The Sun.
London, England, 1833-08-27 00:00:00

HOUSE OF LORDS.-(THIS DAY.)

The House of Lords tat— to -,lay at ace o'clock, the
Lords present were, the LgnadveCjuhdagnemeellnotr,
the Earl of
Rthe judgment of the Court
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Lagos, and the Bishop of Hereford.
below. In " Maule v. Maule," affirming the judgment
with costs. In " Miller v. Miller," affirming the
judgment without costs. In " Miller v. Moody," affirming.
the judgment with costs, and in" M'Dougall v. Campbell,"
affirming the judgment with a few alterations.
The House then adjourned to five o'clock.
Their Lordship; we understand, will to-morrow at one
o'clock give judgment on " Pattenson v. Allen," and
" Cameron v. Mackey."

RAMSAY v. NAIRNE.

(From the Scotsman.)

We have elsewhere given a brief report of this CaSP,
which consisted chiefly of two speeches, one eight hours
long, and one four. Conscious of the imperfection of this
report, it is due to our readers to state in plain terms
what it was about, and what the result is.

It was an action instituted by Lady Ramsay to receive
12,0001. of damages from Mr. James N iirne, W.S., fir
def.amation ; the defamation consisting in the d. fender's
having en no less than 17 different occasions, stated that
her Ladyship had been guilty of conjugal infidelity. The
defene,e against this was, that Mr. Nairne, personally,
bad never stated, or thought anything about her Lady-
ship ; but that, having been the agent of her husband, the
late Sir Thomas Ramsay, he had merely been the profes-
sional organ of conveying his sentiments. The issues con.
sisted of a selection of 17 occasions, on which it w,is said,
that the defender had, verbally, or in writing, stated the
offensive cbarge. Of these issues, 15 were common
charges of defamation; but two were of a more serious
character; for they set forth, that the defender had, for
interested purposes, induced a client, rendered incapable
by age and disease of judging for himself, to insert a recital
into two deeds, by which he left behind him, and so pub-
lisf-ied, a declaration that he believed his wife to have b-en
faithless.

The result is, that the Jury, under the direction of the
Court, found a verdict for the defender upon eleven of the.
issues, and for the pursuer upon six, with 2001. of da-
mages. If this mere result were stated, the public m,ght
he misled by supposing that the pursuer had been incorrect
in point of character in the eleven issues which were lost
by her, and that the defender had been incorrect in the
six which were lost by him. It is, therefore, necessary to
explain how the matter stands. And it seems to us,
judging merely from the trial, to stand thus :

1. Every shadow of imputation against Lady Ramsay
was signally refuted. She exploded every pretence or
insinuation against her, by the testimony of persons of the
highest character; and went on with this evidence till at
last it appeared to us to be put an end to, because its very
superfluity, and unquestioned conclusiveness, rendered any
addition to it unnecessary and wearisome. Indeed, the
mere fact that the defender had taken no issue under
which he could impeach her character, gave her, in the
defender himself, the best of all witnesses in her favour ;
in addition to which his counsel stated openly in the
Court, that his client had not only no doubt of her inno-
cence, but was anxious that the Jury should make that
declaration of it they afterwards did.
2. Mr. Nairne, in point of character, passed through
the fire equally pure. The only issues that affected his
reputation were the two which charged him with the
strange and horrid iniquity of inducing his incapable
client, in dying, to leave a posthumous admiss'on of his
own dishonour, by charging his wife with infidelity, and
this fur interested purposes. All the rest of the case, in
so far as he was concerned, was insignificant. Now this
unprecedented accusation was refuted, and in the most
honourable of all possible ways. The pursuer did not even
attempt to prove it; the defender's counsel seemed to us
to laugh at it ; the Court directed against it ; and the
Jury decided against it.
B. These two things being disposed of, all that re-
mained was immaterial. It degenerated into alleged,
common defamation, and the result was, that both par.
ties were found partly wrong, and both partly right.
The pursuer was found wrong on some of her charges,
partly because not even an attempt was made to prove
them, and partly because, when the defender had stated
any thing about her, be had done so professionally, as
the organ of his client. And the defender was found
wrong on some of his, because, though acting profes-
sionally, he had exceeded the exact professional line. But
the Lord President stated expressly in his charge, " that
he had done so solely from excessive zeal in his client's
cause." There was some technical }Jiggling, which we
did not understand about the form of producing an opinion
of counsel ; but it seemed to be perfectly understood,
that on the two steps which were most strongly urged
against Mr. Nairne, he had acted by the highest profes-
sional advice ; and that counsel of the first character had
sanctioned and recommended the exact proceedings that
he adopted, and the very words that he used.
However, as the Greeks are punished for all the decli-
nations of their kings, so agents, it seems, suffer for the
supposed errors of their counsel, and AIN Nairne has
to pay 2001. Our impression, on considering the whole
affair, is, that it has turned out like the mouse and the
mountain. Both parties have been found spotless in
reputation ; and eur feeling, during two thirds of the
trial, was, that the other third was quite sufficient is
have settled the case.

A peculiar kind of complaint, probably con-
nected with atmospherical impurities, is now very preva-
lent at Scilly. In no case has it proved fatal, but its
visitations are accompanied with feverish symptoms, a
dry cough, and a general lassitude or prostration of
strength. Its duration is generally about three weeks.--
West Briton.

THE OLDEN TIME.—In cases of large
fortune and great connexions, marriaees wena often con.
tracted before the persons so disposed of could have any
opinion or choice in the matter. Lady Arlington's only
child, Lady Isabella Bennett, was formally married to the
Duke of Grafton (son of Charles 11., by the Duchess of
Cleveland), when she was only five and he only eight
years old. The Archbishop of Canterbury performed the
ceremony, and the King and all the Court were present.
This wedding must have been merely meant as a sort of
fete for the amusement of the King ; as it was thought
proper to remarry them when she was twelve and lie
fifteen years old !

Died on Friday last, in the King's Bench
prison, at No. 47, Edmund Clavering, Eq., of CalveHy
Park, in Northumberland, formerly belonging to the firm
of Wright and Co., bankers, Henrietta-street, Covent-
garden. A few days before his death he was seized with
cholera, and was so much reduced by the disease as to
have added another victim to the dreadful malady. It may
be of public benefit to add, that a complete evacuation of
the contents of the stomach, on the first attack of cholera,
and the excitement of a profuse sad immediate petsoira_
tion, have, is numerous instances, proved most successful.

MOST AFFECTING CIRCUMSTANCE.--.
Yesterday a funeral took place under most effecting
circumstances, in Bunhill-Gelds. About two week, since
one of the daughters of the Rev. Mr. Pearcy was seized
with the typhus fever, and after suffering great pain for
ten or twelve days, and being reduced to a state of great
weakness she expired. On the afflicted father going to
announce the melancholy event to another daught,r,
residing some miles distant, he found her suffering under
the ravages of cholera, of which disease she died the same
evening. The youngest was 21 years of age; the other
31. The latter was married, and has left two children
to mourn their loss. Both were distinguished for theix
acquirements in sacred music. Yesterday they wer.,.b,,th
interred in the same grave, and, at the same titn,:, the Rev.
Mr. Fletcher, of Finsbury chapel, on the co fins being put
into the grave, delivered one of the most eloquent and
impressive addresses we ever heard. to the bereaved parents.
Hundreds of strangers shed tears in abundance while the
Rev. Gentleman so feelingly adverted to the solemn dis-
pensation of Providence which had called them together.
It is a singular circumstance, that 30 years ago two of
Mr. Pearcy's children died and were buried on the same
day, and in the same place.
SUPPOSED MURDER.—On Sabbath morn+
ing knee Kelly, seaman, originally from the Isle of Mn,7
was apprehended in Dundee, on a charge of having
murdered his wife, Janet Mitchell, a native of the parish
of Inverkeillor. The parties have resided some t;.rne in
the Hawkhill ; the woman, at the time of her marriage
to Kelly, about a year and a half since, was the widow of
a weaver named Webster, belonging to the village of
Lochie, to whom she had three children. She bad no
ltlbetfeclrotce t); na ntate
children to Kelly. The body of the woman w,e, ex-
amined
of
by medical men in the oourse of Sunday
and Kelly was committed to prison at 2 o'clock in the
afternoon. So far as we can learn, the crim.: had, been
committed by suffocation, in a manner similar that
adopted by Burke and Hare for taking the lift of their
fornoon,
preceding night in liquor. and found a wife dead wl,ren
Kelly •
wviectiumderstKane!liT
in the morning. a man of ditnimicive
he awoke
stature, slightly made, apparently about 26 years of age
The woman was about 40 years old, of a stout make,--,
Dundee Constitutional.
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