The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1877-07-19
PUBLIC MORALS IN ENGLAND.



-H----
The defendants appeared in person, and
defended themselves-Mrs Besant es-
pecially, with remarkable ability-and
with such earnestness and evident SINGER
ity, as ultimately induced the jury to ex-
onerate them from any corrupt motive
in the publication. The Lord Chief JUS
tice, the day before yesterday, laid it
down that the verdict must turn upon
this-whether the means suggested were
such as tended to debase and degrade
the relation of the sexes, and deprave the
public morals
Mrs. Besant, in conclusion, said Could
it, then, be pretended that the book was
published with an obscene intent? Yet
such an intent was imputed; and let the
jury, before they convict, read the indict-
ment on which they are asked to con-
vict. The origin of the prosecution itself
was shrouded in darkness, and it might
have originated in private malice. Will
you convict me Of indecenCy? Will you
send me to prison to herd with poor, de-
graded creatures, contact with whom
would be agony to me? Think what
such a verdict would mean to me, A
verdict of guilty-you can not give it i
If you believe in truth, in justice, in in
nocence itself, you cannot give it; and if
you did so, it would be sad miscarriage
of justice, against which 1 should appeal
to posterity, who would assuredly reverse
your verdict. gus
The Lord CLief Justice then address,
ed the Jury as follows: "There is ore
point upon which every one will concur
with the Solicitor General, and that is as
to the misChievous character and effect
of this prosecution. A more ill-advised
and more iDjudicious prosecution never
was instituted. Here is a work which
has been published now for more than
forty years, and which appears never to
have got into general circulation, and
which by this injudiCious course Of pro-
ceeding has been got into large Circula-
ton, so that the sale has risen to thous-
ands. In the last century Mr.. Nautilus
started theory which astonished the
world-though it is now an irrefragible
truth-that population has tendency
to increase faster than the means of sub
sistence, and that, consequently, there
must be vast number of persons upon
whom poverty presses sadly and heavily
1t is true that there are checks to over
population in plague, pestilenCe and FAM
inc, and that war and disease destroy
numbers; but the effect of the tendency
of population to increase faster than the
means of subsistence is to introduce very
serious evils, especially among the lower
orders of society, and the result il that
there are in every country large classes
of people who labor under those evils,
physical and moral, which arise from this
cause se-overcrowding of families, the eff
feet Of child bearing upon women-these
are evils, no doubt, which it would be
desirable, if possible, to prevent. Nal
thus suggested that marriage should be
DELAYED; but this, it was said, led to
worse evils, and tended to increase pros
titution. Then the author of this work
recommended that marriage should not
be delayed, but that marriage should be
entered into, and that means should be
used to prevent the pro creation of chill
dren. Such is the scope of the book be-
fore you, and with view to make this
advice intelligible, details are entered
into connected with the pro-creation Of
children. The Solicitor General has said
that the suggestion of marriage was
sham and disgrace, and what was in
tended was to facilitate immortality, but
think a more unjust accusation
never was made. (Applause.) Having
read the book, must say that believe
its intention to recommend marriage was
honest and truthful. If the intention
was not honestly to convey this informa-
ton, but TO crafty prurlent curiosity,
then it is open to condemnation. l agree
that work of this sort, sold at the street
corners, may be purchased to crafty
such curiosity, and that it may be unde-
sirable that such work should be so cir
culated, but the question is whether it is
calculated to excite improper feeliDgsP
If not, then it does not come within the
scope ofthis Indictment Here we must
bear in mind that we are not dealing
with matter of taste or good feeling.
You must be satisfied, before you can
convict, that these details have the effect
of corrupting the public morals. But
supposing you should be satisfied that
the details are not calculated to have such
an effect2 We then come to that which,
in my mind, Ia the very gist of the inqui-
nv, and upon which your verdict must
| depend. Would these practices tend to
debsse and degrade the women who had
recourse to them2 1t seems to come to
this, whether these are things which
could be done without injury to the pub
| lie sense of decency2 Are they, or are
they not, things which might be resorted
to without any injury to public morals,
in order to remedy these evils, or are
they such that we had better bear the
evils that we know of rather than en-
courage the means which have demoral-
izing effects2 That the defendants hon
estly believe that they are justified in
advising these means to be reaorted to,
90 q TO" 'ii @. 'E $40 t.fhrl aUlw Ittl & n