At the opening of the civil war, in 1861, Mr. Beecher undertook the editorship of the Independent which, like the church under his administration, speedily became a power in the country. In addition to all this work he was continually delivering speeches; for from the firing of the first gun on Fort Sumpter on April 12th, Plymouth's pastor was all alive to the needs of the nation. With voice and pen he pointed out the path of duty in that dark and trying hour, and his own church promptly responded to the call by organizing and equipping the First Long Island regiment. But the strain of this threefold service—preaching, speaking and editing, was too much for his strength, powerful and well-grounded, as he was, physically. His voice gave out at last, and doctors imperatively demanded rest. This brought about the trip to Europe which was destined to be remembered as the most remarkable epoch in the remarkable career of this man.
Decidedly the most memorable oratorical success ever achieved by an American citizen abroad, in behalf of the name and honor of his country, was that by the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, which he achieved during this trip. Undertaking the journey for recreation and recuperation he was bitterly opposed by his friends in his decision, but he saw there was work to be done, and felt that he must do it. Beginning at Manchester, October 9th, Mr. Beecher delivered five great speeches in the great cities of the kingdom, Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool and London, each speech being devoted to some special train of thought and argument bearing upon the issues involved in the momentous contest; and the whole series taken together did more for the Union cause in Great Britain than all that had before been said or written. Possessing the faculty beyond any other American orator of combining close, rapid, powerful, practical reasoning with intense passion—his mind always aglow with his subject—the effect of Mr. Beecher's speaking was to kindle sympathy, even if it did not flash conviction. It is this quality, according to the opinion of those best acquainted with Mr. Beecher's oratory, which combined with his marvelous power of illustration, marvelous alike for its intense vividness and unerring pertinency, and his great flexibility whereby he seemed to adapt himself completely to the exigency of the instant gave him rare command over a popular assemblage.
Mayor Carrington, of Richmond, tells the following: "He went to Richmond in 1881, his first appearance there after the war, and he was somewhat doubtful as to the reception he would get. He walked onto the stage where he was to lecture, before a crowded house, and was not greeted with the slightest welcoming applause. Immediately in front of the stage facing Mr. Beecher were several leading ex-generals of the Confederate army, among them General Fitz-Hugh Lee. Mr. Beecher surveyed the cold and critical audience for a moment, and then stepping directly in front of General Lee, he said, 'I have seen pictures of General Fitz-Hugh Lee, and judge you are the man; am I right?' General Lee was taken aback by this direct address, and nodded stiffly, while the audience bent forward breathless with curiosity as to what was going to follow. 'Then,' said Beecher, his face lighting up, 'I want to offer you this right hand which, in its own way, fought against you and yours twenty-five years ago, but which I would now willingly sacrifice to make the Sunny South prosperous and happy. Will you take it, General?' There was a moment's hesitation, a moment of death-like stillness in the hall, and then General Lee was on his feet, his hand was extended across the footlights, and was quickly met by the preacher's warm grasp. At first there was a murmur, half surprise, half-doubtfulness, by the audience. Then there was a hesitating clapping of hands, and before Mr. Beecher had loosed the hand of Robert E. Lee's nephew,—now Governor of Virginia—there were cheers such as were never before heard in that hall, though it had been the scene of many a war and political meeting. When the noise subsided, Mr. Beecher continued: 'When I go back home I shall proudly tell that I have grasped the hand of the nephew of the great Southern Chieftain; I shall tell my people that I went to the Confederate capitol with a heart full of love for the people whom my principles once obliged me to oppose, and that I was met half way by the brave Southerners who can forgive, as well as they can fight.' That night Beecher entered his carriage and drove to his hotel amid shouts, such as had never greeted a Northern man since the war."
The famous Beecher-Tilton trial began in a series of whispers. With such an immense congregation, with everybody in Brooklyn familiar with his affairs, and with the whole community seemingly resolved into an immense gossiping committee, it was no wonder that rumors and report went flying about until at last, in the summer of 1874, Plymouth Church appointed a committee to investigate the charges preferred by Theodore Tilton against Mr. Beecher.
Mr. Tilton read a sworn statement detailing his charges and specifying the actions of Mrs. Tilton and Mr. Beecher during the previous two years. This was on July 28th, and on the next day Mr. Beecher made his speech declaring the innocence of Mrs. Tilton; and she, too, testified in her own defense. Mr. Beecher made an elaborate statement before his congregation, August 14th, denying all immorality. Mr. and Mrs. Tilton were subjected to a most thorough examination and cross-examination, and then Mr. Francis D. Moulton, the famous mutual friend, came into the matter with his story of a most remarkable series of confessions and letters. The committee reported its findings at the weekly prayer-meeting, August 28th. Mr. Beecher was acquitted, and Mr. Moulton was most vigorously denounced, and when he left the meeting it was under police protection, because of the fury of the friends of the pastor. Before this Mr. Tilton had concluded to go to the courts, and on August 19th opened a suit for $100,000 against Mr. Beecher. It was not until October 17th that Judge Neilson granted an order for a bill of particulars against the plaintiff, and William M. Evarts, for Mr. Beecher, and Roger A. Pryor for Mr. Tilton, carried the case up to the Court of Appeals, where the decision of the general term was reversed, and on December 7th, the new motion for a bill was granted.
It was on January 4th, 1875, that the case was taken up in the City Court of Brooklyn. For Mr. Tilton appeared General Pryor, ex-Judge Fullerton, William A. Beach and S. D. Morris; while on the other side were William M. Evarts, General Benjamin F. Tracy and Thomas G. Shearman. The first witness was Editor Maverick, who testified on the 13th of January to the Tilton marriage. Mr. Tilton took the stand on January 29th, and Mr. Evarts objected to his being sworn, and took several days to state his objections. From February 2nd to February 17th, Mr. Tilton was on the stand, and the case for the defense opened on February 25th, and the first witness took the stand March 2nd. Mr. Beecher took the stand April 1st, and affirmed his testimony. He kept the stand until April 21st, and on May 13th the testimony on both sides closed after the examination of one hundred and eleven witnesses, and the consumption of four and one-half months of time. Mr. Evarts took eight days for his summing up, and other counsel for the defense six more. Mr. Beach talked for nine days, and Judge Neilson, on June 24th, charged the jury, which, after a consultation of eight days, reported on July 2nd, that they were unable to agree. All through the trial Mrs. Beecher sat beside her husband in court. The court was packed day after day, and in the daily papers thousands of columns were consumed in reporting every word uttered. It was never tried again.
The enormous expense of the defense was met by a generous subscription. Mr. Beecher's letters were remarkable productions for any man other than Beecher to pen, and the explanation of them so that the jury-men, and men generally, could comprehend them was the task of his counsel. Mr. Tilton is now in Europe, and Mrs. Tilton is in this country. Mr. Beecher passed through the ordeal of his life in safety, and since the trial he has been watched as no man ever has been before or since.
He was unquestionably one of the most able, if not the ablest, preacher the world ever knew, and it is not strange that the country should be startled at the announcement of his sudden death on march 7th, 1887, at his home in Brooklyn.
Henry Ward Beecher is already as historical a character as Patrick Henry; with this exception, that whereas there are multitudes living who have seen and heard Mr. Beecher, and many who knew him personally; there are few, if any, who can remember Patrick Henry. Mr. Beecher was the most versatile and ready orator this country has ever produced,—a kind of Gladstone in the pulpit. He was a master of every style; could be as deliberate and imposing as Webster; as chaste and self-contained as Phillips; as witty and irregular as Thomas Corwin; as grandiloquent as Charles Sumner; as dramatic as father Taylor, and as melo-dramatic as Gough.
To attempt to analyze the sources of his power is like exhibiting the human features separately, in the hope of giving the effect of a composite whole; for whether he moved his finger, elevated his brow, smiled, frowned, whispered or vociferated, each act or expression derived its power from the fact that it was the act and expression of Henry Ward Beecher. His oratory was marked by the entire absence of trammels, of rhetoric gesture or even grammar. Not that his style was not ordinarily grammatical and rhetorical, but that he would never allow any rules to impede the expression of his thought and especially of his feelings, nor was he restrained by theological forms, and always appeared independent and courageous. He believed in the absolute necessity of conversion and a thorough change of heart; he taught the beauty of living a religious life, for the nobleness of the deeds rather than for the purpose of escaping a future punishment, and his sayings in this connection were often misconstrued.