The Sun.
London, England, 1852-08-09 00:00:00

they wanted, and sometimes more. The girls were
allowed to take plenty of exercise, and in winter
time, when they could not go out of doors, there was 1
a room for them to play in. The plaintiff was treated I
just the same as witness herself and all the other
girls were. She never heard of any of the girls
being compelled to perform prostration, or of their
being punished if they did not go to confession. She
was never treated with unkindness in any way while
she was in the convent. Witness had been placed in
the trial class, and also in the kitchen, but it never
injured her. She used to go to confession when she
liked.
Cross-examined--Was sure she had not been to
confession that morning. She came to Guildford
with the ladies and some of the other children. The
priest came down with them also, and she had seen
him that morning, but had not spoken to him. Wit-
ness used frequently to go to confession, but not so
often as once a week. She never tried to make her
escape from the trial class-room by breaking a win-
dow and getting out. The wound on her hand was
not caused in that manner. While she was at So-

mere-town she was wounded with a carving-knife by
one of her companions, and the scar on her hand was
the consequence. She was sent to the trial class-
room a second time. It W4S for disobedience to one
of her mistresses. and she deserved to be sent there
.—(A laugh.) She was very disobedient indeed.—
(Renewed laughter.) She was very sorry to say that
she was disobedient again afterwards, and was sent a
third time to the trial class. The usual practice was,
for the first offence to keep them eight days in the
trial class, for the second fourteen, and for the third
offence twenty days. She was kept for twenty days
to try to make her better. She had misbehaved her-
self, and had caused great scandal to her companions
by refusing to kneel down in the middle of the
school-room, when she was ordered to do so. If
she had performed this penance well she would have
been pardoned directly. She was ordered to kneel
down, because she talked too much to her compa-
nions. She was allowed three days to consider
whether she would obey the order to kneel down, and
because she persisted iu refusing she was ordered to
the trial class-room. It was a very common penance
to be ordered to kneel down in the middle of the
room. She was in the kitchen for four weeks after
this. She used to be allowed to go out to walk every
day, but she could not say at what periods of the day
or how long at a time.
The witness here exhibited a good deal of agitation,
and Mr. CHAMBERS inquired what had alarmed her.
He then pointed to a person standing in front of the
witness, and who was stated to be one of the priests
belonging
,Mr. to the convent, and asked her if there was
any one in court who she was alarmed at ? She re-
plied there was a person in court she was ashamed of.
Mr. CHAMBERS—IS he standing behind me ? Wit-
ness—lt is not a " he," it is a " she."—(Laughter.)
CHAMBERS inquired who it was she was
asnamed of ? The witness replied that it was the
plaintiff, Henrietta Griffiths, who she was ashamed of.
Cross-Examination continued—Witness was in the
trial class when they used to sit facing the wall. They
sat upon
a sort of low stool, and she had sat facing the
wall es long as six or seven hours.
. Frederica Mehony, another of the orphans, gave
sim. der evidence as to the kind treatment she had re-
ceived during a residence of three years in the convent.
Mary Jane Hart, another orphan, said that while
she was in the convent she was treated with very
great kindness, and the ladies behaved to her more
like mothers than anything else. She had always
more food than she could exit, and she had plenty of
rest and exercise. She also stated that she had taken
the plaiutiff meat twice a day while she was ill, and
she had seen her throw a portion of it away.
Cross-examined—The plaintiff used to cot part of
her dinner, and throw the rest away. She had also
seen her, when she was in the porter's room, give a
portion of her dinner to the poor who used to come to
',he convent for the broken victuals. She had also
seen her throw away the beer that was given to her.
Mary Ann Barton, another of the orphans, also
said that she had been treated with every kindness
since she had been in the institution.
Cross-examined—Witness was now wearing a red
ribbon round her shoulders, which was a mark of
honour. Five or six of the girls belonging to the
orphan class were down at Guildford ; three priests
accompanied them, the two belonging to the convent,
and a third who did not. She had seen th•a priests
that morning before the Court sat. The other girls
had sen them too—thEv had been together all the
morning. The witness Sedssr had spoken to the priest
that morning.
This concluded the evidence for the defendant.
Mr. CHAMBERS at ten o'clock this morning, pro-
ceeded to reply. He said that from the nature of the
case the jury would doubtless anticipate that it would
be his duty to occupy their attention for some time,
but he should endeavour to confine himself as closely
as possible to the question at issue, and should not
detain them any longer than was absolutely necessary.
In the first place he would remind them that the
charges against the defendants were generally that
they omitted to give the plaintiff proper food and
nourishment; that they did not allow her to have
sufficient rest or exercise; that they confined her
improperly in a dark room ; and that they had im-
posed tasks and punishments upon her beyond her
strength to endure, and which were injurious to her
health, and had ultimately occasioned the dreadful
calamity of the loss of her sight; and if the jury should
be of opinion that upon any one of these points the
defendants had neglected the duty they had under-
taken to perform, the plaintiff would be entitled to a
verdict. The most fearful and startling part of the
case appeared to him to be this. According to the
etatementof the defentiantethemseives, it was admitted
that for four o.r. five months the plaintiff was in a state
of dangerous illness, all the medical men agreed in
Alexander said that when he saw her she
opinion that she was in a dreadfully emaciated condi-
tion,
presented
appearance of a person who had been
starved ; and it was certainly a very striking circum-
stance, tending to show that she must have been
grossly neglected while she was in the establishment,
and
Dt
ch. e
that it had been proved that when she left the con-
vent,and was treated
, in a proper manner, she was
shortly to ,
noticed very be in a state of comparative
good health, her remaining eye recovered, and she
was totally cured. This fact naturally raised the
inquiry whether the evidence that had been brought
forward for the defendants could possibly be true. It
was said that the narrative of the plaintiff was a tis-
sue of falsehoods; but he could not help observing
that it appeared to him the fact he had mentioned
went a great way to confirm the truth of her story.
His Learned Friend, who
appeared on behalf of the
defendants, seemed to lay great stress upon the ab-
sence of no motive on the part of these ladies to act
in the manner stated; but he did not think it was any
of the
part ir duty to enter into any question of motive
in the present case. In their own religion, and con-
nected with it there were a great variety of charities
of every description, from the mere charity school to
those of a reach higher character; and it was not at
all an unusual or extraordinary matter to hear
of the principas, or persons connected with them,
being gull*" of some acts of misconduct towards
their scholars and the persons under their
charge ; and therefore it was not at all impossible
that the same thing Should occur with persons pro-
fessing the Doman Catholic religion ; and all they had
to do was to ascertain whether the fact was proved,
and they had nothing to do with motives, good or bad,
that might have suggested it. The first thing they
bad to consider was, whether the story told by the
bl
probae one:
child was a What was her story ? She
said that she was placed in the first instance in this esta-
blishment, and a year's board paid for her by Cardinal
Wiseman; and he here felt it his duty to make this
observation upon the conduct of the Cardinal, that
there was no man in this country, however high his
station might be, but was bound to obey the law, and
to submit to that law which protected him; and that
the highest person in the realm, instead of endeavour-
ing to evade having a. subpoena to attend a court of
justice served upon him, ought to be the first person
The Cardinal,
to obey it.however, was absent.
They had tried to subpcena him, not for the purpose
of annoying or harassing him, but in order that jus-
tice might be done this poor child, and that he might,
by his testimony, confirin her evidence with regard
to one of the issues on the present occasion; if he had
been there ho might have contradicted the evi-
dence of the child on one important point, or he might
have confirmed the evidence given by the ladies who
upon that Point
had been examined; and under these
circumstances he could not conceive how it had hap-
pened that the Cardinal had set the evil example of
evading the service of a subpssna. 1- et was conceded
i
that this child had been placed n the establish-
ment by Cardinal Wiseman, and he must, therefore,
have known all about her ; and he thought it would
have been very desirable that
how h
, appened that
tnis child, who Was now said to he unworthy of
credit, came to be introduced into such an establish.
merit, for either she was an unfit person to be there,
or else the statement respeotuns her had no founda-
tion. He could not deny that, this poor child was
the unhappy subject of a scrod
affection ; but,
at all events, she was in dgoo state of health when
she went first to the establishment, although she ap-
peared feeble and weak, and this was admitted by
the defendants.
This was a very important point as
regarded some of the iiSLIPS, for if the defendants
knew that she was feeble and week, it ene elhuhv
their duty to have taken. more care
,of her, and
not to have done anything, that teas calculated
to increase her malady. Was it thou a pro-
per thing, under such circumstances, to nt/Tel a
child to get up at half- past four in themorning, and
remein up until nine at night? Look
at the
to be number
of hours for a weak and ailing child k..pt from
rest. The qeestion of necessary rest:‘,there fore, was
a very important one for the conseeeeationof the
jury. Then, with regard to the food, which was
another important consideration, He Omitted he 1