The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 23, 1858.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.—Nov. 22.

COURT OF PROBATE AND DIVORCE.
(Before a Common Jury.)
MARCHIVIONT V. MARCHMONT.
Mr. Sergeant Pigott, Dr. Deane, Q.C., Dr.
Spinks, Mr. Tindal Atkinson, and Mr. F. J. Smith
were counsel for the petitioner; Mr. K. Macaulay,
'Q.C.,, Dr. Phillimore, Q.C., and Dr. Swabey for the
'respondent,
The petitioner, Caroline Maria Marchmont, prayed
for a judicial separation from her husband. Henry
Marchmont, on the ground of cruelty. She alleged
that he had treated her with great unkindness and
cruelty, and had extorted large sums of money from
her by threats and violence. Various acts of cruelty
were specified in the petition. The respondent de-
nied all the allegations of cruelty, and also pleaded
condonation.
Mrs. Marchmont this morning added to her pre-
vious evidence that including the money she had
lent to Mr. Marchmont's father, Mr. Marchmont
had received from her from first to last upwards of
£2,000. She was then cross-examined by Mr.
Macaulay, and said that her annual income at the
time of her marriage with Mr. Marchmont was
more than £2,000 al•ear, and she believed Mr.
Marchmont had told her that he had £2OO a-year.
She did not know that Mr. Marchmont had. £4OO
a-year, from private property, £3OO a-year from
the chapel he gave up, and that he made about
£2OO a-year by writing. It was arranged that the
carriage and horses were to be kept at his expense.
His three children were sent to school. Mrs.
Walmsley, she continued, is a daughter of my
sister, Mrs. Davies. My sister lived with me for
some time at the tavern kept by my first husband
in Threadneedle-street. She is a widow with a
fortune. Before our marriage Mr. Marchmont
lived with his wife and children at Stoke Newing-
ton. His furniture, books, and wine were re-
moved to my house at 10, Percy-place, but I lent
him £350-to pay for the wine. At Tunbridge-
wells we lodged at Mrs. Bennet's, Jordan-house.
There was a servant in the house. I did not refuse
to have anyone as nurse when I was unwell, or to
take care of the children. Mr. Marchmont did very
little for me. He was-writing-all day long in my room.
When he went ,-‘; scratch,., scratch,' it annoyed
me very much, but when he stopped writing
I did not say he was lazy: I was pleased at his
staying with me. I never insisted upon his doing
for me what ought to have been done by a nurse. I
never said that I hated marriage, and would not
live with my husband. Mr. Marchmont may have
sometimes washed and dressed the children, but not
often. I had a fire in my bedroom, but I did not
object to a fire being lighted in the drawing-room
on account of the expense. I never said that my
husband was trying to cheat or rob me when small
change was given me. We were married from my
sister's house. By his desire no friend of his and no
member of his family were at the wedding. My
husband deceived me in his age. He gave me rea-
son to believe that he was 10 years older than he
really was. When I asked him his age after our
marriage he said he was 35, and added that he had
never deceived me but in that one thing. My sister
came to see me when I was ill at Tonbridge-wells.
I told Mr. Marchmont that she had told me that he
had been heard to say, " A pretty honeymoon I
have had, shut up in my wife's stinking sick room."
When I heard that expression I wrote to my attor-
ney to alter my will, having previously left Mr.
Marchmont half my property. He had good wine,
but he gave me bad wine, and I complained of it.
I told him he thought anything, good enough for
me. I did not call him a fool in the presence of
the children, or at any time. The £220 at my banker's
was not included in my settlement. At my request
he wrote to the banker to honour my checks. At
Dover we lodged with a Mrs. Hyder. There were
two servants in the house. I never replied to his re-
quest for a few pence to post a letter that the letter•
might lie and rot. When he proposed a separation
the reason he did not have the £lO,OOO was because
be could not get it. The offer of a separation and
the payment of £lO,OOO to him came from him, not
from me. I very seldom called him a liar. If any
one was coming towards us at the moment it 1s;
very probable he might have used such expressions,
as, "Don't make such a. noise ' • behave like a lady."
" Remember we are strangers here ; what will peo-
ple think of us ?" He would say things of that
kind without any provocation. I certainly did not
lay hold of him by the hair of his head as he was
stooping down to unlock my trunk. When we went
out for a walk on the 25th Nov. at Dover, and there
was a piece of work about the children, let go his
arm because he became violent. I did not say,
when he threatened to go back, that he might go,
to the devil if he liked. When he took my hand.
I struggled to get it away. It was this quarrel
that caused me to go to Deal. When he compared
himself to Mount Vesuvius, it was not in answer to
a complaint of mine that he had received me coldly.
He did not say the coldness was like the snow on
, Vesuvius. I found the m.ney for the expenses of
the trip. I very likely gave him small sums, even
to 2d. to the showman of a cathedral, as they were
iwanted. He ought to have carried money himself.
If I had given him a large sum of money he might
have left me. I did not forbid more than two meals
a-day abroad ;he and the children might have had
. tea if they had pleased. He went out of the Hotel
St. Antoine at Antwerp to buy a little brandy to
save the expense of having it at the hotel, but not
more by my desire than by his own. I left my
boa at Ostend and bought a new one at Dover, but
I did not tell my husband in the hearing of the
shopman when it was being bought that he knew
nothing about it, or order him to walk out of the
shop. If I did it was done kindly. He did walk;
out of the shop and wait for me. The quarrel on
Sunday, the 10th Jan.,did not originate in mysay-
ing that I would leave him. When he was in his
humours I never said anything to him ; it would
have been as much as my life was worth. The house
at Percy-place is not a large one. I kept two maid-
servants there—Tobin and Lewis. It had been
understood before the marriage that a larger house
should be taken. When he complained that his
goods
_were spoiling by being kept in the back
kitchen I did not say I would not be bothered with
his things. One of the children slept on the floor in
our bedroom. I wanted to have one of them with me
to protect my life. He often spoke about having a
third servant. When the Newfoundland dog was
brought home I did not say " There are dogs enough
already—l have four to maintain." But I did object
to his cutting a piece off the roast beef for the dog.
When we spoke about the education of the children
I did not say I would not have a governess in the
house for him to flirt with. He said he wouldrather
be broiling in hell than feel as he then did. The
money I advanced to his father was for the purpose
of enabling him to take a lease of a farm. On the
morning of the 21st January Mr. Marchmont came
into my room, but I did not tell him to leave the
room in the presence of the servant. I did not speak
to him in an imperious manner before the servants.
As he was sitting in his study on that day he told
me to go and fetch him a wax candle off the chim-
ney-piece. • I said, " If you were to turn round to
the window you would not want a candle just yet."
I did not say it was his extravagant ways that
made him want candle. He rushed past me in a
passion, went upstairs, and called me a drunken
faggot. He did not say it was foolish to dispute
about such a trifle, and he would fetch one of the
wax candles we had brought from Brussels. He
brought down the candle and the key basket, and
said he had turned all the things out of my drawers,
and I then went upstairs and locked the door. He
then went up and broke open the door. He did not
say I must be either drunk -or mad to refuse him a
halfpenny candle, and to lock him out of his own
room. I was writing in the account-book the
names he had called me, when he took it eut of my,
hand and threw it on the fire. I had made memo-
randa of my disputes with my niece Mrs. Uzzielli,
then Miss Cumming. I took the book out of the
fire and he snatched it away again, and in the
struggle he blacked his face. The servants came
up. I never lost my temper or spoke violently—l
was too frightened.
Mr. Macaulay—Did you ever swear at him ?
Witness—l may have said—you once or twice
when he was telling dreadful stories. Mr. March-
mont and the two servants tried to prevent my
going out of doors. The serxants did not hold me.
He did not come to me in the dining-room and say
he hoped the storms were over, and pour out some
wine and water for me, nor did I throw the wino
and water over him. He did not say " Here is a
pretty example for the children," nor did I answer
that I wished he and his children were in eternal
perdition. On another occasion when he called me
a, dreadful, name I did throw a little wine over him.
Mr. Marchmont knew Mrs. Uzzielli before he knew
me. I had lived with Mrs. Uzzielli. He has com-
plained of my temper as intolerable, and I have re-
plied that whatever it was he knew it before he
married me, and I could not change it. I did not
tell him that his congregation at Stoke Newington
was a blackguard gang of hypocrites, but he told me
that a letter had been written and I should be
" bonneted" if I went to his chapel. That was also
on Jan. 21. He did not push me away by placing
his open hand upon my forehead, saying,
"Get away, you insolent little creature." On the
25th of January he proposed that we should take
opera tickets, and I bought 12 guineas' worth ;
then he would not go, and I had to give away the
tickets. I went from home on the Ist Feb. and on
the 25th Feb. he fetched me from Mr. Waimsley's.
He said on. the Ist Feb. it would serve me right if
he did something to get a divorce. When I left the
house I said I would see him at my feet before
I would go home again. I did not say to Tobin 1
that I would not go home unless I was fetched. I