote-''To-day, through the
ministry OF Catherine Gaunt, character of
fiction, my eyes have been opened for the first
time in my experience, 30 that l see clearly
my sin. 1t was when knew that was loved
to suffer it to grow to passion. virtuous
woman should check instantly an absorbing
love-" The one sentiment could not follow
the other unless these ideas Of love,
so different from those taught in the
Scriptures, had their foundation in q religious
fervor which false teachings had kindled
and fostered. Therefore what would be won
drously unnatural in another is natural in this
woman. and we are scarcely shocked that she
should ask her husband, Don't you know the
peculiar phase of Christ's character as lover
is SO precious to me because Of my cOnsecra-
ton and devotion to you?" Here is woman
who Identifies her love of her Saviour with that
of her husband saying 81 couple you with
Him" and then confesses to an absorbing
passion for another, who is in fact the teacher
of religion by whom she had been imbued
with these peculiar views. This is the most
startling revelation of Christian ethics impreg-
mating whole society of the professed fol-
lowers of Christ ever promulgated by the
founder of new sect


But when we turn from tho peculiar
social and moral ethics of these people to
their worldly practices we are surprised at the
transformation. Theodore Tnton then shows
that he can be as jealous as Griffith Gaunt
and as unrelenting as Roger Chillngworth.
Henry Ward Beecher covers like the wretched
clergyman Hawthorne depicted with such
weird and wonderful power. The poor
woman breaks down altogether, and
mind and heart both give way. Out of all
this misery, SO aesthetic and so highly colored
in its causes, there springs so much of the
ugliness of humanity that Caliban becomes
very model of beauty. As there have been
years of mawksh and sentimental devotion,
so now there are years of huckstering in a
woman's reputation. The husband charges
u the cler lyman with the anduct1on of hia w ifa