Page:English laws for women in the nineteenth century.djvu/136

124 Mr Norton sought to crush me; and I consider that I owe to that manly and frank upholding, the only approach to justice I have ever been able to obtain. 1 give his letter, as it appeared in the journals of the day.

"To the Editor.

Sir,—Absence from London, and a severe private sorrow, have prevented my sooner noticing certain letters which have lately appeared in the public journals, in which my name has been most improperly introduced by Mr Norton, who has thought fit to publish his copy of a case laid before me for my opinion, in 1836, and a letter of mine to his solicitor, dated 9th Jan., 1837. He publishes these documents to prove, that my opinion then was at variance with one which I have more recently expressed; namely, that his conduct to his wife 'has been marked with the grossest cruelty, injustice, and inconsistency.' If Mr Norton's remarks on the alteration in my opinions, had been merely intended to impeach my judgment, I should not have condescended to notice them; but as he intends the public to infer, that Mrs Norton may be unworthy of the later opinion which circumstances have led me to form, and he himself undeserving of the censure I passed upon his conduct towards her, I consider I should be acting the part of a coward, if I refrained from coming forward to state the truth, however disagreeable this enforced publicity may be,—nay, must be,—to any man who has merely endeavoured to do his duty fairly and fearlessly, as a gentleman and a man of honour, between parties utterly unconnected with him.

If Mr Norton's object in publishing my letter and opinion had been the development of truth, he would not have left unstated, facts which clearly account for my change of opinion. As he has thought fit to suppress those facts, I will supply them.

When this opinion of the 3rd October, 1836, and the letter of the 9th January, 1837, were written by me, I was acting as his Counsel; and on his ex parte statements, in the firm belief that every assertion he made to me was true, and capable of proof, I wrote that letter and I gave that opinion.

Some time in the year 1837, and subsequently to my letter to Mr Currie, my position was changed. I ceased to be Mr Norton's Counsel, and all previous attempts at reconciliation or arrangement between him and Mrs Norton having failed, I, at Mr Norton's own earnest solicitation, took upon myself the arduous and thankless office of arbitrator, providing that Mrs Norton would permit me to act in that capacity on her behalf. I did not expect that she would ever consent to this, from the position I had held as Counsel for her husband, and the impression she necessarily must have entertained, that I was prejudiced against