The Sun.
London, England, 1826-11-01 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGEXCE.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.—(Tms DAT.)

CRIM. CON. IN 111011 LIFE.

BLUM V. WELLESLZY.

At a very early hour the Court was crowded to excess
bear the trial of this case:

, .
Mr. D. F. JONES opened the pleadings: The declara-
tion charged, that the defendant had assaulted Ellen, the
wife of. the plaintiff, Thomas Bligh, Esq. and debauched
her, to the damage of 10,000/. The defendant denied the
charge, Upon which iseut, was joined.
Mr. Serjeant Vat:au/or addressed the Jury to the following
effect :—ln this action, for criminal conversation, he bad the
honour to appear before the Court and Jery, as Counsel for the
plaintiff, who complained that he had been robbed of the affections
of his wife, that his bed had been dishonoured, and that his peace
and domestic happiness had been for ever destroyed by the gross
and profligate seduction of the defendant. The Jury might natu-
rally suppose, that in any case of this sort, any advocate in rising
to address himself to the merits of the case would feel a consider-
able degree of anxiety ; in the present instance, he could say Most
'unfeignedly that he had that anxiety to no small extent ; nor was
it at all abated by the circumstance that the defendant had thought
it right (and he commended him for his judgment and discretion)
to call to his aid on the present occasion, the powerful assistance
of Mr. Scarlett, in addition to the counsel to be found in the
Court of Common Pleas. Mr. Scarlett had taken a very formi-
dable position on his (Mr. Sergeant's Vaughan's) left flank, and
lie rather expected a corps de reserve in his rear, before the case
was got through. He had no doubt, that whatever could be done
by the most powerful eloquence, and by the most consummate
discretion, would be accomplished by those who were to defend
the defendant this day ; but fortunately for him (Mr. Sergeant
Vaughan) he had a case, which when he gave a plain, simple,
but faithful narrative of the facts connected with it, would make
such an appeal to the judgment of the jury, as he was sure would
call for heavy, aye, and for exemplary damages. He was sure
he needed not to say, that adultery, particularly when it was ac-
companied with any aggravated circumstances, was the deepest
civil injury that could be inflicted on man : and he confessed him-
self to be one of those who had always thought that if persons
guilty of this offence, bad been responsible to a criminal
jurisdiction, rather than a civil action, it would have been
more politic and more wise, but the law was to be administered
as it was to be found. It would be his duty, therefore, to call
the attention of the Jury to the points of the case, some of which
would require a good deal of consideration. The first would be,
whether any adulterous intercourse had taken place or not ? Upon
this he would feel no difficulty in satisfying the minds of the
Jury ; and when that fact came to be clearly established, in form-
ing a judgment upon the amount of damages, the natural question
would be, what had the plaintiff lost, and how had the defendant
conducted himself? Because, upon the issue of those two in-
quiries most unquestionably it would depend, whether the damages
ought to be heavy or not. lie would now proceed to give a his-
tory of the case, and first with regard to the names to the re-
cord.---They could not but be familiar to every one who heard
them ; the plaintiff was iVr. Thomas Bligh, and the defendant Mr.
Wellesley; both of them were of noble birth, and connected
with the first families in the kingdom. Mr. Bligh had been
in the army, but from ill health, unfortunately acquired in the
service of his country; he had been obliged to retire from it some
few years ago: lie was the son of Mr. Shadwell Bligh, who was
a gentleman of considerable landed estates in Ireland, and.a near
relation of Lord Darnley; and the plaintiff having betaken him-
self to a military life in 1815, he was introduced to his present
wife. ' With respect to the defendant, the Learned Counsel hardly
needed to mention his name ; but if he did, it would only be for
the purpose of entreating the Jury to dismiss from their minds,. as
far as possible, every thing they might have heard rumoured, or
seen published, prejudicial to the. character of the defendant, and
confine themselves strictly to what should this day be in evidence
before them. He was the eldest son of Lord Maryborough ; the
heir to his Lordship's titles ; the nephew of the Marquis of Wel-
lesley, and also the nephew of the Duke of Wellington. As to
the wife of Captain . Bligh, the plaintiff, she was the daugh-
ter of a Colonel Pattison, • a gentleman who bad served
with credit, for many years, in India, and was a lady,
as he believed, of great personal beauty and accomplishments.
With the consent and approbation of her father she was married
to the plaintiff in. 1815. This marriage, however, took place
without the knowledge or approbation of the plaintiff's father ;
and at the period of two years afterwards, when it was found
there might not only be a fortune, but a title to descend to the
issue of this marriage, a second marriage took place, in the pre-
sence of the plaintiff's family. And this the Learned Counsel
mentioned, merely because, if there was any inference to be drawn
from it, it would be, that there was the strongest affection sub-
sisting between the parties. After the first marriage, the imme-
diate object of Captain 'Nigh, was to reconcile if possible, and
conciliate the minds of his own family to the marriage be had
formed, that he might be enabled to make a provision for his
wife ; and after many exertions on his part, in 1819, the estates
were resettled on him, in order to enable him to make whatever
jointure and provision for Mrs. B. he thought proper. After the
marriage took place in 1815, Mr. 8., with his wife, remained
for a short time with Colonel P. and afterwards joined
the army on the Continent, attended by his wife. He
came afterwards to this country; remained here for about a year,
but having fallen into ill health, (and which bad continued to the
present time, so much so, that there was not much expectation of
his living for any very long time,) he was advised by his medical
attendant, Dr. Bailey, to go to the South of Europe, where the
air was more mild, to ascertain, if that would do him good. In
1820, or 1821, he went to Geneva ; afterwards to Venice ; after-
wards to Genoa ; and in the spring of 1622, he advanced to
Naples, where the adulterous intercourse was charged to have taken
place. In 1828, the plaintiff having been joined by his brother,
and other parts of his family, they jointly took a house at Naples,
and there they became acquainted with the defendant. Upon this
part, it was necessary to call the Jury's Attention to some circum-
stances which appeared to the Learned Counsel, to be attended
with very peculiar aggravation. One would natinally ask, what
was the situation of the defendant at this time ? Mr. Wellesley,
as all knew, had married a most amiable lady, with an immense
fortune ; that fortune had subsequently been somewhat incum-
bered by Mr. Wellesley, prior to the period at Which he
went abroad. Of the estates, in which he took a life inte-
rest, the lady whom he married took bbiut 5,0001. pin-money,
and this she had as separate property of her own. She and Mr.
W. retired abroad, for the purpose of living, till their estates- were
in part redeemed. Through the medium of a Mr. Hamilton and
his sister Mrs. Maxwell, they were introduced to the plaintiff and
his wife; and Mr. W. having frequently seen Mrs. 8., certainly
became passionately fond of her, paid her very particular attentions,
and ultimately succeeded in accomplishing the object of his wishes...
her seduction. At this time Mr. W. was living in apparent har-
mony, and upon the best terms with his own wife; and what ape
peered to be a singular aggravation of this gross case, he cer-
tainly had, from the moment be entertained seductive wishes, rude
his own wife the instrument of her own dishonours—making her
the means of his access to Mrs. 8., and giving him the opportu-
nity of carrying ou the adulterous intercourse ! They met at the
British Minister's • they were introduced by Mr. Hamilton and
Mrs. Maxwell; fiirs. W. contrived immediately to cherish and
cultivate an intimate acquaintance with Mr. 13. and his family.
An intimacy took place ; Mr. W. and his family were admitted
to all the hospitality that the plaintiff's house could produce.
me. W. visited a good while before any suspicion of im-
proper motives were roused ; but afterwards, his attentions
to Mrs. B. were so pointed, and hie conduct so extraordinary,
that it could not escape the observation of every person that he
had the object in view, which no honourable man ought to have
entertained, of making an inroad upon the chastity of his friend's
wife. Iu consequence of this, the family became very uneasy,
and the husband reproved his wife. A lady would be called as a
witness who would state that ske thought it right to give Sir. W.
a friendly caution, not to cherish a continuance of those visits,
tShautspiienious...contew4huyeLeßeo-f
weahuitech
twheere
juoryf a
wereiMiiCßligh's being very ill, he used to take exercise at
aPartieulsr period of the day, sad it was observed that
P ito"s understand,character
Mr. Wellesley, knowing this, took the opportunity. of pay-
wir his visits when Mr. Bligh was not at home, and these were
the times at which he endeavoured to cultivate the affections of
Bligh
make •
such excursionsothers a party to Mount Vesuvius
parties, and that among
• It appeared that Mrs. Bligh was very anxious to
objected to by Mr.
wsk,iprop°ted ; this party had been frequently
as he was not situation himself to attend his wife upon
panied by his brOthsUeerl
pur-
pose of seeing the place t advantage. However, after much
persuasion the Plaintiff ? more
excursionsb leomea de at night, for the
wife should go, accom.
and
is
did consent that his
all in one house toge-
ther. The defendant there could be no
attend therm also and
doubt, without t " Mr• W.
tu ering intothe conduct of . •
was of such a desasi any particulars,
to doubt that
the guilt of the parties al, as to leave little reason
about that
time. It now became had been, consummated
his
necessary • Mr. Bligh, having had
suspicions awakened, to interdict fors
interdict, the
visits of the defendant. The, or to threaten to
ouuced
there was a resistance made to it
that threat was pr? Ill
and
she afterwards assigned As Lt en the part of Mrs. Bligh ;_
reason for eloping with the el
d end-