The Express.
London, England, 1857-11-26 00:00:00

irksome, that as a last and desperate mode of escape
from it she betook herself to the man for whom, in

spite of his infamous misusage, she still cherished a

weak and guilty affection.
Upon this state of facts the Supreme Court was
obviously plated in a somewhat difficult predicament.
Thome who applied for the habeas corpus relied on
the letters of the lady, u to.the genuineness of
' ' • '

which grave doubts might possibly be entertained ;
those who opposed the concession of the writ were
equally urgent to avail themselves of the affidavit,
to the authenticity of which considerable suspicion
also attached. It had been drawn up from statements

made by the wife under a species of duress, amid
tears and sobs, in the presence of an outraged hus-
band, and of the lawyer who subsequently reduced
it into the form of a narrative. The counsel ap-
plying for the habeas corpus—in other words, the
advocate for Fuattess, wham object clearly was to
get the lady again into his clutches—addressed
the Court in a strain of argument which, on this
aide of the Atlantic, seems somewhat original. Mr.
BUSTEED declared that " FURNESS was the first and
only person who, according to the laws of (toe and
man, should have sued out this writ, whether
it were true or false that they had been
" guilty of criminal intercourse." "He wanted
" to hear the argument Mr. BRADY had promised,
" that by the law of this land • husband hu a right
" to use se much moral restraint as he thinks proper
"over his wife. If he did make such an argument
" his chances of being a Benedict were gone for
" ever ; not a woman in the land would thereafter
" ride in an omnibus with him. And if OLIVER
" OTIS WOODMAN came from New Orleans to
" New York to assert his right to so morally re-
" strain his wife as to shut her up in • lunatic asy-
" lum without crime or insanity, OLIVER OTIS
" WOODMAN would be taught a lesson which he
44 wo;dd not hare time to remember." Evidently the
popular feeling went with the lady and the para-
mour, and the Court was sorely puzzled whether to
receive or not to receive the affidavit of Mrs.
WOODMAN as evidence. Their deliberations on this
point, which they bad taken a day's time to'con-
alder, were happily cut short by a communication
from the lady herself, who announced through her
counsel that she wished all further proceedings to be
discontinued, as she had been in the interim released
from the asylum, and was about to proceed, ender
the escort of her brother, to the residence of her
parents in Mississippi. The reading of this docu-
ment produced, we are told, an extraordinary sensa-
tion, " and the Court and all concerned seemed im-
" mensely relieved."
It is not for as to draw any general moral from
these extraordinary proceedings. Oar American
cousins/ are laudably sensitive to European, and
especially English, opinion ; and, if we were to ven-
ture to suggest that the almighty dollar worship
the free-and-easy hotel and boarding-house life
continental travel, and cosmopolitan opinions, had
somewhat tended to relax the domestic morali-
ties of the Upper Ten Thousand —we should,
of course, be venturing on exceedingly danger-
ous ground. We will leave the task of
im-
proving the occasion to the American press :
•In judging the parties to this scandalous in-
. (miry (says the New York Evening Post), let
us beware that wo do not visit upon one or two
" individuals, sins for which all of our fashionable
" society is more or less responsible. ltich and
" well-dressed profligates are a prominent, and we
" had almost said, the favourite feature of the New
" York drawing-room. Our city is even now rife
" with other stories of intimacies as disgraceful
" as anything which has been disclosed in the rela-
" tions of Mrs. WOODMAN and ruNNESB, and, we
" btaah to add, quite as mercenary. We have no
" social standard which acts a mark of Infamy apes
" the roof. If he dances and dresses well, and has
" leisure to devote to the entertainment of idle
" women, there are always enough to be flattered
" and beguiled by his attentions into familiarities
" which result in dishonour, if not in disgrace."
Our kinsmen ought to be well acquainted with
the phenomena of their own social state ; but cer-
tainly if the facts revealed in this scandalous case
are to be taken as not exceptional, but illustrative,
then it is quits clear that the great centres of Trans-
atlantic opulence have not entirely escaped from the
corrupting influence of sudden wealth and boundless
extravagance.

We understand that it is the intention of the
Court of Directors of the East India Company to
propose the grant of an annuity of 1,0001. a year to
General Sir Archdale Wilson, of Delhi, and also to
grant two several pensions of 5001. to the nearest
surviving relatives of the late Generals Nicholson
and Neill. In the case of General Nicholson, we
believe the pension will accrue to his mother, and in
the case of General Neill to his widow. Wo confi-
dently trust that government are prepared to pro-
peee a pension of 1,0001. a year to General Sir
Henry Havelock, of Locknow, who is • Queen's
officer. Geneml Wilson, as also Generals Nicholson
and Neill, were Company's officers.