Plymouth church and its pastor,: or, Henry Ward Beecher and his accusers .../ Compiled by J. E. Doyle.

B EECIIER'S D EYIA L.
cross-examination will be resumed. The committee want to
know what, is iii the whole letter. It is fair to presume that
Tilton has taken fiom it only such parts as suit his purposes.
Simultaneous with this cross-examination the denial of Mr.
Beecher to the charges appeared. It reads thiis: I do not purpose at this time a detailed examination of the
remarkable statement of Theodore Tilton, made before the
Committee of Investigation, and which appeared in the Brooklyn Arguts of July 21st, 1874. I recognize the many reasons
which make it of transcendent importance to myself, the
Church, and the cause of public morality, that I shall give a
full answer to the charges against me. But, having requested
the Committee of Investigation to search this matter to the
bottom, it is to them that I must look for my vindication.
But I cannot delay for an hour to defend the reputation of
Mrs. Elizabeth R. Tilton, upon whose name, in connection
with mine, her husband has attempted to pour shame. One
]ess deserv ing of such disgrace I never knew. From childhood,
she has been under my eye, and, since reaching womanhood,
she has had my sincere admiration and affection. I cherish
lor her a pure feeling, such as a gentleman might honorably
offer to a Christian woman, and which she might receive and
reciprocate without moral scruple. I reject with indignation
every imputation which reflects upon her honor or my own.
My regard for Mrs. Tilton was perfectly well known to my
family. When serious difficulties sprang up in her household,
it was to my wife that she resorted for counsel; and both of us,
acting from sympatlhy, and, as it subsequently appeared, without full knowledg,e, gave unadvised counsel, which tended to
harm. I have no doubt that Mr. Tilton found that his wife's
confidence and reliance upon my judgment had greatly increased, while his influence had diminished, in consequence of
a marked change in his religious and social views which were
taking place during those years. Her mind was greatly exercised lest her children should be hlarmed by views which she
deemed vitally false atod dangerous. I was suddenly and rudeIv aroused to the reality of impending danger by the disclosure
of domestic distress, of sickness perhaps unto death, of the likelihood of separation, and the scattering of a family every lnemher of which I had tendely loved. The effect upon me of the
discovery of the state of Mr. Tilton's feelings, and the condition
of his family, surpassed in sorrow and excitement anything that
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