The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-01 00:00:00

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENOH-YESTERDA Y.

SENTENCE UPON DR. NEWMAN.
(Continued from our First Edition of yesterday.)
At the conclusion of Sir F. Kelly's address,
Dr. Newman rose, and was about to read the contents
of a paper which he held in his hand.
Lord Campbell interposed, and asked the learned
doctor if he had consulted his counsel as to the expe-
diency of the course he was about to adopt ?
The Attorney-General said he was not aware what Dr.
Newman intended to say, but he believed he was anxious
to give expression to his own feelings on the subject of
the present case.
Lord Campbell—l think, Dr. Newman, you had bet-
ter allow the case to remain as it now is.
Dr. Newman—Very well.
Mr. Justice Coleridge, addressing the defendant, then
said it now became his duty to pronounce on him the
sentence of the court for the misdemeanour of which he
had been convicted—that of having published a defama-
tory paper reflecting severely on the character of the
prosecutor, Dr. Achilli. After alluding to the proceed-
ngs at the trial, and the result of the application sub se
quently made for a new trial, his lordship proceeded to
say that the court had thought it their bounden
duty in estimating the amount of punishment to be inflicted,
to consider whether the defendant's guilt was mitigated
or aggravated by his plea, and the evidence which had
been adduced to prove and disprove it. Looking at the
affidavits presented to-day in mitigation of the offence
he spoke the sentiments of every member of the Court,
when he said, in the first place, that he was satisfied
that Dr. Newman honestly believed in the truth of the
allegations which he made against Dr. Achilli, and that
he was a man who was incapable of uttering or publish-
ing that which he believed to be untrue—(a murmur of
applause)—and, in the next, that he composed and pub-
lished the libel, not with any personal malice towards
Dr. Achilli, but because he had assailed that religion
which he valued above all things else in life. He now
came to the next and most important question before the
Court—the actual truth or falsehood of the allegations
put upon the plea. In addressing himself to them he
could not adopt the strong and unqualified language
which had been used by some of the defendant's advo-
cates. There were many circumstances which would
induce the Court to pause before they could put
the same construction on the evidence that had been
attempted by those learned gentlemen. In the first
place, there was an improbability in the story, that a
man, represented to be so notoriously wicked, should
have been entrusted by the Roman Catholic Church with
the most delicate and responsible employment. Dr.
Achilli having left that Church, the Court, of course,
felt bound to consider the motives which might have ac-
tuated the witnesses, who came forward to support that
story, and it would be recollected that one of
the witnesses said she had been directed to
to come for the honour and glory of the Church, and
Holy Mother of God. Nothing was more likely to have
led uneducated and thoughtless persons who spoke to
remote transacticv into error and exaggeration.
Another circumstaTice also pressed on the mind of the
Court, viz., the extreme difficulty—he might say entire
impossibility—of Dr. Achilli effectually contradicting
the stories reported against him in Italy and other parts
of the continent, for he was under the sentence of the
Holy Inquisition, and found great obstacles ire the way
of finding persons who would be disposed to give evi-
dence in detraction of the character, or in contradiction,
of the defendant's witnesses. These were most material
considerations. The Court were entirely satisfied with
the finding of the jury. At every stage of the proceed-
ings the Court had been crowded by sach a numerous
mese of people that it seemed as if there was a, general
belief that the case involved a question between the two
Churches of England and Rome. If any one had con-
sidered the matter for a moment, he must have seen that
the Church of England had at least no interest whatever
in the inquiry. If the defendant had published a wilful
and wicked slander against the Church of England, he
was no longer within her folds ' • but he (Mr. Justice
Coleridge) might appeal to the defendant's invaluable
writings while he was a member of the Oxford Univer-
sity—writings which, great as was their ability, sound
as was their doctrine, urgent as was their teachings,
towards holiness of life, nothing was more remarkable
than their tenderness and gentleness of spirit. Nay,
he might go further, and say, with regard to those con-
troversial writings, which he published while still a mem-
ber of the College, that though his arguments might
have sometimes been severe, because just and unanswer-
able, they contained nothing like personal bitterness.
On the other hand, if Dr. Achilli was all that he was
represented to be, he was not born in the Church of
England, nor taught in her schools, nor trained by her
discipline. However bad, therefore, he may have been,
that Church stood free from blame. Then, again, it
might be said, that he was no longer within the folds of
the Church of Rome. In reading over the libel, he (the
learned Judge) confessed that, as had been observed by
counsel in the course of the arguments, he was touched
with infinite shame and disgust. It totally de-
parted from the usual style of the defendant's produc-
tions, and left him open to the very strong observations
made against. For instance, he spoke of the Reformed
Church in such misrespectful terms as these— '•in the
midst of outrages such as these, wiping her mouth, and
clasping her hands, and turning up her eyes, she trudges
to the Town Hall." Surely that was not language to
apply to the Church he was formerly a member.of. It
was not without emotion that the Court passed sentence
upon the defendant, yet the case had been treated
throughout in a way to lead to the supposition that they
performed this painful duty with feelings of exultation.
He hoped in that crowded court there was not one who
looked with triumph on the spectacle which was pre-
sented to him. Of this, at least, he was sure—that
the Court was not influenced by such a spirit in
addressing themselves to the consideration of the sen-
tence. Firmly attached as he was, and as he believed
he ever should be, to the Church of England, in which he
had hitherto lived, and in which he hoped to die, there
was nothing in his mind but regret and pain at seeing
the learned individual occupying the unfortunate position
he now did. One word more he would add. The great
controversy between the two Churches might continue
to go on for years yet, and if the defendant engaged in
it for the future, he entreated he would employ his great
abilities in a spirit of kindness to individuals, for the
sake of his ardent, holy life, and our common Chris-
tianity. The sentencel of the Court upon him was,
that he pay a fine of one hundred pounds to the Queen,
and that he be imprisoned in the first class of misde-
meanants in the Queen's Prison, until that-fine be paid.
There was a general feeling of surprise exhibited by
the spectators in the Court when the sentence-was an-
nounced.

Throughout the whole day the Court was densely
packed with crowds of people, and it was with some
difficulty it was cleared at the conclusion of the pro-
ceedings,