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ON

THE UNCERTAINTY

OF

THE SIGNS OF MURDER

IN THE CASE OF

BASTARD CHILDREN.

BY THE LATE

WILLIAM HUNTER, M.D. F.R.S.

PHYSICIAN EXTRAORDINARY TO THE QUEEN,

AND MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AT PARIS.

London:
PRINTED FOR J. CALLOW, CROWN COURT,
PRINCES STREET, SOHO.

1818.




TO THE

_Members of the Medical Society_.

Read July 14, 1783.


GENTLEMEN,

In the course of the present year, one of our friends, distinguished by
rank, fortune, and science, came to me upon the following occasion: In
the country, he said, a young woman was taken up, and committed to jail
to take her trial, for the supposed murder of her bastard child.
According to the information which he had received, he was inclined to
believe, from the circumstances, that she was innocent; and yet,
understanding that the minds of the people in that part of the country
were much exasperated against her, by the popular cry of _a cruel and
unnatural_ murder, he feared, though innocent, she might fall a victim
to prejudice and blind zeal. What he wished, he said, was to procure an
unprejudiced enquiry. He had been informed that it was a subject which
I had considered in my lectures, and made some remarks upon it, which
were not perhaps sufficiently known, or enough attended to; and his
visit to me was, to know what these remarks were. I told him what I had
commonly said upon that question. He thought some of the observations so
material, that he imagined they might sometimes be the means of saving
an innocent life: and if they could upon the present occasion do so,
which he thought very possible, he was sure I would willingly take the
trouble of putting them upon paper. Next day I sent them to him in a
letter, which I said he was at liberty to use as he might think proper.
Some time afterwards he told me that he had great pleasure in thanking
me for the letter, and telling me that the trial was over; that the
unfortunate young woman was acquitted, and that he had reason to believe
that my letter had been instrumental. This having been the subject of
some conversation one evening at our medical meeting, you remember,
Gentlemen, that you thought the subject interesting, and desired me to
give you a paper upon it. I now obey your command.

       *       *       *       *       *

In those unhappy cases of the death of bastard children, as in every
action indeed that is either criminal or suspicious, reason and justice
demand an enquiry into all the circumstances; and particularly to find
out from what views and motives the act proceeded. For, as nothing can
be so criminal but that circumstances might be added by the imagination
to make it worse; so nothing can be conceived so wicked and offensive to
the feelings of a good mind, as not to be somewhat softened or
extenuated by circumstances and motives. In making up a just estimate of
any human action, much will depend on the state of the agent's mind at
the time; and therefore the laws of all countries make ample allowance
for insanity. The insane are not held to be responsible for their
actions.

The world will give me credit, surely, for having had sufficient
opportunities of knowing a good deal of female characters. I have seen
the private as well as the public virtues, the private as well as the
more public frailties of women in all ranks of life. I have been in
their secrets, their counsellor and adviser in the moments of their
greatest distress in body and mind. I have been a witness to their
private conduct, when they were preparing themselves to meet danger, and
have heard their last and most serious reflections, when they were
certain they had but a few hours to live.

That knowledge of women has enabled me to say, though no doubt there
will be many exceptions to the general rule, that women who are pregnant
without daring to avow their situation, are commonly objects of the
greatest _compassion_; and generally are less criminal than the world
imagine. In most of these cases the father of the child is really
criminal, often cruelly so; the mother is weak, credulous, and deluded.
Having obtained gratification, he thinks no more of his promises; she
finds herself abused, disappointed of his affection, attention, and
support, and left to struggle as she can, with sickness, pains, poverty,
infamy; in short, with compleat _ruin_ for _life_!

A worthless woman can never be reduced to that wretched situation,
because she is insensible to infamy; but a woman who has that
respectable virtue, a high sense of shame, and a strong desire of being
respectable in her character, finding herself surrounded by such
horrors, often has not strength of mind to meet them, and in despair
puts an end to a life which is become insupportable. In that case, can
any man, whose heart ever felt what pity is, be _angry_ with the memory
of such an unfortunate woman for what she did? She felt life to be so
dreadful and oppressive, that she _could not_ longer support it. With
that view of her situation, every humane heart will forget the
indiscretion or crime, and bleed for the sufferings which a woman must
have gone through; who, but for having listened to the perfidious
protestations and vows of our sex, might have been an affectionate and
faithful wife, a virtuous and honoured mother, through a long and happy
life; and probably that very reflection raised the last pang of despair,
which hurried her into eternity. To think seriously of what a
fellow-creature must feel, at such an awful moment, must melt to pity
every man whose heart is not steeled with habits of cruelty; and every
woman who does not affect to be more severely