The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-30 00:00:00

THE StIN; LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, JULY 30, 1864.

LAW INTELLIGENCE—(This Day.)

COURT OF DIVORCE.

(Before a Special Jury.)
CODBINGION V. CODRINGTON AND ANDERSON.
This was a suit instituted by Admiral Codrington for
dissolution of marriage on the geOund of the wife's adul-
tery with the co-respondent, Colonel David Anderson, of
the 22d Regiment of Foot, who denied the claw e• The
respondent, in addition to denial, pleaded that if
she had committed the adultery it had been con-
doned by the misconduct of her husband. Adultery
was also charged with a Lieutenant Mildmay, but he was
not made as co-respondent to the suit. There were two
children the issue of the marriage. No damages were
asked for by Admiral Codrington.
Me Bovill, Q.C., Mr Serjeant Ballantine, and Dr Spinks
appeared for the petitioner; the Queen's Advocate, Mr
Hawkins, Q C., aid Mr. Inderwick for the respondent
Mr Price, Q C., and Mr Swabey for the co-respondent.
The marriage took place on April 9, 1849. at the British
Embassy, Florence, as Mr. and Mrs Smith, the lady's
parents, wore residents there. There are two daughters by
the marriage, eleven and twelve years old. The co-reFpon-
dent is colonel of the 22d Regiment, and Lieut. Mildmay
is in the 3d Battalion of the Rifle Brigade.
Mr Bevil], in opening the case, said that he should not
have to trouble the jury with any account of the first Seven
years of the marriage, which had passed in a flow of unin-
terrupted happiness. Its first check was in April, 1856, when
Admiral Codrington was ordered to the Crimea, but in
leaving his wife he gave her a companion of her own choice,
Miss Emily Faithfull of the Victoria Press, and they lived at
10, Taviton-place, Russell-square. On his return in August
some minor elements of disagreement arose between them,
but it was not suggested she was guilty of any serious derelic-
tion of her duty. In the spring of next year Miss Faithful'
was still staying with her friend, and Mrs Codrington,
actuated by some freak, insisted on sleeping with her, and
leaving her husband's bed. The admiral appealed to her
parents, who at once carne and inquired into the case. At
the instance of Mr Smith, Miss Faithful' was ejected from
the house, and a parcel, sealed, was deposited in the hands
of Sir 'William Codrington, for the purpose of justifying his
brother, the admiral. That seal was still unbroken, and
it would lie with the discretion of the lady's counsel whe•
ther it would be broken or not. The petitioner, in 1858,
was appointed superintendent of the dockyard at Malta, and
the parties lived in the official residence attached to that
post. Their habits of life, however, were not congenial, and
Mrs Codrington often stayed late at balls and the opera,
whilst her husband went to bed. But a gondola was always
kept waiting for her to carry her across the harbour from
Valetta, and the officers, amongst others Anderson and
Mild may, often escorted her home. During her stay at
Malta he was in a position to prove circumstances fraught
the gravest suspicion. On one occasion, after the admiral
was in bed, she desired the maid to let down the bar of the
back door, as she particularly wished to see Col. Anderson,
and when the maid declined to do so she did it herself.
Again, after an entertainment in May, 1863, given before
their departure to the officers then in Malta, the respondent
and the colonel were seen at midnight in an outer yard bya
Policeman under circumstances which, if true, were scarcely
compatible with her innocence. On their arrival in England
they went to stay at Hampton Court, and afterwards took a
cottage at East Moulsey. Anderson immediately appeared,
as was shown by entries in Mrs Codrington's diary. From
this date down to October, in spite of her husband's remon-
strances, as was learned from the same source Col. Anderson
was a frequent visitor. He in that month went down to
Scotland, and amongst Mrs Codrington's papers, found in
her desk, and taken possession of by the admiral's legal
adviser, his direction, " St. Germain's, near Berwick," was
discovered. But beyond this, in the same depository, a
draft of a letter had been lighted on, in Mrs Codrington's
handwriting, evidently written to Col. Anderson, and in
answer to one from him announcing the fact that he was
going to he married to a cousin. It contained these pas-
sages—" What can I say to your letter ? Again and again
I have read it over to see if I clearly understood it. You
tell me you are engaged to your cousin. . . . Surely
before you entered into such an engagement you were
bound in all honour to write and tell me of the changed
state of your feelings. . . . I cannot believe the feel-
ings of the two last years can be obliterated in so short
a time. Let me beg of you solemnly, by all you hold
sacred, by the true-hearted affection I have for you, by
the memory of the past, think well before you bind your-
self for ever." The letter further solicited a farewell in-
terview at Taviton-street, her friend's house. Did this
look like innocence? What' had a married woman to do
with true-hearted affection for another ? The petitioner's
suspicions were at last aroused, and he set a watch upon
his house in Eccleston-square, to which they had now
returned. The Ist of November was a Sunday. The
admiral went to church in the morning, and no sooner
was his back turned than Colonel Anderson came to the
house, and stayed there through most of the morning ser-
vice, and going away by a by-street ho met the injured hus-
band face to face. On the following day he sent to his wife
to say he should not return that day. Left to herself, in the
evening, after paying a visit to Mes Faithfull, she drove
ahe's" o'n/'.k ';* 13 Psis the Colonel lir cd.
He joined her, and they went to the Grosvenor Hotel, where
they stopped till 12. She then walked home. In the diary
occurs this passage :—" Nov. 2, evening—Saw E. (Emily
Faithful') ; afterwards dined at G." The question with re-
ference to Mr Mildmay was an episode in the stay at Malta.
Mrs Codrington, in May, 1860, took a trip into Piedmont
with her parents, and was followed by him. At Cormayeur
they stayed in the same hotel, and Mrs Codrington was in
the habit of sending letters to him from her bed-room, till
the maid refused to take any more. At the St. Bernard
hospice their rooms were opposite, and in the night she
disappeared from her room, where the maid was also sleep-
ing. The learned counsel concluded a long address by in-
veighing in forcible language against the pleas put on the
record by the respondent; and called
General Sir Wm. Codrington, who deposed to the receipt
of a packet from the petitioner's father, and to the general
kindness of the admiral towards his wife.
G. Duck—l was in the service of Admiral Codrington in
1856, for six years at 82, Eccleston-square, and at Malta. I
knew Lieutenant Mildmay ; he used to visit often. He often
came home with Mrs Codrington late. She used to come
by the boat. The admiral had often gone to his room.
Sometimes Mildmay came into the office, which had been
made a sitting-room. There was a screen there before the
door. They were sometimes without lights. I remember
one day, about 12 p.m., towards the close of 1860, Mildmay
was with Mrs Codrington. I saw him in the passage with
his arm round her neck. I thought he was gone. One
afternoon about three I saw Mildmay go to my mistress's
bedroom door. I did not see him go in. The door is in a
recess. A did not see him go away. The Gondola used
occasionally to get out of trim when my mistress and Mild-
may wore on board. It was difficult to row, and the boat•
man made me stand the other side to keep the balance. You
cannot see persons inside. They often came back very late.
One day Mildmay came I heard kissing on the basement.
I saw Mrs Codrington come upstairs afterwards. I heard
her say " There's some one thero." I picked up a bit of
velvet on the spot next day, I left in July, 1861. I have
been in my present place as butler for two years.
Cross-examined by the Queen's Advocate—This first
time was in 1860 or 1861. I don't know the month. I
was after a party at Mrs Lee's. It was late; the city was
all closed. I said nothing to the admiral or Mrs Codring-
ton. I first mentioned it this year. I told Mr Bird, I
told him that I thought Admiral Codrington must have
known of it. The gondola went out of trim on two occa-
sions. It takes eight minutes across, in fine weather, with
four men. It was smooth those times, I gave the velvet
to the lady's maid, Lydia Clarke. Mrs Codrington often
complained of me. I left of my own accord.
Re-examined—l said that about the admiral because he
has eyes as well as I have. I thought he must have noticed
Mildmay's coming too often,
Sarah Nichols, a servant, deposed to travelling in Pied-
mont with the respondent and her parents ; to their having
met Mildmay at Cormayeur ; to his going into her bedroom
once when she was in bed, and to his having operated on a
blister on her foot, and to habits of general intimacy. It
appeared, however, in cross-examination, that she had a
jacket on in bed, and the witness had told the r%ttorney, Mr
Few, that eho never saw any impropriety between Mrs
Codrington and Mildmay.
Robert Rivers, lately in Mr Mildmay's service, deposed
to Mrs. Codrington's having visited his master's quarters
in Fort Ricasoli, alone, about ex times, in the afternoon
and evening, about five or six o'clock.
The case had not concluded when the Court nose.

~~~

Several additional witnesses were examined this morn-
ing, but the case was net conelnded when we went to press

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.
(Before Mr Commissioner Goulburn,)
IN RE RAWLINGS-THE LITERARY GAZETTE.

The bankrupt was a clergyman at Merstham, Surrey,
and was formerly proprietor of the Literary Gazette journal,
and to-day was appointed for last examination and discharge.
Mr Brough appeared for the assignee, and said that ho
was instructed that all the creditors had been applied to,
and none having expressed any desire to oppose, the
assignee, who was also a creditor, and had been appointed
by the largest creditor, did not offer any opposition to the
bankrupt passing or baying his discharge.
Ur Commissioner Goulburn said that it was a very sad
ease—here was a clerical gentleman coming before the
court owing upwards of £2,000 without a shilling of assets.
Mr Reed said it was deeply to be regretted that such was
the case; but in 1860 the bankrupt unfortunately pur-
chased the Literary Gazette, but in loss than 12 months ha
found it to be a failure, and he lost all that he had invested.

His Honour said that it did not appear by the accounts
that the bankrupt ever had any capital.
The bankrupt said he lost £l,OOO of his own money.
Mr Reed said that out of the £2,000 debts now standing
most of it was from friends who did not press him ; pro-
bably £2)O would be an excess of debts recently contracted.
Ilia Honour said he hardly know how to deal with such
cases, when educated persons came beft,i e the court and
could give no account of their affairs ; ought they to faro
better than ignorant and uneducated men, who pleaded their
ignorance as an ezetoe ? He thought that for the bank-

upt's own sako he ought to file a fuller account; but as no
creditor opposed, the discharge would be granted.

SE CUDDEN..-EXTENSIVE FAILURE IN THE WINE TRADE.

This bankrupt was a wine merchant in Great Tower-
street, and this was a meeting for choice of assignees. From
the: statement of Messrs, Hart Brothers and Hayles, who
had been engaged in the parliamentary investigation, and
now appointed accountants to the estate, it appears that the
total debts and liabilities amount to £20,000, to be met by
good debts and property almost to the same amount.

'OLICE INTELLIGENCE—This Day.

WESTMINSTER.

TRE SLEEP or DANGER—PROVIDENTIAL ESCAPE.—
William Bullock, a cabdriver, was charged with being
drunk and incapable of taping care of his horse and car-

riage.
Police-constable Page, 101 B, said that at 2 o'clock this
morning he was on duty at Chelsea, when ho saw the de-
fendant's horse and cab coming towards him at a round
pace. There was no driver on the box, and nobody in
charge of the horse, and oily a few yards in front of it was
an open sewer opposite Stmley.villas. Seeing the immi-
nent danger in which the lone was placed, and not being
aware whether there might not be somebody in the cab, he
rushed over a plank crossing the sewer and stopped the
horse in time to prevent an 7 accident.
Mr Arnold—Where was the defendant during this time ?
Witness—Inside the cab and drunk.

Mr Arnold—Then if youhad not fortunately stopped the
cab he might have been kilbd.
Witness—A very serious accident might have taken
place.
Mr Arnold (to defendant) —What have you to say to
this ?
Defendant—I got inside wail° waiting at Cremorne.
Mr Arnold—Why did you get inside?
Defendant—I got inside kilt to have a sleep.
Mr Arnold—And left nobody in charge of your horse ?
You have not only seriously endangered your own life but
got inside the cab, who was
taolslooothkaat
fotefrththeephuobrlaice. If yoi
?

Defendant—lt was upon the rank when I got into the
cab. _ _

VV
Page—lt was a long way from Cremorne when I saw it,
and the rank had been dispersed an hour previously.
It was here stated that the bottom of the cab was found
to be broken and the cab much damaged, for which redress
was required by the proprietor.
Defendant declared that he was not drunk, and coolly
said that he could not prevent the horse running away.
The case was then adjourned for the production of further
evidence, and defendant was locked up.

THE YELVERTON CASE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—ln recognising with gratitude the very able and just
statement of my case in your article of this morning, will
you allow me a short space to correct an error which moat
Englishmen, together with yourself, would naturally fall
into, viz., that the decision of the three law lords is final ?
Such is not, however, the case. A Scotch declarator of mar-
riage is proved by " writ or oath," and the one may follow
upon the other. The next legal step, therefore, to be taken
in Scotland is a reference to oath of parties, until which
process shall have been gone through the opinions of their
lordships in this country will not be ratified. In other words
the High Court of Session in Scotland will not " extract
judgment."
Had the House of Lords, at the request of my counsel,
the Lord Advocate, granted tho judicial examination, then
the judgment, as you truly state, would have been final, be-
cause both methods of proving marriage would have been
exhausted As it is, the reference to oath is competent.
Perfectly agreeing with you that it can be no satisfaction
to be the wife of Major Yelverton, yet the nature of the ac-
tion brought against me and the defence set up in answer t•
mine are such as to deprive me of honour and fair fame, un-
less I succeed in establishing my wifehood. The very peti-
tion of the action is such as to indelibly brand any woman
against whom it should be granted.
Against such a sentence I have struggled for six years,
and probably may for six more, if life by litigation is not
stunted. You will also allow me to remind you and the
public that the verdict of a jury confirmed by four judges is
still unannulled in Ireland, and that by the laws of my
church I am Major Yelverton's wife, and during his life
can never be another's. Such, I beg to submit, is my actual
position, and to do what is right and best in it is my sole
and earnest prayer.—l remain, sir, yours truly,
THERESA YELYEUTON.
29, Cambridge- terrace, July 29.