The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-07-03

witaess in any proceeding, whether n
s,srtv 10 the suit or not, shall be Liable TO
Be asked or be bound 10 answer any ques-
tion tending 10 show that ne or she has
been guilty of adultery. | think Il Is
right TO point this out 10 his royal high
ness and 20 tell him that he Is not bound
by law 70 submit TO any Interrogation on
that subject.
His royal highness was then examined
by DR.. Deane as follows:
II believe your royal highness has for
some tiae been acquainted with the Nom
creiffe family?n Il have"
Were yen acquainted With Lady Nor
daunt before her n3arriageg Il Was"
.sOn her marriage. did your royal nigh
ness write TO her and make her some we'd
ding presents2' II did.
previous to her marriage had she Wis
tied al Marlborough house when your
royal highness and the Princess of Wales
were fhere?'' .sShe had"
And has she gone TO the theater with
both your royal highnessesgh "She has"
I'VE are told thai she was married at the
end of Is66. In 1861 did you see much of
here Il did,
and in the year 1852 II did Also"
Were Won acquainted with Sir Charles
Mordaunt?" II was"
Have you frequently met himf" SCI
have"
ana WIKI 11IF
with Lady M0rdaunt."
"Your royal highness knows Hurting
ham," Il do
Have you been in the habit of meeting
Sir Charles there?" Il have
ION one occasion. I think in June, 1858.
there was pigeon match there between
Warwickshire and Norfolk" There
was"
Il believe your royal highness and Sir
<or cazh 1+xv3t
Il believe So"
WAS Lady Mordaunt there2" "She
was''
with her husband?" with her hus-
band"
Does your royal highness remember the
date?" II think Ii was about June"
Did Lady Mordaunt score for one
side?" "For both sides, / think"
And in the course OF the match did you
speak to Lady Mordaunt at times when
Sir Charles was by?'s u believe So"
Eve have heard in the course of this
case that your royal highness used ham
som cabs occasionally; | doubt whether it
is so" 1T is so"
Mr. Deane-I have only one more ques-
tion TO trouble your royal highness with.
Has there ever been any improper fan1ili-
arity or criminal act between yourself and
Lady Mordaunt7
His roval highness lin very firm
tone-TheFe has not.
The prince bowed TO his lordship and re-
tired amid an attempt at applause, which
was promptly suppressed.
After Sir Frederick tombstone had been
examined and had explicitly denied hav-
ing had any improper acquaintance with
Lady Mordaunt, the case was concluded.
The disclosures made at the trial natur-
ally revived all the scandal that had q
tone towards his royal highness which
was, as it is today, decidedly hostile
one. Londoners can recall how he
was Kissed on his way TO the Lyceum
theater, and how the mob Insult
ingly and derisively shouted, "Ahl yah
Who drove Lady Mordaunt mad ?'' The
Paris Figaro remarked, by way of all COM
ment: lie Prince de GALES s'est pariure
en- parfait gentilhomme, (the Prince of
Wales perjured himself like a perfect gen.
tieman.l
For PopuEi had it that ii was clever ruse
70 make out Lady Mordaut insane for, had
she sworn publicly to what she confessed to
her husband it would have been a choice
between believing her or the heir apparent
and as at that time his name was coupled
with some of the lights of the demi-monde,
the public would have inclined towards
crediting a lady driven to confession by
remorse.
The London Times then, as it does today.
ran as follows:
THE Prince of Wales has learned by
a painful experience how watchfully
he must walk whose life is the
property and the study of the
world. If royalty has many privileges
it must suffer not few privations, and
the charm of personal intimacy is one
that must be denied TO inheritors
of crowns. The prince has had,
indeed, before him the pattern of
life. not surely devoid of innocent
pleasures, yet SO carefully regulated
that II was, in the eyes of ali men,
dedicated to domestic purity. The life
Of the Prince Consort was marked
by the incest regard to the conditions
under which ii was passed. Every
one will remember the rules of social con-
duct the prince prescribed for himself and
how faithfully they were observed. We do
not doubt that the future years of the heir
apparent will show by their fidelity to this
example the influence OF the lesson he has
had TO learn. and that Englishmen will see
exemplltied in their king that is to be life
purified from the semblance even oflevIty."
The Mordaunt incident and this lecture
had the effect of rendering the Prince of
Wales little more circumspect, and for
awhile all London was amused at seeing
him actually pose as a censor of public
morals and an exhorter of virtue.
Inc SUIT dragged on Tor some years.
1t was on February D, $50. that the
jury returned a verdict that Lady
Mordaunt was in such a condition
of mental disorder as to be unit and
unable to answer the petition for
divorce, or instruct an attorney for her de-
Tense. They we're also OF opinion that she
had been ever since April 80, 1869, and was
then in the same unit state. Suisse
quently, majority of the court of probate
and divorce gave judgment upholding the
order formerly made in the case, for stay
ing the prosecution on the ground of in
sanity or mental incapacity of the respond
ent. 1t was not until March Ii, 1915, that
Sir Charles Mordaunt ATTAINED a decree
nisi. The case had come on before the
house of lords on appeal as 'Mordaunt
VS.. Moncreiffe, guardian the pleadings
ending IN a reference to the judges, sug-
gested by Lord Chelmsford, whether I'M
der the act % and u Wet, proceedings for
the dissolution of marriage can be in
situated or proceeded with, either in be-
half of or against husband or wife, who,
before the proceedings We're instituted, has
become incurably lunatic."