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PVILI&AKD WEEKLY, * *
, .fr JOHN HODGE. r"i
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■r.WZf* Lettert addressed to the Editor
be pottftfti l.
‘ MR PHHXTPS’ SPP.PCH.
COURT ... OF COMMoNf PLEAS,
PUBLW., V
Tharsiav'i December - j !BJd* y
* ±Cre ghten v. ‘ >T \
TTifa wa<* a special action on the case,
brought by the Plaintiff to recover com
pensation in damages for the seduction
es hit .daughter bv the Defendant* ber ’
qu'd sertilfuni amisit. The Defendant
pleaded the trcne *1 issu*. The daiiia*
ges werolaid 60001 h was tried be*
fore LorANorhn y and a special Jury.
Mr Phillips addressed th“ Court and
JurV| on bejialf of t ie Plaintiff, in the
following eh. tent speech* / ..
My Lord at \o Gentlemen,—l am,
wifh'irsy learned brethren Counsel for
the plaintiff My. friend Mr. Curran,
has told you tjie nature of the action.
It has fa’ien to my lot,to state mpre at
larg* to you aggression by which it
liis tieen occasioned Relieve rpe, it is
with ho paltry affectation of undervalu
ing my very huuvbic powers, that. I
r T wish’ hc hAd selected some
rienced, or atleast less crcdtilous advo
cate,,. I feel l my duty t I am
pot fit to address yotfr ; ijiavr incapa
citated myself s I know not whether a
wy of the calumnies which have so in
iustriously anticipated this trial, have
reached your cars ; but l do confess
t they did so wound and poison mipe that
to sitisfr my doubts “ I .Visited ihe house
of misery and mourning and the scene ;
which set scepticism at yest hns set de
1 itription at defiance. —Had %not yield
«d to* those interested uaurepresenta
tions, I flight from my brief have ftkei
ehed the fact, and from my drawn
w tlie consequences ; but as it Vs reality
belore my frighred memory, and
the tongv l ©* ami tnoc'ks,the i«n #
agination Believeyhc Gentlemen, you
aie impannelled there upon no ordinary
occasion * nominally indeed, you are to
repair a private wrong, and It is a wrong
as deadly as human wickedness can in
flict, as lii « nan weaknesi can endure ;
m wrong, which annihilates, the hope of
the parent and happiness of thb child ;
which in One moment bligths the fond
, est anticipations of the heart, and dark
ons the social heanh, and wqrse than
depopulates the of the hap
py 1 But, Gentlemen,, high as it is* this
is far from your exclusive duty You
are to do much more* You are to say,
whether an example of iuch transcend
ent turpitude is to stalk forth for pub
. lie imhatiou —whether national morals
are to have the law for their protection,
or imported crime is to feed upon impu
jnity ; whether chastity and religion arc,
»«u l to be permitted to huger in this
pnwince ; or it is to be&o/ne onufloa’h
some den . of legaliaed prostitution—
whether the sacred volume of the Gov
pel, and the venerable statues of the
Law, are still to bet respected, or flung
into the furnace of a devouring lust, or
perhaps convened into a pedestal, on
» which the mob and the military are to
erect the idol of a drunken adoration ?
Gentlemen, thesi: are the questions you
are to try ,* hear the fac.s on winch
your decision must fee founded- 5
It is now about five and-twenty years
since the plaintiff, Mr. Creighton com
menced business as a slate merchant,
‘in the city of Dublin* His vocation was
humble, it is true, but it was nevtrthe
less hdnest, and though .unlike his op
ponent the heights ot ambition lay not
► fit fore him, the path of respectability
chd—rhe has proved himself a good nun
and a respectable cutset Arrived at
A1 HENS, 2 HURST)A t fid PglE A. 1817
the age nr manhood. h*v sought not*h~
, gratification of its naturaLdesires by a
dulterf op seduction. For bjm * -
ho me of honesty Was «acted ;/ for him
yMgv P ‘or man's .civld was unassailed
tsp domestic desolation mourned his en
joyment no anniv rsary ,of woe Com
memorated hts achievements. From
hi* own sphere of life naturally & hdn
oiirably he selected a loropatfrotv, wos
beauty blessed his bed* and whose v<r
tties consecrated hi* and wefling. FleVen
lovely children blessed their umon.
the darlings of their heart, Oje defiant
’ of their even'hgs. and* as they blind* y
anticipated thtf p~ *p and solace of t e r\
approaching age* Oh f sacred wedd.d
•Jcvjre, |how; dear, how, delightful h:*iv
4iVine are thy enjoyments ? Cottlen -
meiuctowiis thy aboard affection glad*
thy fireside , co chas>e but s jardc
modest; but intense, sigoa. thy
couch the atmosphere of Paradise i ;
Sib’eiy, surely, jf this cbtmerated rite
can acquire from circumstances a iac
cious interest; tis when we see \x cheer
ing the poor mans home .or
over the delling of misfortune the light
<>f its warm apd lovery consolation.—
Unhappily gentlemen, it has thus inter
e • here*—That capricious power » torch
often dignifies the- worthless hypnpritej.
as olton wounds the industrious ad Uv
honest* Th tJate ruinous conKtsyi# nav
ing m its career confounded all the pro
portions of arid wi h its last
gasp.sighed famine and misfortune on
the woyld, has cast my industrious cli
ent vftth toonmiy of his companions
from tompetettce to penury* Alas, ak
as 1 to him it left worse of its sataiite>
behind it ; it leffthe even of
his misery, the seducer of his sacred
and unspotted innocent* Mysttriou
Providence ? was it not enough tbay
sorrow robed t he happy home iiy mou.
n.nig* V not <e»©ugft that disappoint
ment preyed upon its lovely.'Dro&p^ th
was it not that its little inmates
cried in vain for |brtd, and heard no
answer but the poor is-the A sigtrr and
drank no sustenance but the wretched
mothers tears 1 Was this a time, toi
passion, lawless conscienceless,shcen
feom passion* with its eye, of fust iti
in art of stonc, its hand of rapine, to
rush into the • mom niul sanctuary o 1
misfortune casting crimemto the cun
/Qtf Woe» and rob the pdpetiti#, <i# -th.-. ir
Jast wealth, their child.;, and £rob the
chid of her o »iy dharm her inn >cenc *
That this has been done, 1 am -■instruc
ted we snail prove* W hat rcqu.tal it
deserves,XTentlemen you must prove to
mankind
The Defendant** name, I understand
js Tow? send. He is of art age’ when
every generous blossom of spring
should brewthe an infant, freshness
rqund his heart ; of a tardily which
Should inspire not only high hut here
ditary principles oifi»nor ; of a pro
ressjon whose very essence is a .stain
less chivalry, and whose boqght un«
bcunden duty is the protection of the
Such aie the advantages with
which, he appears before you—fearful
advantages, because they repel all pos
sible suspicion ; but, you will agree
with me, most damning adversaries jt
it shall appear that ihefgene£ous ardour
of bis youth was ©hilled, that the no
ble inspiration of h?s birth w*a spurned
that the lofty impulse olof his, proses
sibrt was despised* and all that could
* grace, or animate, or ennoble, was used
to his own ‘ discredit, and bis fellow
creature’s misery ... .
It was upon the Ist of June last, that
on the bunks canal, near Porto
beljo, Lieutenant T ownsend first met
ihe daughter of Mr* Creighton, a pretty
interesting gill, scarcei/Tfi years ofage-
She was accompanied,by her little sis
ter, of only four years with whqm
she was permitted to take |a daily walk
in that retired spot, the vicinity >of her
esidencer ‘ljbe*'Defendant Was attrac 7
ted by her appearance ; he left his par
ty and attemped to converse with her!
she repelled his advances j he immedi
ately seized bar fintant sister by the
hand, whom he held as a kind }of hos
tage for an introduction fto victim* A
prepossessing appearance, a modesty of
dbporement apparently quite imeorapa
tibie with any wvif design, gradually ;
silenced her alarm, hnd she answered
the common-place questions with which
on his way home he a idresied her.
Gentlemen I adrnit it wasfun innocent
imprudence $ the rigid rules of matured 1
morality should have replied- such
communication; yet, judging
veven by that strict you will
rather condemn the familiarity of the
intrusion in a designing adult, than tlfb
facility o f access in a creature of her age
jnd her They thus sepera-
tea as she naturally supposed, to meet
n > more. Not such however, was the
determination of her destroyer* From
that hour until her ruin he scarcely ev
er lip sight of her ? he followed her as
a shadow, he waylaid htr m *;her walks
ne interrupted her m her avocations, 4
he hminted the street of her v residence 1
if she refused to meet hi in. he p vra ied
»efore .her wiadow, at the hunit'd o ‘ex? ,<
for Srsjt comparatively innocent J
md rudeuce to her unconscunivparents,
low hapny would it have been had she <
conquered timidity so./natural to ‘
fey age, and appealed at once to
pardon and, their protection 1 Gmtle
n:n th**. dady persecution qomfnue i
f?r three months—for three successive
•tionths, by every art, by everv pursuit,
toil, by every appeal to,her vanity aid
ii< passions, did he toil for the des-,
t. uciion of this unfortunate young crea
ure* I leave you to guess how many
during that jnterval might have yielded ■
to the blandishment of manner, fas
cinations of youih, the rarely rejUsted
temptations of- opportunity. ‘For three
long monts she did .resist them* She
would have resisted them forever, but
for an expedient which is witlfbut a
mod nl—but for an exploit which I trust
.n God will be without an imtSatm i.
j i) yes l he might have returned to. Uis>
conn ru—and ! a;J ‘ w “ u *’*
would rather have rejoiced at tn(s vir*
•uous triumph of hi* victim, ib m m j *n
ed his own sv>ul-redeeming d-teat—,je
might have Srcturaed to his cou itry*
tnd ft>ld the cold-blooded liociicts jl
thj» land, thvat their speculations up m
lush chastity were prejudiced and
probdess ,* that in*the yvrecs. at all else
.ve had retained our h ! '-)riof f —-U'U thou gii.
v|ne uationailum nary h4l<!f&dendea W*
t season,’ the stress of us iuviiness still
lingered oj&our ho.nzo*i— that t ie
of that geiMUs whjcb abroad has i%d cm
cd the name, and dignified the nature
of man, >vas to be found at home in me
spirit without a, stain* and me purity’
without a suspicion—he might have
; toldihem iruly, that this,did not result
as they would mtim<» .e ran the absence
of passion, Or the wa it of civilisation
—that ii was the eomoined cousequenpc
of education of and of im
pulse, and i hati though in ail the revel- 1
ry of enjoyment, the floweret of
the Irish soil exhaled Its fragrance, and
expanded its charms* in the chaste and
blessed beau s oija virtuous afftc ion,
still »t shrunk with a n instinctive sensi
tiveness from the gross pollution of an
uuconsecrated contract* . , v
Gentlemen, the common artifices of
of the seducer failed ; the v syren tones
with which sensuality awakens appe
tite, and lulls purity, had wasted them
selves in air, and yhe intended victim,
deaf to he facmatVon, moved along safe
and untram formed* He soon saw that
young as she was, the vulgar expedient
of vice wtre ineffectual ; and that before
she could be tempted to her sensual
damnation, his tongue must learn, if not
the words of wisdom at least the spe
ciousness of affected purity. He per
suaded an affection as virtuous as it
was viqlent, he J called God to witness
; the sincerity of bis declarations ; by all
the Vows which should forever rivit the
honorable, and could not fail to convince
even the incicduleus, he promised her
marraige ; over and over again hie in
voked the ettrnal denunciation if he
f was profidious—to her acknowledged
want of fortune his constant re
ply was, that he had an independence ,*
that ail he wanted was beauty and vir
tue ; tnat he saw /she had the one— *
mat he had proved sjie had the otiiefv
When she pleaded the obvious dis
parity of her birth, he answered |hat
he was himself only the an Eng
,fifth farmer-—tuiftt fc b»ppintss was not•
the monopoly of Tin ft qr rc h e s—.‘t Km
[his parents would receive her as ths
cbijgj <4 their’adoption, that he would
cherish her a- the charm of h s exi ‘tcnce
Specious as it was, even this did not
succeed ; she determine > to *waii its
avowel t# those who had, her life
and ho hopped to have made it iVn- ’
Jiypcuiafe by the education they had
bestowed, and the example tlu v hac|
afforded^,e days after this he met
J-erin her. walks ; for she |pulrf not
pass her parentul threshold without be
ing intercepted. He a iked |er Where
>he was going? She sa:d, a friend
knowing her for bopks ad
isett her the loan of some and sh e
wav going tp. receive them- He told
her he had abundance ; that they yrere
just at his house that he hoped, after
what had passed she Would feel no im
propriety in Hccepong tWein.) Ohe Was
persuaded to accompany hiirv, * Arrived
JpSwevera* the door of his lodgings,
’ sJ,e positively refused to go any further;
sll his former artifices were redoubled ;
he called God to witness he cons*;. i
her as bis wife, and , her efearactef as
dear to him as that of one of hissL.ers
he affected mortification at .spy suspi
cion of his puiiiy, he told h. r, if she
refused her confidence to his ho dur
able affection, the little infanjfc who ac
companied her was an .inviolable guar
antee for her protection.
- Gentlemen, this wretched child, dul
suffer her credualitv to repbseijpn his
professions. Her theory taughtUier tor
respect Ithe theory of a soldier; ,er
love repelled the imputation that debu
sed its object; aficl ner youthful tnnoy
ce:>ce rendered fas incredulous as
she was tmconcious of criminality /ic
his behayiour corresponded with
his professions ; he welcomed her to
»h* at which he hOjVed she would
soon become the ln .w ra , jl( .
he painted the of their do
mestic iecility, and dwelt witu peculiar
tfomplacancy, on some heraldic orna
ment which hung over his chimney
piece, and whicji,. tie said was tne ar
*nori*i ensign of his family ? On, my i
Lord how wed it Would have been had
he but rltiaced the so ft maim of that do
cument had he'irecalled> to mind the
Virtues it rtwarded pure train of nonor*
it associated; tne i'ms of spotless aijCesA.y
it distinguished the high iathbitpu it*
bequest .inspired, the moral imitation it
imperatively cbnimatide'd ! Bur When
guiit once kindled within the human
hearth all that is noble in our nature be
come parched and hr id ; the/blUaii of
ihodesly fades before ltd glare ; the signs
of virtue fan its lucid flame* and every
divine essence of our being but 4\\eiis
and exasperates its infernal conflagra
tion.
Gentlemen. I .will not disgust this au
dience; 1 will pot debase my sell by a
ny description of the scene thatfollowed ;
I wdf not detsiil the,arts, the excitements
the promises, t)he pledges, with Wmch
deliberate lust inflamed the pass,oils, and
finally’ overpowered the struggles of in
nocence and of youth, ft if too much
to know, that tears could not appease,
that misery could not effect~*that the
presence and the, of an infant
could not-awe him ; and that the Wret
ched victim, between the arctour of pas
sion and the repose of l6ve, stink at
length inflamed, exhausted* and confi
ding* beneath the’ heartless grasp ot an
unsimpatniciug sensuality, I’he appe
tite pt the hour satiated, at a temporal
perhaps at an eternal hazard he disnpis-;
ed the sisters to their unConciqus pat
ents, not, however wuno'tfcexhorting a
promise, that on the iensqing night
Miss Creiglitou wpuld dfe ert ner home
foreverfor the arm* of a fond, affec
tionate, and faithful husband. Taitnlul
alas, but only to his appetites, he did
seduce her Irom that sacred home/*
to deeper guilt, to more deliberate cm
«ity. . 2-
4 “After a susjfcnse comparatively hip
py, tfbr parents became acquainted with,
her irrevocable ruin. .The miserable
mother supported oy the mere sire ugh
of desperation ruvneo half ‘frenzied to,
the casiie%here fltr- i'ownseud wasou
duty—* 4 G|ve me back my child V\ vvae
ail aruc iia'c. l'he parental
rula struck the sj* jiier almost speech-
><) 4: