EAST LYNNE UP TO DATE

Dunstan Times, Issue 2087, 23 July 1901, Page 3

EAST LYNNE UP TO DATE

Mr Hugh Watt. ex-M.P. for one of the Glasgow burghs, and at one time well known in Australian mining circles, has just figured in the London Divorce Court as co-respondent in the case cf Beauchamp v. Beauchamp.. Lady Violet, Beauchamp, who had been the happy wife of Sir Reginald for over twenty years, is n daughter of Earl Roden, and during her husbands absence in South Africa she made the acquaintance of Mr and Mrs Watt. On Sir Reginald Beauchanip's return he accompanied his wife on society visits, and remarked that the lady received the cold shoulder. He soon became aware—through a letter written to him by Mrs Watt--of the true state of the case, and his worse suspicions were confirmed when Lady Beauchamp desired to live separately from him. About this time his wife wrote to her lover an extraordinary letter, in which she vowed that she could not live without him expressed her readiness to go to him whenever the way was clear, and wrote of Mrs Watt in these terms : " I shall never be happy until you are quite away from that creature. 1 look upon her as a real devil and criminal in human form. When this letter was put into Sir Reginalds hands he wrote a final letter to his erringwife imploring her to cast her infatuation to the winds. He wrote in these terms which ought to have moved even a heart of stone '-My dear wife,—My last appeal to you, if not to late, to return to Hill street (the town house) at once, and all wijl be foro-iven and forgotten. I have given Sir George Lewis instructions to spare no time, trouble, or expense, and to take extensive measures. It is not so much on my account that I fear the scandal, for I have nothing to fear from your threats, which vou must know in your heart are groundless ; but do remember your mother, aunt, and children. Think of yourself also—a pauper and an outcast. Who can you expect to associate with but the scum of society ? And thrown aside like a toy when tired of. I can say no more. I don't care so much for myself, but the misery you are causing others and heaping up for yourself is maddening.—Your still loving husband, Regd. P. Beauchamp." But Lady Violet declined, so complete was her infatuation. A conference of the Judge and counsel representing both sides was held in the Judge's private room, and a verdict for the sum named was agreed upon. Judge Jeune, in addressing the jury, said : "It was generally important that juries should not consent "to damages arranged between the parties themselves; but in this case the settlement was a very proper one. and adequately represented the compensation which the co-respondent should pay to the husband. It was agreed that no defence could be made to the charges of adultery, and he was satisfied of the misconduct, the only question left being one of damages. I The jury might have a difficulty in arriv- j ing at a" sum if left to themselves, but here i they had been saved the trouble. No doubt £IO,OOO was a large sum; but he thought it fairly adequate. The damages must of necessity be heavy. Here they were dealing with the seduction of a wife by a person who was a friend of the family and acquainted with the various members" of it. They found that a rich man had succeeded in seducing the affections of a wife and in breaking up her home and disgracing her husband and children —the injury to the children being the most serious part of the case —and he thought when they tried to measure such an intolerable wrong on the part of the co-respondent no jury could avoid meting out heavy damages. He was not one of those who thought the morality of the age bore unfavorable comparison with any other, still less that this kind of immorality was the attribute of any par- | ricular' class; but a man must go through the world with his eyes closed and his ears j shut if he did not recognise the fact that in these matters money often played a far too important part. He was afraid that poor girls often sacrificed their honor for a hat or mantle, or some trilling gift of that sort, and women better off were sometimes willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of money derived from their actions. There was some indication of this in the present case. It might be that one of the attractions of the co-respondent was his so-called generosity towards the lady who for the moment was the subject of his admiration. It could not be said, therefore,*that it was an unjust law which laid down that a man who used his wealth as a means of inflicting an intolerable wrong upon a. woman should be compelled, by means of that same wealth, to make something like an adequate compensation, so far as was possible, for the wrong done. Counsel had said that Sir Reginald Beauchamp was willing that this money should be secured to his wife. Of course, the disposal of the money did not depend upon Sir Reginald at all, but the desire echoed a very proper feeling. A husband in such a position would not be such a scoundrel as to put money into his own pocket derived from such a tainted source, and they would pay some inclination to the feelings of the petitioner in the matter. The rules of this court were different from those of other courts, for although damages might be awarded to a petitioner as compensation for a personal wrong he had sustained, the Judge had power to determine how the money should be applied, and under the Court's direction the damages were almost invariably secured for the benefit of the wife and "children. In this case, no doubt, the money would be properly applied in this way, and the petitioner would not care to make a profit out of his wife's dishonor. Therefore the money would be distributed not only in the way indicated by counsel, but also in accordance with the practice of the court." The jury agreed to the arrangement, and judgment was given accordingly, the money to be settled on Lady Beauchamp and her two daughters, who'are aged twentv and fifteen years respectively.