The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-09 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, DEC. 9, 1869.

THE judgment of Lord PENZANCE in the Liver-
pool matrimonial case will, doubtless, be lost upon
the Rev. Mr. KELLY j but it is likely to prove of
much value in defining the proper nature of conjugal
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relations generally. The Liverpool clergyman is in
his own esteem a person of such immaculate goodness
. .

that he will, doubtless, regard the decision against
him as an act of presumption and a sin; but the
impartial public will rejoice at the result, as a
measure ofjustice. The wife of this reverend gentleman,
who is a Church of England incumbent in Liverpool,
appealed to the Divorce Court for a judicial separa-
tion, on the ground of cruelty. The parties were
old in conjugal experience, but about two years
ago the husband commenced a course of mean, but
not the less cruel and detestable, acts of tyranny,which
he continued until the law was appealed to. Mr.

KELLY had an exalted notion of his functions as a
husband. The proper position of a wife,
according to his theory, was that of a slave.
So completely did matrimony sink the indi-
viduality of the woman that in this holy man's
opinion, the wasting of her -private property was no
grievance. He did, in effect, lose the greater part of
some £5,000 in investments;and chose to regard Mrs.
KELLY as plotting and conspiring against his welfare
because she ventured to seek information from her
brother-in-law respecting the fate of her property.
The process of reducing the wife to order commenced.
Her letters were opened ; she was debarred from all
society ; abusive epithets were heaped upon her. She
was not permitted to go out, even for the purpose of
attending the Sacrament or visiting the sick ; the
servants were taught to disobey her; she was
constrained to purchase every little article
of dress through her task - master. The

husband seldom saw his wife ; but this was
perhsrs the most charitable feature of his

system, for when he did honour her with his society
it was to stigmatise her with epithets which would
be harsh if used towards a woman guilty of adul-
tery, and to reproach her with a hypocritical
affectation of superior morality far more offensive
than any abuse. She was a hopeless sinner; he, the
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righteous man vainly striving to reform her. Deposed
from her position as a wife, solitary, penniless,
friendless, it is not surprising that her health gave
way, until the medical men declared madness or
paralysis to be imminent. On the face of
it, the story reads like a quarrel between some despe-
rately jealous and morose husband, who was dealing
out very hard measure to a very giddy young wife.
The actual facts were that the petitioner was past 60
years of age, the respondent considerably more, and
they had been married above twenty seven years.
The Rev. Mr. KELLY'S defence has the merit of
great consistency with his general conduct. lie
brought forward no contrary testimony. He
did not deny a single substantial fact
alleged by his wife. No, ho had done all
these things, he admitted, and what was more,
they were quite right. He was only exerting his
proper authority. His wife Lad offended; he was
striving to bring her to submission. The worthy man
does not seem to have had a very clear idea of the
atonement which he thought necessary, but in general
he appears to have wished her to confess that she had
traitorously conspired to wrongfully convict him of
fraud. Mrs. KELLY refused to tell a lie. "My desire,"
said she, " is to act towards you with the submission,
obedience, and even affection of a wife," but she did not