The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1908-07-17

q pioLeSsoIslllp OF engineering Ell
lowed; while a couple Of the great
City Guilds of London, one OF them
the Drapers Company have lately
given s25o,o00 for the erection and
equipment of big electrical labora-
tory. ts
These are only few Of the most
notable features OF the Developments
that have signalized Lord Curzon's
first year Of characteristics: and, as he
points out in q recent letter to the
London Times. this Is but the begin
ming, and much more may be
expected to follow In due course.
England's House OF Lords sitting as
the supreme tribunal OF the British
realm. has Just issued a decree in final
Meade Swifte in the possession Of
the Swifte estates in Ireland. which
are situated for tell most part in Coun-
ty Kilkenny. and which comprise
Swift's Heath. ono Of the grandest
country seats in the Emerald Isle. The
extent Of the possessions may be gath
cred from the fact that theyHyield an
estimated revenue OF some s150.00O to
5000, 600 a year. and were granted by
Charles II. after the Restoration to
Goodwin swifte. attorney general of the
llIute VI lppcluIS. ttiiA uhStS eAiiA
guardian Of the famous jonathan
Swift, dean OF st. Patrick. and author
of "Gulliver's Travels" In the library
of Trinity College is still preserved
the original manuscript of the witty
deans account of "rhe Family of.
Swift" In which he has much to tell
OF the romantic loyalty of its menu
bers to the cause of the Stuarts. one
of whom, the Rev. Thomas Swift.
who accompanied James II. into exile,
married granddaughter of John Dry
den, the poet. The Goodwin Swifte OF
the era of Charles IT,, was a grand
nephew of Burnham Swifte, who was
of Parliament and Secretary
of State in the reign of King Charles
7. who bestowed upon him the irish
Barony OF Carlingford. Dying unmar-
ried, 1t became extinct at his death, in
spite Of which several of his de-
scendants have put forth pretensions to
it, though they have never been adj
United by the committee of privileges
of the House of Lords. or by the
Crown.
The suit which has just been brought
to close by the decree Of the House
of Lords. has. however. no relation
to the pretensions of the present and
past owners OF the great Swifte estates
=
arises from the matrimonial vagaries
of the father of the actual master Of
Swift's Heath. The father, who used to
style himself Lord Carlingford," mar
lied three times. The first marriage
took place in 1898, at Klschdorf, In
Austria, and was soleEnized by a
Roman Catholic priest, the lady being
Maria Theresa Baroness Wetzler. a
Roman Catholic. She died in 1859. In
1871, that is to say, eighteen years
earlier the soi-disant Lord Carlingford
Hopkins, daughter of Captain Hop
kins Of the Sevcnty-sixth Regiment,
and in 1915, Went through another
ceremony OF marriage with her. Of
which official records exist Lord
when he married Miss
made no secret Of his posi-
ton with regard to Baroness WetZler,
but insisted that his union with that
lady was of no legal value, and was
a mere matter OF form. gone through,
to satisfy the scruples Of the mother
of the baroness. Among other grounds
which he put forward was the fact that
in those days, according to Irish law
then in force, marriages between Pro-
testants and Catholics were illegal.
But, as since determined by the courts,
these irish statutes then In existence
with regard to mixed marriages only
applied to such unions when effected
In Ireland, and had no bearing upon
mixed marriages contracted abroad.
BY this second marriage Lord Carl
ingfort" had two sons, namely.
Longueville and George. Longueville
died some years ago, and George has
been, therefore. the sole plaintiff in
the present proceedings. In course OF
time this second wife of Lord CARING
ford died, and he thereupon married III
1863, q third wife, namely, Miss Jane
Clarke BY whom he had q son, Cod
win, the present owner of the SW1fte
estates, and according to the decree OF
the courts, now decided on final ap-
peal, tho only legitimate issue of his
father. Tor the tribunals hold that
tho first marriage Of the late Lord
to Baroness Wetzler was
perfectly valid, and that, therefore. his
or rather his couple Of mar
riages, to Miss Hopkins, CONTRACTED
during the lifetime OF the baroness,
were of a bigamous and invalid char
acter, and @the children born to the
union necessarily illegitimate.
AS is so often the case IN these
suits, all kinds OF charges were made
on both sides, and tho plaintlH lhslsteu
that whereas he and his brother NAG
been extremely VOL treateu 10y Nne'i
stepmother as long as the!r father
was alive, she behaved abominably 70
them after his death, and cut herself
ndrtft from them. Longueyille. the
elder, became Dublin policeman, fell
into bad health. and eventually suc-
cumbed to brain trouble, In the w ork-
house at Dublin, George SWifte, the
claimant of the estates, has been
sailor before the mast for the greater
part of his lifo. and insists that ms
stepmother used every effort when he
was boy to get him indentured on
board the coffin ship sandring Cham,
which foundered with TOO coolies on
board. He subsequently, served before
the mast In the Royal Navy. on board
the fr!gate Monarch, and after leayins
tho service settled for q time IN Cans
ada, whore. however, he does not seem
to have succeeded very. we'll, as OIL