The Sun.
London, England, 1834-09-01 00:00:00

The Court met at the usual hour. It was crowded from
six o'clock in the morning, by people of the first distinction,
to hear Sir James Scarlett's speech.
Immediately on his LORDSHIP taking his seat,
Sir JAMES SCARLETT rose, and commenced the state-.
mcnt of the plaintiff's case. After some preliminary re-
marks, he proceeded, in the first place, to justify the course
pursued by Admiral Tatham (in whose behalf he had the
honour to appear) from the first step he.had taken in this
matter. The Admiral had, owing to the nature of his pro-
fession, spent much of htime out of the country, engaged
in honourable and hazafaous set-viee'i and it was not until
the year 1819 that he became heir-at-law, and had the
power to offer any interference, upon proper grounds, in the
concerns of the late Mr. Marsden. It had been tri-
umphantly asked by his Learned Friend, why, if Mr.
Marsden was of the unsound mind imputed, the heir-at-
law had not sued our a commission of lunacy, and take
his relative out of improper hands ? The jury must no
doubt feel that si:eh a question was easily put. It had been
adroitly used in favour of the defendant Wright. But he
could not doubt that gentlemen of the intelligence he was
addressing were perfectly well aware of the difficulties that
surrounded such a mode of proceeding as a commission of
y presented. In the first place, Admiral Tatham was
--as he had told theni—much abroad, and engagal in ac-
tive life ; and, till the circumstances of the will led him'
into inquiry, very possibly was never aware of the great ex-
tent and character of the weakness under which Mr. Mars-
den unfortunately laboured. Sir James then alluded to the
first trial, which took place at York, and said that although
he entertained the greatest respect for the Learned Judge
who presided at that trial, (Mr. Justice Allan Park) yet he
conceived that he had fair grounds of complaint with refe-
rence to the proceedings on that occasion. The Learned
Counsel then contended against the propriety of the ver-
-dict on the trial at York being given as eviden4 as the
former decision ought not in that shape to come before the
Jury. His Learned Friend had rested his case almost
entirely on the fact of Mr. Marsden having, as asserted,
executed so many bonds and deeds, and having also,-been
engaged in so extensive a correspondence, as had .beep. at-
tempted to be shown ; without doubt, he would adthit at
once that if it could be satisfactorily shown that 'rl‘lr.
Marsden had actually of himself written and composed, the
letters addressed in his name, the cause of his Le ell
Friend was triumphantly established. But, could tiny an
an
believe that Mr. Marsden had written these letters, ';or
could they imagine it for a moment—or could they remem-
ber that a single witness had ventured to state that ever
Mr. Marsden had executed any one deed or bond except
in the presence of Mr. Wright ? Not an individual who
had been called had ventured to make such a statement,
and had he not, therefore, the very strongest grounds for
asserting that Mr. Marsden was throughout the whole pe-
riod of his life that Mr. Wright was in his service, under
his complete dictation and control ? He should:be able to
prove to them that he never, at any time of his life, pos-
sessed the capacity of an ordinary boy of twelve years of
age ; and that he was placed under several teachers, but
it was found impossible to make him acquire any species
of instruction. Let the jury contrast this condition
of Mr. Marsden with the intelligence and activity
which Mr. Wright displayed.' This man was the son
of a small farmer ; his education had, from necessity, been
neglected, and he filled the office •of a menial servant
before he was brought into the family of Mr. Marsden ;
and for some time after he had been at Winnington Hall,
he waited at public-houses, and was hired by Henry Mars-
den, some time before the death of that gentleman, on the
recommendation of a friend. He would show the jury the
kind of connexion that notoriously existed between Mr.
Wright and Mrs. Cookson, and, in fact, that every member
of the establishment seemed to be under his entire control.
Then, again, there was his friend Bleasdale, who had drawn
up that precious document, Marsden's will. He had sworn
at York that he never made a will in London, and-that he
had no knowledge of Wright till after the removal •to
Hornby Castle. He would prove that both statements
1',13e, and that. Wright and Bleasdalc ,vere ou intimate
terms, long before the time assigned of the commencement
of the acquaintance by Bleasdale and his evidenee, which
had ken read to them. The Learned Counsel then men-
tioned several anecdotes as illustrative of the state in which
Mr. Marsden was. On one occasion having seen some men
exhibit a dress made of the skin of a sheep, he watched
an opportunity of changing his clothes for this dress, and
was actually walking home in it when he was missed by
some of the people and brought back. Another time he
let off the water of the castle pipes, and was amusing him-
self by floating pieces of paper in the water, when Wright
caught him at the trick and sent him away. Again, there
was an instance, when he took a great fancy to a mare with
cropped ears, and wished very much to breed out of her,
to have crop-eared horses.—(Laughter.) He would tell
them another instance of his conduct, which could not pos-
sibly leave any doubt upon their minds of his condition.
When his mother was dying, she expressed a great wish to
see her son, and sent a message to that effect. He was
told the state which his mother was in, and that she wished
to see him : what was his answer ? " No," said he, " I'll
not go near her ; she never behaved to me like a gentle-
man."—(Laughter.) He thought it impossible that any
rational men could entertain a doubt upon the subject ; but
if they did, he thought that without farther testimony the
extraordinary nature of the provisions in the' will might
abundantly satisfy them. He had never met with such
a document in his experience, and he was quite certain
that no man in his senses would either have dictated it
or signed it. What did it do ? it gave Wright and his
family the complete control of the property, and ultimately
placed it in their possession. It had been very skilfully
managed : the Listers had been apparently provided for.
But look at their position. In the first place, Wright's
son and one of the daughters get the decent legacies of five
and six thousand pOunds. Then all the personal property
goes into Wright's hands, in trust, to be sure, to pay the
legacies and debts ; and, then we have the entire of the real
estate—the manor of Hornby and all—given over to
Wright, again in trust, for 21 years ; and on what terms ?
Let the jury look at this part of the will : Wright is em-
powered to manage the estate in any manner he may think
proper, without control, to buy and sell, to grant leases, to
build, to pull down, sink quarries and coal-pits, hire ser-
vants, let to tenants at what rent he pleases (the highest or
best rent is not mentioned)—in short, to do anything be
pleases with the property except merely pulling down the
manor house. And out of the annual income he is to lay
aside 2,0001. to pay off eight mortgages and debts ; and
lastly, on this ,point, he is himself to receive one thousand
pounds per annum for life for his services ; and should he
die before the expiration of tiventy-one years, his heirs
and successors are to receive the thousand pounds
per annum till the twenty-one years have elapsed.
Sir JAMES contended at great length that it was impos-
sible the Jury could believe that any man in his senses
would make such a will : and, in conclusion, said he doubted
not he should satisfy them that such a will should be pro-
nounced invalid, or of no effect. The Learned Gentleman
did not conclude his speech till about three o'clock, having
spoken six hours. During the whole time the court was
crowded to excess.

The following witnesses were called :—Thomas Cassin
and William Wakefield, who had been at school with John
Marsden, and who had always considered him incapable of
learning even to read or write ; Joseph Bell and Mr. Cook-
,.son, medical practitioners, who believed him to be a person
of very weak intellect.
Miss Dorothy Butler, aged 80—I live at Boughton, near
Chester ; my father lived at Rainy, about two miles from
Winnington-hall ; I was acquainted with the family of Mr.
Henry, the brother of Mr. John Marsden ; I remember
Mrs. Cookson ; she came on a visit to Winnington-hall
about six months after Mr. Henry took possession ; I also
recollect Mr. John and Doctor Croft coming there ; I re-
member Mr. Wright being a menial servant ; he attended
at tea ; I remember the death of Mr. Henry ; he died
suddenly ; after his death, I remember John Marsden
riding over to my father's house, and saying, " Mr. Wright
is my steward, Mr. Wright is at the door ;" my father
came in and asked, would Mr. Wright like a glass of ale.
There being a long interval in our intercourse, there being
a change in the family, that we did not visit ; the reason
the intercourse was suspended, was because Mr. Wright
was taken into the parlour, and because Mr. John Marden
was not thought a fit companion by my father ; I saw him
at the ball at Kirkby Lonsdale ; I heard him play several
times on the violin ; he played very bad ; he could not fi-
nish any one tune ; I danced with him at the bang, and he
could not go through a single figure ; I saw Mr. Wright
and he together, and he appeared to be under the control
anything i
aecompose
nil it
pse aof Mr. Wright ; a look from him prevented his acting
foolishly ; I do not think I dined at Winnington Hall more
than once or twice ; Mr. Marsden was not capable of hold-
ng
he o.lu earational conversation ;I do not think
note or letter. _
Cror ed—l do not think I heard of Mr. Henry's