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

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

HOME CIRCUIT—MAIDSTONE, July 28.
(Before Mr Juetice Wales.)
CONSPIRING TO SCUTTLE A. SHIP.
Heinrich Kohn, 34, carpenter, was charged with misde-
meanour, in having unlawfully conspired with other per •
sons wilfully to cast away and destroy a certain foreign
vessel, called the Alma, with intent to defraud the under-
writers of policies of insurance upon that vessel to a large
amount.
The prisoner is a German, and in the first instance he
expressed a desire to be tried by a jury partly composed of
foreigners. This morning, however, he said he had no wish
that this should be carried out, and elected to be tried by
an English jury. The English evidence was explained to
him through an interpreter, as was also that of several of
the witnesses who were foreigners, and this greatly ex-
tended the length of the trial, which would have been much
more protracted if the learned judge had not apparently
been perfectly conversant with the German language, and
the suggestions he made to the interpreter tended greatly
to elucidate the inquiry, and to place all the facts before the
jury.
Sergeant Ballantine was specially instructed, with Mr
F. H. Lewis, to conduct the prosecution; Mr Warton was
counsel for the defendant.
Sergeant Ballantine, in opening the case for the prosecu-
tion, said that it had been instituted by the direction of the
authorities of Lloyd's, who, having regard to the enormous
amount of money that was invested in marine insurances,
had felt it their duty to take care that, it should be known
that in any case where there was reason to believe that a
traud of the grave nature imputed to the defendant had
been committed, they were determined that a full inquiry
should take place, and nothing should be neglected to en-
deavour to bring home guilt to the offender, and render him
amenable to justice. The substantial offence imputed to the
defendant was that he had been concerned with other per-
sons on board in wilfully destroying a ve sel called the Alma,
upon which policies of insurance amounting on the whole,
he believed, to nearly £30,000 had been effected, and
that the owner, the captain, and some of the officers on
board the vessel were soneerned in that act. In consequence,
however, of the Alma being a foreign vessel, and the pri •
soner and the other persons on beard being foreigners, they
were not amenable to the more serious charge under the law
of this country, and the principal point in the case he said
he believed would be whether the prisoner had committed
en offence against the law of England by conspiring with
the other parties, while the vessel was lying at Ramsgate,
and before she sailed upon the voyage which ended in her
destruction to commit the offence which undoubtedly was
afterwards completed. The learned sergeant then proceeded
to narrate the material facts of the case, which in reality
lay in a very narrow compass, and which will be fresh in
the recollect ion of the public, as they were given very fully
upon the occasion of the examination of the defendant at
ihe Mansion-house. It appeared that the Alma was a
Prussian vessel, belonging to Memel, and that she sailed
from Antwerp in the month of March last, and put in at
Ramsgate, where she took in a fresh cargo for the port to
which she belonged, and it was part of the case for the pro-
secution that before she sailed it seemed to have been a
foregone conclusion on the part of the captain, the mate,
the prisoner, who was the ship's carpenter, and other mem-
bers of the crew, that she would never arrive at her destina-
tion, and that, acting upon this impression, they made free
with the champagne that was on board,and also distributed
cloth that was a portion of the cargo to the prisoner and
some of the other men, who were the crew on board. The
Alma sailed from Ramsgate about the 11th April, and from
that day until the 18th, when sae went down, it appeared
that there was very fine weather, and that nothing oc-
curred that was at all likely, under ordinary circumstances,
to have caused such a catastrophe. On that day, however,
a British ship called the Helena, on her voyage home from
Porto Rico, saw signals of distress flying from a vessel
which turned out to be the Alma, and she hove to, and
the vessels neared each other, and the captain of the
Alma called out that they were in distress, that the vessel
was sinking, and he wished to know whether the captain of
the Helena would take hint and his crew on board. He
was told that he would, and two boats laden with luggage
and men then left the Alma and proceeded to the Helena;
and they continued to go backwards and iorwards between
the two vessels for three or four hours, and at the expira-
tion of that time the whole of the men of the Alma, and
the luggage they chose to bring with them, were taken
on board the Helena, and in about 20 minutes afterwards
the Alma sunk with the whole of her cargo. The weather
at this time was, according to the evidence, beautifully calm,
and the fact et a vessel going down under such circum
stances appeared to have at once created a suspicion that
there had been something wrong in the transaction, and
on the arrival of the Helena in England infermation was
given to tha authorities, by whom the present charge was
eventually preferred against the prisoner. The matter was
in the first instance investigated at the Mansion-house, but
owing to the legal difficulties above referred to that pre-
sented themselves, it was found that the more serious
charge could not be substantiated in this country, and that
the conspiracy, if any existed, took place at Ramsgate,
and the present indictment was therefore remitted to be
disposed of at the present assizes for the county of Kent.
The evidence that was adduced extended to considerable
length. Ono of the witnesses, whose testimony was very
amterial, was Donald M‘Gsechy, a very intelligent seaman,
who was mate of the Helena, and ho proved that on the 18th
April, when that vessel was about 75 miles west of the
Sci,ly Islands, on her voyage to England, signals of dis-
tress were observed in a vessel ahead, which turned out to
be the Alma, and the Helena was hove to, and boats put off
trom the former vessel, and the prisoner, the captain, and
all the rest of the crew of the Alma were received on
board the Hcleua. He said that at this time the weather
was so calm that an open boat might safely have got to
land, and that there had been no storm or bad weather, or
in fact anything to account for the Alma being in a sinking
state, and that he suspected at the time that she had received
some foul play, and he made an °haat vation to that effect to
the prisoner. The witness detailed the various conversations
that took place between him and the prisoner upon the sub-
ject, the effect of which appeared to be that the latter ad-
witted• that the Alma was involved, or that she was in some
money difficulty, and that it was resolved on this account
that she should be destroyed. The prisoner was repre-
sented to have also said that the plan was concocted at
Ramsgate, and that while they were in port they had, by
the orders of the captain and the mate, removed a portion
of the inner planking of the vessel in the hold, so that the
outer skin, as it is termed in nautical phraseology, might be
more easily got at; and that she sailed in this condition,
and after they had been a few days at sea, upon sighting the
Helena, it was resolved to carry the project of sinking the
vessel into final execution. According to the statement of
the prisoner, when about two miles from the Helena he and
the mate went down into the hold with a candle, and he
bored several holes in the outer planking of the vessel with
an augur, plugs being provided in order that the water might
not be let in too fast. He was also represented to have
stated that the water did not gain upon them, and the plugs
were made U 53 of for that purpose, and when they had got
all they wanted out of the Alma the plugs were finally re-
moved, and she then speedily filled and sank,
These were the main facts relied upon for the prosecu-
tion, but evidence was also adduced to show that while the
vessel was at Ramsgate, the prisoner, the captain, the
mate, and others, openly talked of intending to destroy the
vessel, and that a suggestion was made that as
she was to go down she might as well do so
on the bar of Ramsgate harbour, but that the
captain observed that that would be too near the shore,
and that it would be better to get out to sea a few miles
first. Evidence was also given that while in Ramsgate
harbour the captain and the crew made free with a quantity
of champagne that was on board as part of the cargo, the
former stating that it was better to drink it and enjoy them-
selves than that it should bo swallowed up by the sea.
Mr Warton made a very earnest appeal to the jury on
behalf of the defendant, and ho particularly commented
upon the fact of his being a foreigner and most imperfectly
acquainted with the English language, and he therefore
argued that it would be unjust to place too much reliance
upon the evidence relating to the statements he was repre-
sented to have made on the diff,rent witnesses relating to
the alleged offence. On this ground and the subordinate
position of the prisoner on board the ship, which, he said,
of course compelled him to a certain extent to obey the
orders that were given to him, he contended that the charge
of conspiracy hod not been established.
Mr Justice Willcs, in summing up the case, said that the
inquiry was undoubtedly one of considerable importance,
and it was most essential that frauds of the description sug-
gested should undergo full inquiry, and that parties proved
to have committed them should receive punishment, as a
warning to others not to be guilty of similar offences. He
then proceeded to explain how it happened that the prisoner
could not be tried for the actual offence of scuttling the
ship, and said that the only question for the consideration

TIMES.— tie far as Courts of Justice are con-
cerned, the Yelverton case is finally closed. The
House of Lords, after an elaborate argument occu-
pying several days and even weeks, and after re-
viewing again everything that has been or could be
advanced with such care and minuteness that the
mere judgments of the Law Lords fill more than
eleven columns of this paper, have decided by a
majority of three to one, or, reckoning the opinion
of Lord Brougham, who was absent, of three to
two, that Miss Longworth has not proved her right
to be declared the wife of Major Yelverton. More
than three years have passed since the first trial
was instituted for the purpose of establishing the
alleged marriage, and Dublin went frantic with
sympathy for the supposed wrongs of Mrs. Long-
worth-Yelverton. Before that an unsucesstul attempt
had been made to get the case argued before S►r
Cresswell Cresswell, who refused to hear it on the
ground that he had no jurisdiction. From Ireland the
question of Miss Long worth's status passed to Edin-
burgh. Scotland, as we know, is never behindhand
on such occasions. The perfervidum ingenium blazes

when the marriage laws and marriage customs
of North Britain are discussed, and the decision of
the Court of Session was passionately canvassed ;
it was approved with rapture by the adherenta of
Miss Longworth, and received almost with execra-
,ion by those mho favoured the claims of her rival.
We more stolid Saxons cannot, however, boast of

preserving our impassibility while discussing a mere
question of law; the serene air of the Upper House
was yesterday charged with unwonted heat, and the
sharpness with which the Lord Chancellor was
called to order by Lord Chelmsford betrayed an
ardour unusual in the highest court of law in the
realm. The excitement which the case has caused
in the three kingdoms is not, indeed, unnatural, and
we venture to predict that it will long survive the
judgment which has finally disposed of it at law. The
case of the unsuccessful claimant begets a sympathy
which is increased by the consideration of her un-
doubted to ents ; the discussion of her itatus turns
upon that for which every one thinks himself compe-
tent—the interpretation of character, and the mean-
ing of phrases occurring in a passionate correspon-
dence; and men will doubtless dispute for years over
the soundness of the conclusion of the House of
Lords, as men have debated for centuries over the
character of Mary of Scotland. The analysis of the
characters of the principal performers in this length
ened suit has been, as every one must see, of the
highest importsnce in determining the decisions at
which the different judges have arrived. The coun-
sel on both sides knew how much would turn upon
the view which would be entertained of the educa-
tion and antecedents of Major Yelverton and Miss
Longworth. Aa ingenious man could frame two
equally plausible but totally distinct explanations of
the nature of theintercourse bet ween them, according
as he started with a feeling of sympathy for oneor for
the other. Accordingly, every incident of the early
life of Miss Longworth, every item of intelligence
bearing on the first interviews between her and the
appellant, was aaduced and commented on by her
counsel, although long antecedent to the promises
and acts which, according to their contention, esta-
blished the alleged marriage. They confessed that
the marriage depended upon certain engagements
which took place in Edinburgh in 1857, but to
throw light upon these transactions they went over
the whole history of the first meeting between Miss
Longworth and Major Yelverton on board the Bou-
logne steamboat, the communication sent to Malta,
and the intimacy in the Crimea. Truth, as the
Lord Chancellor declared in his judgment, is always
consistent with itself, and the determination of the
view taken of subsequent facts depended upon the
estimate antecedently formed of the character of the
parties. The law of Scotland permits the question
of marriage to turn upon the interpretation of am-
biguous facts; and although we may join with Lord
Wensleydale in his regret that in the 19th century
the prcof of the most important relation in life
should be left in a highly civilised country to depend
upon the loose recollection of witnesses, and " some-
times on the meaning of an amatory expression in
impassioned letters," we must, as his lordship added,
take the law as we find it. In the early part of
1857 Major Yelverton was stationed at Edinburgh,
and in February of that year Miss Long worth met
him there. What happened there is the main point
at issue. The Scotch law allows a marriage to be
constituted either per terba de preesenti—that is, by
by an actual interchange of marriage vows—or by a
promise de futuro, followed by a copula in reliance
upon the promise. The principle in either case is em-
bodied in the maxim Consensus facit connubiwn ;
in the first case a man and woman mutually declare
their agreement to become man and wife ; in the
I second, when actual cohabitation follows, and can
be referred to a promise de futuro, the law presumes
that agreement immediately preceded cohabitation.
The contract per verba de presenti may be proved
by any legal evidence ; but the promise de futuro
must be proved either by writing or on the oath of
the party against whom proceedings take place. Miss
Longworth attempted to set up a valid marriage on
both grounds. bhe asserted that a contract per
verba de prcesenti took place in April, 1857, when
she declared Major Yelverton and herself read over
together the marriage service of the English Church
at her lodgings in Edinburgh, and thereby pledged
themselves to one another as man and wife; but
if the evidence failed to establish these mutual
vows, then she asserted that there was evidence of
promises made de futuro, and that cohabitation had
followed in dependence of those promises. It is
tolerably certain that, whatever may be the truth
about the reading of the marriage service, there was
not sufficient evidence of it to found a declaration
of marriage upon it. It is much more doubtful
whether triere was not written evidence of a pro-
mise de futuro, bui, here a difficulty arose as to law
and tae;, upon which the Lord Chancellor very
justly dwelt at some length. It is necessary that
the subsequeet copula seould refer to the promise,
but is it necessary that the copula should, like the
promise, take place in Scotland? Major Yelverton
though he denies the pro nise, alleges against his
own interest, that the cohabitation first took place
in Scotland. Miss Longworth asserting the promise
' alleges against her own interest that cohabitation
did not take place until after the performance of
the religious ceremony at Rostrevor. Almost every
one of the Judges and Law Lords came to the cone
elusion that cohabitation did not take place until
the appellant and respondent met in Ireland, and
so far they disbelieved Major Yeiverton's story,
and the majority of the Law Lords held
that this fact was fatal to Miss Longworth s
case. Even assuming the promise de futuro in
Scotland to he proved, the copula which followed
first took place in Ireland and would not establish a
Scotch marriage, and the subsequent copula in Scot-
land would not no referable to the original promise,
but to a mere continuance of tne Irish cohabitation,
and so, again, the proof of marriage would fail. It
is not the least singular part of the case, and it
should be remembered in considering the character
of the respondent, that in a material point her re•
spect for the religious aspect of marriage led her
to a course of action fatal to her own interests. It
may be doubted whether, on the whole, Miss Long-
worth ought not to congratulate herself on the issue
of this prolonged litigation. On the whole, the
majority of the Judges before whom her case has
passed have decided in her favour, and it is impossi-
ble to suppose that the estimate of her character
will much depend on the accident that of the judges
who heard the argument in the final court there was
a majority of three to two against her. And if
failure be no great hardship, success would have
been fatal. It can never be desirable to tie toge-
ther in indissoluble bonds a man and woman who
are wholly estranged from one another, and the
fact that this particular appellant was the man
would not lessen the truth of the general proposi-
tion. Whether she were successful or unsuccessful,
the character of her intercourse with Major Yel-
verton would always have been a subject of debate.
Instead of being tied to a man who must by this
time be hateful to her, she is now free, and has won
the sympathy of thousands who, rightly or wrongly,
will always regard her as an injured woman.
POST.—The breaking up of Parliament, now so
near at hand, is universally confessed to be more
than usually welcome this year. No one is entirely
satisfied with the course of events, or the progress of
legislation ; and it is with a feeling of relief from a
monotonous and profitless routine that members of
both Houses prepare to quit town. Although some
really useful measares will have become law this
session. the business of Parliament has been singu-
larly uninteresting. The country has been strung
up to a pitch of intense interest in the affairs of Den-
mark, while, from the policy adopted, it has been
powerless to act upon its convictiune. It has been
unspeakably mortifying to have to stand aside in
inglorious neutrality while cruel political wrongs
and barbarous military outrages were perpetrated
by two powerful States upon a brave little kingdom
with which we have always had much in common,
and to which we have recently become bound by ties
of yet nearer interest. To smother our feelings,_
to
to
look to our pecuniary interests rather than yield
impulses which, though generous, may be costly,
and, though Just,
may bring trou e, 51and to watch
with equanimity
the ruthless progress of spoliation,
has been, indeed, a severe trial of the national tem-
per. And though we have been assured tt'at it is
for our good ; that the painfulness of the duty does
not make it less a duty ; and that the drag of a pru-