The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1857-05-15
Rufus Choa,c ON Filtration.

The Dalton divorce case, which has been
on trial during the last week or two, before
Judge Merrick of the Massachusetts, Supreme
Court, sitting in Boston, il nearly finished.
From Mr.. Choate's speech in behalf of Mrs.
Dalton, the defendant in the case, we extract
characteristic passage:
1t is said that there was an intimacy be-
tween Helen Dalton and Sumner, because Of
the drives, the rings exchanged, the books
given. An intimacy Of some kind lipht
and frivolous, Objectionable intimacy-one
which, rs long as she 10 living woman, is
to be the sorrow and repentance Of her life.
did exist. They will say, as Mr.. L. o. Co
burn expressed it, that there was q Irritation
between Sumner and Mrs. Dalton. | answer
yes, there was, and exactly in the words Of
L. y. Coburn, that it was only Irritation !;
that it went no further, and that it might
have gone further, but it was stopped.
answer this second great piece of circumstan.
tial evidence in the words of their witnesses.
that it was Irritation only, and there it
stopped. answer in my own language also,
in the next place, gentlemen, which greatly
prefer, that this intimacy, which, since the
days OF Joseph Addison, has been called a
Irritation, Ia vulgar, gross, but most express
sivc word, but with the sanction Of the great
master of classic lore, Addison, however. !
this which We call Irritation, rs circums,an-
tial evidence, proving the fact OF adultery,
is wholly worthless, =
| have the honor to say, and shall refer to
authority to warrant it, that, as circumstan.
tial evidence in the crime. of adultery, il 10
not entitled to the slightest consideration.
There Is no fact in all our social life better
established, than that young married wo-
man may admire q Irritation and accent a
certain degree Of pleasure from it, and vet
her heart not be touched for an instant by a
sentiment OF dangerous love and vet star,
back when proposition Of crime is intelli-
glbiy made to her, as il hell ynwned under
her feet. submit that our own observation
and the books We read--our Addisons, GU,
kdgeworths and our Waltar Scotts--all We
observe and oil We read, goes upon this dis
tlnction, and turns and reasons upon 1.-THE
dirters are in one class, and the Adulterers ia
another. They belong to totally distinct
species, with totally distinct moral and sen.
soral developments. Every where we rid.
Guile, gentlemen, and satirize her whom We
call vain, and slight, and coquetish-she i.
rdciuled and characterized; but from the
adulteress We turn with aversion and deris.
ION. We satirize one as foolish; we turr
from the other as wicked. We hold up one
as warning for herself, for our own cor.
rection OF the other we say
''oh no We never mention her"
One 10 giddy and the other is wicked /,
10 fact not creditable to any Of us, that ma.
ny married women hover, for the greater
part OF her life time, in this region of vanit,
and hattery, and yet never dream Of taking
the dark descent. Is it not q factP How
many vile will futter her plumage to the
music OF hAttery, and yet, when the romano,
! IS broken by solicitation Of chastity, will
start, and with hands upon her ears, ny n,
II goblin damned stood before her. Ii is !.
fact perfectly well established by all obser.
yations Of life, that woman may indulg,
10 these sentiments, accept this treatment
ana feel this pleasure, whose heart 10 never
touched by illicit love; and submit that
unless the heart is conquered, adultery is i'm
possible. submit that this conduct, upor
which my learned brother is about to insist
- worthless in the judgment OF the law, a.
circnmstantiai evidence TO establish it, and
/ oppose II on that ground and we canno
misunderstood each other so much as thai
YOU should think approve this sort Of con.
duet
4 80 As lar as you, or any one, in the NOR
III condemnation OF it, and have no word.
% aetendit, its undue levity, it's friyolity an,
Its danger; but meet you as LAWYER, n,
an observer Of life, on all we know OF Tia
neart Of man, or Of woman, and l submi
that tens OF thousands OF wives have ron,
80 Tar, and yet could never Justly be suspect
ed OF having taken the last final step.
Far Hr~A rhna,n -.