The Sun.
London, England, 1867-06-28 00:00:00

THE YELVERTON CASE.

HOUSE OF LORDS-THIS DAY.

LONGWORTII (OR YELVERTON) V. YELVERTON.
Present—The Lord Chancellor, Lord Cranworth,
Lord Westbury, and Lord Colonsay.
This morning the bearing of this extraordinary case was
resumed. A considerable number of peers were in their
places during the day. In consequence of other business
their lordships did not proceed with the case until past 11
o'clock.
The applicant, who.was accompanied by two or three
ladies, came to the bar and carefully arranged her papors
on the counsel's desk. She was paler than ou yesterday,
but was perfectly calm and self-possessed. She gave a
hearty glance at the ladies in the gallery.
The Appellant—ln accordance with a suggestion of
your lordships I have marked certain passages in the
judgments of the Scottish judges, which I will submit to
you instead of reading the whole-. One of the judgments
I have read fully.
The Lord Chancellor—You were quite right because, it
was in your favour.
The Appellant then proceeded to read her solicitor's
extracts from the judgment of Lord Curriehill. Comment-

ng on it he said, theedeeision of the House of Lords on a

former occasion was not final in the case of Mrs. Forbes,
but merely a temporary advantage in her favour. It was
a decision founded on the glorious uncertainty of the law,
fulfilling the-words of the poet, that
" Now we are secured by law
Till the next brother finds a flaw."

The decision was net final, inasmuch as did not bar the
present appellant from establishing her Irish marriage in
the Consistorial Court. It Was not final against Mrs. Yel-
verton, because it did not bar her from applying for a di-
vorce. • She was told that the House of Lords was the only
place in which Major Yelverton could obtain a divorce, as
he was an Irishman, and the Divorce Court had no juris-
diction there. Nor did the decision of the House of Lords
assoilzo the debt which Mr. Thelwall held against Major
Yelverton. It could not avail Major Yelverton, because
he was exiled from his conntry that he could evade that
country's law. The full court judgment of one country
could not, she apprehended, be set aside by the judgment

of another country whose laws it neither knew nor
recognised. Hence, if this Irish judgment was binding
upon Mr. Yelverton, it was also binding upon the appel-
lant, because she had been pronounced by judge and jury
to be the wife of Major Yelverton, the Court refusing to
take cognisance of what was done in Scotland. That
judgment might be brought before their lordships, and
upon conclusive evidence might bo induced to con-
firm the unanimous decision of the Irish judges.
She would enquire where was the resjudicata
of Mrs. Forbes's marriage, which was declared
by Lord Curriehill to be a solemn proceeding in
fade ecclesize. She certainly did not expect such.a declara-
tion from a judge in Scotland, where marriage was regarded
simply as a civil, and not as a religious or sacramental
contract. At all events there had been oa the part of the
appellant an equally solemn marriage in facie ecclesix at
Ross Trevor. On the 25th of June the appellant arrived
in Leith. She went there to join her husband and was
met by him. She was at that time in the affectionate care
_

of her sister, being at the time in feeble health. She went
there because be had told her that unless she came to him
he would be a ruined man. The appellant thought she
might save him by the sacrifice of somo of her

property, rnd at that time her sister was in
actual negotiation for the sale of some of her property
to help him. She knew that he had been in pecuniary
difficulties, and attributed his present wretchedness to that
cause, but sho had no suspicion of his faithlessness. She
had no warning of the stormy cloud which was about to
burst over her head, no glimmering of the vortex of

misery which was to engulph her in its dark folds for so
many years. When ho left her he promised to take her
to a more suitable home. On that same evening Mrs.
Forbes wrote to Dean Ramsay asking him to marry her on
the next morning early to Major Yelverton, not in the
dean's own church, which was only 30C paces off, with all
the solemnities which were usually observed, but in the
small fishing hamlet of Newhaven. if that marriage had
taken place in England it would be illegal, or at all events
would be voidable, because the marriage took place out of
her own parish. But both marriages were alike private
There were no banns in either case, one marriage being
private, and the priest having dispensed with them in the
other. There was no ringing of bells, no breakfast, no
bridesmaids, no announcements in any of the public papers.
She would defy the keenest critic to find out any distinc-
tion between the two marriages, and yet it was upon that
ground, the ground of the solemnity of the mar-
riage, in facie ecclesia, that the Scotch judges re-
' fused to allow the law to take its course. Such
then were the solemnities of Mrs. Forbes's marriage.
Notice was given to Dean Ramsay at 11 o'clock at night,
and the marriage took place at 10 o'clock next morning.
This haste was attributable to the fact that the first wife
had arrived, and that there was a first wife was told to
Mrs. Forbes by Major Yelverton during their five weeks
acqu intanee before their pretended marriage. This fact,
she submitted, exposed the innocence of Mrs. Forbes to
very considerable doubt. The law did not allow a man
to have two legal wives at one time, and it was on this
point alone that she asked their lordships for satisfaction.
She simply wished to tear down the gigantic lie which it
had cost Major Yelverton his fortune and his fame to hold
up during the long period of seven years. She pleaded
for nothing but to challenge the respondent to a simple
ordeal, and was this to be refused because the respondent
must be compelled to speak the truth ? She did not wish to
deprive the chil d ren of Major Yelverton of any just claim
If injury were done to any, the consequences should fall
upon the head of the mother, who knew her wrong from
the beginning. Of Mrs. Forbes it surely might be said,
"Be sure your sin will find you out." All she pleaded for
was that Major Yelverton might be asked, "Did you or
did you not marry Maria Theresa Longworth ?" and
surely English justice would not refuse so simple a de-
mand. They had it on the highest authority that an oath
for confirmation is the end of all strife. It would be, she
believed, the end of all these harassing proceedings, while
by adopting so simple a course, ample justice would be
done to all. The appellant then proceeded to read ex-
tracts from the judgment of Lord Dees.

The case was proceeding when we went to press.

LAW INTELLIGENCE—This Day.

COURT OF DIVORCE.
(Before the Right lion. Sir J. P. Wilde.)
STRINGFIELD AND STRINGFIELD.

This was a suit instituted by the wife to obtain a judi,
cial separation on the ground of her husband's threats ant
abusive conduct.

Dr. Spiuks, Q.C., and Dr. Swabey appeared for the peti-
tioner. The respondent did not appear.
It appeared that the petitioner in this case was
doctor, residing at Bristol, a widower, aged forty-
eight The petitioner was twenty-nine, and they were
married at Chelsea. After going to Paris they went
to the Great Western Hotel, and the petitioner went to
visit his sister, and she thought he ought to come and fetch
her, but ho did not. This appeared the first instance of
neglect, but after they arrived at Weston-super-Mare he
used to keep out till two, three, four, or five o'clock in the
morning, and was always intoxicated. They had three
children. The petitioner continued to live with her hus-
band till 1865. During the years previous to that the
usual conduct of the respondent appeared to be to threaten
his wife with all sorts of threats, and to use the most in-
sulting and abusive language possible towards her.
Mrs. Stringfield, the petitioner, said that she left the re-
spondent in 1865, but went back again because her little
boy was ill, when the respondent said, " Well, you have
returned like a bad penny." He was then better as to
language, but his drunken habits still continued. He on
one occasion threatened that he would do for her, and she
was so frightened that she rushed away and locked herself
in her bedroom. He then came to the door of her bedroom
and threatened to do for her. She then had the cook to
sleep with her, and on the following night he tried to
follow her into the room, but after some time he went
away. She left next morning.

Anne Taylor said that in July, 1866, one night she
heard a scream in the parlour, and went up with the cook
into that room, when she found Mrs. Stringfield in a
chair. He was brandishing a poker over her. Witness
took the poker from him. On the 15th July he was drunk and
came down into the kitchen in his night-shirt, and ordered
them all to bed. He then went to his wife's bedroom door and
threatened to kill her. Witness had often to fetch the
children from the public-houses where he had taken them.
The little boy was taken home twice drunK. The re-
spondent would go into any public-house in the town.
Jane Godyear said she was four months it the ser_
vice of the respondent as cook, and she could not say tha
she ever knew him sober. He used to call for brandy in
would
swearmorning,the h
ando
d d was
fornotwiofuiltNasthem.
brought to him at once he

At the conclusion of this evidence, his lordship stated
IA he would grant a decree nisi with costs.

COURT OP BANKRUPTCY.
(Befo e Mr. Commissioner Goulburn.)
This was a meeting for examination and discharge under
the bankruptcy of Lieut.-Colonel S. A. Dickson, formerly
M.P. for the county of Limerick, now of 25, Wellington-
square, Chelsea, and previously of Homburg, Prussia.
Upon the case being called on, it was stated that an ad-
journment was inevitable, the bankrupt not having filed
his accounts ; and his Honour observed that the usual
order adjourning the sitting sine die would be made.
Mr. R. Griffiths, for the bankrupt, said that he was about
to settle with his creditors, and it was intended to remove
the proceedings out of bankruptcy.
An adjournment sine die, with protection for a month,
was then ordered.