MRS. BEECHER STOWE'S REPLY.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 14, Issue 1144, 15 April 1870, Page 3

MRS. BEECHER STOWE'S REPLY.

' (From the " Australasian.") MosiTof- our readers will probably be of opinion that we have had enough of Mrs. Beecher Stowe and her filthy story. A full and entire elucidation of what is called " The Byron Mystery," supposing there to be any mystery at all, is not to be attained, perhaps, unless some rise from the dead. But enough evidence can be had, and we contend has already been given, to prove the falsehood of the charge which Mrs. Beecher Stowe has brought against his memory — to prove, also, that Mrs. Beecher Stowe's conduct in the affair was utterly unjustifiable. We have no- : ticed already the case for the defendant, as it has gradually been developed out of the mouths of many witnesses. No one can doubt that had this been au ordinary charge before a regular jury, in a duly constituted court, the charge would have been kicked out on the accuser's own testimony, and the prosecutrix and all her friends made liable to an action for conspiracy and defamation of character. Mrs. Beecher (Stowe, however, is one of those femmes ierribles who never know when they have gone far enough in a dirty matter. She has returned to the attack in a volume of some 300 pages, repeating at greater detail her original charge, and enforcing it in her own peculiar way of reasoning. The book is called Lady Byron Vindicated, but is iv reality h vindication of Mrs. Beecher Stowe. Of Lady Byron we know nothing in the matter except through Mrs. Beecher Stowe. We do not even know that she ever made such au allegation as that which her friend has made public. We have not the smallest authority whatever for believing, even had Lady Byron made a confidante of Mrs. Stowe, that she entrusted the latter with a commission to defame her husband's memory after her death. On the contrary, we have every evidence to show thafc Lady Byron positively forbade the revelation ; but, although she gave herself the licence to speak of the matter to her friends during the latter years of her life, she enjoined her relatives and her executors to keep silence on the subject. This is the case against Mrs. Beecher Stowe personally, but without any licence or authority, she took upon herself to pronounce judgment, in the name of Lady Byron and of public morality, upon the character of Lord Byron. From morality we do not know what power Mrs. Stowe holds ; from Lady Byron sho confesses to have no authority whatever. Her new book does not contain a single document which excuses Mrs. Stowe in publishing her original article in Macmillan's Magazine. There is not a single new proof to confirm Mrs. Beecher Stowe's story. In fact, Mrs. Beecher Stowe shows herself to be as utterly incapable of any logical process of reasoning as of any moral apprehension. She repeats incessantly that the story is true, and that she is privileged to repeat it;-., but she does not adduce any reason why it is true, and why, if true, it was her duty to tell it. She is found to vary her original story, and to prevaricate in some important points, as for instance when she admits that she had heard of the incest 'before Lady Byron spoke of it to her, from another female friend. The first sensational account of the manner in which Lady Byron made the revelation, " witb all the solemnity of a death-bed confession," is thus a good deal damaged. The new version of the circumstances relating to Lady Byron's confession is comparatively tame and prosaic, though j more iv detail. But we are still I left without any dates or documentary proofs. The memorandum in Lady Byron's handwriting, which was given to Mrs. Stowe to read, is not forthcoming. It was returned, Mrs. Stowe says, to Lady Byron. As to the formidable mass of evidence brought forward on the other side — the letters in the Quarterly Review, tho statement of Colonel Wiimofc Horton, the journal of Lady Anne Barnard (communicated by Lord Lindsay to The Times), and the positive disclaimers of Lord Wentworth, of Lord Broughton, of the Rev. Mr. Harness, of Mr. Deline" Radcliffe, and otliers — all intimately acquainted with the parties in the case representing their interests, and most of them in the secret of the true cause of Lord Byron's separation from his wife, whatever it was — in all these points Mrs. Beecher Stowe offers the feeblest and most unsatisfactory defence. The case is now thafc Lady Byron did not believe in her husband's criminality at the time of their separation, bufc attributed his conduct towards her to insanity. But this is distinctly at variance with her first story, in which we are told that the cause of Lady Byron's leaving her husband was the discovery of his being " plunged into the depths of ail incestuous intrigue." The question is, why Lady Byron left her husband. If it was for the reason which * " Lady Hymn Vindicated," hy Mr**. Buocher Sio v. . L-jiiduii :uid New York : IS7O. The Quarterly Mc-oiew, for Jauuai y, 1870. Arr,. : " 'l'he Byr-ii Idy-tory— Mrs. Beecher Stowe's Vindication."

Mrs. Stowe alleged* how cuv- write to Mrs. Leigh the letters • been published by the Quarter • "Is it possible/consistently wit. .■„. ...... ././of Lady Byron's angelic nature, tint she shonld have continued to address her sis-ter-in-law in affectionate and confiding terms, that she should have spoken of her as her " best comforter," had she discovered her in an incestuous intrigue? Is it credible that this woman, pure and saint-like as she is represented to have been, should have condoned the crime of incest, and have lived in friendship with the accomplice in. her husband's guilt for some years after? If it is shown that Lady Byron did so, as it is now clearly showu, then the whole story of Mrs. Stowe orumbles into dusfc, and its author, be ifc Lady Byron or Mrs. Stowe herself, is convicted of being one of the basest of slanderers. . . -_ In reply to Mrsi Stowe's vindication, the Quarterly Revieto contains a second article, most effectually and crushingly disposing of Mrs. Beecher Stowe. The reviewer adds to his former proofs numerous others of a most convincing character. In the first place, he affirms that he has seen the very memorandum which Lady Byron showed fco Mrs. Stowe, and he positively asserts that it contains not a syllable from which any sane person*., without a prejudicate opinion, could collect that Lady Byron ever made the charge in question, or any charge involving crime at any time." The reviewer states, moreover, that.he has had access to the whole . correspondence between Mrs. Leigh and Lady Byron, which is large enough "to fill a moderate volume," and that it all tends to the same conclusion. That conclusion is, that from the I date of Lady Byron's leaving her husband's home (against her own will, as she herself always maintained)^ in 1816 to 1830, the two ladies were on the most intimate and cordial terms ; that when they quarrelled at last, it was upon some difference relating to money matters. A number of new letters are printed, principally relating to the early period of their intercourse, which speak for themselves. The firsfc we shall quote is one written by Lady Byron to Mrs. Leigh, while the former- was still an inmate of her husband's home, in November, 1815, during a domestio crisis, induced by the presence of a bailiff in the house : — " God knows what I suffered yesterday, and am suffering, from B.s distraction, which is of the very worst kind. He leaves the house, telling me he will abandon himself to every sort of desperation — speaks to me only to upbraid me with having married him when he wished not, and says he is therefore acquitted of all principle towards me, and I must consider myself only to be answerable for the vicious courses to which his despair will drive him and is driv ng him. The going out of the house and the drinking are the most fatal. He was really quite frantic yesterday; said he did not care for any consequences to me, and it seemed impossible to tell if his feeling -i towards you or me were the most completely reversed; for, as I have told you, he loves or hates us together. God know. -; what he will dp. I find in a religious trust the only comfort and peace I can cxpirience. Things never were so serious. I don't mean the circumstances, for they must mend ; but his feelings. You shall hear again to-morrow, but I hope for r. o better. . . . Don't be unhappy about me, and perhaps you will see less cause than I do to be so about him. "I have waited to the last in the hope of some change — but it is incurable pride and madness. O Augusta, will ifc ever change for me ? I scarcely know what I say ; though I have been making the besfc of things till yesterday, when self-decep-tion became impossible. I have thought that sinco last Saturday (on which night he sat drinking with Hinnaird's party till half past four in the morning), his head has never been right, and he will add, I fear, more and more to the cause. " B relented last night — for he returned earlier from -the, play, and I took the opportunity of attacking him, which I had scarcely had before, as he had never been in my company throughout the day for much more than an hour. He was kind to me again, but still rather odd. However, I am very thankful, after the fit of despair imparted to you — cruelly I fear. He does not think I know the circumstances of our unwelcome guest. I wish George B , or some man friend of common sense, were in the way to laugh B out of his excessive horror on this subject, which he seems to regard as if no mortal had ever experienced anything so shocking, and we can do less, because he thinks that women don't enter into these sublime grievances. They are quite the subject of his romance at present. " I say so little to you of your own concerns because I cannot speak very freely on paper, but there are none on which I j think more, or wish more to talk to you. I must tell you that you are 'Augusta' again to B , for during the paroxysm you were ' Mrs. Leigh,' and I expected you would soon be ' The Honorable .' I ought to have laughed at this, but I took ifc as another misery, fancying that I was in some way the cause of such au alteration. And now for my peace and comfort, dearest A , let me express my earnest desire that, whatever you may see or hear towards me, you will never think ifc an acfc of friendship for me to risk B- 's displeasure. I suspect you of any disinterested policy of this kind. Bufc in the first place I should be more grieved if he and you were to differ, and in the second (which may have more weight with you) I don't think it would do me any food to have my part taken. So rememer." '* In another letter, of a later date, she writes : — " My head is better, and I wish to make a few observations respecting the nature of my greatest fears for B , and I think I daily understand the case better. His misfortune is an habitual passion for excitement, which is always found in ardent temperaments, where the pursuits are not in some degree organised. It is the ennui of a monotonous existence that drives the best hearted people of this description to the most dangerous paths, and makes them often seem to act from bad motives, when in fact they are only flying from internal suffering by external stimulus. The love of tormenting arises chiefly from this source. Drinking, gaming, &c., are all of the same origin. How far it may depend on body or mind, it is difficult to ascertain. lam inclined to think (hata vitiated stomach, particularly if arising from habits of excess, is a chief cause of ihe sensation of ennui, and thafc change of scene, air, and exercise are more efficient to its removal than any efforts of reason. As for seeking a cure in worldly dissipation, it is adding to the evil, and for that reason I so much dread B— ■ — -'s entering into the pursuits of fashion, whose vota- j ries are always the victims of this misery in the intervals of their mischief-making operations. Afc the same time, I would have his mind diverted from itself by every possible means that would not lead to accession of the disease ; and, so far from considering my own tastes, I would court Lady 's society for him, or anything in this world, to arrest its fatal course. I know in what it must end, if il increases ; and with such apprehensions, I will you wonder if I am sometimes almost

heart-broken before my time P My dear, dear A — — , do give me an opinion of yours on this, and don't uistrust your owu judgment ; I will not bu.-dly adopt it; Such were my aching reflections la3t night." . ; . .; •:• In another, written two or three weeks after her confinement, addressed to her aunt, Lady Melbourne, Lady Byron says : — " My confinement has been rendered so comfortable by Mrs. Leigbjftkindness abet attention, which I can never forget.-" On the ISth January she left her husband's home, and on the day after wrote the now famous " Dear Duck" letter, full of endearing terms, to Lord Byron. Six weeks afterwards she writes to Leigh as follows •—...- . - "My dearest Augusta.-—^lndeed I do not mistake you, and know the kindness of your motives, oven when my opinions differ most; from yours. You are bewildered by misery ; and, unhappy as I am, I think afc this 'moment I am more capable of judging than you are. Yet self-confi-dence is not usually bnd of my'errors. : I give the fullest consideration to all you represent, and, willing as I am to view things in another light,- my ©pinion never varies-^the world will, pf course, suppose me to have considered my own interest only, which the situation would certainly have justified me in doing, but in addition I have the most -perfect conviction that I do not sacrifice one, single consideration of the happiness of others,". &c. ._. It is now proved that so early as 1816 the rumour of a' guilty connexion between Lord Byron and his sister was one of the many scandals afloat in London society, as indeed every form of calumny had been exhausted at the poet's expense. A friend both pf -Lady Byron and of Mrs. Leigh writes to the former, inquiring for the truth of the story, and receives in reply the following : — . " Mivarfc's Hotel, Feb. 20, 1816. "My dear Mrs. Villiers, — I consider, your letter as a very kind proof of the justice you do to my feelings, which are by no means so . absorbed in my own distress as to forget those of others, who, perhaps, suffer still more. I deeply regret the reports which have been circulatea relative to the cause of the separation between Lord B. and myself, and none can occasion me more sorrow than that whioh you mention as reflecting on Mrs. Leigh's character"; but as I can positively assert that not one of the many reports now current have been sanctioned or encouraged by me, my family, or my friends, I cannot consider myself in any degree responsible for them. " During my residence under the same roof with Mrs. Leigh, all my friends;.have heard me express the most grateful and affectionate sense of her good offices towards me ; aud before I left the house, I wrote of her, and spoke of her, in those terms to every one who was intimate with me. " In the present state of circumstances you muat be aware that a publication of the real grounds of difference between Lord B. and myself would be extremely improper, and, in conformity with the advice I have received, I must abstain from any further disclosure. It is very painful to me to be obliged in consequence to appear less confidential than I wish towards you. I have been with my father ever since I came to town, of course wishing to be as unobserved as possible ; and it is insisted upon by my legal advisers that I shall have no communication, with Piccadilly. I must ask free indulgence for this answer. You do nofc know the extreme perplexities and miseries of my present circumstances, or I should feel secure of it. At least, believe me, my dear Mrs. Villiers, yours most truly, "A. I. Byeon. " The Hon. Mrs. Villiers." — In the face of all this evidence, the world is required to believe thafc the " true story of Lord Byron's life " was incest with his sister ! As regards Medora Leigh, the subject of Dr. Mackay 's hasty book, the reviewer states that Lady Byron, " having known all about this unhappy girl for ten years without making any effort for reclaiming her, suddenly sent for her in the autumn of 1840, brought herto Paris, andthere, or at Fontaine bleau, told her the revolting story of her alleged paternity." As to the paragraph stating that " her story was received by everybody as true, ifc is a sheer invention of the writer." The Quarterly Review points out numerous ofcher discrepancies in Mrs. Stowe's story. In the original article she had written this maudlin piece of flunkeyism : — " To the children left by her daughter, Lady Byron ministered with the faithfulness of a guardian angel ; and itis'owing to her influence that those who yet remain are some of the best and noblest of mankind." Yet, in her recent book, in excusing herself for publishing the scandal without reference to the feelings of the surviving members of Lady Byron's family, she says : — " How was Ito know that any of them were living ?" It is unnecessary to accumulate further evidence, however, to convict Mrs. Beecher Stowe of being an unscrupulous, foul-mouthed slanderer. She can only escape afc the expense of Lady Byron herself. If ifc is true that.Lady Byron acted in the manner alleged, that she told her story to Mrs. Beecher Stowe, and yet was capable of writing the letters we have quoted to Mrs. Leigh, then there is something quite ofcher than the heroic, pureminded, long-suffering angel which Mrs. Beecher Stowe makes her to have been. She , is .convicted of base, hypocrisy, of gross deceit, of malignant tattling, of acting towards the crime of incest in* a manner scarcely better than if she had been guilty of it herself. The case is now closed for ever, and ifc cannot be. opened again with any evidence on the. other, side short of a confession under Lord Byron's own hand-wrifcing. The Quarterly Review comes up in a trenchant and biting, vein, which leaves us nothing to add : — " By the discussion Mrs. Stowe has provoked she has been the blind (not humble) instrument, under Providence, of fulfilling Lord Byron's prophecy — that the time would come when full justice would be done to him. We gladly hail her as an accomplice in this good work ; for, if justice has been correctly defined ' truths put in action,' she has originated the action and we have supplied the truth. She might address the noble poet's shade as the Abbot (in the " Lord of the Isles") addresses Bruce : — —"'l rose with purpose dread, To speak my curse upon thy hoad, O'er-inaslered yet by high behest, 1 bless thee, and thou shalfc be blest.'" There's "a divinity thafc shapos our ends, rough-hew them how we will"/' v She has canonised the sinner, intending to deify the saint."