HISTORY OF EUROPE. [155 



©rder to correct morals, it was 

 necessary to mix with society, dive 

 into the minds of men, be acquaint- 

 ed with their actions, and search 

 into the motives of their conduct. 

 For want of this kind of informa- 

 tion, a consummate lawyer, or a 

 holy prelate, might be very inade- 

 quate to the formation of laws, 

 which could make society better 

 than it was ; and of this the present 

 bill afforded a singular example. 

 From legislators betterqualified, he 

 should have expected, that, insiead 

 of considering the ecclesiastical court 

 as a sanctuary not to be touched, 

 they wouldhave set about cleansing 

 the Augean stable, though that,,he 

 confessed, would be a Herculean la- 

 bour. He lamented the absence of 

 lord Thurlow, who, in a very able 

 speech, from which he read an ex- 

 tract, once described the vexatious 

 proceedings in the ecclesiastical 

 court, where a plaintiff, after hav- 

 ing once failed to prove his libel, 

 might commence his suit again, a 

 second or a third time upon exparfe 

 /ej/?V(0«j/, and without being sworn; 

 on the other hand, he quoted the 

 case of a Mrs. Middleton, who, 

 after having been detected in adul- 

 tery, contrived, by the assistance of 

 the learned doctors, and the laws 

 of that court, to baffle, for five years, 

 all the efforts of her husband to ob- 

 tain a divorce, and thus put him to 

 the expense of ] 0,000/. — The pro- 

 ceedings in that court were founded 

 in frivolity, and their decrees in 

 vanity. He wished, as much as any 

 man, to assist in the promotion of 

 any measure that he really thought 

 would effectually check the immo- 

 rality of the day, and particularly 

 the crime imder consideration. 

 His lordship concluded, with ex- 

 pressing his approbation of mak- 



ing adultery penal, and deprecat- 

 ing, in all cases, any pecuniary 

 compensation to the husband. 



The duke of Bedford considered 

 the bill as equally cruel and impo- 

 litic. He particularly reprobated 

 the swelling of the criminal code. 

 "It is not," said his grace, " by a 

 rigid system of legislation, my lords, 

 that you are to correct the morals 

 of the people ; it is by precept and 

 example." 



The bill was defended by lord 

 Eldon. He conceded to lord Car- 

 lisle that, as the law now stood, it 

 was competent to any man, who was 

 'injured, to bring his action for da- 

 mages, and at the same time insti- 

 tute a prosecution in the ecclesiasti- 

 cal court. But whenever that hap- 

 pened, the judges in the courts be- 

 low caused, of their own authority, 

 one of the suits to be stopped. His 

 lordship, observed, that there were 

 different kinds of seducers, the one 

 what was called the honourable, 

 the other the dishonourable. As 

 to the honourable seducer, when he 

 should find there was a law to pre- 

 vent marriage, this, in his opinion, 

 would operate as a preventive, and 

 call him aside from the path he was 

 pursuing. With regard to the other 

 seducer, when he reflected that he 

 was to face a judge and jury, and 

 that he was to be punished, perhaps 

 it would cool his appetite a little ; 

 and so far the punishment, not as 

 a punishment, but as a prevention, 

 would have a good effect. It had 

 been stated, that the woman was 

 to be pitied : that she was sunk into 

 the abyss of misery, and driven to a 

 state of desperation. But, should 

 the clause in question teach her to 

 reflect a little, would she not say to 

 herself, " This man cannot be an 

 honourable seducer, for he knows 



