THE MOUNTGARRET
PEERAGE CASE.
KILKENNY ASSIZES.

(Before Mr. Justice Ball.)

FIRST DAY, Aug. 1.

A VERY extraordinary case, involving a peerage and estates of the value of 10,000l. a year, and exceeding, in its intrigues, complications, and developments, the plots and devices of the most fertile romancers, has occupied the Assize Court of Kilkenny for four days, and will yet give plentiful occupation to the gentlemen of the long robe.

The plaintiff was Mr. Pierce Somerset Butler, the eldest son of Colonel the Hon. Pierce Butler, fourth son of Edmund, eleventh Viscount Mountgarret; and the defendant was the son of the Hon. Henry Butler, the third son of the said Edmund; being the son of Henry Butler by Anne, daughter of John Harrison, esq. This lady the plaintiff asserted Henry had married while he had another wife still living; that consequently this marriage was a nullity, and the issue-of whom the defendant was the eldest son illegitimate from which it would follow that the plaintiff, and not the defendant, became heir to the viscounty and family estates on the death of the three elder brothers without lawful issue, his own father being dead. It appeared that Somerset Butler, the second, Henry

Butler, the third, and Pierce Butler, the fourth son of Edmund, had predeceased the eldest son Edmund, who had been advanced to the dignity of Earl of Kilkenny, limited to him and his issue; whereby, at his death without children, the earldom lapsed, and the viscounty only passed to his collateral heirs; and that the defendant, presuming his legitimacy, had assumed the title and entered into possession of the estates, from which the plaintiff now sought to oust him. The fact of the legal marriage of Henry Butler with Amanda Colebroke, prior to his marriage with Anne. Harrison, was the fact really to be decided by this trial.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL for IRELAND stated the plaintiff's case. In the year 1768, Edmund Butler, son of the eleventh Viscount Mountgarret, married Lady Harriet Butler, daughter of the Earl of Carrick. The offspring of that marriage were four sons and a daughter. The first son was Edmund, who succeeded to the title of Viscount Mountgarret, and was afterwards created Earl of Kilkenny. The next son was Somerset. The third son was Henry, a gentleman whom none of them knew, although they might all have heard of him -one who, unfortunately for himself, thought fit to desert his country, and for sufficient reasons of his own never revisited his native land. The fourth son was the late Colonel Butler, known and properly estimated by them all-a

man who, passing through many stormy scenes, yet won for himself the warm esteem and the sincere respect of all who had ever met him. As to the Earl of Kilkenny, he married early in life, had separated from his wife, and had left no issue. Somerset had no issue also; and if the third son Henry, or his issue, could be blotted out, it was clear that Colonel Butler would be entitled to the estates of the family. They all, perhaps, remembered that in the year 1801 a commission of lunacy was issued, by which it was found that the Earl of Kilkenny had been insane since 1799; and from that state of lunacy he never recovered, and it was obvious that under such circumstances the property would pass to some other successor. The Earl had acquired an absolute feesimple estate in the property, and could have left it to whomsoever he liked; but his state of mind would invalidate any will he might have made; and therefore his eldest surviving brother at the period of his decease would come in for the property, and would hold it in fee, and might bequeath it away to whomsoever he thought fit. This was a circumstance to be borne in mind, as it would account for circumstances in the case which might otherwise appear strange and inexplicable. He should now give them a history of this family, but particularly of Henry Butler, because the defendant claimed to be his legitimate heir. In 1794, whilst he was still a young man, Henry Butler, who was endowed with great personal attractions, became enamoured of, and won the affections of the wife of a gentleman in an adjoining county, who was afterwards created a baronet. He eloped with this lady, and left

the country, becoming in consequence virtually an outlaw. Excelling in athletic and manly exercises of every kind, and an excellent billiard player, he was also addicted to many pursuits not useful or sensible, and devoted himself much to play and horseracing. He was entitled to a sum of 40,000l., which produced to him about 500l. or 600l. per annum, which was by no means sufficient for the necessities induced by his dissipated tastes; but he continued to struggle against embarrassments for some time. After living for a while with Mrs. Barrington he deserted her, and she died in great misery a few years after, in another country. It was difficult to trace his career for some years after that, and he must next take up the history of Henry Butler at Brighton, to which place he went in the year 1809. Colonel Colebroke, who was possessed of great property in Scotland, had died in 1809, leaving a widow, one of the most fascinating women that ever lived, and possessed besides of charms which some would consider more substantial, in the shape of a good jointure. She was left property worth from 1200l. to 1500l. per annum, together with 5007. for the maintenance of her two daughters whilst they remained children, and 500l. a year more under the husband's will; but this was clogged with the unwise, unjust, and cruel stipulation that she should lose all if she ever married again-a stipulation to which her subsequent errors were perhaps to be entirely attributed. This lady proceeded to Brighton, and could not be long there without attracting general attention. Butler met her, a mutual attachment ensued, which led to a connection resulting

in the birth of a child in the year 1809. In order to avoid the scandal which would attend a person in her situation, the lady took the course of burying herself in the solitude of London, taking first a lodging in Sloane Street, and subsequently in Cadogan Place. She was attended by a faithful servant named Sarah Stride, whom she had reared from infancy, and to whom she was much attached. Butler, for the sake of appearances, did not live with her, but was a constant visitor, frequently dining, and stop ping to sleep, without the privity of any one but Sarah Stride. In 1809 or 1810 the child was born in Cadogan Place; it died soon after, and the intimacy of Butler and Mrs. Colebroke continued. She again became pregnant in London towards the close of the year 1810; and they then resolved to go to Edinburgh, apparently with the view of being privately married, in order to render their offspring legitimate, and at the same time to keep the marriage secret, in order to avoid the loss of the lady's jointure, and the removal of her daughters by Colonel Colebroke from her care. Great caution was observed in their connection, as this was the country in which the lady's estate lay, and she was in society where she was known. However, about the same time another young Irish gentleman had gone to Edinburgh also. This gentleman was John Taaffe, son of a man of large fortune and ancient family, in the county of Louth, and possessed of a captivating person, and engaging and amiable manners. He made the acquaintance of Mrs. Colebroke, became madly in love with her, and succeeded in supplanting But

ler in her good graces-at least when the latter was not present. Towards the end of 1810, or beginning of 1811, Butler was absent, and Taaffe supplied his place with the lady. There had been no occasion to hurry on a marriage between Butler and her, for she had had a miscarriage; but Butler, either hearing of, or suspecting that the lady on whom he looked as his wife, and who was so according to Scotch law, was unfaithful to him, came to Edinburgh in 1811. It would seem she expected his arrival-probably from receiving a letter from him-and had desired that he should not be admitted when he should come. When Butler arrived at her house there was a still stronger reason for keeping him out, for Taaffe was actually with her in her bedroom at the time. Butler had always shared her purse, which his necessities rendered of importance to him, and it was probable that his object in coming back was to obtain such a marriage as would give him a right to continue to enjoy it, and which would enable him to proclaim Mrs. Colebroke his wife before all the world, whenever he might find it his interest to do so. When refused admission to the house he kicked up a row after the most approved Irish fashion, called her his wife and the mother of his children, and forced his way in, despite of all opposition-in fact, a scene occurred, the like of which no novelist ever conceived, yet he would prove as clear as light that what he was stating was truth. Whilst Butler was struggling to get in, Taaffe was in the bedroom, if not in bed, with Mrs. Colebroke. He had never met Henry Butler, and had no desire to meet him at

that particular moment above all others, for it was a time of gallantry, when a duel should necessarily ensue, and Henry Butler was not the man to face under the circumstances. Mrs. Colebroke,

however, when she heard the row below, most prudently prevented a collision by locking up Taaffe in her bedroom; and, intercepting Butler on the stairs, she brought him into another room. Butler insisted upon their being married there and then, and, after some expostulation, the lady consented, whilst all the time Taaffe kept ringing the bell of the room in which he was locked up, and the greatest confusion prevailed in the house. The lady summoned in her male servant, Johnson, Johnson's sister, and her own maid, Sarah Stride; she told them that Mr. Butler wished to be married to her then, and that they were required to witness the marriage. The usages of Scotland were very different as to the marriage ceremony from those of this country, and a written contract having been then entered into between Butler and the lady, and witnessed by the three persons named, they were actually married, according to the Scotch law, on that contract. Johnson and his sister were dead, and could not be brought forward; but Sarah Stride was alive and forthcoming to prove the marriage. Taaffe, too, was alive, and, though residing abroad, his evidence had been taken in Italy, and would be read to them, and they would see how strongly his testimony would corroborate that of the woman, although he was not actually present at the marriage. How long Butler remained in Edinburgh, or whether Mrs. Colebroke and he

cohabited there after the marriage, he could not say; but it would be proved that shortly after they met at Moffat, went into the country, and lived together for some time as man and wife. It might be surmised that Mr. Butler became pressed for money, and was obliged to get out of the way for awhile; at all events they separated after a time, having quarrelled, and she went to reside in Edinburgh. She became again connected with Taaffe, and knowing herself to be in Butler's power, she attempted to escape from him, going in disguise to Berwick, where Taaffe met her, and, going privately on board a smack, they landed at Whitby in Yorkshire, where they cohabited together. In the meantime Butler went about amusing himself as formerly, and at length appeared in Harrowgate, where he went to the Green Dragon Inn, a celebrated place for making matches. There were there at the time a lady and her mother, named Harrison, possessed of a large landed estate in Yorkshire; the young lady was an heiress, and an object of general attraction. Immediately on his arrival Butler met Miss Harrison at a public assembly, and having been introduced to her by the Rev. Mr. Browne, a Kilkenny gentleman, he acquitted himself so well as her partner in the dance that she fell in love with him, and he proposed for her. On the 3rd of September this gentleman, fresh from the arms of Mrs. Colebroke, went to the parish church of Harrowgate, and there married Miss Harrison. The present defendant was the eldest son of that marriage; and if Henry Butler had been married in the previous April in Scotland, in the way described,

this last marriage was but a solemn mockery. It was painful to contemplate the fearful shock which a virtuous woman would receive when first told she was living in a state of concubinage, and that her children were illegitimate in consequence of the previous marriage of her husband; but if a lady went into such a contract with her eyes open to the true position of affairs, the sympathy for her would be vastly diminished. That Miss Harrison, or Mrs. Butler, was still living, and the defendant could have the advantage of his own mother's testimony; if she was not produced to give personal evidence, in place of merely producing her written deposition taken in England, he (the Attorney General) would call on the jury to distrust her statements, and attribute her absence to a fear of what she might be compelled to disclose by a cross-examination in their presence. However, in her depositions she did not deny that she knew of the connection of Butler with Mrs. Colebroke, and she made but a ridiculous excuse for her conduct under the circumstances. Before the marriage, her mother wrote to Mrs. Colebroke to know if her daughter might safely marry Henry Butler, and the answer received from Mrs. Colebroke was that she might. He (the AttorneyGeneral) disbelieved that any such letter had been written and answered; but, supposing that it had been, it was an acknowledgment that Mrs. and Miss Harrison knew of the existence of a binding connection between Butler and Mrs. Colebroke. The alleged answer of Mrs. Colebroke was what might be expected from one anxious to get rid of Butler and to be

married to Taaffe. Taaffe's father strongly opposed the wish of his son to marry Mrs. Colebroke, but he was determined to take that step. In 1812, Taaffe and Mrs. Colebroke travelled together in England, he passing as her brother, and they ultimately went to Preston, in Lancashire, where they were married by a Roman Catholic priest. He then avowed her as his wife, and they lived together as man and wife for a while, till the errors of her life began to prey upon her mind, and resulted in temporary insanity. In that state he brought her to Edinburgh for medical treatment, and her papers there being accessible to him, in December, 1812, he found a letter amongst them which showed him that the woman had been already married to Butler. The moment he discovered this he went away, and never saw her again. His father disinherited him in consequence of the transactions connected with this matter, and the family estate was left to a younger son. In 1816, Mrs. Colebroke fell into distress; and her misconduct becoming public, the Lord President of Scotland deprived her of the guardianship of her children, and she thus lost 1000l. per annum; her creditors seized upon the rest of her income, leaving her but a miserable pittance; and Taaffe having a respectable income, she was anxious to procure his living with her, and for that purpose entered on a suit in the Scotch courts to substantiate her marriage with him. She prevailed on Sarah Stride to make an affidavit for that purpose, ignoring the marriage with Butler. Taaffe was out of the country, but his father contested the suit, on the