The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1859-10-17

as isnil Thin what the rest os the evidence on
ms ponhl Nj. Appleton the Mossrs. lockwood. an
Ar. like all OF whom are engaged In the inporla,
ten and sale Of pictures for tho stereo3cop,
soyeraly declare that they would never exhibit %
s"ii such pictures a these, because they deem
them immoral and indecent How then Is the balance.
u the testimony, upon testimony you arc 10 deciv2
Now gentlemen Of the jury, etus look at the quest N
the other way and excluding the Opinions Of others for
The pr SENT trust 70 our own Judgments II
now becomes necessary u define decancy aud know
III what indecency consists And think this Is, after
all, rather PLAN matter. Mr.. wh,ton, the cainants
Nortc Witness IN one OF his answeis pronounced what
member mat one picture quot one of these en) shown
TO Mr. Wilton he reluctantly declared 10 be- IN his
opinion, indecent Wen. why, Mr. whtons "Uants
OF its attitude, the attitude is suggestive OF i'm
pure thoughts Here gentlemen, We have two
words words which VIII, contain = so solution Of the mystery
picture is decent on indecent pure or impure, moral or
otherwise, and shall find there is Their genuine
but 70 refer To tho ideas which expresses and is
TO express II is not question OF nudity question
OF drapery al all The picture may represent the human
figure entirely nude and yet be fit for the contemplation
and study OF AL manner Of persons On tho contrary
II may represent form mainly covered with drapcry,
and loaded with crinoline and yet clearly express hhy
thoughts and invite low emotions An engraving Of
si parents in the garden such be found in some
Of our family Bibles Is not indecent picture No SEN
slbe man is AFRAID his children will be harmed by looking
AT that engraving Yet the figures are nude We all
know that statue may be naked figure and yet be
embodent and expression OF great Thoughts and Of high
and innocent emotions And decency propriety in
painting statue cannot be measured by any such
standard the board The distinction between
decent picture and an indecent one is well illustrated by
the different treatment which the subject receives ut
different hands For instance, several Of the old
tiers OF painting have made great study Of
the ancient and famous story about the &c Paris
The three principal goddesses are represented as standing
together upon Mount Ida heore the youthful shepherd
who, with the golden apple IN his baud looks reyereny
perpexed how TO decide among the three types o beauty
The figures all nude, nearly and yet decent
man can find nothing indecent in such painting. Welt
gentlemen, these modern photograph makers have also
treated this subject And what q
CINE they get from ity How do you suppose this cele-
brated story is told by thems Why three of the
town are represented each with foot rpou stoof
hibiting each one leg. while weildresscd young man,
who is willing TO be daguerreotyped 10 tlat POSITION
mind to which of the strumpets he shah award golden
apple he holds in his hand. We all know genteme,i,
that such picture is indecent Yet the figures we'll
dressed and the persons not much exposed So that
nudity does not make an indecent picture nor nero
drapery decent one. must remind you, gentlemen,
once more, how srsple and narrow a question
you have to decide. 1t is not whesher these
ten photographs are grossly immoral whether
they are too bad whether they Indecent enough
make right that the claimant should forfeit the OF
his goods With these and similar questions you have
nothing 70 do you are sworn to say by Your VERDICT to
which side of the boundary between deconcy and indie
ccncy virtue and vice. these pictures belong, you have
only TO determine whether they nctndecent at
all From the evidence In this cause infer
hat the manufacture and sale OF this class OF pictures
and that there is a growing demand for
hem from all parts OF the country If so, although the
forfeiture involved in this trivial you can seldom
have the opportunity OF finding verdiot of greater
'ortance IN its influence than that whc about
70 render 49, 1t5.
JUDGES CHARGE.
Gentlemen, the to he submitted tc, you is ono re-
luiring your most attentive conslderatol Ia the first
Stat against certain importation In, voice of goods
Of ores manufacture seized and held to foleit by the
Collector OF Customs of the port Of New York. YOU
gentlemen, must be aware OF The iature and cha
racter OF the regulations left the enfu Of the
Custom House authorities, relating to the Importation of
goods for circulation consumption IN h country You
therefore aware gentlemen that tho invoice the
bill of sale Of any goods imported from foreign country
must be presented the Custom House nd subjected 10
tho Inspection of officers duly appointed THAI purpose
and whose furthsr duty it isto grant refuse permits
FOR the passing Of such goods through the Custom House
Now appears hat the officers inspectn the goods OF
which these photographs pictur formed
part dscoveredin the general package certain Articles
law, and that specially Forbid en- to be in
ported. These articles, it apears, consisted of
eps Of tsres IN sa, ,h positions and
House il is necessary, asa prcliranary step, for the
porter consgnee TO &c. them approve Of by the in
spectng officer who examines them and critics whether
according &c the customs regulations, hey such
class Of gooda whose ntsoductca and culaon ad
missibe or not. You perfectly are, gentlemen
that no goods Of foreign growth Or manu- come
into ccula Dn use in 4hs country witt lou rs under
going the ordeal Of Custom House nsp ctcn This is
law OF the United States and by the government has
the power of excluding permitting th Introduction of
articles of foreign production and grow tn This power
gentemer is arbrarv and mght be. indeed exercised
through vShim or caprice, though its execution like All
other general laws, Is placed in the ha nds of sup
posed to be well fitted and disposed 10 act Justly and hon.
es,ly ut is enough, however, to know that goods
of foreign growth production manufacture can be eg
matey brought into the country and sent into circulation,
without passing through the ordeal provided by the law
and submitting to the regulations imposed by tbs
The package of general goods seized blythe authorities
when opened contained among other things photographs
pictures the production Of foreign assts which, upon
Gloss examination found 10 come thin the category
Of articles expressly prohibited and excluded by the
statute Gentlemen must be that Congress has
enacted statutory regulations the importation OF
certain character and description of goods and the
graphs came under the head OF prohibited articles. 50 far
this prohibition extends to this particular ecripon
prohibited and not allowed be introduced ard passed
through the Custom House under stringent penalty but
declares that only shall the forbidden goods be for
eted but also all goods OF whatever character value
which these forbidden articles shall form part hais
that all goods forming any part or portion Of package
containing prohibited articles shall be forfeited and
demned The Custom House officers ascerainc1 their
satisfaction that this package Of general merchan
disc in this peculiar predeament that is, aat among
proper articles OF importation in certain package Of
foreign goods there certain articles specially pro-
hibed II Of 40 consequence to the consideration Of
this what tho relative value of the vicious art
ces as compared with the value Of the goods whose intro
ducon into the country is legally sanctioned whether the
vicious articles inferior superior in value That bad
bearing the case, nasmuch as any prohibited
article in package, no matter how vai1eless, vated
all the rest Of the goods in the same package, and sub
ton Of the which bears upon the read you
by OF the learned counsel 1t sets forth 1.-THE
importation Of all Indecent obscene articles, whether
guerreotyres or transparencies, is hereby for
bidden,n &c. You had detailed to you, gentlemen,
by the witnesses the manner OF the seizure OF these
goods Now the statute further sets forth that goods
Illegally imported and seized BY the authorities shall
be permitted to be Withdrawn and thus TO evade the in
fiction Of the penalty incurred No. gentlemen, the law
offers condition Of the kind There is time allowed
fer repentance period of time granted wherein the de
fauer may repent and thus his property avoid
the payment OF the penalty. The deiers cannot say "a
the government, regret what has occurred but
that attention drawn the matter we will attend
to and remedy the evil complained Of dsapprovc Of
the act and content to withdraw the Objectionable
/ goods Now as the law does not draw distinction be
tween the goods legally and Illegally imported when
packed together neither does leave to uries decide
when goods get mingled together whether the prohibited
articles put in with the proper articles without in
tenton TO evade the law The law does say these ar
tcles shall not be forfeited II it be shown that they
placed with the forbidden articles under circumstances
which might naturally imply ignorance the part Of thu
importers. Their. palliative circumstances
whatever provided for but the contrary, the law per
emporly declares that all invoices of goods Of such
prohibited articles shall be proceeded against seized and
forfeited by important the know