Extraordinary trial! Norton v. Viscount Melbourne, for crim[inal] con[versation] ... A full and accruate report ... / by an eminent reporter ... Embellished with a portrait and memoir of the Hon. Mrs. Norton. &c., &c.

  • Norton, George Chappele, 1800-1875
Date:
[1836?]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Extraordinary trial! Norton v. Viscount Melbourne, for crim[inal] con[versation] ... A full and accruate report ... / by an eminent reporter ... Embellished with a portrait and memoir of the Hon. Mrs. Norton. &c., &c. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    fcbused for political purposes, which any respectable member of the party opposed to Lord Melbourne would abhor and spurn at. This is not their warfare—this is not the way in which a public man or party is attacked. So would have said Sir Robert Peel, and so I think he would say if he were associated with you in the Jury box, and so would say any hon. member of the party honourably op¬ posed in politics to his lordship. But it is quite clear that some persons have made Mr. Norton a tool—an instrument of shame— he has been persuaded to allow his name to be used and used, mere¬ ly for party and political purposes. Before I sit down, gentlemen, I think it right in the name of Lord Melbourne to declare, as he instructed me to do, in the most clear, emphatic, and solemn manner, that he never had criminal intercourse with Mrs. Norton, nor did he ever do any thing in the slightest degree to abuse the confidence which her husband reposed in him. I allow that you must find your verdict according to the evidence, and that you must not allow yourselves to be swayed by the solemn declaration of Lord Melbourne. You must look to the evidence— I wish you to do so ; but looking at the evidence, I say that it is utterly im¬ possible to find a verdict for the plaintiff. They have not attempted to prove that any thing has taken place within the last three years, they have not called the witnesses who could prove what had taken place. They call for such witnesses as Fluke, who is shown to be a drunkard and a swindler, and Cummins, who acknowledge*, that she prefers to live as a mistress rather than a wife, and who declares that in all the time she lived with Mrs. Norton there wa» no ground for suspicion and she thought no wrong. Lender these circumstances, how am 1 to call witnesses ? It is impossible. It is utterly impossible that direct evidence can be brought forward, and this being the case I willingly and unhesitatingly trust to the discrimination, the justice, and the impartiality of an English jury. [The learned gentleman sat down amidst some cheering, which however, was quickly repressed.] He commenced hi* speech at a few minutes before seven, and conc'uded at half- past ten o’clock. The Learned Judge summed up at some length. The Jury having turned round, and conferred afew seconds. The Foreman said, My lord, we are agreed, it is my duty to say that our verdict is for the Defendant. The announcement was received with loud bursts of applause, an expression of feeling which was promptly re-echoed by shout* from the mob without the doors. The tumult having been partial¬ ly suppressed, . . A . The Lord Chief Justice said he was surprised to hear a verdiot received in a court of justice in so disgraceful a manner. The court was then cleared at half past eleven. T. KiduidNBj Fdoto J, Took'* Cvut Cbaacaj Lon*.