New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1859-04-27

but tfY tif not fgNf 20 snow tht Tue lhrlf- VITO
found in the net. II they were then the law says
the homicide may be reduced 10 mar slaughter. but
the husband pursue the aduerer, and stay him ont 81
revenge, 1t il murder. The very phraseoogy ot The
rule showed ha, Il was not intended to apply TO the
proxinate facts but a. to whether the party was
found in the act The counsel for the defense had con-
tended that even If the wife had consented, stil The
adultery forcible. He asked then, and
he a-ked now, whether if that 50, the
distinction between rape and seduction not oblt-
Grated Iforcible it rape; aud If rape, then the
defense bad wasted all their thunder, for Philip Barton
Key might have been indicted by the Grand Jury and
visited with cOndgD punishment. He understood why
the defense had started such heory-they knew that
before party justified in using deadly weapon,
the acgTes,Or must have used actual force, Otherwise
the killing would be aggravated murder. Hence the
counsel for the defense had -iven to show that every
act Of adultery necessarily an act of force.
That, however, neither law nor common sense
there foundation for such theory IN nature, IN
morals in Law. 1t had been set up by the other side
that adultery " m0lum IN 50, and that the pro-
lection Of right an act Of awle-s violence.
He held however, that the party limited by the law
to Inst that degree of defense Of his right which the
laws gives him, and not to follow his passions and
desc. 1t j. the night Of creditor to have his debt
paid 10 him by hi, debtor, but it does not follow that
he has the right TO take the law into his own hands
and commit an assault and battery on his debtor. The
law limits the resorts which man has for the defense
and maintenance of hs rights. The last ground which
the defense assumed that this stood on the
great doctrine Of selfdefcnse. Selldefsnsc against
what Did the principle Of sef-defense apply to n
past transaction III any sense Such theory e1-
Cuded all the past and all the proyocati0n and stood
upon the right which the injured husband mad to pro-
eot himself in tie future. Once The injury is consum
mated against q man, hs nights of sel-dcfense are
ended The law Of selidefcnse never therefore, ap-
plies to a past transaction, and can never be CON
founded with the law Of vengeance. We're that doc
trine properly applied, his Honor had decided that
il was not material to show that there actual
danger, but that the party supposed there was. 10
extend that prime pie to this case 1t would follow that
nh. t1,rf Ia. qfu tsrx
provided the injured husband supposed was, then #
he sailed ont and shot the person whom he supposed
had injured him, be would be Justified. That,
said the Distrct-AttOrney, could not be law.
Society could not exist on any such basis, and human
civilization would be an impossbly II would follow,
a. an inevitable consequence from this, where the
prosecution cannot 20 into the antecedens of the party,
that the prisoner himself may be stained with corup-
ton; that throughout the whole course Oi IN life, he
nav have proved himself totally regardless of thcca'oi
duty and insensiblc Of conjugal prophecies that, to
u-e the language Of my associae-though do not
mean 10 apply it to this casehe may have been bred
in brothels nay. that he may have offered his own
wife for price 20 the very man whom he slew ana that
al this cannot be given in evidence before the Court
and Jury: but that under these circumstances, al
though he NAV have committed an act Of homicide,
be j. be justified on the ground OF suspicion. All
these doctrines these denominations, How necessarily
from the doctrine OF scf-decnsc sought to Do ap-
piled To this case.
On this point of sedefcnsc he would refer his Honor
TO the case OF the People against Shorter Barbour,
4G0
Mr. Brady-That has been overruled by the Court
Of Appeals of New-l ork reported in ID tomstOck.
The District Attorney would refer to "a Com
stock To how far II Oveuuled the case IN BAR
bour He referred TO these authorities and also the
case of the Peope acains, Doe fist Mannngs Mich
ipap Rcports Was there, he asked, any danger oi
bodily harm to Daniel r. Sickes AZ the hands Of Philip
Barton Key nj the time Of the honcldei II not, he
pa, il to his Honor and the Jury that the principle of
sefdeense could not apply. Nay more; if Mr.. Sicklcs
believed that Mr.. Key then and there proceeding
TO his house for the purpose of committing felony,
much less misdemesnor, the principle OF seli-deiense
could not apply a. justihcaiion. IL had beeh
sad by the defense that unless their doctrine was
announced by this Court, and sustained by
this jury the doors of the people of This District would
have to be closed. Standing here, SAID he, not as
public prosecutor but private citizen j, on the part
If the people of this District, denounce the doctrine
that the protection Of the wifes daughters virtue ~
10 be found in the husbands or the brother revolver
II may do for other countries fOr other cnes and Tor
other religions where the law Of force, applied 10
woman Is carried out IN all it. violence ana wrong.
But in a Christian community, where woman Is en-
nobled and dignfied and elevated by Christian law
! and Christian rule, the true and the oly
prote,tion to female chastity il to be found IN the
womaus own virtue and in eT Own character. Strong
! er than bars and bolts, the fash Of woman virtue
! j. as quick az Gods lightning, and a. sure. Far more
eficctual j. il for slenclng seducers or reVecrs III
lccnt ousne-s than Derrngcr revolver. Every lure
! Woman, necessarily and by the gift of God, IN Chris.
tian communities carries that weapon along with her
|
! he comes on how he may have trained himself the
arts of seduction who resist the showing Oi tina;
weapon for solitary instant. thank God that The
mutTuns and maids Of land have srer protection
! than the pistol or the bowie knife. sad indeed would
be their tate if il not so; # il were so, one hall ot
! this whole community would not use weapon, and
the other half would II wrOngiully and improperly
! The spirit Of virtue which God had implanted in the
woman heart tells her, if by the fash of lightning,
what are the intentions toward her OF man, whether
honorable or dhonorabe and she has but 10 use Tor
! one moment this gin which God in his bcnevolence
and bounty has given her for the purpose OF sencng
and sitting not death but in shame to the propoSer
every offer that would imply the slightest touch of
| contamination or Of insult Ii l. found everywhere.
| II cycle If glory which adorns the female brow,
and sheds its blessed and happy light alike On howell
and on paace ], stands there a. the protector al the
wife though the husband may be on distant seas Tar
away from home, with his protecting arm II Is there
ready TO resist at moment, and 10 resist c1ectuayi
the advance If every Shiny reprobac who, under the
cuise whether OF friendship of fraud, walks into the
house Of purity for the purpose of deing one oi IT.
inmates. The very moment You bring the Ia" oi loTce
| for the purpose OF protecting female hohor,
| that moment Won sacrifice female honor.
lit j. to be- protected by the sword the knife and he
pistol it is unworthy of protection. Unless Il be that
Gcd-ennobng nobility, IN and oi itsei ana uhiS' II
exists 81 itself and for itself II Is unworthy to BE- cler-
ished or known. The history Of the wold has shown
that TO be true. Go back far you please, and
trace history from the earliest dates down 10 the present
tme-examinc al eras and all peopes-and say thai
il stands out the pages Of history, al all times ana
throughout each of lis users ~ the tIed ana re-
corded truth that wherever woman has been let alone
to the yindicHiion Of her virtue, and wherever
man has kept the concentrating hand Oi violence nom
her for the purpose even OF protecting her she mas
risen in her purity Godennooied and sei,VinG!cd'eu
The Great God of heaven has laid his hand with con-
secraon on the fair head @. virtue, and when the
yirtuous woman ceases 10 b. her protector and
her own guardian by force of the power winch God