The Sun.
London, England, 1825-11-08 00:00:00

TRIAL OF MRS. HORNE.

ROYAL COURT, GUERNSEY, SATURDAY, OCT. 29.

v.ZOFFANY.

This was an action instituted against Mrs. Cecilia C. E.
Zoffany, wife of the Rev. Mr. Horne, for having concealed
Laura E. Horne, her youngest daughter, against the sentence
of the Court, which ordered that the said L. E. Horne should
be given up on the Ist of September last, to the said Mr. Home
her father.
On Saturday, the 22d instant, Mrs. Horne was produced at
the bar to be tried, but owing to the absence of two of the wit-
nesses, the Crown officers demanded a week's delay.
This day the prisoner re-appeared ; the Court was crowded
to an excess, in order to hear this novel and interesting trial.
The following witnesses were then called and sworn :
Mrs. Lihou.—Mrs. Horne lived at my house. The police
placed two guards to watch over the chilli that it might not be
taken away. I heard the child's voice on the night of the 30th
August; the child was to be given up to the police on the fol-
lowing day. It was impossible for the citildlsiebsconti with-
out the knowledge of the mother ; Mrs. Horne has never offer-
ed me any thing to conceal the child.
S. Toy and A. Gallienne, who we're placed as guards over the
child, could not account for its absence.-
Peter Lihou said he was oared 1501. by Mrs. Home to con-
ceal the child, which he refused. He went to Serk at the re-
quest of the prisoner, to ask Joe to, take the child, for which
journey he received, 20s. from Mrs. Home.
Miss Lihou deposed to having heard the child's voice on the
night of the 30th of August ; she apprehended something, and
warned the guards, as the latch of Mrs. Horne's bed-room door
had been taken off; she does not know how the child was car-
ried away, but the mother must have assisted.
(Mrs. Horne, during the evidence of the witnesses, made
several-remarks, and was reprimanded by the President.)
Advocate Callan, who pleaded for Sirs. Horne, stated that
this case was novel and solitary on the records of this island—
that a flaw appeared in the action, as it should have been en-
tered differently, arid hoped the Court would take the whole in
consideration—and that the evidence produced was not to the
point, no person having seen Mrs. Home assist in the child's
flight.

-Mts. Home then addressed the Court in the following man.
ner :

" Gentlemen—lt is not as a guilty woman, or as a suppli-
cant for mercy, that 1 appear at your bar this • day. I present
myself before you with that tranquillity Of soul which ever
accompanies those. who arc void of offence ! The officers -of
the King havacchurged me with crime as guilty of contempt
towards this honourable Court. This, in fact, is the founda-
tion of the present action against me; but I trust to prove, in
a few words, the falsity of this accusation. In fact, gentle-
men, so far from a failure of respect, I protest I feel towards
you the greatest deference : for can I be ignorant that, as re:
presentatives of our most gracious Sovereign, you are here to
hold, with impartial balance, the scales of justice? But I
must be allowed to inquire of this Court Royale, how they
cupid possibly construe into a disrespect towards theMselves,
the firm refusal of a mother to submit to a separation from her
child ? The law of God—the law of Nature—forbids it ! Are
they not to be allowed their irresistible claims ?' Gentlemen, had
the King, my master and your's, demanded at my hands so
cruel a sacrifice, I had refused toobey ! NVithout doubt you are
' too equitableto mistake for contempt of your laws that mater-
nal affection which is written by the hand of Nature in in-
effaceable characters upon the heart of a fond mother ! It com-
mands her to sacrifice all, sooner than suffer her child to be
torn from her arms ! I trust I have now proved lam guilt-
less of this supposed crime ; and I am satisfied that this Court
will feel happy in being spared the painful, as well as novel,
situation of finding itself at once the accuser and Judge !
I now proceed, gentlemen, upon the same grounds, to prOve
that I did not violate my word ; and that you cannot, without
injustice, punish me fOr the disappearance of my little girl.—
Surely, gentlemen', you cannot forget, when pitying my din-
tress, you did honour to your own kindly feelings by assuring
me thdt I should be free from the surveillance of the police,
if I only pledged my honour for the safe delivery of my child,
on the dayyou should appoint. When I look slund this crowded
Court—when I recall to my mind the false representations
which some (to answer their own mercenary purpoSes) have
industriously eiteulated,'l feelit an imperious duty to again re-
peat the answer I then .mitde sots. It was to this effect :—` Gen-
tlemen, I thank you for the confidence you are willing to place
in my word of honour. I will instantly prove to you I deserve
your good opinion. I will not forfeit my integrity, though by
so doing I might secure to myself the child I value more than
my life ? Ask your own hearts—look back to history, and
tell me, did you ever hear or read of a woman, who deserved
that name, that would not, for her lover, husband, or (what is
far more dear) her child, brave all dangers ? Place, therefore,
what uard you please ; for as I live, were it in my power, I
would-win my way with her through ten thousand guards !'—
Such was my honest answer, gentlemen, in the hour of dis-
tress, anguish, and agitation. N'ou know it was. it is not
only of you, but of the public I demand if my oath on this sub-
ject can now be doubted ? Mt Ido not wish to dwell longer
upon this incontrovertible point; I feel the conviction, that
what I have offered to your consideration has penetrated all
hearts; and I see confusion and shame covering the counte-
nances of my calumniating slanderers ! In fact, gentlemen,
(merely by way of argument), we will suppose, for an instant,
that an all merciful and divine Providence granted to my earliest
prayers an ark of safety, in which the child of my tenderest
affection was wafted to a land of security, could you, with any
semblance of justice, punish hue ? Did I accept the charge of
her ? No ; you know I did not, Gentlemen. By your orders,
both I and my daughter were surrounded night and. day by
the police ! It', therefore, you deem me worthy of punishment
for having so well fulfilled my duty as a mother, wkly.& you
not reward those who so carelessly performed the character of
guardians ? I trust that there needs no further argument to
prove—lst, That I never agreed to part with my child ; f-'dly, •
That 1 never offered the slightest disrespect to this Court; and
idly, Above all, I am sure there is not the slightest occasion :n
remind you, that I have already (only on suspicion) suffered
above two months' incarceration !!! I am certain • there is not
one present who does not feel-that the puniShment has far ex-
ceeded the supposed fault. I will not state to you what I have
endured in the past two horrible months of imprisonment. Aly
aim is not to excite your pity—much less your compassion !
I ask no favour, I claim only justice ! Gentlemen, I doubt •
not I shall find it.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL could not avoid stating that
the action against Mrs. Horne should have been entered in a
different manner, and produced several precedents in support
of his arguments; but declared that Mrs. Horne could, not-
withstanding, be tried on the accusation which was clearly
proved against her. The learned gentleman then proceeded to
examine the evidence, and declared that the prisoner was fully
convicted of disobeying the order of the Court ; but that, under
all circumstances of the case, taking into consideration the long
incarceration she had already sustained, concluded that she
should be fined a fortnight, and condemned to the costs.
The Com wrnoLLEtt, in a long and able speech, which
lasted upwards of one hour, produced several laws which
tbrbad the taking away of children from the hands of justice—
that the child in question was in the hands of the Court—but
that, at the request of the prisoner, the Court granted her in-
dulgence, and ordered that the child should be given up on
the Ist of September- last—that he was not for granting that
indulgence, as the Court should have given up the child to
Mr. Horne, the father, but the Court did not think proper to
adopt his conclusions. He, thereforE, contended that Mrs.
Horne was guilty of contempt of Court—that the evidence pro-
duced was very satisfactory and beyond doubt—and concluded
that Mrs. Horne should be imprisoned fbr a fortnight and con-
demned to the costs.

The PRESIDENT having summed up the evidence, and
dwelt upon the nature of the offence of which Airs. Home was
guilty, the Court condemned her to 15 days' imprisonment,
and to the costs.

Applicdtion is to be made to Parliament in
the ensuing Sess;on for leave to bring in a Bill for making and
maintaining a navigable Grand Ship Canal, from the River
Thames within the Port of London, to Arundel Bay and Ports.
mouth, to commence at Cherry Garden stairs, Rotherhithe.

A discovery has recently been fna(le of a num-
ber of valuable manuscript letters, written by highly distin-
guished individuals, and other copious documents, relating to
an interesting period of our history. They are likely to be
published under the title of the" Twysden rarers,"