Aristocratic Scandals.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 4, 1 December 1869, Page 2 (Supplement)

Aristocratic Scandals.

(From the Newcastle Daily Chronicle.) The Boresfords and the Vivians are both of ancient lineage. The former trace to the Normans; the latter to the Romans, or the aborigines of Britain, The Boresfords, in consequence of their alliance with the heiress of the De la Poers, attained the peerage more thana hundred years-ago. The Vivians became enrolled in the baronage of England only in 18-11, and the first holder of the title lived but a single year to enjoy the patent of nobility which he had earned by gallant and valuable service rendered to his country. The second son of this estimable man has been for the greater part of the last thirty years a member of Parliament, and is now for the second time the representative of Truro. He is also a Lord of the Treasury. In the year 1861, he married, as his second wife, Florence Grosvenor, the daughter of Major Rowley, of the Bombay Cavalry. With this lady he lived in great happiness for several years, and she became the mother of three daughters, the youngest of whom was born in May, 1868. Leaving this interesting household for a moment, it is necessary to revert to the illustrious family of the Be-resfords, in order to prepare for the story we have to rehearse. In the year 1780, the Baron Tyrone, the representative at that day of the De la Poers, and the Boresfords, was. created Marquis of Waterford. The present possessor of this title is still a young man of about 25 years of age, having succeeded his father in 1863, with more houor3 than we care to enumerate, and broad estates in Ireland and in the County of Northumberland. Throe years before the death of his. father and while he was. only a courtesy-lord, a momber of the House of Commons, and a g ly captain in the Life Guards, he entered into a friendship with his. brother-legisla-tor, Mr Vivian—a friendship so unusually warm that it may be described as highly sentimontd, if, indeed, it was not hypocritical from the first. When at length he inherited the coronot and estates of his father, in 1866, it would appear that he lost no time in doing the honors of his country seat in Ireland, as a bacholor-host, to his dearly-loved friends, Mr and Mrs Vivian. So. earnestly did he affect their society that he unintentionally prevented his friend from obtaining offi-ee under the Government of Lord Russell, by keeping hi n at Carraghmore when, as he became an offiee-seeker, he ought to have been in const iat attendance at Brookes', Arthurs', or Wiiit-o's Clubs, in St James's. When it was too lute-, however, it would appear that Mr Vivim left for London, and Mrs Vivim continued her visit in Ireland. Thus, opportunity presented itself for the development of an evil pission which may have been germinating even at that early period, but which very soon after began to bear deadly fruit, which has poisoned the purity and peace of ono family, and blighted tho reputation of the Marquis of W.iterford for ever amongst all whose good opinion is worth having. In the course of the years 1567 and 1863, there appears to have been much going on, which, to say the least, was inconsistent with the sanctity of friendship; but at all events early in the present year, csrtain letters which hid boon exchvngod botween the Mirquis and Mrs Vivian fell into the hands of the lady's husband, and tlvjss suddenly revealed to him the monstrous outrage upon his honour, of which his aristocratic friend an 1 his trusted wife had been, guilty:. It having came to the knowledge of the "guilty piir that their-infamous amour hid been discovered,, they took flight together, and proceeded to* Paris, where they abandoned themselves, without tho ordinary reserve of deconcy to-their mutual infatuation. There is no question of their guilt The only doubt isaxs: to-the length of time the foul troason had been going on under the mask of friendship. Anxious to shield an aristocratic mime from sc mdal, and to rescue a lovedi one from sin, the husband to-the-extreme of long-suffering with his degraded wife ; but his compassion was in vaiih. The work of pollution had beon too thoroughly done : the mind had been depraved, and the heart—that should ever have been guided by the henldic motto of the Vivians, "heart noble, heart i'mmova' ile,"— had beon alienated for ever, and the holy bond was exchanged for the slavery of an adulterous passion. " I am going to my ruin, I know, but I cannot hold back,'' wrote the intoxicated wanton to her sorrowing, pitiful, patient husband; " do not think of me, and do not send for me,, for Heaven's sake. For the last time." For tho last time indeed. Since then thelaw hj is stepped in, and has decreed, provisionallv, that mm and wife are man and wife no longer. The husband must seek solace in serving his country. The little innocont babes, must have some fostermotlnr—they have no mother now. The widowed' wife, the childless mother, is henceforth a castaway, a branded- adultress, tho plaything for a few clays, or it may bo a year or two, of her treacherous paramour. Bit what of him who has wrought all this sham? and woe? Will lis lose caste? Will his escutcheon be blurred hythisdnstwlly crime against friendship and honour? Will the maidens and' matrons of fashion cry shame upon his imnurity and lack of common decency : will they scout him and hound him from, their homes ? Ah, no..

He is not of common clay. Bluo blood is chartered to sin with impunity. His patent of nobility is a blank pardon for all conceivable offences against morality and honour. His wealth is a great atonement. His hereditary right to niako tho laws is pretty nearly equivalent to a license for breaking the laws he helps to make. When he has 1 tired of his toy, he may throw it away, and nobody forsooth, must think shain3 of the wild young aristocrat. He will come back bye and bye, and take his seat, as a matter of right, in the House of Lords, to legislate in the interests of his constituency, to wit, his large estates and his noble self. It would never do for peccant lords to be unseated, at least not in these days, for they are so numerous that the Upper House, which, except on occasions of great party tights, is always thin enough, might sometimes be all but empty. Truly the people of England are a magnanimous people, a generous and long-suffering nation. Argument and instance, it is true, have long been plied against the stronghold of lordly pride and power,, and have done something to shake its-tottering walls, if not to loosen its deep and old foundations. But on the whole the continued existence of hereditary legislators is a striking testimony to the patience of a great people. That patience will not be strained much longer. Common sense, like a calm tidal wave with the base of proud cliffs, is gradually wearing the basis of custom and superstition on which the towering anomaly rests* and when we hear,, as lately we have so often heard,, of wasted patrimony, tarnished honour, shameless infamv, we know that tho day of reckoning is drawing on. We can afford to wait, but we shall not have long to do so. The diffusion of intelligence has removed the craven l'everence for inherited wealth and transmitted fame on which hereditary legislators are still fatuously counting, and a few more shocks of the kind th.it have become most ominously common will bring the crown of their pride to the dust Many of the peers deserve a place in the House of the People. Their presence there would attest their merit, and in that arena their virtues and varied gifts would win them a full reward. The time- will come when honourable men will be to proud to accept as a matter of course the distinction they are conscious of being able to earn for themselves. Whatever is excellent and useful in the ranks of the Upper House will be displayed to infinite advantage in the Parliament of the People; but there will be no placethere for plungers, adulterers, and zanies.