CRIME AND MYSTERY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 132, 5 June 1926, Page 23

CRIME AND MYSTERY.

MAYFAIR SENSATIONS.

PASE OF VISCOUNT PALMERSTON.—A MID-VICTORIAN SCANDAL

By HORACE WYNPHAM. author o: "The Mayfair Calendar. et:->

■On November 3. IS6-3. Che nrst leading fc .*j C ls in a LoD'l"n morning- paper opened k s fashion :na: must have se t its' Readers agog : ••Tin: ears ■■'. LolSilmu society have for y days ba..S be-rn tiuiling with an tsrraordinarj scandal. it is hanlly neces--r t" say that i ; concerns an action for j4i>rce abou; t' l *><• tried before ion?, and & vhich th* name ••( the co-respondent - o f th" m , ' "' :i ,>T vn»*! in all Knz-, pud." j If however this were too iruanieil and. Ofjcure for the public, the cat ;et completely out of rhe bag by an Evening pap" : -A jrave scandal hn-= arisen in society.: louchin- the naai' and character of the foremost mat) nf our time. It is ■Ueced by anonymous accusers and the jjjfly bitter ton?u P s ■"•h:< , h love the taste B f malic? that th- Prime Minister is guilty j>f t&e offence aeainst the laws of. morality %hkh Eneiand is understood to regard pirn peculiar .-diuui " Althoagh disturhins eneush to their tEaa?rs. these announcements were not jltoiether The fact was. for ue*s beforehand sinister rumours had Icen busy with rh<? name of Lord Palmerston. Where he was concerned, the wildest tiimnni'-E imaginable were beins freely Jiroadcasted Then; was scarcely any limit to what was boinz «aid (and printed) by Irresponsible and utterly shameless gospp«rs. Shock for Society. The fullest details were soon forthcomJag. From these the shocked and bewildered pubiic learned that the petitioner *ss one, Timothy Joseph O'Kane, and that Jie was reeking to have his marriage dislolTed on the erounds of his wife's mis(onanct with Lord Talmerston. Considering Palmerston's advanced age (Iβ was then an octogenarian) it would lare been laughable, if it had not also Jeen serious. And it was serious. Very ferfoos. He held the position of Premier : lad for the Premier to be cited as cojgsposdeiit, even in an obviously trumpetIP cfiafjp. was no laushing matter. There gngnt be "something in it" after all, was the ttncomfortable thought that obtruded Itself. "5o smoke without fire." etc. w'iiere its subject ws ? tbe jKsndai could scarcely have developed at j. more unfortunate time. His political epponcßts were very bitter against him. It ii a matter of history, too. that just tien he was no favourite with Queen .Victoria, and the gang of sycophants surjannding her. But if Palmerstdn had enemies, he also lad friends. Warm friends, who would etick to him through tnuch more serious natters than the one now threatened He appealed strongly to the average individual, if only because he was a keen sportsman. He still hunted and shot whenever he eonld match an hour from the cares of office: aid, a member of the Jockey Club, he pattodised the tnrf. and kept a string of awhorscs. His colour? wero not oftea , mcteesfnl. Tet. in 1"<41. h<? carried off fie Cesarewitch : in 1552 he secured the Ascot Stakes : and in l?« 50 it was only the «Drsf of bad luck that had prevented liia winning the D?rby. Hence, it is not to b° irondTed at that he was such a popnlcr Sg'jre. Mrs. O'Kane. tb/; respondent in the suit, was a ?oo<l looking young woman, under-Fto-jd to be married to one Timothy Joseph O'Kane. a down-at-heels IrisnMan with no obvious source of income. VThile the general public had never heard of her. Palmerston. of course, knew quite well who she was. This was because she had been employed by his daughter as a governess, and it was in this capacity that be first met her. When, tlie governess engagement being finished, she returned home. Mr. O'Kane. prying among her belongings, found some letters that Lord Palmerston had written to her. They were innocent enongh for any average husband. This one. however, jras not an average one. Scenting an "intrigue," he put two and two together, and, maiing much more than four out of them, rushed off hot foot to his solicitor and instructed him to institute "proceedings.-' " " O'Kane's solicitor, a certain Thomas iiCells, was not a man who stood very hi?O la oi3 profession, being notoriotis for ois .Willingness to take op shady and speculative actions. He had a standing advertisement, "Divorce cases conSdentially coafccted": and another, headed. "To the Emfcarrassee." offering legal assistance to prospective bankrupts! .while be also esPloitea a sideline In tdouey-lendlni None tte less. Be had himself been summoned in de C&ußt? Court, and had judgment given •gainst him for a debt of a few shillings. Palmerston was quite the last man W de Jvorld to be dpset by the venom of Enneroag*, shady attorneys, or blackmailfinsbands. "The noble co-respondent.' •ays a reporter, "was served with the citation personally, and. as tve have been informed, laughed heartily when the document was placed in his hands." Perhaps the best thing to do under the eirraaistances. Still, it was not really a hashing matter at all. for OKatie went *ill steaai ahead and filed his petition. Directly it was delivered to her, Mrs. O'Kane returned an answer. She returned two answers. The first was that she conld Hot possioiy have committed a bread* ot tie seventh commandment (either , wltn lora Falmerston, or with anyone else), •fcee she had never actually married ilr.. O'Kane; and the second was that, bat for this little slip, the allegation of misconifoct was unfounded. Wlwre be was concerned. Lord Palmer•ton fiad, of course, immediately pnt him•eif in the iiands of his legal advisers. The 7 ■ )e ?aji operations by securing an order for fieuYery of particulars of tae petitioner's inarriagij existence of which they apSeared to doo;>n. and also of tbeir clleßfi •Desed misooaduet with ilrs. O'Saae. As. &-. reasons best known to themselves, tae Other side did not furnish taese particulars, 't-ora Paloerslon naturally considered tt to go thrOMfi the form of aay asswer niaiself. On January 26th. 1564. the action. O'Sane T - and Palmerston. was began be- ' %c a judge and Jnry. -is everything hinged on Mrs. O'Kafle l eally being the wife" of the petitioner, X !wai , oU course, important to discover jnst *nen and where tie awrriage had taken S&t-e. Mr. O'Kane had sworn it was •olemnised on Octowr Sod. 1882. *« st - and Mr?. O'KaDe had it had not been solemnised any*nere. Apan: £rom the fact that a Roman's memory can «eaeralfy be trusted 111 snea matters, her contention was eup»Wt€!l by the circumstance that the regisUt »v blafiS oa the subject.

The petitioner's solicitor bad delivered an affidavit that the particnlars required by "the noble co-respondent" had been duly prepared. They bad. however, not actuaUT Oeen filed, be said, "because negotiations *'ere in progress for a settlement." Affidavits being in the air. aa answering one w-as promptly forthcoming from Mrs. O'Kane. In this, she emphatically denie: that she was a party ;o any suajeste-1 Settlement." Where, too. be was confprned. Lord Palmerston had entered a similar disclaimer: and bis counsel now said he had never even seen the petitioner? affidavit. Dicb.T Seymour beian by submitting that the suit should be dismissed because Mrs. O'Kane had nor even yet been furnished with the particulars for wlik-b Lord Palnierston was still waiting. The jndre. however, woald not have thK But that Mr?. O'Kane had a distin. t grievance in another direction, he did admit. This u< tuar >inoe the previous November the petitioner had taken no steps to advance Ms ~nit an , : have it set down for trial. "If h° has not siven parti:nlar=." was his lordship's car.' tic comment, "b.iply it may ;>p frecaasp he ■■annot. If he cannot, we shall sioa learn the reason." Collapse of Case. To show his sympathy, he then adjourn? , l i the farther bearhii for a week, granting a rule nisi that Mr. O'Kane should then proceed with the suit, or else show ca"?e why it shonld not be dismissed. The reading of the various affidavits, which business formed part of this adjourned hearing, put a fresh complexion ju matters. From one made by the petitioner's solicitor, it now transpired that his client bad withdra-wn from the suit. The letter of instructions ran as follows:— ■ I " January l<s. ISO 4. " Myself t. Palmerston and O'Eanp." •' Dear Sir,—Tieldin? to the advice of my friends. I have decided to drop the above suit, and I hereby instruct you to stay nil further proceedings. I adopt this course solely for the sake of my young children, and not from any liability to establish the allegations contained in my petition, or to prosecute the suit to a successful conclusion.—l am. yours truly, T. J. O'Kane. " Mr. Thomas Well?, Solicitor. 47. Moorgate Street. City." 'Accompanying this curious letter was an affidarit from its recipient, declaring that the particulars asked for by the corespondent had not been delivered because negotiations were in progress to settle the matter out of Court; that the suit had now been " compromised ": that he believed the petitioner and the respendenf to have been duly married, and to have been " known as sach by good society ": and that it was " wholly untrne ttat the petition was presented and filed for the purpose of extortion." As. under the circumstances, was natural enough. Mrs. O'Kane's solicitor wrote back that he did not believe a word of this rigmarole. "No sort of compromise," he positively declared. " has emanated from, or been sanctioned by mc as solicitor to the respondent." Counsel for the daugity O'Kane took these implied strictures oh integrity amiss, and waxed Very wroth ou th<- subject. Sir Robert Philliruore. ?T(>r. 'wlio Gpp*?iire-il for Lord PnlniTston. pooh-poohed them as being " nothing more than the private qnarrrls of a conplp <if attorneys." He also fto tne obvious disappointment of the public, who were all agog for "revelations") considered it unnecessary to put Lord Palmerston into the bos. The attitude he adopted was that the sole question now before the Court was whether the petition should be dismissed or not. Personally, he thought it should. Feeling on the subject ran high, and there was a good deal of unseemly bickerins between the opposing counsel. Still', in the face of the rule that had already been graDted. it was impossible to npset Sir Robert's contention. Making a virtue of necessity, accordingly, the other side gave way. "We are instructed to offer no opposition to the rule being made absolute," was their announcement. After the fashion in which things had been going, this dramatic withdrawal was inevitable. Of course, it brought the proceedings to an abrupt end : and all the judge now had to do wag to dismiss the egregious Timothy Joseph O'Kane from the suit. This he did with obvious satisfaction to himself. " The result of what we have heard," he said, " is that the suit must be dismissed. The petitioner , has come Into Court with his complaint, and he now retires from it, without any imptitatlo-n npori either of the other parties, by wfiat he chooses to call an * arrangement with his friends.' The petitioner retires from the contest with the evil words still on bia lips, and will probably meet with the censure of same and the contempt of many."' There was more to come. Speaking under the stress of profound emotion, the judge concluded his remarks with a few words that awakened responsive echoes among all who heard them : " The Court cannot leave this case without adverting to the position of the corespondent. It is a matter of great satisfaction to the Court that a name which is uever mentioned in England -without a jnst ;rride should hare passed from its annals a stain." Thus ended this historic cause celebre. Xothing more was erer heard of " Timothy Joseph O'Kane, gentleman." >"or, for that matter, did Mrs. O'Kane return to the limeligßt. Lord Palmerston himself died in the following year, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. "He was English, honest, open* plaiu--■poken in word, and straightforward in his •ffllinss." is the tribute of one who knew him welL "No man was more thoroushiy •ibove all hypocrisy.' . It is not every public man of whom half as much can be said. Historic Parallel. There was a halr-nearted attempt in some quarters to draw a parallel between the conduct of the litigious O'Kane and a certain COlonel Howard, whose matiifflonial misadventores had tickled Mayfail a hundted y*lre earlier. It seem* that the •wife rtf this gallant wsrtiof, BreWSing Iβ fresh twtsteres, bad accepted tße "pfottcHon " of George 11. i* 4 ffifetsfee* o* SoyalfT. sbe . was seen &S&tottat>lf installed (at tße expense of tie loag•<f=rinr fasj»SjersJ la St. Jam*r Palace. The angry (petttaps angiiisHed) husband presented hlmeelf there oiie day "to marifi The restitution of ht3 wife." He was, nowevery driven from fh# doors fey a posse of litwied flunkeys. As his erring partner <wbo f by the way, subsequently blossomed into the Countess of Suffolk) flatly refused to return to him, he relieved his injured feelings by writing to the Archbishop of Cantertury en the subject. Hie Grace handed the letter to the Queen, and the Queen " undertook to deliver it to her riva? "

Tile n*xt chapter in his domestic drama of " hijrh life " reads curiously : " A delioat" negotiation beins set on foot, the Colonel became pacified. ar..l by some arrangement he surrendered all claims to a year." t Notwithstanding This little blot on her 'scutcheon the tiighry Countess none the less had her apologists. " She behaved." declared one of them. " with such extreme propriety that her friends affected to suppose that her relations with the King were merely plaronic." In addition to this readiness to profit from his wife's dishonour. Colonel Howard himself had othpr drawbacks. Certainly. Lord Hervey's estimate. " wrong-headwl. ill-tempfreil. obstinate, drunken, estrava gant. brutal." was far from flattering. ProbaWy the fair but frail lady was well rid of him. On his death, she re-married, her second choice a son of Lord Berkeley. The attempted parallel vras Dot a good one The only point that Mr. O'Knne had iv common with Colonel Howard was that he hart st-t nn foot a public scandal, and then climbed down from it ignoniiniotisly.