Star.
London, England, 1809-03-01 00:00:00

•
PAR.L.M. i/L A f .4RI PROCEEDINGS.

1.101-:=E O 1 LORDS, TUESDAY, FEB. 28.
Mr. Jot::.-. flom the I.nnt'on rick Company, presented a
• Report, and oan account of the Receipts and Disburiements
of the said Cowl. ai.y, fr,mi Nov SO, 1507, to Nov. 30, 1803.

C Min; ELL'S DIVORCE BILL.
After Prayers were read, the further consideration
of this Bfil w.e; resumed, and Counsel (Mr. WARREN
and Mr. YaTes) and evidence in support of the Bill
were called in.
The first witness called was Mr. EDMOND Pvsnv
LYON, a Barrister. and Agent for the Island of Ja-
maica. Re was brought forward with reference to
tl-.e validity of Mr. Campbell's marriage, of which
satisfactory evidence had r. at been adduced when the
1: ill was list under their Lordships' considera-:en.—
Ie stated his opinion, that the law of marriage in the
Island of Jamaica, was precisely as it stood in Eng-
land before the Marriage Act. There was a law of
the Assembly passed, inflicting a penalty upon the
Clergyman rf 1001. currency, who celebitated the mar-
riage I ices without being licensed as prescribed by the
Act ; but this only attached upon the Clergyman,
and did not go to render the marriage void.
The second witness stated, that marriages were
frequently solemnised in private houses in Jamaica,
and that in the case of Mr. and Mrs. Campbell, a ne-
cessity existed for such a mode of proceeding, as the
parish church had been recently destroyed.
What appeared in evidence seeming to satisfy their
Lordships as to the validity of the marriage, the
House proceeded to hear evidence as to the other
parts of the case. •
The Record of the Judgment (which had been
suffered to go by default) was the first, from which
it appeared, the sum of £l5OO were awarded as da-
mage_ to Mr. Campbell. The Solicitor of Mr. C.
stated, that proceedings were had in order to enforce
the payment of the money. In consequence of which
a baii.bond was' given on the part of the Defendant,
Mr. T. Sheridan, either to pay the money, or sur-
render the person or the Defendant within the given
time. The bond was signed, besides by the Defen-
dant, with the names of Richard Peake and Thomas
Spring. An application was afterwards made to
enlarge the time, on which occasion new sureties
were given on the part of the Defendant ; these were
Lord Kinnaird and the Hon. Mr. Berkeley Craven.
Mary Brotherly, a middle-aged woman, of decent
appearance, was brought forward to speak as to the
fact of the adultery. She described the length of time
she had lived in the family of Mr. and Mrs. Campbell,
and her situation therein in Yorkshire, in London?
and other places, previously to their going to Edin-
burgh, where the facts complained of took place. Mr.
Campbell had been for some time to the West-Indies;
and had returned previous to the affair taking place.
Early in the year 1604, when Mr. Campbell and the
family were in Edinburgh, Mr. Campbell had gone.
to London, and the Defendant, Mr. T. Sheridan, fre-
quently visited in the house. One night in particu-1
lar, she believed it was towards the end of February,
in that year, she recollected that her mistress order-
ed a more than usual quantity of night linen, and
said she would, as Mr. Campbell was from home,
lock the door herself, and dismissed her for the night.
On the same night, about ten o'clock, she heard the
street door opened and shut without having been
knocked at. It was her usual custon to look into the
different rooms in the house before going to bed. She
iastended to look into the room where Mr. Campbell
slept, but she found the door fa .t, nor could she open
it by her efforts. She then went down, and some time
after heard a noise like the doors Opening, and going
up a step or two of the stairs whence she could see
the door, she observed a gentleman in uniform, whom
she had no doubt was the Defendant, .go in at the
door of her mistress's room. Not long after, she went
up, and endeavoured to get in, but it was fast, and
she tapped several times, and requested to be admit-
ted, but could get no answer. In the morning after
her mistress had risen, in consequence of a remark
made by one of the female servants, she looked at the
bed, which had every appearance of two persons hav-
ing 1 tin in it over night. On that morning she had
SC me, interesting conversation with Tier mistress, in
shish the latter stretched out her hand to her, and
said she hoped she would be her friend; to which the
witacss said, she answered she would in every thing
that w;.s right, but in nothing wrong. • She remained
a considerable time after in the service of the family.
—With a view to account for the difference of her
statement now and on a fo-mer occasion, and also
for her not disclo•sing any thing of the affair until a
very long interval—she said, in so doing she had com-
mitted an error of the head, but not oldie heart—her
reason for not disclosing it to Mr.Can:pbell was, that
on reflection she then thought she had not sufficient
evU:nce as to the guilt of Mrs. Campbell—that she
had lived long in her fa:Ay, :and was very much at-
tached to them—it was nearly (as we could collect)
three years before she communicated the circumstan-
ces to Mr. Campbell, which ..he did in the presence
of Mr. More, his so'sicitor, and also, she believed, of
the clerk.

Their LordsYps, about this point of exaniination,
adjourned their proceedings ; and, on the suggestion
of the Lord Chancellor, ordered the witness to att2nd
again on Thursday next, when the consideration of
the Bill will be resumed.