The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1887-05-07 00:00:00

jil tir Irodon Cortespodtni.

rWe deem it right to state that we do not at all times
itient•ify ourselves with our Correspondent's opinions.]

Now that the Jubilee celebration is so near—
and next month will witness the principal
portion of the ceremonies —it is naturally
attracting more and more of the public attention.
Westminster Abbey has already been shut in
order that due preparation may be made for the
special service intended to be held on June 21,
and the exact lines upon which the Jubilee will
be celebrated in the various localities are every-

where being settled. An Order in Coußcil ha's
been issued directing the Archbishop of Canter-
bury to prepare "a special form of prayer and of
thanksgiving for the protection afforded to the
Queen's Majesty during fifty years of her
auspicious reign," which is to be used in the
Abbey and " in all churches and chapels in
England and Wales and in the town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed either upon the 21st June, or on
any other day between the 21st and the 28th
June inclusive," a separate Order giving similar
directions for reading the form of prayer in all
places of worship in Scotland. Thus the various
departments of human life and interest are
being provided for—the religious aspect of the
ceremony being regarded by this order, the
' popular by the various preparations now going
on for festive celebrations, and the national by
the fund which is being raised for the foundation
of an Imperial Institute. The Jubilee, in fact,
• is felt to be an event not only of national inte-
rest, but of historical importance, and its worthy
• celebration is awaited with eagerness by all
classes of the Population.
With regard to the form of prayer now being
prepared by the Primate, it may be of interest
to recall a curious misapprehension which accom-
panied the issue of a similar official instruction
to Archbishop Tait fifteen years ago. At the
very height of the Prince of Wales's critical ill-
ness, it was thought desirable on a Saturday
that pray( r for his recovery should be offered up
the next day throughout the land. But it was
then too late for the specially prepared form to
reach the most distant parts of the Kingdom by
post, and the telegraph was brought into requisi-
tion to spread it to them in good time. The
order in that case, as in this was that -it should
be used "in all churches and chapels ; " and some
of the rural postmasters, not aware that the law
does not in terms recognise any " chapels " but
those of the Church of England, sent a copy of
the telegraphed prayers to all the Nonconformist
places of worship in their district. No one, and
least of all such a broad-minded prelate as Arch-
bishop Tait always proved himself, could have re-
gretted the mistake; and though, the time now
allowed being so ample, no similar error is likely
to arise on the present occasion, it is far from
improbable that the Primate's form of prayerand
thanksgiving for the Jubilee will be read in many
a place of worship with which Dr. Benson has no
official or doctrinal connection.
"May meetings" have become a great institu-
tion in London, and at this season of the year
no one can pass through the Strand, whether
morning, noon or night, without seeing many a
black-coated and white-tied stranger wending
his way to or from Exeter Hall. That building,
which must always have a large place in the
history of English religious movements, is thEL
main centre for these gatherings, and it is
thronged day after day with eager people de-
voted to good work in many various forms, and
whose earnestness and zeal are on every hand
apparent. Such enthusiasm openly displayed
in a good cause is one of the purest and
worthiest features of English life. An intense
desire to do worthy things is the mark of the
main body of attendants at these May meetings;
and though they may come from religious
bodies, differing from each other upon many a
point—and many are important. points—of
dOetrine or practice, the unity of good purpose
which actuates them all is not to be mistaken.
One thing even the sourest of critics of such meet-
ings would be bound to allow, and that is that
there is much unselfishness at the bottom of
them. Men come from all parts of the country
to join with each other in promoting movements
which they believe to be good for mankind.
They contribute not only their time and their
talents, but their money to achieve some end
which they hold to be worthy and useful; and
the purity of their zeal and the earnest-
ness of their purpose are alike worthy of
admiration.
"May meeting" of a different kind from that 1
of which I have been speaking is the earliest
assembly of visitors to the annual summer exhi-
bition of the Royal Academy. This always
throws open its doors to the public on the first
Monday in May, and the various rooms in Bur-
lington House are almost inconveniently crowded
for some time afterwards. A walk around them
leaves the impression that this year's exhibition
is a good average one, and that it is certainly
better than the hat. All pictmedovers will
regret that a few well-known Academicians are
not upon this occasion represented on the walls,
. the more especially as some of those are of tho
young school, and their work is always
walled with interest. It may be argued, of
course, that their abstention leaves the more
room for the efforts of budding talent, but that
reason will scarcely commend itself to lovers of
art. Far the more striking pictures of the year
are those of the men who have previously proved
themselves worthy of our admiration. The Pre-
siderit,-Sir Frederick Leighton, has some speci-
mens of his bust-work, which well deserve atten-
tion, and although Sir John Millais is scarcely as
successful with his portraits as usual, there is
nothing he does which is not worth looking at.
Mr. Orchardson's picture, "The First Cloud,"
which depicts a young married couple at the
crisis of their earliest quarrel, is likely to attract
the most general notice. This lutist has made a
reputation for what have been called "'tragedies
in tail-coats," which the picture of this year will
certainly do nothing to diminish.
Not only has London this new show in the
month of May, but such great provincial centres
as Manchester and Newcastle-upon-Tyne, are
having exhibitions of their own, which promise
to attract large crowds of persons from all the
surrounding districts. And although these
latter cannot be compared with the Academy, in
that they are not simply shows of pictures, they
have their artistic 'side, and it is one worth special
notice. Following the popular precedents of the
"Old London Street " at certain of the recent
exhibitions at South Kensington, and the "Old
Edinburgh Street" at that which was so great
an attraction not long since in the capital of
Scotland, -an "Old Manchester Street" has been
placed in the exhibition in the cotton capital,
while at the Royal Mining, Engineering, and
Industrial Exhibition on the Town Moor, New-
castle, will be presented a reproduction of the
old bridge across the Tyne. It is easy to sneer
at these efforts as being "mere scene-painters'
efforts," but those who know how widely a love
of antiquarianism iiiipreading will see in them
another indication of that development of a taste
for local history which no true student of the
past can despise. Useful as it is to have brought
home to us the very aspects of the home-life led
by our forefathers, it is not the less useful to
perceive by actual reproduction how great is
the improvement which has been effected in our
surroundings in the course of succeeding
centuries.
With Sir J )lin Mellor has passed away one
who for eighteen years occupied a worthy and
dignified position upon the English Bench.
Owing to his having retired from that position
as far isa-k as 1879, the veteran lawyer had to a
large extent passed out of public notice; hut
those who knew what an excellent judge he had
been, had .never forgotten him, and it was with
sincere regret that they heard of his death,
though the regret was lessened by the knowledge
that' - -he had enjoyed his retirement in good
health, and that his. last. illness was but a
short orfe. _By • most people the name of Mr.
Justice Mellor will be principally remembered
because of his sitting with Lord Chief Justice
Cockburn and Mr. Justice Lush at the " trial
at bar of the claimant to the Tichborne
estates, the more especiatly as, when the
verdict > ot guilty ' had been returned,
it was the first-mentioned who delivered
the sentence agreed upon by himself and his
colleagues. Those who knew him only by the
portraits published during that period would
have font ed a very imperfect idea of his character,
for he possessed a fund of dry but quiet humour
which was often tfie more effectivebecauseit was
subdued, lie also deserves remembrance because
he would never allow counsel to take the undue
license some of them appear to claim as their
right: -He was scrupulously fair and invariably
consider4te ; a judgeof tbattype jean ornament
to the English Bench whom the English public
ought not readily to forget.
ft was witg a feeling of intense relief that
Eeglishmen heard- of the settlement of what had
been known as "The Pagny incident" by the
release of M. Schnaebel6, for it was realised on
all hands what a terrible calamity to Europe
another Franco-German war would prove.
Lamental le as it must be that the issues of
peace and war might conceivably depend upon
the question of whether an arrest was effected
Upon one side or the other of a frontier

road, it Is cheering to perceive that the
French throughout the dispute put a
restraint upon themselves, which, to all those
who know that usually impetuous and always
high-spirited nation, must be considered beyond
praise. One of ';he sorrowful consequences of all
such "scares," however, is the monetary loss in-
flicted upon many people, having no connection
with either of the parties to the dispute, by the
depreciation of international securities. Our own
Stock Exchange, sensitive as it must always be
to the variations of the European bourses, ex-
perienced great depression, though fortunately
there was not, as in these cases so often there is,
anything like a panic. But all people possessing
money, who wish to preserve thenpalves from
anxiety during the next few monthEi, had better
avoid the Stock Exchange. The "Pagny inci-
dent is settled, but the tension between France
and Germany is as great as ever; and though
this may not result in war, it will certainly pro-
vokA more scares, and scares mean monetary
panics, A. F. it.

TEE IRISH POLITICAL LIBEL ACTION.
EXTRAORDINARY EVIDENCE. ‘

On Monday morning, in the Queen's Bench Division,
before Mr. Justice Grove and a Special Jury, the case
of "Brenan v. Ridgway" came on for hearing. In
this action Mr. St. John Brenan sought to recover
£5OOO from Mr. William Ridgway, publisher of
London, for libel, the alleged libel being a statement
that Mr. Brenan was engaged on the business of the
Irish Republican Brotherhood, that his special bwi-
ness had been to devote himself to counter workinl
the detectives of Scotland-yard; and that on one oc-
casion he successfully rendered Inspector Moseris'
presence in Paris impossible, when he was engaged
with a large staff in tracing the dynamite operators.
Defendant denied that the writings Wel3 false or mali-
cious, and pleaded that the pamphlet containing the
statements was a fair comment on the conduct of the
plaintiff and other members of the Irish Republican
Brotherhood.

Mr. Lockwood, Q.C., Mr. Palmer, and Mr. Moloney
were for the plaintiff; Mr. -Kemp, Q.C., Mr. McCall,
and Mr. Plumptre appeared for the defendant.
Mr. Lockwood, in opening, said that before he came
to deal in detail with the document containing the
libel complained of, it would be necessary for him
generally to call attention to it, if it should be a
document with which they were not already familiar.
In the summer of 1886 Mr. Ridgway published, and
very largely circulated, a pamphlet entitled "The
Repeal cf the Union Conspire:7 ; or Mr. Parnell, M.P.,
and the 1.R.8.," those letters being the initial letters
of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. The general
objects of the pamphlet appeared to him on perusal
to be two; first of all to establish the fact of the
existence of a conspiracy bearing the name of the
Irish Republican Brotherhood, and the second object
appeared to be to connect the Nationalist Party in
the House of Commons with that conspiracy, and with
the members of it. At the outset, he would say it
was not necessary for him, in the conduct of this case,
to discuss either the probability or the truth of either
of these propositions. Mr. Brenan, the plaintiff, was
a gentleman of about 40 or 41 years of age, the son
of an Irish Protestant clergyman who held a living
in Ireland up to the time of the disestablishment of
the Church in Ireland, who subsequently came over
to this country, and up till lately held an appointment
connected with the Church in the neighbourhood of
Bermondsey, and who had now returred to his living
in Ireland. He was educated at Trinity College,
Dublin, and appeared at a very early age to have
connected himself with literature. He was also a
gentleman of musical tastes, and having completed his
education, he appeared to have married in 1869, and
gone to reside in Italy. Having remained in Italy
something like five years, he then returned and
resided at Kingstown, Dublin, remaining there with
his wife and child until 1881. Prior to this, in 1868,
Mr. Brenan, like some other young men, had a Par-
liamentary ambition, and offered himself as a candi-
date in the Conservative interest in the city of
Gloucester. Unfortunately for Mr. Brenan —but
whether it was fortunately or unfortunately for the
constituency he would not stop to inquire—Mr.
Brenan was beaten, and the Liberal was returned.
In 1877 he issued an address to the electors of Tip-
perary, and in the following year ho was nego-
tiating for the purpose of becoming a can-
didate in the Conservative interest for Salford.
Nothing came of that, however, and he did not
submit himself to the electors. But, although a Con-
servative, Mr. Brenan, in the early days of Home
Rule, when Mr. Butt was propounding schemes for
Home Rule for Ireland, Mr. Brenan was an advo-
cate of such scheme. In 1880 he was elected, in the
early part of the year, as a member of the Land
League; but his connection with that aseociatioa ex-
tended only over four months and a half. At the
duration of that time he had a quarrel with certain
members of the Land League, arising out of a pro-
secution which he thought fit to institute in respect
to a telegram addressed to him, but opened by a clerk,
and shown to a gentleman to whom it was not ad-
dressed; and as a result of that quarrel Mr. Brenan
severed his connection with the League. H e would
call the attention of the jury particularly to this
period as being the only time throughout his life in
which Mr. Brenan had been associated in any way with
any combination, or had been in any way attached to
any political party in Ireland by becoming a member
of any association. rn 1880 he came to this country,
and was for some short time in England. Shortly
after that he commenced a residence in Paris. That
would be in October, 1882, and from then till July,
1885, he was living with his wife and children in
Paris. During this time he was, to a certain extent,
keeping up the literary associations he had when in
London. He was a man taking interest in literary
and dramatic work, going about in Paris picking up
such information as he could with regard to matters of
general or special public interest, writing, from time to
time, for various newspapers, and being in the habit
of frequently coming over from Paris to London to
meet his friends for a day or two. In the summer
of 1886 he had his attention for the first time called
to the observations which were made upon him in the
pamphlet published by Mr. Ridgway. That pamphlet
commenced by alluding to the existence of this Irish
Republican Brotherhood, and with regard to the
alleged existence of that brotherhood, no more
dreadful combination could possibly exist in any
country than that pointed at in this 'pamphlet.
Actuated by a horrible creed of assassination, the
pamphlet set out the frightful oath which was sup-
posed to be taken by members of that combination.
Mr. Lockwood then proceeded to read extracts from
the pamphlet which extracts related chiefly to
the 1.R.8. and the Parnellite party. This
case, continued Mr. Lockwood, stood alone.
It was a case which related to no other.
Mr. Brenan was a member of no Parliamentary
party. Therefore, as to the truth or falsity of the
charges acrainst the 1.R.8., he would not stay to dis-
cuss, but be would say that, so far as this case was
concerned, they were not material, and he claimed
that that case should be determined upon the truth or
the falsity of the statements which had been made by
the defendant against Mr. Brenan, and which the
defendant had attempted to justify in his pleadings.
A.nother statement to which he would call their
attention was as follows:

"Another stormy petrel of Fenianism, Mr. Edward
Et. John Brenan, a member of the Sauvage Club, who has
passed at one time weekly between Paris and London
on the business of the 1.R.8. in 1884-5. Indeed, The
Tribune: as Mr. Brenan is known to the Brotherhood,
is very proud of his Ambassadorial functions, and in
those moments of self-sufficient importance which
often follows a few bottles of champagne, will show
to the incredulous his credentials, written in Celtic,
and signed by the great McCafferty himself. Mr.
Brenan's special business life has been to devote him-
self to counter-working the detectives of Scotland-
yard. On one eoccasion he successfully rendered
Inspector Mogen' presence in Paris impossible when
he was engaged with a large staff in tracing the dyna-
mite operators."

The onus of Proving those charges lay with the dean-
dant. Mr. Brenan would deny that he ever had any
"ambassadorial functions," and would tell them that
he had no connection with the Irish Brotherhood
whatever. He was not aware that he had had the
honour of bearing the title of "The Tribune." The
only ground for applying that to him was that he had
written a poem entitled "The Tribune Reflects," which.
was supposed to be a soliloquy of Mr. Parnell, looking
back upon his history and soliloquising upon his Par-
liamentary and political connections. As to the state-
ment that Mr. Breran's special business was to devote
himself to counter-working the detectives of Scotland-
yard the only shadow of a suggestion in support of that
was an article which he wrote for the Echo, in which-
he pointed out the inadequate measures which were.
taken by the English police for preventing the smug-
gling of dynamite and infernal machines into England.
It was the duty of the defendants to prove up to the hilt
the statement they had made, otherwise itmust be found
that they had grossly abused Mr. Brenan. The writer
of Mr. Ridgway's pamphlet had written Mr. Brenan
down as a traitor, and then, as was shown by the
interrogatories,- he had sought justiacation for doing
so after the pamphlet had been issued. The interro-
gatories indicated two things. First, they indicated I
bow little Mr. Ridgway knew of Mr. Brenan; and in-
dicat=d next that, although the writer had not the means
at his disposal when he wrote the pamphlet to justify.
what he wrote, no-itone had been left unturned in '
toe endeavours which since had been made to obtain
facts to iustify tbe.terrible charge which was made °
against Mr. Brenan in July, 1886. There was, in this
CBBO, no issue depending on the connection of any
Parliamentary party with this conspiracy. The issue
was a purely personal one to the plaintiff, and if the
charges were not established in evidence, then they ,
would, he was sure, vindicate the independence and
intelligence of juries who had to discharge duties of .
this kind, and let it go forth to the world that no
man need shrink from such a tribunal prepared
honestly to decide the question itself, altogether
apart from any prejudice or feeling, be it personal or
political.

Evidence way then called, the first witnesses merely
. proving the publication of the pamphlet.
Kenneth Powles, solicitor for the plaintiff, was the
next witness, who was examined by Mr. Lockwood
and
_cross-examined for the defence.

Mr. Lockwood then, in consequence of Mr. Kemp
announcing his intention net to call witnesses, asked
leape to place 110 client in the box, and after eona!s

remarks from the juage, this was allowed. Mr. St.
John Brenan was then examined by hil counsel in
support of his opening statement.
Cross-examined by Mr. Kemp: Do I correctly
describe you as a journalist ?—Yes, journalist and
literary man.
In January, 1880, you joined the Land League ?
Yes.

You are opposed altogether to Feniane and the
Irish Republican Brotherhood ? Yes, bitterly op-
posed.
You would not have associated with members of
those bodies had you known it ?—I would no', most
certainly.
Did you know Mr. Patrick Egan ?—I knew Mr.
Egan.
Would you describe Mr. Patrick Egan as a
Fenian ?—No, certainly not. I did not know that
he was a Fenian.

When yoi joined the Land League, were you in-
trod need by Mr. Clancy and seconded by Mr. Egan?
—I was nct, on my solemn oath. I was proposed by
Mr Donnelly.
Were you not turned out of the Land League on
the motion of Mr. Patrick Egan F—l was certainly.
Then why did you tilt resign instead of being ex-
pelled ?—I preferred that because I had joined
publicly, and I preferred to he put out publicly. If I
had resigned tacitly, nothing would have been known
about it.

It was in September, 1882, that you went to live in
Paris ?--Yes.

And you remained there for three years ?—About
three years.
Did you know at that time Paris was the head-
quarters of the Fenians and dynamitards ?—lndeed,
I did not; and I do not believe it now.

How soon after the 9th February did you go to
Paris ?—I went to Paris a night or two after the
explosion in Victoria Station.
Did you remain in Paris until about the 3rd April?
—Until about the 9th.
Was that the time Inspector Moser s left ?—I never
saw or knew him.

The article in The Echo written by you was beaded
"The Dynamitards in Paris. By One who knows
Them." Did you know them?—No. (Laughter.)
I am a journalist, you know, and I did not put that.
That sub-heading was put by the editor or assistant
editor, to give it more force with the British public.
Have you got your copy here? Oh, no! A leader-
writer keep copy! He is only too glad to get rid of it.
Is that all the editor or sub-editor wrote ?—I never
eaw.a proof, but that is mine in substance.

. -
Then all this information you have got, although
"by one who knows them," is simply from the public
papers ?—No • it was communicated to me by Mr. Y.
C. Millage, the correspondent for the _Daily Chronicle
in Paris.

Was there any other source of information besides
this gontleman and the papers ?—Absolutely none.
"And although these men were considered simply
as official machines, a terrible determination was
arrived at concerning them should it be found out
that they had discovered anything that might lead to
the arrest of any of the more important members of
the Irish faction." By whom was the terrible deter-
mination arrived at ?—By the dynamitards of Paris,
I presume, as communicated to the papers.
What did you mean when you wrote "a terrible
determination was arrived at concerning them ?"—I
thought they might be assassinated if found out.
It is not merely your thought. It is your assertion.
By whom did you mean ?—Do I say in the article.
You do not.—l suppose I imply by the dyna-
mitards.

Because you knew them P—Because I did not know
them. That's why I said it. (Laughter.)
Is that your notion of a journalist's duty P—A
journalist's duty is a very difficult one. (Laughter.)
He has to get information as he can, and sometimes
he errs and is mistaken in judgment.
Did you know Mosers was in Pazis ?—No.
You never beard of him P—Yes, I heard he was in
Paris.

Did you know he was there in order to seize, if he
could, those accused of the murder of Lord Frederick
Cavendish and Mr. Burke ?—Yes, I read it in the
papers. I never knew llttosers in my life.
Who were the dynamite section of the Irish In-
vincibles about whom you wrote ?—I do not know. If
I did I would have told the British public.
Do you only know Patrick Casey as a compositor?
—Yes; on my solemn oath.
As a journalist and a an taking an interest in
your country? Do you want thejury to believe that?
—On my solemn oath that is so.
Do you k:,ow him by report as a Fenian and leader
of owassins ?—I do not, and I do not believe he has
anything to do with assassins.
Do you know that detectives were trying to arrest
him as one of the assassins of Lord Frederick
Cavendish ?—I never heard it till this minute, and I
don't believe it.

Did you ever hear that he was a Fenian?—No.
Never? —I heard he was an Invincible. (Laughter.)
Can you tell me the difference ?—I cannot; I have
.tudied the matter.

Then you did see him in Paris after the assassination
of Lord Frederick Cavendish?—Yes, of course.

Id the Irish World O'Donovan koesa's paper ?
How do I know? I saw the Irish World only once
in my life. I always thought it belonged to Mr.
ford.

On the 11th of August, 1882, did you meet Lang,
Meaeon, Patrick Casey, and Eugene Davis at a
quarter-past twelve at night ?—Yes; I left them at
two o'clock in the morning.
On the 13th of August did you go to the American
Bar?—Yes.

Who was there ?—Lang, Meason, Casey, Davis, and
Captain Stephens. Captain Stephens was in the
uniform of the Gold Coast Houssas.

Cross-examined further as to the Echo article, wit-
ness said: I don't know how Casey hoodwinked the
detectives. I don't know who were the "Patriotic
experts" who put the dynamite machines together in
London. I took the information from conversations
with Mr. Mittage and from the Paris Morning Yells.
The Morning -Yews at that time was very well in-
formed about these matters, and I took it as a text-
book. I was introduced to John O'Leary one night
in Paris, and I exchanged only two words with him.
I did not know him as an Invincible. I knew he had
committed some political offence, and had been
pardoned by the Government. I look upon the
Phcenix-park murderers as most heinous criminals. I
would not have anything to do with them. The first
time I heard of Invincibles was after the murder of
Lord Frederick Cavendish. It was after that murder
that I met O'Leary. Casey was never an associate
of mine. I learned from the French papers that
the French Government would not interfere with
the Invincibles who were in Paris so long as they
committed no overt acts against the country. I am a
Home Ruler at the present time. I intend to go into
Parliament when opportunity offers. I have recently
had an interview with the editor of the Pall Mall
Gazette. In that interview I said I was a member of
the Land League Committee. Every member who
joined the League at that time was a member of the
Executive Committee. lam not in friendly inter-
course with Mr. Parnell. I don't know whether I
told that to Mr. Stead. It was a conversation which
Mr. Stead reproduced from memory. Those may
not be the exact words. I have never fallen out with
Mr. Parnell. I have not met him for years. If I
met him I would shake hands with him. From Sir
Lyon Playfair I understood that as far back as 1879
Mr. Gladstone's mind was made up as to Home Rule.
It was at Mr. Jessop's, 16, Oxford-square, that I met
Sir Lyon Playfair. It was at dinner. I had never
spoken to Sir Lyon Playfair before. He did not make
a confidant of me. I have spoken to Sir Lyon Play-
fair since. After my poem, "The Tribune Reflects,'
I gave a copy of it to him in his room in the House
of Commons. He was then Chairman of Committees.
At the time of my conversation with Sir Lyon Play-
fair I was on terms of intimacy with Mr. Parnell.
He dined at my house. I told him of my conversa-
tion with Sir Lyon Playfair, and that Mr. Gladstone,
on his return to power, desired that he (Mr. Parnell)
should be Secretary for Ireland.
Have you been put forward to bring this action
by the rest of the people named in this pamphlet, in
order that the public may form some idea of the
credence which is to be given to the rest of the state-
ments ?—Certainly not. The action is brought by
me solely, nor do any of the others know anything
about it except what they have seen in the papers.
Mr. Kemp next quoted at length from the plaintiff's
poem, "The Tribune Reflects." The poem describes
Mr. Panel.% followers as "filibustering politicians,
to associate with whom "is a bondage worse than
hell ! "

Mr. Kemp: Is that the way you speak of your
friend, Mr. Parnell, and his friends?
Brenan : That is a satire. (Laughter.)
Mr. Kemp quoted further from "The Tribune
Reflects," and also from one of the plaintiff's
electoral addresses, and, referring to the poem, asked
with some emplytsis, "Do you think your character
is worth establishing after writing such ribaldry rls
that?"

The plaintiff: Most indubitably I do.
Plantiff was then re-examined by Mr. Lockwoo3,
after which Mrs. Brenan was placed in the box, and
stated that it was her wish that she and her husband
went to live at Paris. She desired that their chil-
dren should speak French well.
Mr. Lockwood intimated that this was the case for
the plaintiff.

Mi.. Kemp: I do not call any witnesses, my lord.
Mr. Lockwood then addressed the jury on behalf
of Mr. Brenan. He sail that the defendant had not
brought forward a rag or tittle of evidence in support
of the justification he had put on record, but relied
on prejudice for a verdict in his favour. He com-
pleined that Mr. Ridgway had slunk behind his
counsel, instead of going into the witness-box and
telling the Court where he got the information upon
which his pamphlet was written. He had not
attempted to justify one of the statements he had
made in that pamphlet.
Mr. Lockwood was continuing his address when
the Court rose.

Resuming on Tuesday morning his address in reply,
on behalf of the plaintiff, Mr. Lockwood said there
was not one iota of evidence that the plaintiff had any
sympathy with the conspirators, about whom he had
written or that he had even assqcipted with them to
any extent. The learned counsel called on the jury
not to give any excuse to persons who were shrinking
from coming before an English jury to demand
justice on account of the terrible charges brought
againett them. and to show that their verdict was not

influenced by private Oi olitical
tho National Irish party.
Mr. Kemp, in opening the case for the defenee,
said the defendant was unable to call evidence?
because to disclose the name of the Writer of the
pamphlet would boi to place him in danger of his life,
and he did not call Detective Moser because he would
have to disclose the secrets of his profession. He
declared that the plaintiff was brought into court as
the stalking horse of others who dare not themselves
come before an English jury to clear their characters.
He justified the libel on the ground that the writer
had conduced to it by his own conduct and writings,
and therefore if the plaintiff was entitled to a verdict
at all he was only entitled to nominal damages.
Justice Grove, in summing up, said the case was
really one for the assessment of damages. The jury
would have to consider whether the plaintiff was an
innocent, ill-used man, or whether he had given some
justification for the libel by his conduct and writing,
and shown that if not a member of tin 1.R.8., he had
only just escaped by the skin of his teeth. Was he
only an honest Home Ruler, anxious by constitutional
means to obtain legislative independence for his
country, or was he something more—a Home Ruler
willing to obtain his object by nefarious practices?
This was a question for the jury, and they would give
heavy or small damages as they decided it. His
lordship left the following questions to the jury: (1)
Was it a libel? (2) was it fair comment on a matter
of public interest? and (3) was it jastifled in whole
or part?
The jury, after about ten minutes deliberation,
found that the words complained of were a libel, that
they were not fair comment on a matter of public
interest, and that they were not justified in whole or
in part. They awarded the plaintiff £5OO damages.
Judgment for plaintiff accordingly.