The Express.
London, England, 1861-03-05 00:00:00

THE YELVERTON MARRIAGE CASE.

In our yesterday's impression we brought the pro-
ceedings in this extraordinary and protracted case down to
the commencement of Mr. Whiteside's reply, on Saturday
afternoon, on behalf of the plaintiff. The Dublin papers
publish this speech in edam to the length of some twelve
or thirteen columns, and as the pressure upon our space
will not permit of anything like a fair summary of it, we
merely give the concluding portion. Having reviewed all
the facts of the ease, the learned gentleman said : How
stands the question now that the whole of this great trial is
before you—now that you have all these facts—and I can-
not dwell at this hour minutely upon each particular dr-
mundane. as I might have done if I had gained you at an
earlier hour of the day, in endeavouring to reason it step by
step. I ask you to judge of that woman as she has ap-
peared before you; and then say do you believe her?
Tram her life up from the first hear that she stood
within the walla of the convent until the day she sat
in that box to tell the story of her multitudinous sorrows.
Ask yourselves what fact has been proved against her with
any living man save this defendant? Her crime is, she
loved him too dearly and too well. Hail ahe pommeled
millions she would have flung them at hie feet Had she a
throne to bestow, she would hays placed him on that
throne. She gave him the kingdom of her heart, and made
him sovereign of her affections. There he reigned with un-
disputed sway. Great the gift ! Our affections were by an
Almighty hand planted us the human heart. They have
survived the fall, and repaired the ravages of sin and death.
They dignify, exalt, and inspire our existence here below,
which, without them, were cold, monotonous, and dull.
They unite heart to heart by adamantine links. Nor
are their uses limited to this life. We may well believe
that when the mysterious union between soul and body is
dissolved, the high affections of our nature, purified,
spiritualised, immortalised, may add to the felicity unspoilt-
aide reserved for the spirits of the just made perfect, through
the ,connthiss ages of eternity. (Loud applause.) She
gave him her affections—abe gave him her love—a wornan's
love! Who can fathom it. depths! Who can measure
its intensity? Who ran describe its devotion? She told
you herself what that love was when she wrote to him,
"If you were to be executed as a convict I would stand
beneath the gallows." If he had taken that woman for
his wife, misery would bans endeared him to her, poverty
she would have shared, from sickness and misfortune she
would never have Bed ; she would have been his conetaat
companion, his guide, his friend—his polluted mistress
never. Therefore I now call on you to do justice
to that injured woman. You cannot restore her to
the husband she adored or to the happiness she
enjoyed. You cannot give colour to that faded cheek,
or lustre to that eye that has been dimmed by many a
tear. You cannot relieve the sorrows of her bursting
heart, but you may restore her to her place in society. You
may, by your verdict, enable her to say—" Rash I have
been, indiscreet I may have been through excess of my
affection for you, but guilty never!" You may replace her
in the rank which she would never disgraos—you may re-
store her to that society in which she humidified to shine, and
has ever adorned. To you I commit this great muse. lam
not able longer to address you. Would to Ood I had talents
or physical energy to exert either or both longer on the part
et this injured, insulted woman. She finds an advocate in
you—she Sods it in the respected judge on the bench —she
finds it in every heart that beats within this court and in
every honest man throughout the country. (Mr. Whiteside
resumed his seat amidst loud demonstrations of applause,
which were continued unchecked for several minutes.
Cheers were also given for Mrs. Yelverton.)
The court then adjourned to Monday. The hall was
densely crowded, and when Mr. Whiteside made his ap-
pearance he was greeted with enthusiastic cheers.

THE SUMMING UP.

DUBLIK, MONDAT.

_ - - -
Chief Justice Monahan having taken his Neat on the
bench at ten o'clock this morning, proceeded to charge the
jury. His lordship said be was rejoiced that this protracted
eau was at length drawing to a close, and thanked the jury
for their attention and patient investigation of • ease in-
volving questions of such vast importance to the parties
concerned. After impressing upon the jury the necessity
ei divesting their naintla of every feeling calculated
to influence their calm and dispassionate considera-
tion of the case before them, his lordship stated
that the action they bad to try was very simple in its
form. The allegation was that Mr. Thelwall supplied
funds to a certain amount to a lady who, as he alleges, is the
wife of the defendant. He does not say that at the time
thou were supplied to this lady be was not aware her hus-
band, Major Yelvertoo, had married another woman, and
therefore be rests his ease on this :—" You, Major Weer-
ton, were previously the !metal wedded husband of Maria
Yelverton ; being her lawful wedded hushusl, you bad no
right, authority, or power to cut her from you, an
outcast upon the world. You having not that power,
I, ieffisenced by feelings of humanity, took upon myself
the responsibility of supplying to that woman the care
and protection which in my conscience I believe was
due from you. I incur the risk in • court of justice
of exposing myself and my property to the heavy expenses
to which I will be liable should I fail in this action. But
still, on strong is the opinion that I entertain of the truth
and justice of the case of this unfortunate woman, that I
am prepared to incur that risk ID order that justice maybe
done to her through me." Whilst the case for the defen-
dant ie :—" Great as my delinquencies have been, dis-
hessosuably as I have acted ; though I have acted the
part that any man with a particle of feeling should
blush to have exhibited in a public court of justice, yet
that woman mu not my wife; she was my mistress—she
served my purpose ; and I am justified, if not in the eyes
of the Almighty God, in the eyes of the law, in casting her
upon the world, and therefore lam not responsible for the
debts that this gentleman chose, with a full knowledge of
the circumstances, to have allowed her to incur." That
is the question which the plaintiff has undertaken, and
which he is hound to prove, to the satisfaction of the jury.
Alluding to the marriages alleged to have taken place in
Scotland and Ireland, his lordship said :—Your inquiry,
gentlemen, will be, is either of these marriages sufficient?
For nothing is hotter established or mons consistent with
common sense, than that if one marriage be good the feet of
afterwards celebrating another will not void one previously
celebrated. On the other hand, if a void and improper
marriage has been celebrated, and that doubt arises about