The Express.
London, England, 1864-07-15 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
(TR 18 DAY.)

COURT OF PROBATE AND DIVORCE.
tßstore the Judge Ogdisery.)
HOPLEI r. HOPLEY.—PART HEARD.

Yr. Hosier, the respondeet, addressed the jury li
!,t,;th and with great ability; but with • certain tendency
.3.Cll,llVeness which had to be eoetianelly restrained by
lie awl he had come into court prepared to
L.r much wickedness, because those who could ounces,,
iustrament as the petition were not likely to
at anything calculated to edemas their
de.. 0. The position in which he stood was in-
a terrible one. He was unused to the peso-
of cot., to, arid he was usable to bear the expense of
" .‘,11,q; himself with legal assistance or with his witoesses.
tLere I,;uoraut and in poverty, just released from
, with the door of society slammed in his face, despised,'
~.,..„•ierless, penalises, homeless, sad worse than wifeless
• eta:alms—he stood there alone, with so ',sip but his
t:a,t in the Divine promise that He would help the
rid. to meet au angry world. He stood there to wilt beck
te ..otiour a wife whom he still loved more dearly thee his
l',, awl to win back the right to hear his own children
the name of father, and to train them with God as his
for God and for Heaven. What was he to do
k Le to prove that his wife, whose honour was
was untruthful? That he thought, would be unkind
,:. !Da certain extent u.,jurit, for he was satisfied that she
• in her heart still loyal to him, and was only acting
cider the baneful influence of his enemies. All hie life be
.-voted himself to the good of his fellow-men. He had
▪ .:,.-a books and Iseturea (from which he read copious ex.
is which he had contended that a great portion of
ti.e misery of the world was preventable. His greet scheme
• in the first place to improve popular education, to
tit .bitch a model educational establishment, and to found
▪ L'w scientific society on the plan of the Royal Society, to
he called " The Royal Educational Society." These designs
Lid procured for him the character of being • visionary . •
Lad the petitioner's brother, the Rev. Wolstenholin Cobb,
id positively threatened him with a commission of lunacy
toe moment he came out of prison. But, in truth, he was
a 1, in of the most practical views, and he had endea-
voured to carry them out in every possible way.
• object in desiring marriage was that he might
ertablished • model home, in which thereshould be a model
nursery ; and he had eodeavoured to train his wiles, a model
t•.ristian mistress of a house. Before marriage the petitioner
bid fully entered into his ideas, and after their make those
ide, became their joint objects. Considering the appear-
ance which she had made in the witness-box—herdemamour
hid been theta a most lady-like and well interacted person—
it au no imputation upon her, but rather to her honour to
lay that her education had, previous to her marriage, been
extreroelv neglected ; and be claimed his wife as the
most sinking testimony that could be given to the
sasses of hie s)tem of hygiene, and mental and
• training. Mr. Hopley entered; at great length
into dotails, and he contended that the letters
of hit wife to him showed that it was utterly impossible for
his conduct to have been of that brutal and unmanly
• trader which had been attributed to him. He had per.
ueularly studied obstetrics, and the management of chil-
dren ; indeed it had been one of his objects to diminish, by
the dissemaoation of sound knowledge, the special sufferings
of women. He argued that from the account his
wife bad giver' him of her last aocouchement it was
apparent that she had fared by DO mesas no well then as
she bad done tied*, his care. He had always insisted that
pregnant women should always be treated with the greatest
etre. and should be kept as free as pomible from everything
lately to produce irritation.
Sir J. Wilde reminded him that the jury were ia gesta-
tion with their verdict, mid be hoped. therefore, that he
would avoid irritating them as =when he could. (laughter.)
The respondent then referred to the remarkable cautious
which his wife had made to procure his retests. Those
itertious were described in her own letters es late es
March 23, 1863. What, he would ask, were her inteatioas
if any one of those effort' had proved successful? Within 24
hours he should have been 'stet liberty, sod in all probability
at the door of her home. Did the jury support that he
would have been met by her solicitor ; that he would have
been presented with that most wicked and atrocious dame
meet, the petition, and would have been told that it was am
much as the lives of his wife and children were worth if
they dared to rehire to him ? agate, his wife had
uniformly spoken of his cruel wrongs." What
were those! Certainly not the severity of his eon-
teem ; for if he bad really been guilty of the
crime imputed to him, it would have been far too indent.
Her meaning could only have been that she thought he had
been convicted on false evidence. But whose evidence?
The evidence of the very servants whom she had now called
in 'appal of her case. It was plain from what the jury
bed heard that he had always had a most unusual
love for children ; and was it credible that he should
behave with unnatural harshness to his own flesh andblood.
He would put it to the jury to conceive the heart-anguish of
a man who, believing that the state of the human being
ought to be one of perpetual improvement from the
moment of conception to the zenith of perfect manhood—
to.cooceive the anguish of such • man to see
his first-born alowl; lapwing into idiotcy ; and to
feel that while a well-arranged plan might have saved him,
ell had been frustrated by the neglect of that
foolish, foolish woman, the nurse. [The respon-
dent here became very much affected.] They might
laugh at him for his attention to his nursery,
but he trusted that no one he was addressing would ever be
placed in suck a situation. If it would help these cruel
people who were persecuting him, he was willing to admit
that at the time Is question he was out of health. over-
s rough', ad very irritable. No doubt be had said and
d. ac things—not of the character set forth in the petitke,
I,sever, but things of which he should at any other time
hare been; ashamed. Bat all that was eight years ago—it
Lad passed away, and his wife had certainly never thrown
rc to hasteeth.

[Mr. Hopley was 000tinsiog his womb trim we went to
press.]

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.
(Ware Mr. Cotorainiaear Goalbars.)
COL. W. P. WAUGH.

A sitting was appointed in thee well-known owe for the
disk ion of • proof tendered by the Ueda) and Fasters
Banking Corporation ivied the relate of the bankrupt
The proof woe of the extraordinary amount of 250,0001., in
addition to arse 15,0001., a proof for which had bee. ad-
mitted in the surly stage of the bankruptcy. At the last
sitting the matter underwent considerable discussion, and
an adjournment was tikes with a view to an invest' 'on
by the saloon of the items comprising this eztreordtoary'
amount.

31;:i. Linklater, for the waives's, now stated that he
and Mr. Moans (who represented the beak) had come to an
agreement on the maim items is dispute, but there were
some points on which they wished to take the opinion of
his Honour privately.
The Commissioner—l shall be happy to give you my
amistmoe ; but will you be bound by my decision !
Mr. Linklater —Oh, I have no doubt of that. I may also
mention that I have owsulted in reference to the suggestion
thrown out by your Honour at the last sitting, respecting an
allowance to the bankrupt (11. a week from the time of ear.
reederl, and the indigoes are quite ready to give effect to
roar Honour's suggestion.
Mr. Ba;ley appeared in support of • proof tendered by
Messrs. Laurie and Monier, coach builders. Orfordatreet,
for carriage hire ; but it was arranged that the matter
should steed over for the &Meadows of one of the creditors.
Afterwards Mr. Lieklater and Mr. Munn, went before
he Honour in his Driest@ room ; but, after a short con.
fereoce, it was stated that no agreement could be come to,
and the proof will therefore come on for discussion at • gab.
aeluent acting. Meantime the divideod is delayed.