Case of divorce of Andrew Ure, M.D. v. Catharine Ure.

  • Ure, Andrew, 1778-1857.
Date:
[1821]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Case of divorce of Andrew Ure, M.D. v. Catharine Ure. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    on a statement entirely ex parte, vindicated, by a certificate, the innocence of Mr. Pattison, I now address myself, and call on them by all those high obligations, of which I will not permit mysell to doubt they entertain a proper sense, to review the case—to mark the perfidy practiced on them in the suppression of every tittle of criminatory evidence, and to counteract, by some efficient measure, the great and fla- grant injustice which has been done, by the weight of their authority. Circumstanced as I am, it may be conceived, how pain- fully I must have engaged in a controversy of this nature, so inconsistent with my principles, and the tenor of my con- duct. The views of Mr. Pattison have already, in part, been attained by it. He has made himself known—an aim from which he never for a moment deviated,—though I am per- suaded he will, henceforward, have to boast only of an in- famous notoriety. That I have not been actuated by any vindictive motives, in this case, my heart assures me. The controversy was of his own seeking, and most reluctantly did I approach this huge mass of moral putrefaction—being fully aware, that it was not to be stirred without contamination. Could I have discerned, even with the strong provocations I had received, a spirit of contrition, or of ordinary decency and modera- tion, in the habits and deportment of that individual, I think I should have remained silent. But in place of this, finding that his insolence increased in proportion to my forbear- ance, and that an immunity from punishment seemed to pro- mise only a repetition of crime, I felt it incumbent on me to act as I have done. Every system of ethics, as well as our own religion, im- poses the duty alike of protecting virtue and repressing vice. An example, such as that of Mr. Pattison, is most perni- cious in all its bearings. Exiled, according to the best tes- timony, by the frowns of the offended community in which he lived, is it fit that he should be here cordially received- polluting by his presence the purest society, and permitted