The Sun.
London, England, 1847-10-05 00:00:00

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MARY AN :N HUNT.

PLEA OF PREGNANCY IN BAR OF EXECUTION.
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—Most civilised nations in ancient and modern
times have recognised the rights of the foetus in flier°,
both as regards succession to property and immunity
from death inflicted on the mother as the punishment
of crime. The common law of England fully adopts
this just and liberal spirit, following in particular the
Roman law ; but unfortunately the: practice is less
clear or less righteous.
My attention has been particularly directed to this
subject by the circumstances regarding the trial and
sentence (recently published in your paper) of Mary
Ann Hunt. This unfortunate woman was cone icted
at the August sessions of murdering an aged female
named Stowell. In order to stay execution of her
sentence, the prisoner pleaded that she was with
child; hereupon the judge, Mr. Baron Platt, said,
" Let a jury of matrons be empanelled to try whether
the prisoner is quick with child or not." She was then
removed, and at a later period of the day was again
placed at the bar, when a jury of twelve matrons was
sworn, to determine whether she was encienle. Baron
Platt thus addressed the selected women :—" You are
summoned to this court, as a jury of matrons, to
perform a very solemn duty, which is, to
ascertain whether the prisoner now standing at the
bar is big with a quick child or not. You
must use your best skill to ascertain that fact and
having done so, to return a verdict upon the oath you
have taken. If you think it necessary to have the
assistance of a surgeon, you are at liberty to employ
one." It appears that the matrons did not call in
professional aid. They speedily returned from the
gaol into court, and, through their forewoman, an-
nounced their unanimous verdict to be that the pri-
soner was " not quick with child." Baron Platt then
said—" You say that she is not quick with child—
that she has not a living child within. her ?" Fore-
matron—" That is our verdict: we are all of that
opinion." The judge then concluded the farce by
saying—" Let the prisoner be removed. The law
must take its course."

This narrative presents a sad picture of the way in
which our criminal law, as regards the plea of preg-
nancy, in stay of execution, may be and often has
been anal-administered. The law—we allude to its
spirit—decrees that if Mary Ann Hunt be foued to
have within her a living child, her execution be de-
layed till after her delivery; but in place of providing
adequately for the solution of this question, the
judge, in compliance with the practice, refers the
difficult investigation to twelve matrons—refers what
is often one of the most abstruse points in obstetric
practice to them, and not to accoucheurs of tried
ability. Could there be perpetrated a more ridiculous
burlesque of justice than that above quoted? Could
the dicta of the bench in 1847 be brought into more
painful connexion with the past experience of the
criminal courts of England and France in such cases ?
It is premature to say whether the unanimous
matrons are right or wrong in their verdict; but it is
not rash to declare, that if they be correct they owe
this to accident and not to knowledge. The evidence
of pregnancy is in its early stage uniformly beset
with much doubt and difficulty ; and even during
the whole period of utero-gestation a woman may
give signs of pregnancy which can only be detected
and appreciated by men of profound ability and vast
experience. By means of the stethoscope the accou-
cheur has often detected the pulse of the foetus
through the abdominal parietes of the mother, when
the mother herself was ignorant or sceptical of her
gravid state. This—the test of auscultation—and
other important tests, we may safely infer the re-
cently empanelled matrons could not use, and yet
the solemn and disgraceful farce is enacted of these
persons announcing upon oath that the prisoner was
not " quick with child—that she had no living child
within her."

The worthlessness of the verdict of a jury of
matrons is well shown by the case of Mary Wright,
found guilty at the Norwich Lent Assizes (1843), of
poisoning her husband. The prisoner put in a plea
of pregnancy to stay execution ; and the point was
in due form remitted to a jury of matrons. Twelve
married women were ordered to report whether the
prisoner was pregnant of a quick child. After an
hour's investigation, they returned a verdict that she
was not quick with child ; whereupon she was ordered
to be executed on the following Monday. In these
circumstances Messrs. Crosse, Scott, and Johnson,
three eminent surgeons of Norwich, voluntarily
waited upon the convict, and having discovered that
the ladies were wrong in their diagnosis, they drew
up and forwarded to the judge of assize the following
document :

" The following representation respectfully sheweth,
that we, the undersigned, are surgeons and
accoucheurs of considerable experience in the practice
of midwifery, and have repeatedly examined females
in different stages of pregnancy. That we have this
morning strictly examined Mary Wright, a prisoner,
sentenced to be executed on Monday next, for the
murder of her husband, and found her between five
and six months gone in pregnancy. That in an ap-
parently vigorous and healthy woman like the pri-
soner, and where the size of the body has regularly
increased during pregnancy, we should feel ourselves
bound to believe the foetus living, unless we found
some signs of its being dead. That in the
prisoner, Mary Wright, we find no signs of a
dead foetus, but on the contrary have positive evidence
of its being at this time living. That we do verily
believe the said prisoner is above five months ad-
vanced in pregnancy, and carries in utero a living
foetus. That in a case of such a nature we desire
without delay to submit our statement to your Lord-
ship ; and if the verdict of the jury of matrons, yes-
terday given, that the prisoner, Mary Wright, was
not quick with child,' deprive the said prisoner of a
reprieve until delivery ex necessitate legis, we humbly
intreat your Lordship to respite the execution of the
said Mary 11 right until she be delivered." Baron
Bolland attended to this able and timely representa-
tion, so that the woman was respited till after her
delivery, which event took place four or five months
from the date of the above report. She produced a
large, healthy, living female child. The case of Mary
Wright will tell better than dry arguments in favour
of my former assertion, that the jury of twelve ma-
trons is a disgrace to modern jurisprudence, as by
taking the place of competent inquiry it prevents our
excellent common law from becoming effective in
preventing the foetus from perishing on the scafiold
with a guilty mother.
The expression "quick with child" seems to be con-
sidered special and important both by Baron Platt in
the case of Hunt, and by Baron Bolland in the case of
Wright. It is much to be feared that the phrase is
not correctly understood, or, at least, not liberally in-
terpreted. What the law wishes to discover most
assuredly is this—whether there be a living foetus;
but lawyers do not seem always to recollect that
the foetus is always a living creature, and that
there is no period of its existence at which it is
not murder to deprive it of life ; hence we find much
idle legal argument about the terms " quick" and
" quickening." The following case, while it illus-
trates most admirably the absurdity of the unneces-
sary error of demanding evidence of what is popu-
larly termed "quickening," will also serve as a
further exposure of the farce of the matrons' jury.
On the 19th March, 1830, Catherine Smith was tried
at Carlow, before the Chief Justice of the King's
Bench, for the murder of her husband, and found
guilty. She pleaded pregnancy, and a jury of
matrons was empanelled to try the truth of her plea.
Dr. Porter, of Carlow, and Mr. Byrne were also
directed to examine this woman. They examined her
most carefully with the stethoscope, and failed to
detect any evidence of pregnancy. But they agreed
not to swear on the subject, but to give the prisoner the
benefit of a doubt. In the propriety of this the
judge heartily concurred, and the convict was
respited. She was delivered in due time of a living
male child. It appears, that when the examination
of her state was made by the medical gentlemen, not
more than two months of gestation had expired. The
account which Dr. Porter gives of the jury of
matrons is somewhat amusing. " Some of them,"
says he, " were unmarried, and not one of them
ever attended a lying-in case during her life. In
fact, the investigation was one scene of confusion."
Some of the women believed that the convict was,
and others that she was not, with child.
My object in addressing to you this letter is to call
the attention of the Executive and the public to the
unfortunate woman now under sentence of death, so
that a competent opinion may be taken as to the
validity of her plea; and also to suggest to law-
menders the propfiety of revising the law on this
subject, so as to bring it more into accordance with
the views adopted by the judge in the case of
Catherine Smith, which, so far as I know, have not
generally been adopted.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
ALIUS ALIORUM.

October 4, 1847.

hsei lz te ii
in
aErn.,
and
The Grovefield villa and estate, charmingly re-
1, and when its
one of the most
completealove d fr
opnir properties townti es for ofi
its e
proximity to this fashionable watering place is consi•
dared, the temptation it offers to East
or West Indian
valetudinarians is very great, who may prefer
at some little distance from, in preference toresiding in,
abode
this attractive town. The sale of the very extieniise
'
landed properties around the town, which will occupyiv
Mr. Robins two days, at the Queen's Hotel, has already
caused great'excitement, a similar opportunity to possess
freehold lands not having occurred for many years.
The particulars of sale are now published, and the
arrangement of the lots we hear is judiciously made for
every description of capitalists.
Notices were issued :on Tuesday, by order of
Lord J. Russell, to all the Cabinet Ministers, to attend
a Cabinet Council (the first since the close of the last
session of Parliament), on Tuesday, the 12th of October,
at the Foreign-office, Downing-street. Nearly the
whole of the Alinisters are expected to attend the
meeting. •

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE 31,,P.h1NG PAPERS or TillS DAY.

TIMES.—The history of the last century affords
a precedent for the demonstration recently made
against Ferrara by the Austrian troops, which is suf-
ficiently appropriate to be' quoted with reference to
the recent occupation of that city. It occurred in
1708, at that period of the War of Succession when
the prospects of the Archduke and his allies were
most cheering, and everything seemed to promise the
total defeat of the policy of Louis XIV. Up to that
time the Pope had remained firm in the interests of
Philip V. ; and the House of Austria had in vain
endeavoured to extort from the Vatican a recogni-
tion of his rival. The more immediate pretext of
the quarrel which broke out between the Empire and
the Holy See was, however, a question as to the
liability of the clergy in the Duchies of Parma and
Piacenza to contribute to a sum levied for the sup-
port of the imperial troops. This levy having been
resisted with great vehemence by the spiritual
order, the Pope Clement XI. protested against the
entry of the Imperial troops into the duchies, and
excommunicated all who had abetted this invasion.
But the principal ground of his resistance was the
occupation of the Duchy of Ferrara, and, especially,
of Commachio ; and here the Pontiff was resolved
to defend his rights even by force of arms. The
Papal Nuncio at Lucerne was instructed to raise
3,000 men in the Swiss cantons for the service
of Rome. The Marshal de Tesse, French Am-
bassador in Rome, offered the Pope the alliance
of his Master, and a union of the Italian Princes ; but,
in the sequel, the Imperial troops continued to ad-
vance, the Imperial Ambassador obtained an audience
of the Pope, and a treaty was signed by which
Clement consented to disarm and to cede Commachio
to an Imperial garrison. The recognition of the
Archduke as King of Spain was obtained at the same
time by a secret arrangement. The French Ambas-
sador retired from Rome with indignation, and de-
clared that the gates of Hell had prevailed against
the supreme Pontiff. The foreign policy of
Pius IX., and the temperate but successful
resisistance which he has opposed to the menacing
attitude of the Imperial army on the Po,
afford a striking contrast to the violence and ul-
timate submission of his predessor in a somewhat
similar predicament. The inaintenaece of an Aus-
trian garrison was conceded by the Treaty of Vienna,
both in Ferrara, which has a citadel, but no fortified
enceinte, and in Commachio, which has an enceinte
but no citadel. The mere fact of a reinforcement of
the garrison was therefore in itself no palpable breach
of existing arrangements. But the Austrians took
care that there should be no mistake as to their formal
intention of intimidating the Papal Government,
andinsulting the Supreme Pontiff; and the march
of their troops was accompanied with every indica-
tion of a hostile purpo,e. The intimation was not
misunderstood ; but it kindled resentment instead
of fear ; and it produced throughout Italy union
against all foreign interierence instead of obedience
to foreign ascendancy. Within a few weeks the
aspect of Italy was so changed, although no act of
violence had been committed, and even against the
Austrians no open demonstration had been made,
that the Papal Nuncio at Vienna was enabled to ad-
dress Prince Metternich, with the support of the
whole Italian peinsula and of all Europe at his back.
The Austrians had made one false step ; another
would have been fatal. If a serious attempt had
been made, as was once erroneously attributed to
them, to interfere in those states in which the Civic
Guard had been established, it is clear that nothing
could have saved Italy from a violent convulsion.
In point of fact, Austria had early ascertained that
no such attempt could be made ; and the intention
fell to the ground almost as soon as it was di-
vulged. The Pope will obtain with no great diffi-
culty the withdrawal of the troops from the town of
Ferrara, upon some pretext or another ; and he will
have shown his wisdom, as well as firmness, by as-
sisting to heal the wound which this excess may
have inflicted, and by avoiding any further cause of
altercation between the garrison and the citizens.
It is unquestionably a great event, and one which
the world has not witnessed for centuries, to see a Pope
strong enough to check the advance of an Imperial
army into the country which has so long felt the
German power to its furthest limits; and to see Aus-
tria fall back, alarmed and dissatisfied, whilst that
national work which her principal statesman has
all his life thwarted and abhorred is advancing under
the guidance of greater men to its consumma-
tion. But in this novel aspect of Italian affairs, the
decrepitude of the Austrian power is no less striking
than the dawn of Italian regeneration. A quarter of
a century ago, the Cabinet of Vienna would not have
sacrificed so much without a struggle to the influence '
of a venerable priest and the claims of an awakened
people. Even in Naples, where the greatest share of
suspicion and aversion has been shown towards the
measures of Pius IX., the Court will probably find,
upon reflection, that a system of moderate conces-
sion, in conjunction with all the other Italian states,
would be far less dangerous than a civil contest
carried on with very little possibility of foreign as-
sistance. After the display of national feeling which
followed the occupation of Ferrara, it is manifest
that any Italian prince who should repeat the san•
guinary scenes of 1821 and 1831, and call in foreign
aid to rescue him from the effects of his own faults,
would forfeit his own throne. Whereas the de-
meanour of the people has everywhere been so
tranquil, noble, and confiding, that even the
stolid and despicable cowardice of a Duke of Lucca
might have learned a lesson and taken heart
from the conduct of his subjects. With this soli-
tary exception, all the Princes of Central and
Northern Italy have deserved well of their people.
It was, however, Pius IX. who gave the first im-
pulse, and who bears the wand which holds the ex-
citable people of Italy calmly—not servilely—en-
thralled. In the promotion of internal reform, and
in the just maintenance of the rights and independ-
ence of the Italian States in Europe, the first part
belongs to him who represents the most ancient of
existing dynasties and powers. And we continue to
entertain the greater hopes of his success, inasmuch
as he has given way to no precipitate movement, but
even in the first arduous months of his Pontificate has
preserved the peace of Italy unbroken by domestic
tumult or by foreign aggression.
CHRONICLE.—The gratification with which,
under any circumstances, we should have perused the
admirable article on the navigation-laws in the forth-
coming number of the Edinburgh Review, to which
we referred yesterday, is very largely increased by
the conviction we entertain that the views and prin•
ciples so ably expounded by the writer are about to
be practically embodied in the legislation of the ap-
proaching session. We say this without intending
to imply that the essay alluded to possesses anything
of an official or quasi-official character—a subject on
which we have no wish even to hazard a conjecture.
There is no occasion to suppose the slightest privity
of purpose between the reviewer and any member of
her Majesty's Government. We could be quite
contented to learn that the whole aflair lay exclu-
sively between our contemporary and the reading
public. It is enough for us that the case against
our restrictive and obstructive commercial code
is what it is, and that it is susceptible of that
compendious and popularly-intelligible exposition,
both in its facts and principles, which it has
received in the pages before us. In these times, the
interval which used to separate public opinion from
ministerial and legislative action is very considerably
narrowed ; and the thorough verification of a
grievance stands in tolerably close proximity to its
redress. Considering the decisive tendencies of our
recent legislation to freedom of trade and industry,
the avowed principles and convictions of the present
Government, and the known temper of the new
House of Commons, it would be a sort of affectation
to speak of the approaching repeal of our navigation-
laws as being any longer open to a doubt. A system
of vexation and obstruction such as that with which
we have, from time to time, endeavoured to make our
readers familiarly acquainted, by drawing on the
ample resources furnished by last year's inquiry,
never can survive this kind of exposure. That navi-
gation-laws are about to follow corn-laws, and that
" nursery for British seamen" will presently be rele-
gated to the same limbo of defunct catchwords which
has already received " independence of foreigners,"
we take to be among the safest predictions ever
hazarded by the most timid and modest of political
soothsayers. With this prospect before us, it really
becomes a very interesting question, especially for
the philanthropist, whether and how far the frightened
and angry "interest" is likely to be injuriously affected
by the impending change. No class of the British
people, we are very sure, wish any harm to the ship.
ping or any other interest ; and it would painfully
qualify the satisfaction attendant on getting rid even
of an enormous practical grievance, if we were com-
pelled to believe that it involved (except in the land-
lords' sense of the word) the irremediable "ruin" of
a large class of our countrymen. We are glad to
see that the reviewer addresses himself with consider-
able earnestness, and, we think, with marked success,
to this branch of the argument. When the case is
fairly examined, matters do not look by any means
so bad for the " interest" as we have often had the
pain of seeing them depicted by the too creative
shipowning imagination. It is impossible, we
venture to believe, even for a distressed shipowner
to look steadily into the future through the medium
of certain facts afforded by his actual, present expe-
rience, without feeling half disposed to hope that all
will turn out for the best, and that his case is alto-
gether one for the well-remembered nursery formula,
" more frightened than hurt." There are certain
great facts, or clusters of facts, of which the British
shipowner is opportunely reminded by our reviewer,
which may serve, we think, to suggest this con-
soling conclusion with considerable force and dis-
tinctness. The British shipowner who dreams
the strange dream, that England cannot compete
with foreigners on what used to be proudly