SPEECH

FOR THE

REV. GEORGE MARKHAM,

AGAINST

JOHN FAWCETT, ESQ.

FOR

CRIMINAL CONVERSATION WITH THE PLAINTIFF'S WIFE, BEFORE THE DEPUTY SHERIFF OF MIDDLESEX, AND A SPECIAL JURY,

UPON AN INQUISITION OF DAMAGES.

PREFACE,

NONE of the pleadings of Lord Erskine when at the bar, excited a greater interest, or were attended with greater success, than those (and they were most numerous) in cases of adultery. His assistance was so generally sought after, that, except in a very few instances, he was always secured by the retainers of complainants

so that, with the exception of the case of Howard against Bingham, now Earl of Lucan, in the present volume, the case of Eston againt the late Duke of Hamilton, where the phrase of the "loose fish" made so conspicuous an appearance and a cause of Baldwin and Oliver, in

which he attended at York assizes, and where the jury found a shilling damages, we do not recollect any of his speeches for adulterers in mitigation of damages. It was, perhaps, in consequence of that circumstance, that it became the fashion to attribute to the period when Lord Kenyon was Chief Justice of the King's Bench, and Lord Erskine was at the bar in that court, a greater number of verdicts in cases of adultery, with severe damages, than could be altogether vindicated, either by precedent or by the mild spirit of our judicial proceedings; but, after the best attention we have been able to give to the subject, in considering of a fit preface for the only two correct speeches which we are at present posseз. sed of on that subject, the observation appears to be without due foundation.

Adultery, when attended with all the circumstances of aggravation which mark the following. case of the Rev. Mr. Markham (and there were many others in Lord Erskine's time of a similar description), is unquestionably the greatest civil injury which man can commit against man; and the manner in which the subject is treated in the speech which follows, deserves the serious attention of every person who is not lost to all consideration of human comfort and happiness. With regard to the facts, no preface is necessary. They are all detailed in Mr. Erskine's speech for the plaintiff; and no evidence was offered on:

the defendant's part, who had let judgment go by default. The inquisition was taken upon the 4th of May 1802, before the Sheriff of Middle

sex and a special jury, at the King's Arms Ta vern, in Palace Yard, Westminster, at six in the evening, after the business of the courts at Westminster had finished.

The jury found a verdict with seven thousand pounds damages, which we have been informed were never levied, the defendant having left the kingdom.

MR. ERSKINE'S SPEECH FOR THE PLAINTIFF.

MR. SHERIFF, and Gentlemen of the Jury In representing the unfortunate gentleman who has sustained the injury which has been stated to you by my learned friend, Mr. Holroyd, who opened the pleadings, I feel one great satisfaction-a satisfaction founded, as I conceive, on a sentiment perfectly constitutional. I am about to address myself to men whom I PERSONALLY KNOW;—to men, honourable in their lives-moral-judicious; and capable of correctly estimating the injuries they are called upon to condemn in their character of jurors. THIS, gentlemen, is the only country in the world, where there is such a tribunal as the one before which I am now to speak: for, however in other countries such institutions as our own may have been set up of late, it is only by that maturity which it requires ages to give to governments-by that progressive wisdom which has slowly ripened the constitution of our country, that it is possible there can exist such a body of men as you are. It is the great privilege of the sub. jects of England that they judge one another. It is to be recollected, that, although we are in this private room, all the sanctions of justice are present. It makes no manner of difference, whether I address you in the presence of the under-sheriff, your respectable chairman, or with the assistance of the highest magistrate of the state.

The defendant has, on this occasion, suffered judgment by default: other adulterers have done So before him. Some have done so under the idea, that, by suffering judgment against them, they had retired from the public eye-from the awful presence of the judge; and that they came into a corner, where there was not such an assembly of persons to witness their misconduct, and where it was to be canvassed before persons, who might be less qualified to judge the case to be addressed to them.

It is not long, however, since such persons have had an opportunity of judging how much they were mistaken in this respect: the largest damages, in cases of adultery, have been given in this place. By this place, I do not mean the particular room in which we are now assembled, but under inquisitions directed to the sheriff; and the instances to which I allude, are of modern, and, indeed, recent date.

Gentlemen, after all the experience I have had, I feel myself, I confess, considerably embarrassed in what manner to address you. There are some subjects that harrass and overwhelm the mind of man. There are some kinds of distresses one knows not how to deal with. It is impossible to contemplate the situation of the plaintiff without being disqualified, in some degree, to represent it to others with effect. It is no less impossible for you, gentlemen, to receive on a sudden the impressions which have been long in my mind, with out feeling overpowered with sensations, which,

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