The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-06 00:00:00

NEWSPAPER

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from hWi. quarters. or anythin t lead th ' - ,q/A447
lieve that I had had any con 4tion - • , ^',..?„,
"'*.--:----•ern.5,...7A
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judge. I did tell them, and pre 4 t '
C
«-
upon Mrs. Swinfen the importance a cakpro
raise. lam sorry to hear that I did not treat Mrs. 1.
Swinfen with courtesy. I was very desirous that
she should compromise, as the case stood. I think
she said, "What do you propose ?" and Mr.
Alexander said something about "a thousand a-
year for your life." She said she could do nothing
without consulting a friend, Sir Henry Durrant. .
He came, and the result was that she said she would
return to town and let me know the result by tele-
graph. I felt the jury was_ against us; and _l_ felt
the pulse on the other side as well as I could, to see
what could be done. This was on the Saturday,
and the message came at two o'clock on the Sun-
day from Mrs. Swinfen, saying " The offer is re-
fused." We did not consider that satisfactory ; as
no offer had been made, but at the same time I said
to Mr. Alexander, " Then we must. fight it out."
Simpson came and told me that
On the Monday Mr.'
it was very necessary the case should be arranged,
for he had heard that Mrs. Swinfen gave ordeis
that Mrs. C. Swinfen should be refused'admission
to the testator. I said " Very well. I. will go- tti
the Attorney.-General and offer to take .£l,OOO a-
year," which I had every reason to believe he would
give. I spoke to him going into court, and he agreed
to give us £l,OOO a-par. That was to be basis
of an arrangement. We had a long discussion ~
with the Attorney-General about the costs,
and they agreed to pay us £1,250. I tried
hard to get £1,500; After that Colonel Dyott, the
high sheriff, interfered, and the 'Attorney-General
told me his client had broken, off -the negotiations.
I spoke to him, and said it was very unhandsome.
I then requested Colonel Dy was
,to retire from in-
terfering with the case, as lie as- not interested ;
and he did so. I felt satisfied that if the case came
into court again, all hope of compromising it was
at an end. • I was very anxious to have it settled if
I possibly could. I offered to take the responsi-
bility, as Mr.. Simpson *lonia not agree to it. He
e ':'.tW
asked the 'to "-defend him against his client. I
thoug'l3;
circumstances, that it was a
trastanii al arran gement.' The, 4ii gag-clients I
had at SAVdnsea did not enter for one moment into '
my mind. Ultimately the basis of a compromise
was concluded, and I put my initials to it.
Cross-examined by Mr. Kennedy.—The arrange-
ments about the Stafford case being tried on Satur-
day was made between my clerk and that of the
Attorney-General, with, I presume, the consent of
the judge. I had not the slightest' communication
before I left town, with the judge about the Swan-
sea case. I am happy to say the judges are all
friends of mine, and I might have written to have
had a case fixed for my convenience. -I have read
everything in the way of instructions that were
handed to me. Here are my notes I made on the
brief (pulling a large packet of papers from his
pocket.) I have not the least recollection of what
the judge said to me at the time. I met him in the
Park a short time ago, and he told me what he said
was " I think Cockburn has damaged your female
witnesses." (Roars of laughter,., which continued
dome minutes, and in which his lordship .acid" tae
court joined.) I don't recollect that he said " The
verdict's gone," or "saving something from the
wreck." I had such a number of cases that one
very soon chased another out of my head. I saw
the Attorney-General on the Sunday at Stafford.
I dined at Lord Hatherton's, but I don't know
where I dined on the Saturday ; certainly not
at Miss Sparrow's, for I ' havn't the honour
of the lady's acquaintance. '(Laughter.) Nor
with Lady Wilton. I don't .know Lady
Wilton. (A laugh.) Nor with Lady Chetwynd.
These are all new acquaintances you are introduc-
ing to me. (A laugh.) I proposed £l,OOO a year ,
as a most advantageous arrangement. I cautiously
abstained from meetioning to my client what the
judge said to me.
Mr. Kennedy—Do you think it was a right thing
for the judge to speak to you in that way ?
Lord Chelmsford—l don't think I should be called
upon to offer an opinion on that question.
This answer was followed by loud demonstra-
tions of applause in court.

The Lo-rd Chief Baron—lf that occurs again I
shall order the court to be cleared. - .

Lord Chelmsford—l am very sorry, my lord, that
any answer of mine should have produced such an
interruption.
Cross-examination continued—l did not feel
bound to tell my client upon what grounds I based
my judgment, but, as the result of that judgment,
I strongly recommended Mrs. Swinfen to accept
£l,OOO a year. She came about ten minutes after
I accepted the compromise for her. Mr. Simpson
did ask me to wait till she came, but he did not tell
me that any compromise must be subject to her ap-
proval. I never said that Mrs. Swinfen had not a
leg to stand upon. I wanted to do the best for her
I could .
Mr. Justice Cresswell was called—He said—l
presided at the trial of Swinfen against Swinfen, at
Stafford, in March, 1856. I recollect seeing Sir F.
Thesiger. Was sitting on the opposite side of the
counsel's table, and when the Court adjourned
beckoned him over and shook hands with him. I
asked him if he was going to Lord Hatherton's, as
Mr. Baron Bramwell and myself had an invitation.
He said he had a consultation in the cause and de-
clined. I spoke to him about it, and told him that
the Attorney-General had damaged two of his most
important witnesses. That was all that passed, to
my recollection.
Cross-examined by Mr. Kennedy—l dined with
several persons while at Stafford, but I can't recol-
lect whether I mentioned the case or not. If any
gentleman had asked me, it is probable I would
have answered him. I thought the case was se-
riously damaged by the examination of the female
witnesses.

Sir A. Cockburn, Lord Chief Justice of the Court
of Queen's Bench, was called and examined by Mr.
M. Smith, Q.C. He said—l was leading counsel
in the case of Swinfen v. Swinfen. I recollect two
letters that were read and cross-examinedthe ladies.
At the close of the day I had some conversation
with Sir F. Thesiger. He asked me if it could not
be settled. I said that after reading my instruc-
tions of all the cases I ever had, this was one that
ought to be settled. I made no offer, hut on the
Monday morning Sir F. Thesiger came to me and
we discussed the matter, making £l,OOO the basis.
The same offer that Sir Frederic made was present
in my own mind. I was certainly not prepared to
go further, nor would I have gone so far but on ac-
count of the relationship between the parties, and
the peculiar way in which Mrs. Swinfen was rlaced
by the death of her husband, old Mr. Swinfen's son.
It came out that about the time of the making of
the will Mr. Swinfen was so far gone as not to
know that it was his son that was dead and not his
n'veryl
tdhaeunghfetletr. That came
thatourcasoeu in am
wast
scarofes,s-feoxrwinae'btaiod
isntrocnhganecveiry.
evidence behind. I did not read the bill
The Lord Chief Baron—Very few people volun-
teer to read a bill in Chancery. (Roars of laughter.)
Mrs. Swinfen never took her eyes for an instant
and
dt h leasherned d juidges
thedge
occasional
during h
tiaeui
laughter
hteras heartily
as the rest.
Mr. Alexander, Q.C., who had been one of the
former counsel in the cause of Swinfen v. Swinfen
when the compromise was entered into, was then
called, and provedfplta:ienhut
ieoffslea concurred in the recommen-
dationgementefa se n interest.
a ane t
HasmeoteosotirnbroteehnroevrfiiaectiNevadsl
tewho huehve
forhdf oect rna
eta
tehnaeoi
aernrapnlace between counsel, the plain-
tiff, and her solicitor, and stated that the manner
of the defendant Was
most kind and courteous to
her.
As counsel s
ma
ef
l o hr er .
counsel for the plaintiff, he thought the
arrangement
the very best that could have been
Mr. Whitmore and Mr. Gray, who had also been
couo Mrs. Swinfen in the same cause, gave
similar testimony.
i-
d eTn
chei s closedmt hmee es suep forb t
shier dFeifteznrdoayn
Kt ,
ewl
Ihyo. s e e v
Mr. Kennedy then replied on the whole case.
The Lord Chief Baron then summed up. He said
that as to the second count, that which charged
collusion between the defendant and Sir Cresswell
Cresswell, he would direct them that there was no
evidence to go to the jury. He would further say
that he did not think it was decent to put the
second count on the record, and he did not think any
apology which the learned counsel for the plaintiff
stated he would make would be any satisfaction to
the learned judge whose character had been assailed,
in
or to public decorum and decency, which d
of the court such a charge as this. I\Tex
his opinion, been outraged by putting ontati:
of the bar
jury, the independence of the pressto andconstitutional
was one of the greatest safeguards
happiness. He
rights, and, therefore, of their socialof
law that all
would lay it down as a principle thrreaieaelrbd;
client
If he intended to act
or mistaken—he might he,
might be utterly wrong
the law required a bar_i;istetrat osh lbaeeds was a shcret
co
oduils dc
.h
He
e
his duty towards his c
as the counsel for the plaintiff suggested, under
clfiecanrt—hbeuwt as not responsible. The
lead judge jebnuycdegh theneiosf alluded to the material points
in the evidence, and said that the simple question
which the jury had to decide was whether the de-
fendant had acted fraudulently or improperly, or in
the best interests of his client.
The jury, without a mome4t's hesitation, re-
turned a verdict for defendant on both counts.
The announcement was received with loud ap-
plause, which was suppressed by the officers of the
court.
The counsel for the plaintiff havini, tendered a
bill of exceptions to his lordship's ruling,
The Court adjourned at a quarter to ten o'clock.