Year: 1874

philosopher. Mrs. ELIZABETH X.
TILToN is q woman, pretty, amiable,
warm-hearted, religious by instinct,
and reverential by nature. She wor-
ships God and reveres Mr.. BEECHER.
THEoDeRE TILToN has ability, is an
oIator of the successful lecturer class,
has no religious principles that he be-
lieves himself, is sort of social free
lance; believes in free love, and prac-
tlces wh9t he believes. These are our
photographs of the three persons
now attracting more attention than
any other trio Of American citizens.
The statements of each as they follow
the other in rapid succession are eager
ly read by all classes of the common
wealth, and opinions as to the guilt or
innocence Of each are almost as
varied as the readers are numerous.
If we could place all the parties to the
controversy on the same moral plane
and judge them as we should judge
three persons who sought only to es-
tablish the truth; TILToN's charges
would almost assume the character Of
positive conviction, and people unac-
quainted with the accuser and the ac-
cused, until possessed of q clear analy-
cation of the characters of all, cannot
avoid conclusion almost amounting
to verdict Of guilty against Mr..
BEEcHER. But we cannot conduct
the trial on this plan-we cannot ac-
cept the statement and leave the mo-
tion entirely unconsidered. Nor can
we convince ourselves that the
bare statement of one of these men is
is worthy of the same credence as the
other. A mans unsupported state
ment is strong or weak according to
his moral character and reputa-
tion for veracity. Unfortunately
for Mr.. TILTON his moral character
Is not, like CESAR would have his
wife, above suspicion. He is the
avowed convert of social system
which repudiates the marriage con-
tract; he has offered evidence Of envy
of Mr. BEECHER, and his charges from
beginning to end are fraught with q
strong odor Of jealousy. Evidently he
believes all he says concerning Mr..
BEECHER and Mrs. TILToN. He has
himself proved false to his altar vows,
and he has worked himself into be-
lief that his wife has also broken hers.
He is crazed with envy, jealousy and
a consciousness that he is worse than
he alleges Mr.. BEEcHER to be, and
that his wife can never sink below the
plane on which he stands himself.
Hence we said at the first signs of
fresh eruption of this scandal noun
tain that TILToN'S word proved moth
ing; that he could only establish the
criminality Of his wife and Mr..
BEECHER through written statements
over their own signatures or through
their own confession. Until the agita-
tion of this TILTON matter, BEECHER
has stood fair before the world. His
character has never been reproached
and his moral reputation has heen un-
spotted. TILToN charges, and he de-
nies. While it is simple question of
veracity between these two men,
BEECHER is in no danger whatever of
being put down. We doubt if TILToN
will be able to produce positive proof
of BEECHER's guilt. If he is guilty
and the world comes to believe him
SO, the evidence must come from
BEEcHER himself. 1t may be argued
that he has already admitted too
much; that the acknowledgment of
Mrs. TILToNs wild love for him and
the admission that he accepted her
Establishments; that these love pas
sages or idol worshipings were of fire.
quent occurrence, is in the estimation
of the world nothing more or less than
pleading guilty to the indictment of
adultery. We have no doubt
many people reach this conclu-
sion. To the common mind, it
is next to impossible not to feel bias
in that direction. Yet the absolute


proof is wanting, and If we imagine it
an easy thing, or even possibility, to
set keg of powder on fire and extin-
guish it in time to save half the ex-
plosive material, we shall have no
difficulty in persuading ourselves that
Mrs. TILToN'S love for her pastor was
the alteration of the creature for the
creator, and that the pastors love for
the parishioner was of that platonic
character about which we have all
read so much and experienced so lit
tie. Mr.. BEECHER's published state
ment that Mrs. TILToN loved him
loved him tenderly and caressingly-
may be construed into a disposition to
sacrifice the woman in order to save
himself. We think there is some mis-
take about this. We have a better
opinion of the man. TILTON sacrificed
his wife at the very outset and it is


not remarkable that he should stoop


to an act so uRmanly and despieable.
BEECHER is an honorable man, and
will not throw the poor woman over
board to save his own life. He has
made admissions that will create a
feeling against him. He did not con-


slider this part of the case and stated
what he believed must be accepted as
the facts. The unprejuiicel AMI inn


partial cannot but admit that TILToN
Is yet far short of proving a single


charge made; and so long as he con-