The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-04-12 00:00:00

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Mr. CRESSWELL then rose and addressed the jury for the de-
fendant. He said—Gentlemen of the Jury, in rising to addresti
you .as counsel on_ behalf of Mr. Ashburner, in this to hint, to
his -wife' and to his famtlY:inost imp orrirt-,cud interesting case,
I should ill discharge my duty towards hint arid -ti) mvsett,-trt •
were to neglect to apologize to You, gentlemen, for the inter-
..
ference on Saturday on toy part, by which .you have beet) de-
taitted somewhat Jonger tlran you- otherwise inight-have been.
Believe. me I can fully appreciate the inconvenier ce it 'may- -
have be,en to. you Atli—believe me I feel that it is
,imp,t ant 14
you to be disc'tar,ged. as Speedily, as possible froni y,,ur public
auties. I k.ni,w the patience, the perseverance Wan which you
have attended in' the. discharge of those. unties,-by which you
have been taken from ycur ova homes atidiyuur ,Wro private
businesaas,and it was not without some reltn twice ilia I inte'r-
fried to prevent your coming to a conclusion of ths-caSe men
Saturday. ;But I hope you will, on the other hand ,liate some
feeling. tor the Position in which I was placed. Y tar satin;
these cool and calm the whole of the day was far ditlerent front • -
iny.position. It is' your business to keep your minds nnt xcited
and unprejudiced; it is ours, on the other head, to take an in-
terest in the causes that come before you, and enter fully into
them; and believe me that the wear and tear on the one side
must be much. greater than ou Vie other. And lam sure you
will make allowance, for me; for a counsel, when he feels that
his bodily energy and his spirits are exhausted and failicg, and
;hat his view and perception of the case is becoming dint and
confused, and that he cannot devote that attention, that spirit to
the case which devolves on him which he ought.—But 'enough,
about myself; let me: come to the case which 1 have to lay
before you. I wits absent when my learned friend opened his
case..rant informed, by my learned friends, who assist me of the
various topics on which he touched; and, gentlemen, he stated
one matter, which was undoubtedly true, that makes my cause.
blacker—he told you truly that Mr. Ashburner is a hus-
band and a father; he might have added that Mr. Ashburner
is an affectionate and a tender husband and. her; he might
have added,that his wife was lovely and rervelliPlished. affec-
tionate and confiding, and if he :hail stated t lat,:would you not
at once have perceived that there are. interests at stake tar be-
yond the,purse of Mr. Ashburner—that there are the feeings of
a wife—the character of her. husband; there is the station of
his faintly after him—whether they are to be considered as the
.prOgeny-of a gentleman becoming his 'station in society or of
one who.is,a traitor to his wile . and his family. 'I herefore,
gentlemen, it is with an ardent degree et' anxiety that I under-
take to"satisfy vita to-day that Mr.T -AsLhareer deserves not
either of these imontations. Gentlemen, of all classes of cases
relating to personal occurrences, peradris there are none that
show such a great variety as those which arise from criminal

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intercourse between the Sexes. No circumstances of life exe
hibit so great a variety as those tha take place between husband
and wife. Need "I point out to you, gentlemen, the difference
that may exist between marriages, as tie whethi r ;hey are happy,
or likely to be happy, or otherwise. Although I have no claim
to the honoured. of tel.and father, s e I t; nit I am not
so (lead to the liner• feelings of our nature—that the day-dreamsof youth have nut passed so far from me but that I can imagine.
he hapiduess of the married state—that I can iinegiae the t rem-
blieg ply with which the husband receives his plashing bride, or
when he receives With rapture the pledge of their. love and-the
,'ess.r.isteeined,.beet chaste
.endeartio its of the wife.-
can imagine after that. in the future years af their lives,- when ee
they are perhaps going down the hill ot lite, how the husband e
may have brought to his recollection the settles that are past
by seeing the features of his wife reflected around hbn, in his
blooming offspring, and.he may to the Lie:4 hour be aide tirex-
claim ".blow much the wife is dearer than the bride." Yes;
all this I can imagine---to the latest hour of their existence seek-
ing to double each others joys by sharing theta; I can imagine
no state of earthly happiness at all comparable to that; but,
alas! gentlemen, that is not the-picture you ate now to expect
to be drawn of the married state. There may be others, where
parties -are. ill -assorted—where they perhaps know little of
each 'others dispositions and feeling-F. I can imagine aged
vanity being attracted by the alluremente of a forward and flirt-
ing girl; I can imagine him perhaps caught by his being told
of his being preferred to some one to whom her word has been.
pledged—that that avowal which ought to make him despise
and reject her advances might he the means of entrapping h;m
-to the point of marriage. Gentlemen, from such an union
what happiness can be expected ?' Gentlemen, th s char icier
did the marriage of• Mrs. and Me. Yeomen partake; that is the •
account we have from Mrs. Archer, and inure—of the state in •
which the parties lived almost from the time of t! Wr
She saYs " they are kind and affectionate to ane another," but she •
did not withhold this—that within a little -mouth of er the -
wedding Mr. Yeoman grievously complained (if the expsess of
a settlement that he was called on to pay ; for he said •‘. his wife
brought nothing with her, and it was bald he should pay a, ys
thing for her"—that within that month he gave hcr noth ng.
"No," the mother said, "he gave nothing to her, for she se! t ed
nothing on him." That then was the corneal nt --II at fe, ling
which ought to have been for the happiness of his w fe, waived
for the paltry expense of paying for a set tle.neat ! how d d tee •
marriage take place ? You have heard the at count from Mrs.
Archer that Mr. Yeoman was a--gentleman shoot 45 years of -
age; you have heard that Mrs. Yeon,an was much younger,
about 25; you have heard that they met in casual intet course—
within a t fortnight they were engaged—they were marred within •
a mouth. What could be expected but that such •a hasty union
would. be followed by the .shipwreck of the happiness, of both. I•
pretend not to say, it is no part of my business to sat, 'hat any- •
thinglike dislike or disguit existedbetween them; his I do say
that very account proves that in this transaction then- was none -
of that liner feeling which ought to exist—and if .I thought it
possible that ti marriage in my own person could exit without
it, would pray God that I might • ;or ever remain unblest ac
now. What are the circumstances that attend the supposed
destroying of Mrs. Yeoman's character? Could one imaeino
that this union belonged to the first class of marriages wh chl have
so feebly attempted to describe to you ? If it were, cot.bl I have. - -
described the agony with which Mr, Yeoman would ha, e heard of -
his dishonour ? Gentlemen, it is always a painful sight to see,
those on a hom our affections are fixed stretched on a bed of
sickness—it is always still more distie.sing to see the tomb close
over theta for ever; but light, light indeed is that compared witi -
the agony of thinking that your wife, though living, is deed •
to you; but she lives dead to all toewhom she Ices once dear—
an
outcast from society. -Gentlemen, • the recoil sctien o de—
parted friends who have been loved and respected is dear ; nee, -
the very sorrow we feel 'for them is hallowed, and in time c as'ist •
to sorrow; but what so itgonieitiges the deity recollection taut
she who was once the partner of your bed does a reproach to alt.
to whOM:she was ever
.mentiected,—a but den to herself. -And
what would be the condition of the husband of such a Wife when
he heard his wife had been ruined. by a seducer ? Whet earn •
.tiatlfilings of Mr. Yeoman-eaten -tie tie:covered the supposed .
infidelity orhTs wife ? You remember hie ;eerie. whicretatertoe —e-
ther described as _taking place between him and Mr. Ashburner ;
the wife is gone, and absent with her friend's on a visit.—he re-
ceives an anonymous letter, which tells him that he ie heel:eyed
and dishonoured—he goes to the man who he 'apposes head's- . •
honoured Inns—he .had the letter three days thee in his posses-
sion, and had slept over his imagined wro, g 'rho man obeys
his call, and comes to see what charges are Brought f 'sward
against him—he reads the letter—there is no discussiau takes
place. Why ? "Because," says Mrs. Archer, "eye would out.
have beard him, and Mr. Yeomau was in haste to get to the
howling, green, where several gentlemen were waiting to receive
him." (Audible murmurs of applause.) Good Gel that Atch
nbeing could exist and come and proclaim publicly that he was
a husband. And if these were the feelings excited be knowing
his lose—if these were the bitter feelings produced, areal iudeem
has- been -his .loss. (Suppressed but audible applauee.) But -
what is the nature of the charge ? We are told by the
same lady, the mother of the plaintiff—that that -charge •
was made -in an anonymous letter that tinned out to be
written by a woman pained Heves. That letter .was ex-
hibited to the defendant, and therefore my friend might, if hi
had pleased, have introduced it before you. When it was proved
that that letter had, been intioduced, from that moment it 'be-
' came evidence in the cause if he thought tit to lay it before von:
Where is that letter? What charge does it contain ? l'er--
chance it contained much besides this imputation. upon Mr.
Ashburner; perchance it contained many things capable of
disproof, and which, if disproved, would tend to throw discredit
Jnt the story told in it. Why is that ictler kept hack ?• Who
wrote it? Ellen Heyes. Whets is Ellen Heyes? She was a
person, according to their own account, in the employment of
-Mrs. Yeoman. Where is she? In Liverpool ? Yes, In-•
court? yes;—but not in the witness-box. Why is she withheld?
Does Mr. Yeoman play fairly with us? He charges the de-•
fendant with adultery on the information of a woman. She is a
person tett°, if the story be tine from beginning to end, must
have known much Of this transaction. She is here in Court ;
I challenge them to produce her, and 'they dare nut. What,
then, do I conclude from that charge ? That this is a conspiracy
got up. by Mrs. Heyes;—that she has stone viudietive feeling;
perhaps against M. Ashbutner, perhaps against Mrs. Yeoman;
and if she had been in that box I-would have extorted that trout
her that no doebt on earth sbou:d have existed that this is a •
vile conspiracy got up by her. Perhaes Mr. Yeoman believes
her true, and if his advisers do so too, why do they not place
her befere the jury, and give them the means of judging of the
whole truth? Am I right, gentlemen, in assuming that this
case rests on her statement;—that it has been got up on her
statement? Yes, gentlemen, I say it is, and for this teaser) ;
what said the evidence of Margaret Collins, and wh t shadow
or ray of testimony is there to tax guilt on M . Ashburner ?
But when was Margaret Collins' examination taken? A week
before my lord took his seat on the .bench. On whose slate-
went was the trial got up, and the writ issue , and the action
commenced ? On whose statement were the atiefs pre p ,red ?
Nqt.on Margaret Collietes, for that was not mem unto some
three weeks ago; not upon Mary Jackson's statement, ftr the •
temb.hae closed her mouth for ever; she was dead and gone id
the autumn. Upon whose statement was this case prepared for
trial? I say again on the statements f that abandoned woman
who first makes the charge, and who time dare not tall on to
substantiate it. (Murmers of applause, and calls of "silence"
fennathe Judge.) Have any other proof of this case origi
Hating in the tales of Ellen Heyes, and in her faliehood? Yes;
by the assistance of my.learned friends' 1 have been made ac-
..
quainted with the. opening of my friend Mr. Alexander'S case,
and I learn from.them•that that was stated. of which no proof
has heed given. There were the frequent, visits in Mr. Yea-
man's absence---there were the frequent scenes of hanging over
the pianoslorte, and taking t hat opportunity of insinuating those
poisonous addresses into her ear which. have been hints d at.
There were statements of her being traced to-brothels with hien, .
day after day, in morethan one place, by permit..of the market-sa
by people from ether places;—where is the evidence of .thoso
fticts? Where in the brief of my teemed friend, pre-
pared on the statements of a woman, of which they can bring no
evidence before von. What is the conclusion I draw from
this? This, gentlemen, and I subwifit to you as reasonable;_
The eta7,l !Yes boa to
that open shine small and narrow foundation oferutha-soene
levity of conduct—some indiscreet walking in a street, or in a
garden; all this monstrous etiperstructute of lies and falsehood has
been erected,until it is difficult te Point out the lines iehieli sepha;
rate the two; end you are called on to believe the grosseosif,Lt
most abominable guilt. (Sensation in court.)
woman must remain a secret; I cannot call her ih%
‘OIL
disclose her infamy ;—I cannot call her 'to conttes,btl
that she has been a conspirator against the peace
burner—and his wife and his lentil
t say that
y ICa (1 1111 t call - her there
to see whether this or that occurrence touts place, or- o •
on this cause or that cause het`she been a witness on the other sides then l'coirld have put this
statement rested.' No; •but haul
question, and she would have been controlled to answer; and
Can they say that, women
I 'could have called pereeits to contradict, 'obese trout be
?. her
hersts team, 1
knew nothing must now
answer to the question were, that she knew nothittg," would
remain
Itf.isejos,e.teil bee,v,ceort,n es of
tiled on hers of itself a'
it not at mice :lave ti.• tone,- that she was.
anxious to destroy the peace of a family ? If:ehe know
much, were they not bound to bring' it forward ? if the. other. -
'eeislenee this cause be true, she must have known nitiCh, for.
what is the account that the mthers give? And I pray you ch-
serve this'welt—in every neel of the Cause—to veers eircum;
stance, relating to this
supposed coteeeeeeem between (he part iesa
we trace theetingei Ellen Hey
-es. Mut-y0 .)114:a tees yon,that
that she came there sornetinik, levet not often: that after brie- left
• the service she went twice t -1
lee -o• IPf I.ll`Jsn; 13.60 W, 11.11.-i. Yeoman
where she Ann Goiffstlee tells you thetEllen. HeyeS.yeasa-
.very frequently there,—that she-wine .s. risen' emptafeit to goe'
errands for Mrs. if r.ornati. ef •ehen. they are le be, believed, it
is imposetible but that she should pot ketr.v leach. Kitt if, test:,
Artie, then- it. is. teessitle that She.: might- atee .to prove-littte indiactetiora—we might-have *posed the' fact that elm'
kne* tatithinge mad traced the whole: case to echetuings end
scandal. and- pesjatry. But ono' gowlernett, what is. the esti.:
detace that fork's, hlr which, M r.ittstilrorner and his famityard:
be.plungetkln irremediable distress snot' misery i» What are