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August 26, 1854. j T HE LEADER. 805
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DOMESTIC MOLOCH—HIS WIPE. AitE we to und...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Cotman. Dr. Cotmatst Is Much Obliged To....
Petersburg society ; and with his doctorslup , his republicanism , and his servility , he actuallyprocured a commission from the C & ar , for garrison service , we believe- We presume , however , that his object was not to perform onerous duties at that post , for he ¦ remained only a short time , and returned to St . Petersburg , and so to his own country , with a commission to sell Sitka , the north-western corner of America , to the Bepublie . He did" not , perhaps-, leave Russia too soon ; for his sudden departure , coupled with his English language , suggested to some acute IUissians , who have as much facilitv as other folks for loo-kins
through mill-stones , that this precious Dr . Cotman was an English spy . So at last tbe Doctor figures an a , round half-dozen of capacities : he is a physician , — amazing fact ! he is a great traveller ; he is a Russian officer ; lie is an agent to uegociate between , the great potentate and the Republic ; he is an English , spy ; aild above all * by ' favour of the Times , he has become , if we may be allowed the expression , of all the world the most distinguished- —no , Balaam forbid our beinsr so rude as to write the word !
Sitting on tjife summit of his own greatness , he begins inditing epistles to all and sundry , and aniongst others lie favours Mr . Greorge 3 N \ Sanders , whom the aiithqrities at Washington have chosen to lose for their representative here he addresses Mt . Sanders as " Colonel" Sanders , and instructs that gentleman in the virtues of Russia and the vices of England . Mr . Sanders is at least as well able to judge of the European affairs as Dr . Cotman ; he is no Colonel , and we have reason to believe that he gave the Doctor no authority to write to him ,- —that , in fact , the
Doctor ' s epistle has first reached him in print through an American journal . But Cotman understands his trade . He will , it seems :, undergo any disgrace tQ be distinguished ; so that he associates himself with prominent names , he will bow down before the Czar , He may smile at being regarded as an English spy ; and he can easily constitute himself the unauthorised correspondent of any eminent man . He is like the Snob who boasted that he had spoken to George the Fourth . " And did he answer you ? " asked the friend cl
to whom he boasted . Oh , yes ; in the moat familiar manner . " " What did he say then ?" " He told me to go to the devil !"
August 26, 1854. J T He Leader. 805
August 26 , 1854 . j T HE LEADER . 805
Domestic Moloch—His Wipe. Aite We To Und...
DOMESTIC MOLOCH—HIS WIPE . AitE we to understand the verdiofc of the jury in tho case of Evana versus Uol ) inson as a healthy reaction in favour of genuine morality , against cant and spurious morality ? The case , indeed , was one sufficiently glaring in , the character of its worst incidents , and the most prejudiced of juriea might well
pause , even at a former day , whew every tiling Was taken for granted in favour of an " ii > jurod husband . " But ; wo truly believe that the discussiou of some deeds which were considored incapable of discussion , although they were not incapable of porpetration , haa had a healthy influeneo on tho public mind , and lias "beneficially reached even juries .
we know nothing of tho present caso be-? rond that which was stated in court . "Wo mvo no desire nor any claim upon us to show favour for one aide more than another . "Wo will stato tho facts simply , as wo find them . Tho counsel for tho plaintiff stated that his client . My . Lloyd TCvnns , " is a gentlonmn oi good i amily and fortune in tho county of Gloucester . " Wo boo it intimated by ono ot tho witnesses that Mr . Evans was tlie son oi a chomiat and druggist in Towkosbury— -a statement not incompatible with his being n man of good family . A question also was raised whether his mother had boon barmaid
at an inn before her marriage ? Now men of family have married barmaids , and while the eseocheon descended untainted to the progeny , " newblood" would sometimes beneficially influence the stock . We affect , indeed , no contempt for " aristocracies . " There has been no country in a state of greatness and advancement that had not , either germinating in it or developing itself , an effective aristocracy ; that is , a body of men who were acquiring for themselves and
their sons , by acts of gallantry and public usefulness , a name which secured them credit even by inheritance , and which- constituted a standard obliging the children to maintain the honour of their parents . Every great and growing country has , under some name or other , its aristocracy ; and it is a reproach and warning to our own country , that men who possess the opportunities of wealth and inherited honour , are so unambitious , so feeble , so self-seeking , so forgotten , that they do not make themselves felt as an aristocracy , but only as pensionaries and encumbrances .
" Grod preserve our old nobility ! " for in their dotage they cyi < leiitly do not know how to take eare of .-themselves .. - jNjfen of family do wander into trade ,- and a younger son often beconies the tradesman " nieek and much a liar . " But whether attaining to the rank by inheritance or by aehieveinent , the gentleman is known in the nobility of his actions ; and he who marks si stain upon the inherited escocheon , is lower than a- churl , for he is a recreant . We must , however * judge Mr . Lloyd Evans ]) y a high standard , since he claims to be of" good family . "
In jS " ovember , lS 50 , Lloyd Evans marries Sophia Carringtonj the daughter of a gentleman who distinguished himself in the public service of Ceylon . Lloyd Evans was at that time thirty-two years of age , his wife five or six years younger ; and they went to live at Leicester . It was a residence which Mrs . Evans did not like , but which Mr . 35 vans did , for tkey were in . the house of his mother , and he enjoyed the sport of hunting , which ate up his leisure for many days in the week ,
from morn to dewy eve . There are intimations that about this time the lady showed some petulance ; but the grounds of her chagrin are nob stated . Let us note that in all these cases , the cii'cumstances which constitute the grievance of the " injured husband " are brought forward with a complete and disgusting minuteness ^—witness the caso of Norton , and this case almost as infamous ; but the circumstances which beget motives on the other side—the injuries of the wife ,
sometimes tho deep tragedy whoso outward traces are a petulance looking pitiful enough , —seldom can bo stated , almost never get thoroughly explained , and tho judgment is as often , ex partc . Whatsoever the causo , Mr . and Mrs , Evans did not agree ; and in April , 1351 , before tho birth of their first child—which subsequently died still-born —• they separated by mutual consent , under an agreement binding both parties never to seek a compulsory reunion . They were divided in
the world , but the husband , it seoms , roquired his wife thenceforward to maintain a life of abnegation ; that ho did so is evident from , tho nature of this caso . We have wo knowledge of Mr . Evana'a conduct , nnddosire none j but we nsk any man of the world whether , undor such circumstances , husbands decree a life of abnegation for themselves ?
Mr . Evans suspected that his wife did not oboy hia idea of proper life ; she was much with , a Mr . Kobinson , a gentleman , fifty years of ago , an old friend of her father ' s ; and Evaus , who had not secured her to himaolf in tho only way by which man can secure woman—that ia , by- thoroughly engaging hor affection and her willing devotion , —suspootod that Bobinson mi / jht have done so , Tho
evidence does not show that the suspicion Avas groundless , but it evidently had very slight ground to rest upon , since ou no other supposition could even an advocate in court justify the measures taken by the " injured husband" to procure testimony . Let U 3 always remember that Lloyd Evans is a man of " good family , " having , of course , the right to bear arms , and bound by that right to behave honourably to all , but most especially towards women ; and he regards a . wife as a thing sacred .
He had no proofs Against his own wife , but he suspected her , and he invoked an intervention to assist him . in preserving the sacred relation . What was the intervention ? It was that of a detective officer of police . The officer of police went to the wife ' s lodging , —induced the landlady to tolerate his intrigues , —introduced into the house a woman , who was Os tensibly cook , bub was really ; a spy ,-rinstructed her how to keep watch upon the
wife , —and supplied her with an instrument for rendering the espionage effectual . That instrument was a gimlet . Informer days the injured husband , doubting the uprightness of another gentleman , would have invited an explanation or aii appeal to the sword . In this Superior age , it seems we have substituted the gimlet for tlie sword . The gimlet is the trusty weapon by which the injured husband is to redeem Ins lionour . ' ¦ '• , " .
Mrs . G-rocott , the matron who condescended to co-Operate in this mission for the redemption , of Mr . Evans ' s honour , employed the implement , under the advice of the deteCtiye , to bore holes in a sitting-room , door ; the door thus perforated , a private room wzia rendered b y Mrs . Grocott , and two other women whowere with .-her , a peep-show for
spying upon the conduct of the lady . Tlie spying upon the conduct of the lady . The injured husband , —who must have regarded the marriage relation , as something sacredwho had of course professed the teriderest regard for Sophia Carrington when she surrendered herself to Ms care- —thus gather a story with revolting details , and drags it into court for the amusement of the whole British
empire next day in the columns of the Time's Ajxd tins is done in order to obtain sonie legal triumph' —some technical release , against a , woman , from whom he was already separated in fact ; who had not crossed bis path , wfyo suspected no such pursuit . Supposing that the story told by Mr . Evans ' s witnesses were true , —which we have no reason to suppose , for persona who could hire themselves out to the
moanness of espionage are guilty of a worse offence than concoctiug a lie—the real question involved in the caso is whether juatiej would bo furthered by giving a triumph to the husband over tho wife ? "Who had done tlie greatest wrong to tho other ? who had most outraged natural fooling ? who had iijiilicted the deepest wounds upon morality ? Such cases , indeed , have hitherto been judged entirely upon fanciful grounds—a presumed stato of society which doos not exist . But ¦ who was the offender horo , who the wronged ? Was the woman who might have dono t !» : it which "was stated in tho story disbelieved by
tho jury , or the husband who thus purdnod tho wife that ho had partod from for ever , — who used those- moans to spy upon her actions , —and , violating ovory dictalo oi delicacy or mercy , dragged tho story , truo or falso , before tho oyoa of tho world ? tiuidauloa wo despise " for making u show oi Iijia wife ' s beauties : but whuturowo Lo tlimk oi 1 . 1 jo Auti-Cundttulea who tonrs down tho ourUina of tho nuptial conch , from which ho has pnrUul for over , in order to pillory hia wife m public contempt , while ho asks a dotectivo aiul . n , hireling to aid him iu exposing to shamo llio JHidte aud wpaknossea of a helpless womuu ?
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 26, 1854, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26081854/page/13/
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