The Express.
London, England, 1864-12-12 00:00:00

BRITANNIA.

Ten MIMI. DICE WIITITINOTON AND HIS CAT.
—Louthy the Great Value, the LittJe Steele, mat•
the releherted D'Aubeaa —And AURORA FLOYD.
Kiss Liles —Coseatesee et lelf-pset S.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON-ER/DOE.
TIM DAT Ilovoing, Ob. 48m.....AftamooL lk. HAL
10-Komow Wooing, lb. 40s. ....AtlonsooL IL lEL

LONDON, MONDA Y, DECEMBER 12.

THE 1 ELVERTON case has reached and passed
-OM more stage in its progress to a conclusion, but
it only enables us more clearly to " see Alps on
" Alps arias " in the way of legal difficulty. The
judgment of the House of Lords having been in
Major VELA' RATON'S favour, the ordinary step for
carrying it into final effect was by a motion to the
Court of Session to apply the judgment But when
this was made on Saturday week it was met by a
counter motion on the part of Mrs. Lorrowoarn
YELWERTON to allow her to state facts which bad
come to her knowledge since the decision, having
a material bearing on her case ; and to allow these
facts to be proved. The allegations were to the
affect that • brother of Major Witusis Yetvtirrow,
FREDERICK by name, who died in February, 1860,
had expressed a belief that the marriage with Miss
Ur:woe-ill in Scotland was valid, resting that
belief on the declarations made to him by Major
Yuveerow himself as to the nature of the
ceremony gone through in Scotland, and
as to his intending it at the time to be binding.
Affidavits of two witnesses were produced in sup-
port of this statement One was sworn by a WIL-
LIAM BIGGS, of Bannagher, describing himself as
land agent of Lord AVONMORE, and intimately ac-
quainted with the members of that family, and who
declared that he fully and distinctly remembered
Fic ED ER IC K YELVEATON frequently making the
assertion that WILLIAM bad " acknow-
" lodged to him, the said FREDERICK, that
" said Scotch marriage had really taken
" place between him, WlLuut Qualm Yr.i.-
" veirroN, and the said THERM. LONGWORTH."
'The other was sworn by the Rev. E. G. Cattrani,
Rector of Kilderry, in the diocese of °glory, having
visited in his clerical capacity one Sagas MAL-
LINA, then an inmate of the Meath Hospital, in
Dublin, who on her deathbed informed him
that she had been • servant in the family of the
acme FREDERICK YELNERTON at the time of his
death, that he then expressed in her bearing
much contrition for the part he had taken
in aiding Major YeLvestrow to set aside
his first marriage, and that she had heard
FREDERICK say to hiabrother, " We are ruined by
" ' your marriage with Mistress Fours. How
" could you take her after reading the marriage
" service with Miss LONGWORTH in Scotland, and
" afterwards being again married in Ireland I'
" That the said Major YELVERTON replied, ' It is
" sad thing to have acted so, but it can't be
" ' helped now. When I reed that marriage ser•
4" vice with her I had fully resolved to have her
" as my wife, and it wee to satisfy her importu-
" nities I renewed it again in Ireland. I had no
" thought of deserting her then, or to marry
" Mistress FORBES, or anybody.'" Of this
dying evidence of SARAH MALLINS the clergy•
man who made the affidavit depones, "And I say
" that the said SARAH MALLINS appeared to in.
" to speak with candour, and I have remembered
" what she said distinctly, and have given the sub-
" stance of it correctly and accurately."
All question as to the admissibility of this
evidence, bad it been tendered in time, is removed
by the rule of the law of Scotland, that statements
of persons who aro dead may be received. Nor can
it be disputed that this evidence would have been
very material. A jurywould undoubtedly have given
very great weight to the narrative of independent
witnesses who testified that a brother of the prin-
cipal party lived and died in full belief, derived
from conversations with him, that he had gone
through the marriage service in Scotland, intending
it to constitute marriage, and one of whom had
actually heard these words from the defendant's
own lips. It will be remembered that the whole
question turned upon the double doubt whether
mocha ceremony bad been performed at all, and if
performed, whether it had been more than • pre-
tence intended ou both sides only to quiet the
lady's easy scruples. But it must be kept in view
that if at the time the ceremony was really sup-
posed by both, or even by one of the parties, to
be a valid form of marriage, no subsequent
change of mind in either would alter its effect.
Hence if the jury, or the Court of Session and the
House of Lords, which in this case performed the
part of jury, considered this evidence credible, it
would have supplied the missing link in the chain,
which in default of evidence was held to be a fatal
defect in the proof of marriage.
But not being tendered in time, it is clear that
at least the Court of Session could not now enter-
tain it. When that Court has pronounced judg-
ment, and the judgment has been carried by appeal
to the House of Lords, the Court below has no
further concern in it, save to perform such duties
as the Court of Appeal may direct. The Howe of
Lords is tenacious of privilege in this matter, and
any difficulty or delay made in carrying out its in-
junctions would certainly have been visited with at
least the penalty of strong language on the part of
the Law Peers. But it does not follow that all

remedy is therefore barred. Application will
doubtless be made to the House itself to
admit this new evidence, and it is pos-
sible that the House may not consider
the application too late. It has laid down before
now the principle that its judgment is not irrever-
sible, if it has been obtained by concealment or by
fraud. In the present case its judgment is of the
nature of a verdict, and in this country the grant-
ing a new trial after verdict on the ground of the
discovery of important evidence for the plaintiff
is not unfamiliar. Such a course is matter of dis-
cretion of the court ; the main object being to
prevent injustice being done. And in this in-
stance it would seem that the plaintiff cannot be
charged with laches in not producing the evidence
in question sooner. Had FREDIRICH YILVERTON
been still in life, his testimony would naturally
have been called for at once. But when he was
dead, the plaintiff could hardly be expected to seek
out or discover those to whom he had privately
made important declarations. Still less when
SARAH MALLINA was dead could it have been ex-
pected that the clergymen who attended her death-
bed should have been examined. Till these wit-
names came voluntarily forward then► was no due
to lead to their important knowledge being
divined.

Yet even if this attempt should fail her, Mrs.
LOSUWOUTII YELVERTON has still a resource. She
proposed, when judgment was pronounced by the
House of Lords, that the defendant should be
examined on oath. This was refused, but it
seems she has renewed the application in a different
form. By the law of Scotland a party in a suit
haa, even after verdict, the right to "refer it to the
" the oath "of the other party. Instances have been
known where the terror of perjury has caused the
surrender of an unjust demand or a false defence.
This ancient rule is obviated in general now-a-days
by the modern practice of examining the parties
as witnesses, as in our own courta. But since in
suite respecting marriage the parties are not allowed
to be examined, Mrs. LONGWORTH YEivr.a-
TON proposes to resort to the older form.
It remains to be seen whether it will be admitted
at this stage. The Court of Session has done no
more as yet than order it to be argued. It will
doubtless be represented as in so far a different
step in the procedure that it may be conceded
without interfering with the decision of the
House of Lords. But whatever the judgment on
it may be in Edinburgh, no doubt it will again
ccme before the Court of Appeal. Nor can we
blame a woman who thus uses all the means which
the law puts in her power for ascertaining the
truth, as if she were pushing litigiousness and tech-
nical forms to extremes. A woman may be per-
mitted to be litigious for her honour and for the
name of wife, and a prayer for inquiry directed to
the honest discovery of the real facts ought not to
be branded as technicality.

Vbt Court.

WINDSOR CASTLE, Die. 10.

The Queen walked and drove in the grounds of
the Castle this morning, accompanied by Princess Bekaa.
Princess Louise, attended by the Rot. Emily Catboat,
took a carriage drive.

Dec. U.
The Archbishop of Canterbury arrived at the Osseo
yesterday.
The Queen, Prince= Helena, Princess Louise, Prinoses
Beatrice, and Prince Leopold, and the Ladies and Gentle-
men in Waiting, attended divine service this morning in
the private chapel.
The Rev. W. R. Jolley read the prayers, and his Grace
the Archbishop of Canterbury preached the sermon.
A deputation, consisting of the subjoined parliamentary
and municipal representatives, had ea interview with the
Right Hon. Sir George Grey, at the Homirodfos, on Satur-
day, on the subject of the utilization of the sewage of towoa,
and preventing the pollution of rivers and streams :--Froni
Birmingham, the Mayor (Henry Wiggio, Esq.), Mr. Conn.
cilia. Sadler (chairman of the Public Work, Committee),
Mr. Standbri.lge (town clerk), Mr. Till (borough surveyor),
and Mr. Murray Dale (solicitor), accompanied by Mr.
Scholefiskl, M.P. • from Nottingham, the Mayor (W. Pegs,
Fen.), Mr. Alderman: Vickers, Mr. Councillor Barber, and
Mr. M. C. Tarbottom (borough surveyor), accompanied by
Mr. C. Paget, M.P., and Sir R. J. Clifton, M.P. ; from
Derby, Thos. Roe, Esq. (Mayor), Mr. Alderman Madelsy,
Mr. Councillor Longden, and the borough surveyor, mom-
pealed by Mr. Beale, M.P., and Mr. T. Baas, M.P. ; from
Wolverhampton, Mr. Alderman Banks (chairman of the
Sewage Committee) and Mr. Hayes (town clerk) ; from
Coventry, Thos. Soden, Esq. (ex.mayor), Alderman Wyley,
and the town clerk and city surveyor, accompanied by Mr.
Treherse, M.P. ; from Preston, Mr. J. Newton, C.E.
(borough engineer) ; from Bath, the Mayor and Mr. Stone
(town clerk). The Right Hon. C. B. Adderley, M.P., and
Mr. John Bright, M.P., were nimble to attend.
The Hon. George Brown, President of the Executive
Council of Canada, had several interviews with the Right
Hoe. Edward Cardwell, at the Colonial-office, in the course
of the lan week.

Despatches were seat on Saturday from the Cola:tied-
office to the Governors of the North American Provisoes,
Malta, Ceylon, lions Kong, L►bnan and Gibraltar.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge
returned to Gloucester House, Park-lane, on Friday evening
from visiting the Marquis and Marchioness of B►th at
Longlest, Wilts. A distinguished patty was invited to
meet the royal duke.

Her Royal Highness the Princess Mary of
Cambridge ia expected to return to Cambridge Cottage,
Kew. early in the ensuing month from Germany.
The Duke and Duchess of Manchester have left
Brighton for Calais, on their w►y to Nies, when they pro
pees to spend a few weeks before returning to Kimbolton
Castle.

The marriage of Miss Bouverie, granddaughter
of the Earl of Radnor, to Mr. Stephenson, son of Lady
Mary Stephenson, and nephew to the FArl of Albemarle,
took plans last week at Colsehill Lome, Berkshire.

Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to confer
upon the Earl Spencer the Garter vacant by the death of the
Duke of Newcastle.

Mr. Childers, M. P. (Civil Lord), and Captain
Clarks, RE.. Director of Works, leave the Admiralty this
evening on ao official visit to Portsmouth and Portland.

The Council of tLe Royal Academy have named
Mann. Millais, Ward, and E. W. Cook as the managing
committee for the coining exhibition. Messrs. Lee and
Herbert should have served in rotation, but they Sr. absent
from England—Mr. Lee in his yacht, Mr. Herbert in the
Holy Land.

The Council of the Diocesan Institutions of
Oxford have nut a requisitMe to Mr. Disraeli to sanction
their publication of the speech on church policy recently
delivered by the right boa. gentlem►n in the Sheldonian
Theatre, and we (Heraldl have great plessura in stating
that Mr. Disraeli has assented to their wish, and the pub-
lication, by Messrs. ltivingtoe, will appear immediately.
By the provisions of the Government Annuities
Act of last session, the life tables and other forms which
ante be need must be on the table of the House of Cons.
mons for 30 days before their adoption ; hence no steps can
st present be taken to carp the statute into immediate
operation. By that time, however, all the requisite
arrangements will have been completed and explained for
the guidance of the public.

II Trovatore ii announced at Covent Garden for
four nights during the present week, followed by the third
act of Masanialo ; TAe Bride el &nig, with Row; or Lore's
Ransom for to-morrow ; and Helrellyn for Thursday.
Operettas by Messrs. Frederick Clay sad Frank Mod, with
open& by Mount Henry Leslie and George Osborn*, are
accepted. M. Goonod's comic opera, Le litedecia Mature
Lid, adapted for the English stage by Mr. C. L. Kenney,
which was to have been produced before Christmas, is now
poelponed till after " boxing night; and this foreign adap.
tattoo is to be immediately followed by soother (by the
alum adApka)-111. Filiation David's Leila RookA.