Part 5

May it please your Lordship, Gentlemen of the Jury—My learned Friend has almost admitted the case on the part of the Prosecution, in the nature of his address to you, by saying, in effect, that if you believed Mr. Church to have gone into the boy’s chamber at that unseasonable hour of the morning, he could hardly come there for any purpose but that ascribed to him by this Indictment. At least, if my Learned Friend did not make that confession in terms so explicitly as I have given them, certainly he has not offered in his address to you the smallest explanation of so very suspicious a purpose. And although I invited him, when I first had the opportunity of stating this case, to assign any possible reason, except that which is imputed to the Defendant as matter of crime, why he should be in the Boy’s room under such circumstances, we have had no motive assigned, nor any suggestion of apology or excuse offered for such conduct.

There is an improbability in this case it is contended; because there had been no overture of the same description made to the lad before this period, nor any circumstance, by which an indication of the Defendant’s unnatural propensities, prior to this transaction, could be inferred. Gentlemen, we have lived some time in the world, and we have seen that men, with these diabolical passions, make those overtures, not unfrequently, to persons they never saw in the whole course of their lives, until some occasional meeting—sometimes in the Parks—nay, sometimes, even at public assemblies; and yet so extraordinary is the phrenzy with which men of these propensities are hurried, there is no accounting for their conduct on these occasions: certainly there is no amounting for the conduct of this Defendant in going into the boy’s chamber, except that which his abominable and unnatural lusts can suggest, and which are imputed to him by this indictment. Gentlemen, in the first place, was he there? Why it is suggested that the boy’s fright had magnified the powers of his vision, and that he must have mistaken the Defendant for his mistress, or for the maid servant, who slept with his sister. Now, Gentlemen, we have it in evidence that Mr. Church is a man near six feet high: a man of considerable size, and distinguishable from the boy’s mistress, who is a little feminate figure; and also very distinguishable from the maid servant, whom my learned friend, Mr. Gurney, wishes you to infer was the person who entered the prosecutor’s room, because the maid’s chamber door was not shut; although there was no question asked by the Defendant’s Counsel, as to the intimacy of this young man with that servant maid. I admit that the servant’s door was not fast; but my Learned Friend did not inquire whether the servant’s door had been left open or fastened, when the servants went to bed; nor was any inquiry made whether the lock of that door was defective, as sometimes happens to be the case with the servant’s rooms in a gentleman’s house; for deficiencies of that description are not so immediately remedied as in the more preferable rooms of the house. Gentlemen, could the young man by any possibility mistake the female figure of the maid servants or of his mistress, for the man he described—a man that is of considerable size—near six feet high, and a very striking object in point of height? Most unquestionably there is no pretence for supposing, that there could be any body else but Mr. Church in the room at that time. Now what is the conduct of the young lad on that occasion? He goes down to West, the potter, immediately, and states to him, that Mr. Church had behaved indecently. I admit that, in the course of conversation, he mentioned some of the particulars of what occurred, which the potter says he does not recollect. The boy goes on further, and states particulars that he had related to the man, which the latter says had not been mentioned to him; and what is more probable, than that in giving an account of a conversation which took place so long ago as the month of September last, that the one may add half a sentence which the other does not remember? But was not the statement that the lad made at the time to the second witness, West, (though the latter does not recollect the whole of what passed) that Church came into his chamber, and conducted himself with indecency towards him? They then return to the house; the lad and he examine the house for the purpose of ascertaining whether any body else is there; no other male person sleeping in the house; and they find all secure and safe; and yet it is to supposed, that they went in search for thieves! Why the result of the search would decide whether the object of the search was to see whether there were any thieves in the house—for neither a door nor a window had been opened, nor was there any aperture at which a thief could gain admittance. It is clear, therefore, that there was no other male in the house except Church, the party indicted; nor is there now any colour for supposing that there was any body else there of his sex but himself. But, it is said their object was to search for thieves, and that the alarm was for thieves, and that the Boy, when he went before the Magistrate, gave some account about searching for thieves. Why, in his examination here to-day, when he was asked whether he and West did not go back together to the house and search for thieves, he very naturally said, “Yes, Sir:” but why did he give that answer?—Because there was another proposition put to him, which appeared as material as that with respect to the search for thieves, and accordingly he answered in the affirmative. It is true that he did admit at first, that he went to search for thieves; but when he came to give the explanation to the answer, he states that he did not particularly search for thieves; and after a little cross-examination by the same Learned Counsel, it appeared that the object was not to search for thieves, but merely to ascertain that there was no other man in the house that could possibly commit this indecency, this outrage against religion, morality, and nature. But the man who was called last, named Wood, is called to state something that passed before the Magistrate; and, according to his representation, there was something said about going to search for thieves. It is observable, however, that he did not take up the whole story told in the testimony of the lad, nor did my Learned Friend examine him as to the anterior part of his statement: and from this it must fairly be inferred, that the most material part of the boy’s testimony given to-day, and that given before the Magistrate, was consistent, and not to be shaken. For you may be quite certain, Gentlemen, that when my Learned Friends on the other side content themselves with catching at the smallest variance in the testimony of the witness from his original statement; it is a decided proof that the most important part of the case is not to be shaken, and is incapable of contradiction. The material part of the evidence remains untouched by any shadow of doubt as to its credibility. My Learned Friend rests satisfied with the contradiction upon the subject of what passed between the Potter and the Boy, but which, I say, is wholly immaterial as it affects his credit; and the only further objection he makes to his testimony is, that his evidence of to-day does not correspond, in some minute particular, with his examination before the Magistrate. For the reasons, however, which I have given you, Gentlemen, you will dismiss these trifling matters from your serious consideration.

But it seems that Mr. Patrick has been guilty of some mis-statement as to what occurred in the early stage of this proceeding; and we have Mr. Thomas called, as it is said, for the purpose of contradicting him, as to the result of some conversation which passed between them after the interview at Mr. Church’s house. Gentlemen, it is some what singular that Mr. Thomas, who was one of the Defendant’s hearers, and interested himself so much in this case, that when the boy is brought to give him information as to the complaint which he had to make against Mr. Church, he does not make the least inquiry into the lad’s account of the transaction, nor does he express any desire that the lad should be introduced to Mr. Church. We have it in evidence from himself, that on the day when Mr. Patrick called upon Mr. Church, he waited with the lad on the outside of the house; and although Mr. Patrick brought the boy for the express purpose of having him confronted face to face with the Defendant, still Mr. Thomas does not ask a single question of the lad, nor does he go into any examination upon the subject.

Gentlemen, that this case was immediately blazoned about very early is clear, though it was not carried before the magistrate so soon; because we find that when Mr. Patrick came home on the Thursday night, though he did not speak to the boy until the next day, the Friday, yet the subject was generally mentioned to his wife before he returned, and therefore the matter might have got wind before it was fully explained by the boy to his master on the Friday morning. It is quite clear that it was known to the congregation on the following sabbath, and according to that letter which has been read to you, (upon which I make no comments, except so far as it bears on Mr. Patrick’s testimony), the Defendant, Mr. Church, had written on the 6th of October to Mrs. Hunter, Mrs. Hunter having previously written to him on the subject, for he begins by referring to the letter which Mrs. Hunter had addressed to and expresses regret that he shall lose her as a hearer in future: so that Mrs. Hunter therefore, amongst other persons, was acquainted with the rumours, because from him this letter comes, from which it appears that she had written to him before; for it begins by stating—“My heart is already too much affected: your letter only added affliction to my bonds.”—Gentlemen, I only dwell upon this circumstance in confirmation of Mr. Patrick’s statement, that Mr. Church could contradict, not the whole of the report, but three points of the boy’s statement. This letter having come to the knowledge of Mr. Patrick, in which these three points are alluded to, and being desired by some of the congregation to pay the Defendant a visit, he accordingly resolves to call upon him. On that occasion he introduces himself by stating, as the apology for his calling, that he had seen a letter from the Defendant, in which he stated that he could contradict certain points of the boy’s story. The Defendant you will observe does not contradict the fact of his having written such a letter, but he goes into an explanation with the witness as to what are the points of contradiction; and then he states that so far as his having laid hold of the boy, and his having told the lad that the person who addressed him was his mistress, the whole was a mis-statement; and these, Gentlemen, are the only points of denial upon which the Defendant rested in his interview with Mr. Patrick, to whom, however, he admitted distinctly that he was in the boy’s chamber, though he denies the subsequent part of the transaction, which the boy to-day has solemnly sworn to have taken place.

Now, gentlemen, I ask again, if he was in the boy’s chamber, for what reason or proper purpose could he by possibility go there? And if he was in that room, can you have any doubt of the truth of all the circumstances which the boy has positively sworn?—If it was a person of the male sex who entered that apartment, it must clearly have been the defendant; for there was no other man in the house. It appearing distinctly that Mr. Patrick was absent from home on that night. Then I ask you, whether there is any ground for disbelieving the boy’s story, who, immediately after the disgusting scene he has described, goes to the pottery, tells his story to the workman, and stays there the remainder of the night, chusing rather to lose his rest than stay in the house with Mr. Church, under the liability of a further encounter for the same detestable purpose. The reason which the boy has given for not alarming the house, is not an unnatural one. We have it in evidence that Mr. West, feeling a manly indignation at what had happened, manifested a disposition to pull the unnatural offender out of his bed, and turn him into the street. But the boy, apprehensive that such an occurrence might give an alarm to his mistress, persuaded the potter to abstain from his purpose, and they accordingly did not enter the defendant’s door.

Thus, gentlemen, the testimony of the prosecutor is consistent in all its parts; for although Church denied some circumstances of the transaction as stated in his letter read to-day, yet every main and important feature of the transaction is confirmed by collateral circumstances. Mr. Patrick’s evidence is a direct corroboration of the boy’s story, from the moment that the transaction first took place down to his examination of to-day. But if, gentlemen, as I said before, you feel any reasonable doubt of the purpose for which the defendant came into the boy’s room, it is your duty to acquit him; but, on the other hand, if all the circumstances of the case conspire to imprint upon your mind that the defendant had clearly no other purpose, but a guilty and unnatural one when he entered that apartment, it is your bounden duty, disgusting as it may be, to pronounce a sentence of condemnation, whatever consequences may result to the defendant in the judgment which he shall hereafter receive.

THE CHARGE.

Lord Ellenborough delivered his charge to the jury as follows:

Gentlemen of the Jury—This is an indictment against John Church for an assault upon the person of Adam Foreman, with intent to commit an unnatural crime with him. There has been a considerable body of evidence laid before you, against him as well as for him: and it is for you to say in the result, after giving that evidence due consideration, whether the defendant has committed the assault with intent to perpetrate the atrocious crime imputed to him by the indictment.

Now, assuming the fact to be that Mr. Church was in the room at the time this offence was supposed to have been committed, that alone imposes upon him the necessity of giving some explanation for the occasion which brought him there. If, in addition to the fact of being there, which he admits, himself, to be true, you should believe the boy further in his statement that such an overture was made to him, and that the hand of a man was put upon his private parts in bed, you will have to say with what other purpose than as an inducement to the commission of an unnatural crime, it had been placed there. That is, supposing you believe the facts as stated by the young man. I should apprehend that no reason can be suggested for such an indecent intercourse (supposing it did take place) with this man’s person unless it was a prelude or inducement to the committing of the crime imputed to the defendant. Now the main question for your consideration will be, whether that which is sworn by Foreman, and confirmed by Mr. Patrick, is truly sworn. I think too much stress has been laid upon the circumstance, stated about the searching for thieves, which it is said, on the part of the defendant, was the avowed object of Foreman in returning to the house. It was very natural and highly probable when he apprehended, if he did truly apprehend, that a male person had come into his room and had accosted him in the manner he stated, that he should be clearly satisfied before he went farther in communicating to the potter the indecencies offered to his person, that there was no other male in the house, and seeing that no other male could come into the house at that time of night, unless he came for this purpose and no other. In this point of view, I think it is not at all unnatural or improbable in his conduct, even if he had said that he had gone in search for thieves; and, if you recollect, his evidence was, “that he had searched the house, not for thieves in particular, but to see if there was any body in any of the rooms.” “I did not think of thieves,” says he, “because I knew who it was,” and so on. He now says, that at that time he knew it was Mr. Church, and therefore he did not think of searching for thieves, his object being, in searching the house, to ascertain whether there was any other male in the house besides the one to whom he attaches the crime imputed by this indictment.

Gentleman, I shall now proceed to state to you the evidence as it has been given on both sides.

Adam Foreman, the first witness, states, that he shall be twenty years of age the first day of December next. “I am an apprentice to, Mr. Patrick, the potter, of Vauxhall; I have been with him about five years. I have known the defendant, John Church, by sight about two or three years. He is a preacher, and I have attended as one of the congregation in the chapel where he preaches; I have often seen him. I sleep generally at my father’s house, but when my master goes out of town I sleep at his house. The defendant Church lives near his chapel in St. George’s Fields. The defendant came to sleep at my master’s on the 25th of September last.” It seems, Gentlemen, he came there by invitation from Mr. Patrick, having weak health, and it being more convenient for him to sleep in better air. “He slept there on the night of the 25th September; I slept there also, that night. I don’t know whether the defendant had been there before; I cannot say whether I had seen him there before. My master was out of town that night, but where I cannot say. The persons who slept in the house that night were Mr. Church, my mistress, the children, and the two maid-servants; there was no other man in the house except Church and myself. My bed-room was the front parlour on the first floor, over the kitchen. It was not usually a bed-room, but I slept there because there was no other bed-room that I could sleep in. A temporary bed was put up there for me. I went to bed at near one o’clock. There was a kiln burning, and I was obliged to sit up to let the man in to the kiln when he came. It was necessary for me to sit up to attend that kiln, and to give the man the key. That man’s name is Thomas West. I went to sleep directly I went to bed. I had not been asleep more than half an hour, before I was awoke by some one putting his hands under the bed clothes, and laying hold of my private parts. He laid hold of me very tight. I put my hand out of the bed clothes and caught hold of him, and asked him who he was. I said, who are you? I laid hold of him, as near as I can guess, by the upper part of the arm; and I felt lower down, and found by the sleeve that he had got a man’s shirt on. I had a hold of him by the upper part of the arm, and running my hand down to the wrist, I found he had a man’s shirt on. The wrist was buttoned. I knew very well it was man, because he had got a man’s shirt on. The person, whoever it was, said, in a feint voice like a woman, “Adam, don’t you know me? I am your mistress.” It was not Mrs. Patrick’s voice. I knew the voice directly I heard it to be Mr. Church’s. He fled from the room directly; he went out of the room in a hurried step. I got out of bed and put on my small clothes and shoes, and went out to the door. As the man opened the door, I saw by the lamp that it was Mr. Church, and he had only his shirt on. The lamp is outside of the street door, on the Terrace, and throws a light through the fan-light of the hall door. It is a parish lamp. At the time I saw Church by the light of the lamp I was sitting up in bed: I had not then left my bed. I saw that the person who went out through the door had a man’s shirt on. I did not see his face at all; his back was to me. I then got up and put my small-clothes on and shoes, and went to the pottery to get the man to come up to the house. I told Thomas West what had happened. He was in the pottery, and was there I before went to bed. The person who went out at the door shut it after him. I saw him by the light of the lamp when he opened the door. There was no light in the room; the light came from a lamp on the terrace. That lamp is about five or six yards from the door of the house on the terrace. The terrace, on which my master’s house is situated, is a row of houses raised above the road. The lamp is upon the terrace opposite to the door. The light from the lamp is given to the passage through the fan-light over the door. When the man opened the door and went out, I saw him by the light from the lamp. I could not see the face of the person, but I saw that he had a shirt on. I was rather alarmed. It all took place in a minute. It was not long about. I don’t know how long he had been there before I awoke. From the moment I awoke it took place as fast as possible. I immediately went to West. We did not know whether any body had got in or not. West and I directly came and searched the house for thieves. We went and looked at every chamber door in the home except Mr. Church’s and my mistress’s. We looked at the door of Mr. Church, and that of my mistress. They were both shut. We found all the doors in the house shut except the servant’s, which we found on the jar.”

Now, Gentlemen, great stress is laid by the learned counsel for the Defendant upon this circumstance. It is suggested that it might be Mrs. Patrick, or one of the maid servants who entered the room. It appears that one of the servants was the prosecutor’s own sister, and it was not likely to be her that went in. It is said the prosecutor’s counsel ought to have called the maid servant and Mrs. Patrick to negative the supposed circumstance of their having gone into the room. Now, this observation is to be made, that it was open to the one side or to the other to have called the maid servant, and have proposed that question to her. It was clearly open to the Defendant, if he chose to call the maid, and to have asked her that question; and it was equally open to the counsel for the prosecution. It was also open to both sides to have called Mrs. Patrick. It is probable that the prosecutor’s counsel did not like to expose her to the pain of an unnecessary examination, because the Defendant might have called her as a witness for himself.