The National Register.
London, England, 1811-09-01 00:00:00

,r
T. I

THE NATI

* to prevent me from calling. out, and pulled me on his knee,
-when he •** in spite of all my efforts to the contrary. When I
was able to rescue myself from hiM, I went to the workshop and
called my brother William to come out; that Mr. Kitson was
here ; which he did, and Mr. Kitson stopt but a short time
after. When Mr. K. was gone I told my brother that he had
behaved very rude to me, but restrained saying further from a
drea .1 that they would fight a duel, and that by disclosing the
• circumstance my sister's marriage would not only be prevented
but itwould also prevent Captain Sterling paying his addresses
to me. This my dear Sterling is the truth, the whole truth, and
nothing but the truth, so help me God, pardon and forgive me
•for not letting you know of it sooner. I remain your sincere and
affectionate wife,
sth December, 1809. AMY STERLING.
M. W. contended that the style• and manner of this corres-
pondence furnished intrinsic evidence of its being nothing more
than a contrivance ; and th4t the description itself which Mrs. S.
bad given of the transaction between her and Mr. K. contained
undubitable marks of the falsehood of it.
The correspondence is dated the sth December, and .yet on
the 6th, the next day, Captain Sterling and his wife spent the
evening at the house of the complainant ; that the parties were
all on terms of cordial familiarity, and that there was not the
sli7htest appearance of any alteration in the behaviour of either
Captain or Mrs. Sterling towards the complainant.
Lieut.-Col. Robert Lewis, sworn and examined by Mr. Wood-
house, says he is Judge-Advocate-General of the Bombay Army ;
there were objections made by Capt. Sterling to Lieut.-Colonel
Wm. Atkins, of the Hon. Company's Engineers, Major Robert
Vincent, of his Majesty's 84th Regiment, and Capt. H. Stack-
pole, of his Majesty's 47th Regiment, for having had criminal
intercourse with his wife, Amy West, and which she was ready
to depose to on oath.
Edward Hyde Gramlick, Assistant-Surgeon of the 84th Regi-
silent, sworn and examined by Mr. Woodhouse, proved that
Capt. Sterling had accused him of criminal conversation with his
wife, Amy Sterling.
The Recorder put several questions to this poor young woman,
but she was in a state of such indescribable weakness and agita-
tion, as not to be able to give any coherent answers. He then in-
quired whether her mother was near, and being informed that
she was in one of the adjoining apartments, he desired Mrs. S.
to g 3 to her mother for a ::hurt time, that under her soothing
care she might recover presence of mind enough to give an in-
telligible account of her real condition. At the mention of the
word ,‘ mother," she started and said, " My mother ! I dare
not sce my mother !" She was asked wh ? She answered, " My
husband forbad me to set my mother!' The Recorder said to
Jur, " What sort of husband can he be who forbids you to see
your mother ! Can his pufpose be good ? Can you be bound to
obey such a prohibition !" She faintly repeated I dare not go !"
Sir James Mackintosh then turned to the defendant's Counsel,
and said, that if the defendant did not wish that the Court should
think him capable of any atrocity, he must withdraw this unna-
tural prohibition. The defendant muttered a hurried and re-
luctant consent. His poor wife leapt from the Bench with all the
eagerness of joy. The Recorder led her to the apartment where
her mother was, into whose arms she rushed, and crying out
Oh my mother," she fainted. The Recorder returned in a
few minutes, and said, that though the unfortunate young wo-
man had not yet recovered her serenity of mind; thoupli she
was still influenced either by dread or by the remains of affection
for her unworthy husband, she had already disclosed enough ;
for she confessed that the present and all the other charges of a
similar nature, some of which she had sanctioned by oath, were
. false. The Recorder then desired to know whether the de-
fendant had any defence to make.
Mr. Advocate-General, evidently much affected, in common
with the whole of a most crowded Court, by these circurnitatices,
said, that unless the Court should itself think it amide to act un-
der the influence of feelings so strongly excited as those of every
person present were ; and should on that ground postpone the
farther consideration of the case, he felt himself bound to say,
that he had nothing to offer which he could oppose with any hope
of sae c ss, to what had appeared against his client.
The .e,Vation and tumult of feeling were so great and so ge-
neral, we cannot pretend to give any report of the judg-
ment ~t sir James Mackintosh; but the following we believe to
be iy its general purport. lie said, that he agreed with the
Cj'insel for the defendant, whom he commended for
struggiing ably, and yielding honourably, on the general necessity
of not really, or even apparently, acting under the impulse of
feeling, in the grave and solemn proceedings of Courts of Justice.
• Yet there were cases and the present seemed one of them, where
the best feelings of human nature directly, coincided with unan-
s*erable reason and irresistible evidence, and in such a case he
did not think-a Court bound to postpone its judgment, and Attie
to put on the appearance of doubts which they did not entertain,
for the mere purpose of not seeming to act from the dictates of

riST

547

just and virtuous indignation: To assume that exterior of doubt
was, op the contrary, of evil example. It tended to impress net
men's minds that a Coda of Justice could hesitate whether they
were to aid or crush a system of villainy. Nay, the example of
a Court now and then in such strong and striking cases giving •
way to honest feelings was wholesome. Lawyers and Judges
were men bound by many salutary restraints indeed ; but they
were still men, not made of stone or steel, but with hearts of
flesh in their bosom, and he declared that he felt it to be a privi-
lege and relief. to utter his feelings as well as his conviction on the
scene now disclosed to the Court.
He said that he should despise himself if his mind were at leis
sure to enter into a minute discussion of all the smaller circum-
stances which, taken together, made such a mass of proof against
the defendant. One or two of the largest features would be suf-
ficient to characterize the whole.
It was in evidence that the defendant and his unhappy wife
had made similar charges against several other gentlemen. He
had been told that he might substantiate these charges, or even
shew that it was possible for him to have believed them, and he
was asked to particularize the times and places of these other
criminal acts. On this proposal the defendant was silent, and
his silence, where it was so material for him to have spoken,
demonstrated that he was unable to state the particulars re-
quired. Time might be necessary, and time was offered to col-
lect his proof, but no time could be necessary to make a state-
ment, which, if it had been true or even believed by himself, he
must have been long prep Arc(' to make. By his silence, there-
fore, he stood convicted of being a person who, for purposes of
intimidation or extortion., scattered false charges of criminal
connexion with his wife over the community ; a man who
makes a trade of such charges is undoubtedly one of the most
malignant and mischievous villains who can infest society.
It was in evidence that he h id given two different aid contra-
dictory accounts of his object is obtaining this bond from the
plaintiff. He told Mr. West that it was to provide for his wife
in case his own dimleasure at her should be so great as to lead
to a separation. He told Mr. Ashburner that it was to secure
Mr. Kitsou's secrecy with respect to the criminal connection.
Both accounts were probably false, but could not be true.
It was in evidence that he had offered to Mr. Kitson and to
Mr. Gramlick to forgive th.'ir supposed adultery on condition.of.
confession and apology. For ought that appeared no number of
.:its of adultry were too great to be expiated by apology. What
could b: thought of a man who deemed such an injury the sob•
jest of apology ? Admitting for a moment the truth of this
story, he was by his own account a husband ready to be satisfied
by apology for the mite indiscriminate prostitution of his wife.
He was an acquiescing and conniving husband, the most con-
temptible.and degraded being that disgraces a civilized conmin.
nity. Even the most virtuous and affectionate husband incurs
some ridicule by the infidelity of his wife, and though that and
every other outward circumstance must be birthing compared to
his pangs, it does in some measure embitter them. "The seuti-
.rnent from which this ridicule flows is in- itself not rational. But
it is the offering of rational and generous feelings. It proceeds
from those chivalrous feelings which considered the affection of
a woman as an honour, and the loss of it in any way as some
degree of dishonour; and it acts as an additional inducement to
the husband to desire a cnininuance of his wife's affection. But
if this be the fate even of the best men, what could be thought
of him who traffics in the infamy of her ‘vhooe honour is
trusted to his protection by humanity, by law, and by reliel n
Thus stood the case upon the defendant's own showieg.—On
that view of it be was so infamous, that he might well be hc•
lieved capable of what the witnesses for the plaintiff imputed to
'him. But on the respectable testimony produced bathe plain.
tiff, on the decisive proof furnished by the defendant s sitedce,
on the heart-rending demonstration afforded by the condition
of his unhappy wife, it appeared that be was a man (if he de-
served the name) who in the first six months of his marriage tia4
compelled his feeble and inexperienced wife felsele to proclaim
herself a common prostitute, and even to remain in this Court
during the discussion of her prostitution (for the purpose of e,
k-
ing, notes, which appeared to every one to be a mere preter.)
that he had' induced her even !o swear to the truth of these
charges, in order to extort money from his brother-in-law, end
to aenoyeand (as be vainly hoped) to intimidate other relect.
able persons who were made his adverearies only by his crimes.
The Court therefore decreed, accoi ding to the prayer of the
bill, with costs. -

The Recorder expressed his regret that the honotirable unicorns
of his country should be disgraced by remaining on the 1)* ft tid-
ant's shoulders, and that he was not standit-g as a crimil a. in
stead of appearing as a•defendant. In the course of an la,
when the young wotnan had recovered, and felt assured of t
kindness of het family, and the'protection of the law, •he s•• 3
that she was in fear of death from her husband, and a war
was accordingly issued to imprison him, till he should find
ficieut Sureties to keep the peace.

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