The Sun.
London, England, 1840-08-03 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLICiENCE.

HOME CIRCUIT—T.RwEs, Ace. 1.
riza.vasiou V. LAILDNER.
This etUiP, which has created so inch interest for
tevc.ral months past among the literary and fashionable
c 7.
ircles,' on for trial befora Mr. Baron GURNEY
and a special jury, composed of the resident gentry of
the County of Sasser, at the Town Hall, Lewes, on Sa-
turday.
The most intense interest was taken in the proceed-
ings, add lonia before Gins o'clock, the hour at which the
trial was appointed to take place, the doors of the
County Hail were besieged with an anxious crowd, and ,
as seoa as the public were admitted, every corner of the
Nisi Prim; Court was incouvenhntly filled. A number
of ladies, and among them the dististinguishcd persons
who were cal!ed as withasses for the plaintiff, sat upon
the berch, in addition to several of the leading Magis-
trates.
Mr. Tha.siger, Q.C., with Mr. Platt, Q.C•, and Mr.
Petcrsdorf, appeared for the plaintiff ; and Mr. Sergeant
Chaaneil and Mr. Clarkson, for the defendant.
Mr. PETERSDORI stated that the action was brought
by the plaintiff, Richard Heaviside, against the defendant,
Dionysies Larduer, to recover compensation in damages
for the loss and injury the plaintiff had sustained by the
seduction of his wife by the defendant.
Mr. THESIGER rose to discharge the very painful
duty of detailing to them the circumstances under
which the plaintiff was compelled to seek, in a public
Court of Justice, that poor and miserable compensation
which the laws of this country afford in the shape of pe-
cuniary damages. He could not enter into this case
itlf4ut being nearly overcome with strong feelings for
the bitterness which his unfortunate client had already
bad`, and would have to endure throughout the remain-
der of his life. The defendant was a person who had
arrived at that advanced period of lite when the pas-
sions ordinarily become subservient to the judgment,
and when the experience of the world pleaded anything
but in mitigation of the aggravated conduct of whch he
had been guilty. The defendant possessed a scientific
knowledge, and was endowed with superior lite-
rary iittainments ; and it would appear by
the history of this painful cause that he had
ersspleycel hils combined talent to effect the seduction
FPthis weak and .confiding woman ; he had rendered
Oa an outcast fronpthe society she was calculated to
Edstm, and lie 'had ieiluced her to quit a kind and gene-
rous basbapd, atd a home which threw around her
everything than conspired to her happiness. The plain-
tiff was compelled, through the misconduct of the de-
fendant, to publish his dishonour to the world in a Court
of Justice, and he was obliged to submit to the degra-
dation of asking for pecuniary damages for an injury
which he had sustained, and which no amount in money
could repair. The plaintiff came from an honourable
family ; he was the son of a gentleman of considerable
fortune, who resided at Peterborough, and who sent
him in early life to Eton College. In due time he was
removed from thence to the University at Cambridge,
and in the year 1814 his father purchased for him a
cornetcy in the Ist Dragoon Guards. The unhappy
lady into whose conduct they were about to inquire was
the daughter of Colonel Spicer, formerly of the 12th
Lancers, and since residing at the Chateau de
Capacure, in the parish of Outreau, Boulogne.
in the year 1823, Mr. Heaviside, the plaintiff,
whose mother was a sister of Colonel Spicer's, went
to Boulogne, and for the first time saw Miss
Mary Spicer, his first cousin, and the only child of
Colonel Spicer. He was attracted by her person and
manners, an intimacy sprang up between them, which
was mutually cherished, and it ripened into affection ;
and at length it was determined, with the consent of
the friends of both parties, that they should be mar-
ried. Ths marriage took place on the 17th of July,
1124, at St. Michael's church, Bath. It was a mar-
riage of pure affection, for Captain Heaviside had am-
. pie means to make him care but little about the fortune
of his wife. Indeed, there could not be a stronier
proof that the strongest attachment existed on his part
towards his wife than his conduct upon his marriage.

He made a settlement of 20,0001. upon Mrs. Heavi-
side, which was secured in the usual way : the divi-
dends to be paal to him during his life, then
ite,
the ct tieren,
after his death, and in case of thre l
of
Deeingage, then she
or in the event of the:- ---'
was to be eensiect absolutely to the whole of the
r„,... eemany interest. She wis likewise entitled
to the reversion of 13,0001. upon the death of
her father. Shortly after their marriage they went to
the continent, and upon their return they resided for
some time at Saunder's Lodge, Oakingham, Bucking-
hamshire, and about ten years ago came to reside in
Brunswick-square, Brighton, where they had since
kept up as establishment, and moved in the first circles
of society. They appeared to be devoted to each other,
and their union gave rise to that usually strong cement
of the affections, children. In short, there seemed no-
thing for them to require beyond that which they pos-
sessed. As he (Mr. Thesiger) had stated, Mr. and
Mrs. Heaviside had three children, two girls and a boy ;
the eldest girl was fourteen years of age, the second
thirteen, and the boy six years old. The plaintiff was
a fond father and a loving husband ; he displayed no
violence of temper, he exhibited no hasty or ungentle-
manly conduct which could estrange the affections of his
wife, but he lived in the bosom of his family, and his
home appeared to be the whole world to him ; and
during the nine years he had resided at Brighton he had
i upon one occasion only allowed his wife to go into
society without him. It would be also proved' that
Mrs. Heaviside never betrayed the slightest levity of con-
duct, but always appeared strongly attached to her
children. If in this life they could expect to find hap-
piness, the Jury would imagine that it would be found
in such a home as this ; but in an evil hour the de-
fendant made his appearance among them. He came
to Brighton about some literary pursuit, and his repu-
tation as a man of science was a passport into society.
He obtained an introduction to the plaintiff, and, un-
happily for him, was received as a visitor at his house.
There was nothing in his conduct, his age, or his appear-
ance to induce the suspicion that he was a dangerous
visitor—nothing that would lead the most sceptical to
believe that when be entered the doors of peace and
dwelling of happiness that he was the viper that would
destroy everything that was valuable within, and turn
the plaintiff's home into an abode of wretchedness and
of desolation. Captain Heaviside was in the habit of
attending to his Magisterial duties at the Town Hall,
and he was also one of the Directors of the Brighton
Railway. During his absence from home the
defendant had the opportunity of visiting Mrs.
Heaviside ; but so much caution was observed,
that the attendants and those constantly about
the misguided lady were unable to discover that
any familiarity existed between them, and the witnes-
ses would therefore be unable to point out the begin
ning of the fatal influence which the defendant possessed
over her, and which he exercised in the consummation
of his criminal object. Human nature and their own
experience would, however, assist them in coming to a
conclusion. It was hardly to be believed that the de-
fendant could be carried away with any headstrong
• feeling, or any impulse of passion, and therefore so ab-
surd a defence could not be set up. They knew there
were many approaches to the female heart. A woman
who possessed no inordinate share of talent might be
misled and decoyed from the path of virtue by a per-
son of superior acquirements, who, for sinister purposes,
paid deference to her in order that, when her vanity
overcame her reason, he might, serpent-like, draw his
meshes around his victim, and make her irretrievably
lost. These were the dark and insidious arts that were
practised by the defendant, and the Jury would be able
to trace every web that was designedly thrown around
the plaintiff's wife until she was inextricably
surrounded. Mr. Heaviside left Brighton on the
11 th of March, and came to London ; and on
the 13th of the same month, Mrs. Heaviside quitted
home at an early hour in the morning, stating that she
was going on a visit to Mrs. Greville. She did not re-
turn at the usual hour to luncheon, nor had she given
any directions about the dinner, which excited some alarm
among her domestics ; and, in the afternoon, the sus-
picions of one of the servants were aroused by observ-
ing that everything was removed from the toilet of her
bed-room. The servant communicated her suspicions
to the butler, who went to Mr. Greville's, and aseer-
tained that Mrs. Heaviside had not been there. The
butler, upon this, immediately proceeded towards Lon-
don, to make his master acquainted with the circum-
stance, but be crossed the plaintiff on the road, the
latter being on his return to Brighton. When the
plaintiff heard of the debasement of his wife, he became
insensible, and only awoke from his stupor to endure.
greater agony and suffering. He was stunned
with the intelligence, and for some time be
continued dangerously ill. Tree guilty parties, in
the meantime, had proceeded to the Adelaide Hotel,
at London-bridge, where they remained during that night,
occupying but one sleeping apartment,and the next morn-
ing they proceeded by steam to Ostend, and from
thence to Dunkirk, where all trace was lost of them.
It was subsequently discovered that they were living at
the Rue Tronchet, at Paris, as man and wife. And
here he (Mr. Thesiger) might observe, that it would
not have been difficult to have produced evidence of
their criminality ; but, for the purpose of saving ex-
pense, a course had been adopted to which he distinctly
asserted Captain leaviside was no party, as he knew
nothing of their place of retreat—that the defendant
and Mrs. Heavieide should be produced to the servant
at the hotel where they first slept for the purpose of
being identified ; and the most extraordinary part of the
stipulation on the part of the defendant was, that under
pretence of saving expense, Captain Heaviside's own
butler was to be the principal witness, for the pus pose,
no doubt, of attaining an object which he (Mr. Thesi-
ger) could well understand, but which lie was sure would
be thwarted by the Jury. In the month of April, when
the plaintiff first received intelligence of his wife, he pro-
ceeded with Colonel Spicer to Boulogne, and upon enter-
ing the Rue Tronchet, he found her and the defendant at
breakfast together. Stung with indignation and horror,
the plaintiff, in the first impulse et his disgust, ieflicted a
well-merited chastisement upon the defendant. He
(Mr. Thesiger) could not from his heart blame the
plaintiff for the course he had taken, for they all knew
that there were times when, despite of everything,
their own natural feelings would vindicate their own na-
tural rights, and when they could not wait for the slow
process of the law. lie (Mr. Thesiger) did not there-
lure believe that this circumstance would have any effect
upon their judgment, or that they would entertain it
for one moment in the reduction to any material extent
of the damages they would award to the plaintiff. If
the defendant had brought an action fur assault against
this de ply-injured husband, he (Mr. Thesiger) would
ask them what amount of damages the defendant would
have recovered ? and, after having answered this ques-
tion, they might then deduct exactly so much front the
damages which Captain Heaviside this day sought to re-
cover. At Paris a most extraordinary discovery was made.
In the desk of Mrs. Heaviside the drafts of the two let-
ters sent by her to her father and the plaintiff were die-
covered, end they actually bore several corrections in
the defendant's own handwriting. He (Mr. Thesiger)
could well understand how this miserable and unhappy
woman could shrink from addressing her ill-used and
injured husband, and how, after attempt after attempt
had been vainly made by her, she abandoned the task
in despair. He could well understand, he repeated, this
feeling on her part, and he could also understand what
led the defendant to dictate and alter the letters for his
wretched victim : he had no feeling of shame or remorse
—no feeling of delicacy—and in those letters, which
would be produced to the Jury, they would be able to
trace in every line the dictation of the defendant. 'They
were not the outpourings of a person with a troubled
mind, but they were evidently the calm, deliberate, and
calculating reasonings of a mechanical philosopher. He
begged to call their attention to a letter signed by Mrs.
Heaviside, and bearing date the 15th of March. It
was addressed to her husband, and was as follows :
" Sunday, March 15, 1840.
" I sit down to the painful duty of fulfilling the pro-
mise made in my note of Friday.
" I will do it as briefly as the circumstances to be
told, and the feelings to be expressed will permit. You
have observed the continued indisposition from which 1
have suffered for many weeks past, and which I have
allowed you to suppose proceeded from bodily illness.
'My sufferings, however, were of a different nature, and
arose from a different cause. They originated in the
mind and in the heart. Among the persons introduced
to our acquaintance within the last few months was
one, who, unfortunately for me, produced such an im-
pressien upon my heart, as I felt could never be ef-
faced. In the first period of our acquaintance I flat-
tered myself that the sentiments he inspired were those
of friendship merely, and I indulged in his society
with unguarded, and, as the event proved, most impru-
dent freedom. As this, however, was no more than was
done by other ladies, by whom his acquaintance and
conversation were eagerly sought, and as I never be-
fore had reason to distrust myself, I proceeded uvappre-
hensive of consequences. He departed from Brighton,
and the effects of his absence convinced me for the
first time of the real state of my heart, and I soon
felt that my peace of mind was irretrievably lost.
He had never presumed to tell me that I was to
him an object of affection. His manner and language
were on the contrary most deferential and respectful. I
had seen, however, indications of his feelings towards me,
more convincing and unequivocal than any which mere
words would convey. In short, without any express
communication on the subject, our feelings became mu-
tually known ; we felt that every dictate of duty sug-
gested immediate separation and absence. Separation
and absence were accordingly tried and continued until
I was driven well
aiviegrthewdt
oo;umhlaaadd be unavailing,onyeosu bs.eeltishmall not attempt,
becauseto
you
whatthe al ttsei
with me than your daily avocations usuallyto
eepoednrsemtsacitnrtitebldYe.
feelings could not have been
you to be, the state of my
concealed from you, and it was only by hearterendirwr
efforts that I assumed an apparent cheerfulness'
during the brief and distant intervals you passed
with me; you know me too well to doubt my
truth when I assure you that on more than one occasion
I was on the point of attempting to rescue all parties
from the evil which menaced them by removing myself