The Sun.
London, England, 1847-02-01 00:00:00

EGLINTON V. RUCK AND OTHERS.

The arguments in this case, which had been com-
menced on Friday, were the first.
Mr. Martin was about to continue his arguments is
opposition to the rule for a new trial, when
The LORD CHIEF BARON, in interrupting him, said
there must be a new trial. There appeared to be no
chance of the respective counsel agreeing upon the facts,
so as to have a special case drawn.
Mr. MARTIN had a great objection to the case going
to a jury. lle had seen the manner in which a jury had
treated just such a case as this.
The LORD CHIEF BARON said he thought juries ought
to be spoken of more respectfully ; their duties were of
the highest importance, and ought not to be spoken of
so slightingly.
Mr. MARTIN said he had nothing to say against juries
individually; but he had seen hundreds of wrong ver-
dicts given by juries. In the present case an agreement
had been made between the parties that the Court of
Exchequer should, upon the facts proved, draw such
conclusions as the Court might think proper, and either
party objecting might have a special verdict, and might
take the matter to the Court of Error.

The LORD CHIEF BARON said, to enable the opinion
of the Court to be taken, the parties must agre^ as to the
facts, and that had not been done.

After much discussion upon the subject,
Mr. Baron ALDERSON said that, in his opinion, the
matter could be settled by the Lord Chief Baron, in the
same way as the late Lord Tenterden had been accus-
tomed to settle cases where counsel could not agree upon
the facts. Each counsel sent in a list of the facts he ad-
mitted and those he rejected, and then the case was
settled upon such facts as to his Lordship deemed pro-
per and just.

Mr. MARTIN said he would be quite content with such
a course.

The LORD CHIEF BARON said the Court were anxious
to carry out the objects of the parties in such a way as
that justice should be done. He would therefore make
another effort to settle a special case.

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, Jan. O.
THE LATE CASE OF MILITARY FLOGGING AT
HOUNSLOW.

THE QUEEN, ON THE PROSECUTION OF MIS. WAKLEy a.
HEALEY •ND COOKS, THE PROPRIETOR, AND ruatasimit
OF TILE'' MEDICAL TIMES."
In this case a rule had been obtained by the Attorney-
General, at the instance of Mr. Wakley, M.P., and
Coroner for Middlesex, calling upon the defendants
to show cause why a criminal information should not
be filed against them fur the publication of an
article in that periodical of the Ist of August,
last, which charged Mr. Wakley with having conducted the
well-known inquiry at Hounslow into the death of White, a
private in the 7th Hussars, in an improper and disgraceful
manner, with having hinted, and suggested, and suborned
the soldiers who came before the court to give evidence,
and with being in the habit of staring the fees of post-mor-
tem examinations with Mr. Erasmus Wilson, whom he, in
his capacity of coroner, was in the habit of appointing to
make such examinations.
Mr. CoCKBUISN, Q.C. (with whom was Mr. Ballantine),
showed cause against the rule. He said these proceedings
arose out of a matter which would, no doubt, be still in the
recollection of their Lorships, namely, the inquiry at Houns-
low into the death of a soldier named White, a private ot' the
7th Hussars, who died after receiving corporal punishment in
the barracks in question. The punishment was inflicted on
the 15th of June, and he died on the 11th of July. The in-
quest was commenced on the 15th of that month, and was
adjourned from time to time, for intervals of about a
week each, until the jury arrived at the opinion that the man
had died from the punishment to which he had been sub-
jected, Several articles appeared at that time in the Medical
Times, commenting upon the conduct of Mr. Wakley in con-
ducting the inquiry.
Lord DENMAN said, if he recollected rightly, the article in
question was much more than a mere comment—it attributed
conduct to Mr. Wakley out of court in connexion with the
inquest, which certainly could not come under that defini-
tion. It contained comments on what happened in court.
Mr. COCKBURN said, no doubt the article complained of
consisted of comments on Mr. Wakley's conduct in prose-
cuting the inquiry. Although he did not mean to set up
that all the expressions used were justifiable, yet he intended
to contend that there was so much irregularity iu the way in
which the inquest was conducted, that many of them were
perfectly so. Besides, the whole matter had been freely
commented upon by Mr. Wakley in the House of Coin-
rnons, and at a public meeting at which he presided,
shoo ing that the defendants had a perfect right
to comment in a like manner, not only on the policy of
the punishment, but on the way in which Sir. Wakley con-
ducted the inquiry. Having read the alleged libel at length,
and the medical opinions which were included in the article,
he went on to read, and to comment on, the affidavit filed by
Mr. Wakley, which detailed the nature of the inquiry amid
the cause of the various adjournments. The course adopted
.at the inquest, with respect to the medical testimony, was
completely at variance with the Act of Parliament—namely,
the 6th and 7th Wm. IV., c. 81—which detailed the course
still adopted at inquests with respect to such evidence. Mr.
Wakley had held a vast number of inquests, and therefore
could not be ignorant of the line of conduct, which the Act
pointed out. That Act enacted that it should be lawful for
a coroner to issue his order to compel the attendance of the
surgeon who attended, or who was present at the death,
of the person on whom the inquest was held, or if no oue
so attended, or was present at the death of the person on
whom the inquest was held, then some medical gentleman
residing in the vicinity; and that if the jury were dissatisfied
with his or their testimony, that the jury should supply
the coroner in writing with the name or names of
any medical practitioner or practitioners whom they might
wish to attend, either for the purpose of giving evidence, or
for the purpose of making a post mortem examination.
Now when he told their Lordships that the surgeons were of
the first class, and sent down by Sir John Macgregor, and
that Mr. Wakley must have known that their testimony
ought to have been taken first, and that he gave them the
" go by," and took the evidence of Mr. Wilson in the first
instance, they could not but be of opinion that Mr. Waklev
had acted in direct contravention of the Act. Instead of
hearing the evidence of Mr. Day, who was called in the first
instance to examine the body, and who made that examines
tion, and who being unconnected with the army was an un-
biassed witness, Mr. Wakley, according to his own state-
ment, asked Mr. Day a question, and because he was not
satisfied with the way in which he had performed the cross-
examination, he thought proper to suggest to the jury the
appointment of another medical gentleman, and he appointed
Mr. Wilson, who had been his pupil—a protege of his
own. It the gentlemen so sent had been allowed to give
their evidence in the ordinary and legal way, no imputation
would have been thrown, as he contended there was, on their
Learned testimonycoagnndseclrtehadTiplirtuyeeeindetdhowiibemthintdhse
aoffif
dtahvei
tj.o
It t
alt'ehde
that the inquiry was adjourned on the 27th, for the purpose
of affording another medical gentleman time to make an ex-
amination. On his way home, in his carriage, he met Mr.
Wilson in Oxford-street, and after informing him that Mr.
Day had omitted to examine the man's spine, he desired him
to do so, and to make a report to the jury; that examination
was made, but the medical gentlemen connected with the army
were excluded. After detailing the qualifications of Mr. Wilson,
the affidavit concluded by s. positivs denial of the charges
conveyed in the article, that he had never shared the pro-
ceeds of post-mortem examinations with Mr. Wilson, and that
in conducting the inquiry he was actuated solely by a con-
scientious desire to promote the ends of justice. The affidavit
of Mr. Wilson entirely corroborated the affidavit of Mr.
Wakley. The Learned Counsel then proceeded to read and
comment on the affidavits filed in reply. The affivadits of
Mr. Healey and Mr. Cook stated that they believed that the
statements in the articles in question, with a few exceptions,
were true, and that they were written and published solely
for the public benefit, and not for any other object whatever,
the inquiry having been one of the utmost importance to
medical gentlemen. The words " partner in the post-mortem
fees" were not susceptible of the interpretation which had I
been put upon them, alio were not intended to convey that
they shared the proceeds of such examinations. It meant
that the frequency with which Sir. Wilsun was so appointed,
and the fees which he received in that capacity, and Mr.
Wakley, as coroner, looked like a partnership in post-mortem
exanduations on account of this frequency, and not that Sir.
Wilson handed Mr. Wakley part of the proceeds. Mr.
Wakley admitted having employed Mr. Wilson 25 times,
adding that he had emp:oyed other medical men as frequently.
Dr. Hall sought the publication of the medical testimony
in the Medical Times, as he and the other medical men bed
not a fair opportunity of adducing it before the coroner.
Mr. Wilson had been for some time sub-editor of the Lancet,

--
and had been under-- great obligations to Mr. Wakley, which,
he (Mr. Healey) thought was calculated to bias his opinion,
and to render bum an unfair witness. Then Mr. Wakley

presided at a meeting at Exeter-Hall, which was called for
the purpose of forming a society to promote the abolition of
corporal punishment. Several privates of the Guards were
present. The I ,earned Counsel read a report of the speech
which Mr. Wal iley made, from the Morning Chronicle, that
stigmatised the infliction of corporal punishment as most un-
civilized and 1:n utal in the highest degree, and recommended
that a subscription should be set on foot to liberate
thd two privates Cook and Mathewson, who gars
evidence at the inquest, agd produced a chew 1112ich