The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1876-02-22 00:00:00

YEOVIL.

A SOMEMSETSIIIRE BREACH OF Pito>!hi:,
CASK

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In the Court of Se-Siena, at Glasgow, tbe cue ol•
Patetuan a. Watson was heard. Eliza Jentina ['atm*
sued John Watson. son of Anolrew Watson, dry.nit,
(lalashiels, for .CI,00) damages for alleged lorval
promise.
The pursuer :—I am 21 years of age. The dier,n,i,r jj
little ololer than I. I became anosinteol o ith his is
November, 1471. when I was employed in Mn.o.r,. u„sh4
and Son's millinery and drapery
Calasbiebt. I left Calashiels on 6th March, aryl west ts
reside for • short time at Evemouth with my wout t re
afterwards went to a situatton in Yeovil. Sower ...1,14m 1
receiveol a great many letters front the def.:lo,r 1
remember receivng a ring front* defender. when Ivo a.kng
mite to marry I • on the 12th February. I had g iat frau
Sirs. Illricar, my aunt, at that time. I toll hot of ma
engagment, and introducoool the defender to her. Altcr 1
went to Eyentoonth, the olefender twice visited tn. there.
nt the house of my uncle and aunt. Ile odaye I absu
three days each time. Ile was intr.pldeeol too ;ow frieals
on the footing that he was may intended lot to on,E on 4.
dth June I received a letter from the ol.folioler, •ayini
that, as be intended going alm,ad witti to . olhol Y•.Ung
fellows, it would he Nab to go on with the etagazownot,
and asking me to return hat letter,. I . h,•%, r “Ifer.,l it
release the olodender from his eng,:ftiovit. 1 ro a
letter from the defender, dated 11th •1007.1, in tint
following terms

t -prin Omit k, Gab .1i jell:. -Mir.. Pate,latt -aide post
„eud you all your letter., and hope y es e iil 'end 111.• all
• and the ring, liceause I have been wwned IT my
father to stop the ourrespontlence. Hoping y i will 41 4.0
at 'V ins, yours re.peetfully..loms w %Vo,s.
would like nay menls back."
I wee very much put about when I got that letter. I told
may employers. Mr. awl Ifni Griffin. llt their employ.
moat in September. That ant, „f what
lain happened on the part of the defender. I then wait to
may mother's 11.11140, and I 114Ve been thew rhielly sinne I
Itiel to give it mouth's noGee before leaving my dtuatim.
The defender never spike to me of hi het he
that hi, father thought of retiring trim lessittees arid
that he would go into partnership with hi. brother.
I Xoss-exa iii i:: : I hail a salary of 1:1:1 in tiala-hiells I
hail net my Imanl 10t0.1e.. When I went to Yeovil I :A
1:2.5 and my Giant. During the month I W4I WWI Mr.
tkitlin, after I gave untie to leave, I we. wit able to
attend to my duties. I never visited at the house of the
defender's family. They never visited uw. The defender
never told 1110 that the engagement must be kept --cret.
Ho never repremiated tint, that he wa.si partner with his
father. I thought he was a clerk with hi. father. The
engagement took place about six weeks after we became
acquainted. I coinidered that his promise wai brokenly
a letter of Xth June, in Nllll.ls 1110 Said it would he rash to
go on with the engagement. I .1. n ntou iw ot ralierkieg the
defender to return nay letter.., but I got them. I did not
return his. Ide not think hi. viler in a letter he after-
wants sent sue WJ: Levi pc, because he said rather thaa
lie tortured any longer he would marry me.
Mr. Griffin, .11k mercer and draper, of Yeovil, deposed t
Miss Pakistan e4lllll to my shop an March last, al first
mleswoman. I had heard e her through an a Iverti.,eturat
ii, the cqichrhie trod.f. I got a recounnewlation srau
her former imiployers iii Galashiels. I heard of her enga.w-
ment to the defender, and I W4i aware that they cones.
sponded. I heart of the pursuer receiving A letter
breaking off the engagement. I saw several letter, to the
pursuer from the defender,. and I thought them very mean
snit ungentlemanly. The effect of these letter, ell Mica
Pateturui was that she lust her appetite for a week or ten
days-ffaughterl-and she ultimately left nay estaltiish.
went. We never hail a young lady who mit.-.1 us well
before, until this enturred. I consider her almve the
average of assistants of her class, awl I win very sorry to
lam her. I have route down from Yeovil a, J Witavai oit
f regard for her.
in the course of the trial, the following letters front the
defender were read :-

At the close ef the lecture questions were invited,
when the Rev. T. Nemo!? of Dorchester, who had teen
aske I by the Nonconformists to attend, ross in the body
of the meeting t offer • reply. The Chairman courbeeisly
invited him to the platform an I asked for him a fair
hearing.
The Rev. gentleman began his reply by complimenting
the lecturer on the fairness of his spirit and the entirely
Christian temper in which he hail spoken. SlM:siting for
himself. he said that, in advocating the .lisestablislituent
and disendawnient of the Church of England, he isis
simply controlled by religious motive,, beeline, as he
believe:l, and though the could prove, the establish-
ment was the great disturbing religious element in the
nation, separating it into to',, notions, at they Well knew
Dissenters and Churchmen. He felt thatit was a duty
aaaa P.ent his. al 44 maa, NJ NY as lie roam,
ti ewleavour t end NJ unhappy and so disastrous a state
of things. Passing to consider the areumuent of the
lecturer, lie :irst noticed the definition which lie gave of
the Establishment as not compulsory. Mr. Nese,' pro-
ceeded to slow that the very essence of an Establishment
was necessarily compulsion, and that the history .4 the
act of uniformity was compulsion of the most hateful
and severe nature. Ile shewed that 2,1.100 ministers of the
Church were driven forth by that act Alla other at,
which were passed with the avowed object of supreaing
anything like free thought • and, said the speaker, it bag
been the strenuous efforts of the Nonconformists l-iring
three centuries which have wen for us freedom and made
the Oct of uniformity a failure and • dead letter. But
the Dissenters at Corte or an' where else would be under
a fatal delusion if they imagined that he establishment
was not' pulsion at the lecturer aftinned ; and if theyhad
attempted to absent themselves from the parish church
and worship ills conventicle they would have discovered to
their lost whether an Established Church were not a
compulsory Church. Even now there are hundreds of
villages in England, nay thousands, where dissenters are
persecuted for their dissent The truth is, said the speaker,
the fuudaniental idea of • state church is compulsion. It
is that or it is nothing, amid yet although, the act of
uniformity still exists, although by the force of opinion,
as a deal letter, and charges Nouconformists with following
their own sensual desires in the matter of Christian
worship,. nothing has been done to repeal an act which is
a gross insult to one half of the nation. Proceeding to
deal next with the state as selecting religious teachers,
the speaker asked whether the Rouse of Commons to
whew, pertained the work of authorising a relig for
the nation, could be competent for such a work. Whether
its compootion as representing all kinds of religious
opinion and no opinion, could) fairly be reg tried as
suitable, as competent for the work Then with reference
to the New Testament as not forbidding the establish.
silent of religion, the speaker call, that the fundatueutal
truth which the New Testament taught was the
distinction between the church amid the world; but the
fundamental idea of a state establishment said the
speaker, quoting at ,the Sonia time Hooper, was, that
there was no distinction between the church and the
state; that the members of the commonwealth are for
that very reason members of the church. There is the
only tenable position which the establishment Can take,
otherwise it reduces itself at once 43 the level .4 the sect
and becomes one of them itself; but the position is ante-
scriptural and is undoubtedlyropposed to Christ's declare.
tion—" My kingdom is not a world." lb (erring to
the church as a state institution, Mr. Neave • aid, that its
chief ofilcere were appointed by the prime miu:ster who
repreemted the House of Commons and in coil the
peopl, A ituotation was read from a speeset of Sir
Witham Harcourt, in which he repudiates the idea of
the divine institution of bishops and asks whether it is
by a divine institution he get 1,11111)5.e year and a palace
to live in. As to the creation of a babel, It is s iid to be
In the power of the Dean and Chapter, who professedly
seek of evidence from the Hely Ghost, Uhl who have at
the time they are praying for this direction te a proper
person, the mandate of the prime minister with the name
of the Minh tp, whom they most elect at the rsk 1 Menlo •
ing the penalty of the law, and that too even if the Holy
Ghost should guide them to seek some other person than
the nominee of the crown. As to the religion which is
established the speaker sail we have various religious
—we have the Protestant party, the infidel party
—At this point the Chairman ruse and objected to
this expression. Well, said Mr. Suave, I son miming trona
the Staadanl. We don't recognise the I as the
representative of our Church, :eh! the Chairman. Well, said
Mr. Suave, I will take the word in its etemology, :eel as the
Broad SCIIO,II e x plains away the great (set of the sup -.natur-
al in religion awl ilealgnates the great fact of Christ& &tone
meet and death as a Armin of influence. I will huld by
the term as a correct description. However, the :plait:ion
was evaded, and Mr. Naive proceeeod to say that what.
ever it might be at regents the Protestant religion, end
the eetablitheient of it, he was quite sure that if it were
put to the vote to.istorruw the people of Enid:eel would
not vote for the maintenance tint of the national musicaly
of diverse (onus of faith which were centred leted the
one by the other. And, in seeking disestablisliment, I
sin simply coutending that the present Establisionent is
simply an injustice aud es wrong to the entire nation.
Passing to the question of endowment, the speaker said
that endowments; were not the direct gifts of the State,
although he enumerated the amounts which had been
voted Pe. the ('hurch—an &duds/don which was granted on
both sides. In reply to the position of the lecturer who,
inu;:nto theirta tihneeedutttoair'Yls t:htaahirtthhal'elugittsthhwteyetlrewleolYi.uvlwdenenutihtinveoetclih' n given
ice beemi
used fur the purpose for which they intesnt:ded,yk:ll.fler,.r.epaNi,e:alite.be.
remarked that as the Church and State
peweorepleone disthae
II
these
thoughts,gifts wreegiven,well
o same.,tu
.tihnigngt,wr
.e when
sa i
given to the State and to all th,
aol
soil State,
n of the
religiou
this
ioet;
etnhi
rcEeatt,
the gifts were for all becaine all could parti.ipate in
rih,ution of
whethe
ant
in appro-
comuului
itpriating tih.e.slehicVhasatilrce:einues, reaching at q very moderate
::ituil:ll:!dusersr:liof"cixhrefu4t:tht4ifuliutelielhirerer'itlieleinhlitryier:oliP::,..usle%:ir.uarudi"swe.olaeeNitnlfihyebndee'eadeoton:in baC"murcidthtdviLitiailhdl:(l.t
Participate, a national :system of
medmucatu
cuemy Came
this property was given, when given by private iu lividuals
with the avowed object of having prayers said for
the repose of their own souls and the souls of their
friends, which things the Church of England repudiates as
dangerous deceit and foulest of fables the property
hiss already and for centuries been alienated front its
original purpose, and to use the words of the lecturer, said
Mr. Noses, if the pious aurasters hail Lamm that the
Church of England, would have ;alibied to offer prayers
for their souls, they woulU not have received C penny of
their property. But with regard to much of the property
it Can be demoustrated to have originated in U., law of
the land, then with the exception of probably some
6,000.1.11 e) acres of land under the plough, in the
reign of Edward VI., the remaining 24,000,0tamillions
have been tithed by Act of Parliament, and, therefore,
the revenues of the Church derived from thi source
amounting to upwards of 1:4,1100.00111, cannot be regard,',!,
as other than public property, and, therefore, it e eida be
as unjust fur the State to levy fia, of inn:Lao:ix, and
appropriate the revenue to the good ts:as ascii:in of the
people ; as it LI for the State to kessi the land as by tithe,
and appropriate the reverae, to the good of one section of
the people, calling is.elf the National Church. It is an
act of grict lejustiee end political wrong, awl s. heu
ra;,fiy grimmest by an. English people, I have Lies strong ---
sanviction, said Mr. heave, that it will Ise acknowledged printed Nag Publithog so S. HighwOrewl W.at, Mirth:telt; as an injustice aud pia ht 4 co th co rige general hi she pinta ei Holy Trinity. by Geo. FRANKLIN,
question of the Church is subeWinetion to the State that parish of Itcgdlngless, Dorchester. for the Proprietor.
seemed to him to la undoubted. The tool power, Tessign Februarr rind. BM.

" 3lardi ttsth,
" My Doarest Minna,—You will Imre to thi. nos..
3111 IlerTMr this morning. Know yoe will • 'there&
Ifear. My natty Minna, you know tlmt I hte ion with
oil my heart, and that in three or four or tiro years or
when you like I will marry you. My PrvttY Minna, fours
till dsmth.

"JOHN WATNON."
Oil_the Bth_ of Ilarch he wrote :

" Dearest la/Val.—Have just bad dinner, but no letter
waiting for me from my darling Minna, hope I shall get
one at six to-night (am sure I will). My Pretty Minna.
still think I am at Eyeanouth will never forget the walks
by the sea shore, the Fort, Cannon, our seat by the Flag-
stall and eta, pod in each other's anus in pure and deepest
love, deeper than can express, do not think now any
darling Pretty Minna that any love for rota Jun ever
grow leas, no one on this earth C.,t11.1 love you iume or
better, you have only to tell me what trait do to please you
if within any power I shall willingly do it I .MII lay down
any life for pea. don't think you could have anyl..liNve
you more. a. I told you at the Canon. when I gave you the
ring you got toy heart anti hand in marriage along with its
and when you accepted it I tandentool I got v•iiir heart and
hand also awl that we are bound together as --acre I Si if we
hail been mai ried tell me love if is it its, do quick. Now
go.al-bye nay Lewdly Pretty Darling Militia. itOtatUNCt
Good-bye. Kiss me kis.s toe darting.
Yours fur ever
On the bth June he wrote • letter which emtainol his
firat inthuation of his desini to break oaf the eugagment.
It was as follow.:
My darling Minna, —You wonder why 1 have been
writing you 6,3 little lately. The reason is, I intend gang
abitaasf soon with two other young fellows, anti in justice
to you I thin': it would le radi to keep on our engaguent
any longer, tu if you will retain' nay letters I nil return
pain, Hoping to have an answer from you by tint pest.
I remain, your affectionate.
The jury retired at a little pot one o'clock, and aldet
an absence itl lailitltiat, retuned au unanim
oils verdict for the pur-ovr„ awl laia,lattil the thlll
£2Oll

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