The Express.
London, England, 1864-07-29 00:00:00

The history of this part of the case is
Whatever may be the faults of Miss LOPOWOMII
there can be no doubt that she is • woman of
considerable intellectual power, and capable of
great devotion. That she was captivated by
Major YILVIRTON, and that he was attracted by
her, is unquestionable. The romantic night on the
Boulogne steamer, when they met for the first
time—her invitation to him to call upon her the
next 4y—her following him to the Crimea—her
visiting him in his tent—above all, the tone of
her letters, furnish conclusive proof of the
imaginative and even passionate nature of
the woman. In such • case as this
it is easy to make cruel insinuations and to cast
unwarrantable suspicions. Unhappily Major YEL-
VERTON, with an eagerness which does no credit
to his generosity, has inflamed these suspicions ,
and done what he could to damage Mies Lona-
wozra's character. Bat it seems to be the una-
nimous opinion of the Law Lords that until she
went to Waterford to meet the Major in 1857,
she remained perfectly pure, and that there is no
evidence of her having lost her virtue. From
1855, then, until the August of 1857, she un-
doubtedly resisted any advances which Major
Yacvmtrox may have made to obtain possession
of her person ; nor did she submit until
it seemed to her certain that a religious ceremony
would in a few days be performed at Rostrevor
before • Roman Catholic priest Miss LONG-
won:iv, indeed, stoutly denied that any intercourse
took place before that ceremony was performed on
the 15th of August, 1857 ; but this statement was
refuted by a cloud of witnesses, and it was clearly
established that during the preceding ten days she
occupied the same room with the Major.
There can be no doubt as to the fact that Miss
LONOWOWTH had set her heart upon marrying
Major Yrcvxeroff, if she possibly could, in the
regular form. But even in the Crimea the
difficulties in the way seemed almost insuperable.
And there are expressions in her letters which
seem to imply that • regular marriage was con-
sidered by her almost impossible. But she had
another plan. Thus, when at Abergavenny, she
wrote to the Major, suggesting he should come to
visit her, and that he should accompany her to the
old cathedral in Manchester, where her forefathers
lay dead, where their purpose and object would be
unknown to anybody, and go through the ceremony
of marriage. " Going through that ceremony,"
she said, "whilst it would not bind you, would
"be • salve to my conscience." Like many
other romantic women she would fain have drawn
a distinction between • marriage in the sight of
man and a marriage in the sight of Goy. She could ,
not bring herself to neglect the ceremonies alto-
gether, but if she could only get some sort of
sanction to her intimacy she would be satisfied.
If such was her view, her conduct after her arrival
at Waterford, and before the ceremony at Roe-
trevor, is intelligible. Within • few hours
the benediction so much desired by her was to be
pronounced.
But, in • legal point of view, it is difficult to
understand the interpretation which has been put
upon her conduct. Let it be summed that there
was a promise made by the Major in Scotland to
marry Miss LONOWORTH at some future day.
There is subsequent cohabitation in Ireland—not
in Scotland. But how was this cohabitation con-
nected with the precious promise T On the eon-
teary, it is distinctly connected with the ceremony
about to be performed in Ireland. Without that
ceremony, it is stated by Mies LONGWORTH herself
that she would never have surrendered herself to
the Major. But, as we have observed, according to
the Scotch law the cohabitation must be connected
with the previous promise, and must take
place in pursuance of it. In Miss LONOWORTH'S
case the permission to cohabit had nothing to do
with the promise made in Scotland, but with
a religious ceremony performed in Ireland. It
seems to follow that there was no promise of mar-
riage do flituro followed by cohabitation, nor any
promise de pram „ti, and that therefore neither form
of irregular marriage took place between Mias
LONGWORTH and Major YELVERTON.

1 IM!

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