The Sun.
London, England, 1852-06-24 00:00:00

BIRTHS IN THE WEEK.

Males ... ... . _
.•• ••• ••• 774
Females ... ••• ••• ••• ... 812

Total ... 1,586
*ln this number aro included 41 by Scarlatina, 23
by Typhus Fever, 19 by Diarrhoea, and 2 by Cholera.

THE; ROCHESTER CATHEDRAL TRUSTS.
THE REV. R WHISTON V. THE DEAN AND CHAPTER OF

ROCHESTER.

The hearing of the appeal in the above case was re-
sumed yesterday morning, in the Arches' Court, Doc-
tors' Commons.

The Bishop of Colchester, Mr. Baron Parke, and Dr.
Lushington having taken their seats,
Mr. COWLING resumed his argument, which was partly
gone through on Friday last, in support of the decision
of the dean and chapter of Rochester; and after going
through the charges made by Mr. Whiston in detail,
said that in looking at the interests of ail in this case, he
had come to the conviction that the dean and chapter
had acted properly in dismissing Mr. Whiston, however
painful it might have been to do so; that they had no
alternative, and that they would have shrunk from their
duty if they had ❑ot done so. Therefore, he must with
confidence submit that the judgment of the dean and
chapter of Rochester must be affirmed.

Mr. Whiston then rose to reply, and said that they
had now heard the defence of the dean and chapter—a
defence not got up on any emergency, but prepared after
a length of time with great accuracy, and elaborated in
the Court with practised advocacy, and they had come at
last to the merits of the case, which they had never done
before. Notwithstanding all that careful preparation,
they had not denied—they had not contradicted—they
had not gainsaid or attempted to gainsay one sub-
stantial fact that he had put forth in his pamphlet.
The Learned Gentleman who had just sat down had in-
dulged in a tirade of personalities and vituperation; but
he thought it would have been more dignified on his part
to have disproved those facts than to have taken so
limited and partial a view of the case. Of the individual
charges be had made, affecting, on their proof, his
honour, his character, and his credit as a man, he had
reason to congratulate himself and his friends that the
result of the investigation, conducted through a court
which he had all along deprecated, and while other
tribunals were open to the dean and chapter, that
he should pass through an ordeal of fire un-
injured in character, and unsullied in reputation, and
through all the smoke which had been raised, which he
trusted that he should soon be able to dispel. He then
ook a survey of all the facts connected with himself and
the dean and chapter previous to and subsequent to his
second dismissal, and he refused to go before those who
were to be judges as well as accusers, who had refused
to supply him with evidence in their possession, and es-
pecially as he was required to appear alone before them,
anti thus be entirely at their mercy for what might take
place. He would read to their Lordships the proceed-
ings, and opinion given by Bishop Parker, who was the
visitor to Rochester School in 1560, and after investi-
gating all the facts, ho gave it as his opinion that mo-
rality and decency did not flourish amongst the dean
and chapter of Rochester. Had he been scurrilously
disposed, should he not have put that fact forward in his
pamphlet? The dean and chapter were the patrons of
the Leper Hospital at Chatham, from which the present
dean had drawn no less a sum than 5,6721. from its
funds. Mr. Ersell knew that the money had been re-
ceived, and with the full knowledge of all that, bow
could he be charged with mala fides? As to the sup-
pressions of the three minor canons, it was distinctly
stated in the deed of foundation that there should be
for ever six minor canons, and by the statute" Da Visi-
tatione" it was stipulated that they should receive the
munificent sum of 301. per annum. Now, it was found
that 301. per annum would not keep the minor canon,
and, to make up, livings were given to them. On the
vacancies occasioned by the suppression of these three
minor canons not being filled up, those livings were
given to the friends and relations of the dean and chap-
ter, and that was the true story and history of the sup-
pression of these minor canons. Their Lordships
would remember that a solemn decree and order was
made by the chapter of Rochester in 1835, for suppres-
sing these minor canons. Now, he held in his baud a
memorial addressed to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners
nine months afterwards, to which was attached the name
of the Rev. James Griffith, D.D., one of the present
members of the chapter, objecting to the suppression of
the great canonries, in which it was contended that such
a system was " wrong in principle, and involved the
subversion of ancient foundations; that, in fact, it was
wrong to do what they had themselves done only nine
months before. It went on to say further, that it was a
" violation of the statutes, and also as regarded the oaths
which were taken as well by visitors as by other mem-
bers of cathedrals." At that time they had been vio-
lating those principles, and bad suppressed three minor
canons only six or nine months before. Mr. Whiston
then went into a variety of details to show that small
sums had been paid to persons for services an small
pensions, leaving a large balance unappropriated.d
Dr. LIISHINGTON wished to know if the Crown neg-
lected to appoint to the vacancies, was there
any other
way under the statutes to apply the amount?
Mr. Whiston said if the canons took no care to inform
the Crown of the vacancies, the deane and chapetbeter
sums not
morally, if not legally, responsible
Lordships
Iforshi
such
ps had been
having been appropriated.
called upon by Dr. Addams, not to restore him to his
office, for if they should reverse what had betehnemdotnoe
bthe dean and chapter they would expose
loquy. He submitted that their Lordships were not
there to consider the feelings of the dean and chapter,
but sat to administer justice, and would disregard any
ad misericordiam appeal that might be made to them.
Vice-Chancellor Knight Bruce had said that if the go-
vernors of the school did not wish to continue with the
master they had a certain alternative, but when he men-
tioned the fact that their relatives and friends had re-
ceived no less a sum than 215,000/. out of the revenues
the Church of Rochester, he did not think they would
consider it so disagreeable as to adopt that alternative.
Irrespective of the rent charge, the boys were to be
maintained out:of the cathedral revenues, and this pro.
vision was much aggravated by the fact that the dean and
chapter had, from time to time, professed so much reve-
rence for the intentions of the founder. He had been
charged with asserting that the dean and canons divided the
payments assigned to the suppressed offices, and he was
prepared with proof of that assertion. He would now
address himself to the question of having written a ma-
licious libel. Mr. Whiston then cited several high legal
authorities to show that if a man, bona fide made a state-
ment which might not be true in all its parts, but was
made under an impression of its truth, and for the public
benefit, that that could never be considered a malicious
libel. If his pamphlet were false, why had they not
filed a criminal information against him? Why, for the
reason that they felt convinced that a jury would have
returned a verdict in his favour. Mr. Whiston having
read a lengthened extract from his pamphlet, to show
that he had endeavoured by all peaceable and gentle
means to obtain justice from the Bishop of Rochester and
the dean and chapter, spoke as follows:—Such was
the spirit, such the language in which, on Dec. 14, 1848, I
addressed your Lordship, neither one nor the other be-
speaking the falsehood, the malice, or even the wanton-
ness of a libeller. If, then, in Jane, 1852, there is to be
any favour—if you are not to plant your judgment on
even ground—if there is to be any deflection from a
scrupulous and nicely-poised impartiality, I submit most
confidently that an appeal conceived in such a spirit, and
couched in such terms, and notwithstanding unsuccess-
ful—claims from the tribunal more than others the most
indulgent, nay, the most favourable construction of all
my subsequent words and actions. If I deserved to be
dismissed, this court is the last in England which should
pronounce the judgment, for if the visitorial authority
had been exercised as the founder intended, the publies•
lion for which I have been so vindictively dismissed
would never have taken place. But besides this, your
Lordships sit here with no original or general authority,
but simply as representatives of the founder. .As Black-
stone says:—" The visitor is to be guided by the inten-
tions of the founder, so far as they can be collected
from the statutes, or the design of the institution." So
says the Bishop of Lincoln—" In exercising my visito-
rial authority lam bound to confine myself within the
limits prescribed by the founder for its exercise, as well as
constantly to keep in view the purposes for which he con-
ferred it—that of carrying into execution his intentions as
exhibited in the statutes which he gave for the govern-
ment of his college. So, too, my Lords, are
sameyoure-
stricted by the same limitations and bound by
obligations; and therefore I maintain that you have
neither legal nor moral right—you have no right at all
—to pronounce any decision except what you believe
the founders would pronounce if they could rise from
their graves, walk into the court, and sit as judges in
this case. And can any one—unless he be au incarna-
tion
of the most unnatural scepticism—doubt what their
intentions were, and what their judgment would be,
nay, would have been months and years ago, and with-
out hearing a tithe of what I have detailed proved?
Why, my Lords, what are the facts of the case?
What were the purposes and the objects which the foun-
ders had in view and at heart? Were they to
pipit
dignitaries, to aggrandise deans, or enrich prependaries.
by munificent endowments from the constantly.increas
ing revenues, of which they
alone should receive con.