The Sun.
London, England, 1851-09-30 00:00:00

_ ___ .
s lot , SEPTEIVE BE RBO ) 1851.
_
t 1 .
4- • ' •- ‘ ' :ii-4 'A -.-,
-v..: . • ~ t

~.m.~

son, he being •charged slith iss:iult in having, i'
the scene ju3t narrated, shut the door in the face of

the bailiffs: •
We understand that the judge acted upon a line in
the Jounwl's 'placard, which he considered fK, be
offensive :—" Mr. Itimshay's Opinion of tha )ople
of Liverpool," The paragraph itself is as folio ,
"In a 032. before the ju,le,.e of the County Court
yeliterliay, in which W. Ilolruel, a shornadker, of
Edge-hill, claimerld 94. tor goods suoplied to Robert
Fox,- the latter having a set-oft against the plaintiff
for hoard and lodging cu to the plaintiff's son,
a bay, his Honour xi)ressed himself in rather
strong language with respect to the charactcr!s:,ics
of
some people in this part of the country. The plain-
tiff's wife had observed that the boy was in a very
•weak state of health, and on one occaion, when at
llolrum's she.pronosed.to take him home with her to
Rainhill, where he woull be attended to and have the
benefit of pure air. From some caeee the bey was
brought back to his !parents at the expiration of a
month, and the set-off was a demand of is. a- week for
board and lodging, as previously agreed on. His
Honour characterized- the eonduct'of the plaintiff as
unfortunately like that of many persons in this part
of the country, and which to him (the judge) was a
perfect problem.; -they appeared to have not the
slightest regard to thc.sotemnity of an oath, and were
equally destitute or tbafeelings of humanity. The
defendant, withithe mitt praiseworthy motive, bad
made a proposition to -the, boy's parents, which they,
no doubt, framtita-at with, qty The ss. a week
charged by the defendant. for the boy's board and
lodging was a very moderate charge, yet the plain-
..
-
tis-ettemptedti,deo*?lgrlibtPluicLiold pai-
r
tive falsehood with respect to the time the boy was it
Rainhill. He believed that nearly all that bad been
stated by the plaintiff was false, and he therefore had
great pleasure in giving a verdict for the defendant."
Numerous additional statements relative to this
unpleasant affair have reached us, but the facts not
having come under our own partioular notice, we have
suppressed them.
This morning, at the sitting of the County Court,
the case against Mr. Whitty, the proprietor and editor
of the Liverpool Journal, for an alleged contempt of
court, was called on, when Sir G. Stephen appeared
on behalf of that gentleman, but the Learned Judge
deAcled upon having the defendant present in person.
In about half an hour Mr. Whitty made his ap-
pearance, and the charge was immediately proceeded
with.
The first witness called by the Learned Judge was
Mr. Sumner, the examiner of the court, who, on
being sworn, deposed that on Saturday morning last
about 10 o'clock, a person was pasting bills in the
neigbourhood of the caurt, some of them within ten
or twelve yards, and others thirty or forty yards
from the court. Those placards were announcing the
publication of the Journal, and contained a line in
large letters, " Mr. Ramsllay's Opinion of the People
of Liverpool." It was impossible for the judge, in
coming to the court, to avoid seeing those placards,
and witness did not consider them fair reporting. at
all ; they were placed so as to catch his Honour's eye
on his way into court. Upon the arrival of the judge
he received orders to pull down the placard, which he
accordingly did. It was now produced in court. The
practice was common for newspapers to post bills in
the neighbourhood of the court ; the Chronicle bills
had twice referred to Mr. Ramshay, but the Journal

several times.
Sir G. Stephen inquired of his Honour what pre•
vious acts had to do with the specific offence charged
against Mr. Whitty?
The Judge said, that the evidence went to show
that it was a practice to insult the judge, and bring
the administration of justice In that court into con-
tempt among the people of Liverpool, and, therefore,
it must be considered in the amount of whatever
punishment he might feel it his duty to inflict.
Sir G. Stephen, with submission, protested against
his client being made responsible for former placards.
The Judge said, he was not going to punish Mr.
Whitty because former placards were posted; but it
was necessary that a judge should be respected, and
he could not be respected iF he were to be held up to
a system of annoyance like that which had been
practised by the defendant and others. The Act of
Parliament had placed stringent powers in the hands
of the judges of county courts.
The examination of the witness was then pro-
ceeded with, and it was elicited that from 100 to 200
placards wcire posted in varietis parts of the town; the
witness- --had knowne .mteer,,,lfekilii. Tbis7„l:lettiff in
consequence' of those Oacards, (IN VIII while he was
taking down the bill in question a man who was pre-
sent called the judge a low scoundrel.
The Judge—You see, Sir George, the poison has
operated pretty rapidly. To the witness—Did you
take that person into custody ? Witness—No, your
Honour. I had no orders.
In cross-examination by Sir George Stephen, it
transpired that the occurrence took place outside the
court, upon which flct, the Learned Counsel con-
tended, the judge had no jurisdiction.
The Judge said the Act of Parliament was explicit
on the point; he was protected, not merely in the
court, but in going or coming ; and the effect of that
placard was to discompose his mind for the adminis-
tration of justice on that morning.
Sir G. Stephen contended that the Legislature
could not have contemplated any provision for pro-
tecting the mind of a judge; if the line in the placard
were taken by itself, he submitted that no possible
insult could be extorted from it. What did it say ?
Merely, " Mr. Remshey's opinion of the people of
Liverpool." And if it were to be taken in connexion
with the paragraph in the paper itself, it was not at-
tempted to be denied that the paragraph was a fair
and impartial report of what had really taken place in
the court, and that the words used by his Honour were
accurately quoted.
The Judge said that, whether the paragraph were
an encomium or against him he did not know, for
he bad not read the paper. He took the placard as it
stood, upon its:own merits, andit was not to be endured
that those who were charged with the administration
of justice, especially among the poor and ignorant,
who were easily misled by announcements of this
kind, should be subjected to annoyances that
might have the effect not only of unfitting them
for the due execution of their duties, but of taking
from them that degree of respect which was indis-
pensable for the proper exercise of their duties, and
probably exciting some of the numerous parties
against whom he had to decide to make an attack
upon his life. The life of a county court judge was
of some value to his friends, whatever it might be in
the estimation of those who thus assailed him; and it
was likely that if there was no check put to a system of
annoyance of this kind, the melancholy end of a snore
exalted man than himself might possibly be his. Th 9
Learned Judge then-proceeded at considerable length
to animadvert on the evils to which the community
would be subject if the judges were not protected,
stated that he had uniformly done all in his power to
administer justice impartially, and he cared not who
the man was that interfered with any officer of the
court in the discharge of his duty, he would have him
brought before him and heavily fined.
Sir George Stephen respectfully submitted, as a
member of the bar, junior, certainly, in point of
position to his Honour, but not in experience, that
the public and the law looked upon £he judge's
honour and character as public property. He referred
to the instance where the Examiner canvassed the
conduct of Mr. Baron Platt, in the case of some sen-
tences which were placed in juxtaposition, and the
Times had freely commented on the conduct of Mr.
Justice Talfourd in the case of the Birds, but it was
not for a moment held that in either of these cases an
insult to the judges or a contempt of court had been
intended ; the press had a right to comment on the
judicial acts of the judge ; and had the placard any
epithet or adjective whatever—had it been good, bad,
or indifferent, but decided, he said his client might,
perhaps, fall under the animadversion of the Learned
Judge. But the defendant had only fairly and honestly
recorded an event in his Honour's court, and the pla-
card did not even express an opinion thereon. He
therefore submitted, that as the Crown, with all its
prerogatives, the House of' Lords, with all its judicial
powers, and the House of Commons, with all its pri-
vileges, were justly amenable to the fair criticism of
the press, the act of Mr. Whitty was not one within the
jurisdiction of the law, and, should his Honour be of
a different opinion, he would advise his client, rather
than pay any tine, to go to prison for the term which
his Honour might decide.
The Learned Judge here recalled the officer of the
court, Mr. Sumner, who in answer to some ques-
tions from hi; Honour, :aid that he knew of many
cases where iwults to the judge and the officers of the
court had ben given, chiefly, ho believed, in come-
qu,:oce of these placard:;. That very morning a per-
sun in court had insulted the officers before the judge
took his seat.
The Judge—ls that person in court? Witness—
He is, your Honour. (He then pointed out one of the
reporters for the Albion.)
Judge—What were toe words used? Witness—
He asked me togive him a chair; and as he had been
pointed out to me as one of the reporters for the
Journal, I refused, when he said that I was as bad as
may master.
Judge (to the reporter)—Stand up, there.
The reporter stood up.

Judge—What is your name? Reporter•- -Simon
lacker.

Judge—LA this case stand over until the% other is
disposed of.
The Learned Judge then went over the. evidence
of Mr. Sumner and the comments of thu Learned
Counsel, stating that he conidered the cff.r to
one of great enermiy ; an 1, for the pr,l4; action of
the Court, and a. an example to others, he inflicted
the full penalty of 51., or seven days' itn ..isonment
in Lancaster Gaol. Ile was sorry the ''s• y did not
impose a more severe penalty,.but he Felt bound to
inflict the very highest that the Act allgAvet I.
Mr. Whitty was then ordered into the c ustody of
the bailiff, and placed in the duck appeopriu e{-1 to de-
fendants, where, for more than three ho re-
mained, while some other caz.es arising cu; of the
VIM transtion were prom cchd with. .

When made up in From what When
PLACES. General Post-oellce port die- due.
London: patched.
America (by Brit. pkt.)N Oct. 3 .. Liverpool '0 zt. 9
America (by 'U.S. pkt.) N Sept. 31 .. LiVerpool .. Oct. s
America (by U.S. pkt.) M Oct. 8 Southampt. Oct. 2
Africa (West coast).. N 14th of the month Plymouth Oct. 3
Alexandria* ........ N 19th & 30th of mo. Dover .. Sept. 28
Belgium .. N Daily .. .. Dover .. Daily
Brazil .. • • .. M 9th of the month Southampt. Oct. 16
Buenos Ayres • • .. M 9th of the month Southampt. (Oct.
California(viaChares) 31 2d& 17th of mouth Southampt. 'Oct. 5
Cape of Good Hope N 14th of month Plymouth.. Oct. 3
Constantinople* .. •• N 7th 17th 27th of mo ! Dover ...Sept. 30
Central America .. M2d & 17th of mon. (Southampt. Oct..,
Channel Isles • • .. N Mon.. Wed., & FrLiSouthampt. Ta. Th. Sat
Chili M 17th of the month ISouthampt: Oct. 5
France &N Twice daily .. ..IDover • . Twicedally
Greece* • . •• N 7thlith 27th of mo ,Dover • • Sept. 3J
Hamburgh N Tuesday & Friday London .. Tues. Sat.
Holland .. •• M,Wednes. & Satur. London .. Mo*.Ther
Honduras . N 17th of the mouth Southampt. Oct. 20
Ireland .. M& N Twice daily Holyhead" Twicedally
India(via Southamp.) M 20th of the month,Southampt. Oct. 23
India (vlaMarseilles) N Sth& 24th ef month Dover • • Oct, 1
Mediterranean (via
Southampton) •• M 20th of the month ,Southampt. Oct. 23
Mediterranean (via
Marseilles) N Bth& 24th ofinonthlDover • • ,Oct. 1
Mexico M2d of the month.. Southampt. et. 5
Madeira .. M 9th of the month Southampt. Oct. 16
7 th,l7 th, VAl4,27th
Malta* &30th of month Dover Sept. 23
Naples* .. N sth 15th25th ofmoDover .. Oct. 2
Papal States* N ,Oth 15th25th ofmo',Dover ,Oct. 2
peninsular.. M ,7th 17th 27thof mo Southampt. Sept. 26
Peru .. M 17th of the month Southampt: oct. 5
Tuscany* .. .. • • N sth 15th 25th °fru° Dover • • 'Oct. 2
West Indies M 17th of the mouth Southampt. ,Oct. 5
West Indies (except
Havanna & Nassau) bl 2d of the month ,SOuthampt. !Oct. 20

* The mails to those countries thus marl
French packet v:4. Marseilles.
CALIFORNIL.—MaiIs to and from Ca.liforni
are now despatched and due by every Amer

Southampt.!Oct. 20
tied (•) are conveyed by

La, via tho United States
ican packet.

In consequence of the large number of passengers booked
for Egypt and India on the 20th of October, the day.the
next India mail is dispatched from Southampton, two
steamers, the Sultan and Pottiuger, will leave that port for
Alexandria on the above•nanied day instead of 'ono. The
malls wiil be taken out by the Pottinger. This arrange-
ment will not interfere with the dispatch of an extra steamsr
to Alexandria on the 3d of November.

[AnvEnTtsrmtsir ]--Richard Atkinson and Co.,
Irish poplin manufacturers to the Queen, her Royal High-
ness the DaehesS of Kent, his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant,
&c., 31, College-green, Dublin.—Atkinson and Co. beg re-
spectfully to acquaint the nobility and gentry of Great
Britain, that they transmit specimens for inspection per lost
free, and any poplins ordered are sent free of expense to Lon-
don, Liverpool, Bristol, Plymouth, Falmouth, or Glasgow,
from whence they are forwarded as addressed without any
delay, and at the risk of Atkinson and Co.
The ships bound for Sydney, inliew South Wales,
themearest port to the Ophir gold regions. are remarkably
on the increase. The General Post-office advertised on
Saturday nearly twenty vessels by which letter bags would
be cent to Sydney.

[PRICE SD.

THE HIGHLANDS AND THE

EXHIBITION.
(From the Inverness Courier of Sept. 25.)
An able article appears in the .111u.strated London
.News of Saturday last, on the connexion of the High-
lands with the Great Exhibition, the stall fitted up by
Mr. D. Macdougall, of Inverness, popularly known
as "The Illghland Stall," being the text beck. We
are glad to find that our pictorial contemporary does
fall justice to the ILghand di,,play—not forgetting, as
some critics have done, that the stall is not an exhibi-
tion merely of fine tartans, having no connection with
the Ille,blands save in name and pattern, but the it
is itittitn,ically an illuitztvion of the idaatry of the
north-3f what the 1; the.: newels, and the
dyers can do in their own fir-away glees, with their
own rue instruments end their own materials; and
of what our fear, our too few, manufactories can pro-
. dace in the shape of tweEds, plaids, and carpeting.
It is said with truth—
" It was Imrtily to he expected that the rude and scat-
ti red pepulatior, sprinkled ever the wild hills and path-
less moors, by the rocky rivers and desolate lochs of tho
north, would have done mach to help in the furnishing
forth of the Crystal Palace. With the exception of the
home manufacture of a few coarse articles of attire, the
industry of the Celt is confined to the rude and insuffi-
cient tillage bestowed upon. his ' croft' of stunted oats
or barley; or, if he be located near the sea, to a clumsy
and inefficient system of fishery, carried on without proper
boats or tackle, and seldom or ever succeeding in rear-.
ing really bold or skilful mariners. The Celt, indeed,
seldom makes anything but at most a fresh-water sailor.
He will brave the wildest wintry storms on the high
hillside, searching with his faithful 'collies' for the
sheep smothering in the snow-drift; but the sea always
'daunts-him.- Ifanything can induce tdm to 'changer:his
landward habits for a time, and fairly to take to the
brine, it is the herring; and those wondrous shoals of
dainty fishes luckily come upon the coast daring the
summer and early autumnal season, when the weather is
settled and the harvest moon round and bright. Desti-
tute, then, in a great measure, of that pushing energy
and bard and keen spirit of industry and enterprise which
have made England and the south of Scotland what they
are, the poor Highlanders of the north and west have
very seldom any leaders or teachers who might pioneer
the way to a better end a busier state of things."
In this picture, both in its fair and its dark colours,
there is much truth. - No pressure from without, such
as gradually extended its influence all round from the
seats of manufacturing industry, affected him—no
such necessity urged him to exertion, till now, when
its sudden severity has almost overwhelmed him in
hopeless misery • and dejection. Happy with the
humble blessings he enjoyed—freed from the daily-
occurring uncertainty of bread and water—he
thanked the Great Giver with a contented heart :

A little oatmeal, a herring in the season, a few po-
tetoes, perhaps a little dairy produce, particularly goat's
or eats milk, and he is abundantly satisfied, His hut is
chheneyless, eometimes windowless—a mere hovel of
piled.up turf, with a smouldering peat fire in the centre,
over which hangs the one pot which performs all culi-
nary operations, and round which are tolerably sure to
be stretched a ring of shaggy collies; but leave him
this—leave him his petit) atmosphere of peat smoke,
and ho is ready cheerfully to rough out any of its inci-
dental hardships as the merest matter of course. No
one ever heard of a Highland evicting landlord or his
agent being shot from behind a hedge. The Irishman
ale aye cries out when he is hurt, and in a score of ways
lets the world his grievances; sometimes, indeed,
he proclaims them through musket barrels. Not so the
Scotch Highlandsr."
Life in the Highlands, says the writer, is little better
than passive existence, so far as national industry is
concerned. In the summer season, and when tourists
and sportsmen abound on the hill-sides, the moon-
paths, and river-bricks, the natives are abundantly
active; but of the patient plodding industry of a
lifetime, by which alone great industrial progress is
achieved, there is little or none :
" Under these circumstance, we repeat," says the
writer, " we had hardly expected to see the Highlands
represented in the Crystal Palace at all; and we pro-
bably should not have been so agreeably disappointed
as wo have been, wire it not for the manful and single-
handed exertions of one singularly enterprising, active,
and indefatigable tradesmen of Inverness. The name of
this individual, Mr. Macdougall, has now attained some-
thing like a European reputation as a dealer in all tex-
tilo and other productions reauulactured in, or charac-
teristic of, the highlands. From Inverness, the capital
of the Highlands, and the centre, judicial and commer-
cial, k,f a large district of interesting country, it was to
t o expected that a comparatively • large and character-
istic eel:cation—illustrative, not, indeed, of a cernmer-
cial indes:ry; but of those domestic pere:uits and house-
tn,ld works whichTi% people, however rude, must in
some degree pracqse—would be sent. Nothing of the
hod, however. The cc:lig:aerial Invernesiians declined
to forte any local cetncsittt e, or to take the sliAlitest
truu* übctit the matter; and Mr. 11:..Cd011:,f3.1, Idt,r in
vain trying to inspire his townsman with a spark of his
own spirit and energy, was actually obliged to pat him-
self in communication with a couirnit:Le formed to the
..nint and little town ot' Elgin, in order to have
the mrans;, of comas ding to the Crystal Palace a collec-
tion of Highland manufactured stuffs, in the original
production of which he himselt had no mean share."
It was unfortunate that no general effort was made in
Inverness to have the Highlands represented by a
phalanx of contributors. Rough though the speci-
mens of industry might have been in many instances,
they would have been welcome ; and, as the success-
ful result of the exhibition now shows, it was, v.O
repeat, unfortunate, though all the more creditable to
Mr. Macdougall, that he was left alone to represent
the north in that place where all nations have met—
where the poor Indian from his lonely prairie hut
placed the efforts of his skill in arts beside the gorge-
ous products of city- fostered genius—where the Rus-
sian serf compares with the free Parisian—where the
calf-sublimated Celestial, the impulsive Italian, the
haughty Spaniard, and the free-and-ready American,
were alike ready to contend " for honour and ap-
plause." The writer, whose remarks and critioisen we
are following—not disputing or doubting, but repro-
ducing to our lesser space—first takes up the tartan
array presented by the stall, and becomes humorously,
playfully, satirical :
JFor, be it noted by the English reader, there are
formidable differences of epinien amorg the authorities
that be relative to the exact and orthodox set or plan
and colour of the checks of more than one tartan. You
shall have a couple of fiery Highland antiquaries dis-
puting the shade of a red, or the proper breadth of a
stripe of green, as if the fate of the world rested upon
the issue. But if you wish to see both gentlemen
roused to the pitch of the most appalling indignation,
hint Dr. Johnson's theory that the origin of tartan was
rags, and that the different colours ere counterfsit pre-
sentments of the variously-hued shreds and patches with
which the doctor maintained that his Highland friends
used to clothe themselves. Rceent investigations, we
believe, however, give a higher antiquity to the tartan
than it is generally believed to possess."
He then explains the multifarious uses of the plaid—
how it can be used as a scurf, a cloak, or a hood—
how in stormy weather half-a-dozen folds may be got
round the body from the threat downwards--all the
while with picturesque effect ; and then recalls an in-
cident familiar to the good-folks of this burgh, and
not to be remembered without a smile—
" At the present day the gorgeous clan colours for-
merly worn in the Highlands are very generally super•
seder! by the dull uniform grey of the shepherd's plaid, a
species of stuff which Lord Brougham has fairly immor-
talised. Everybody who has seen his Lordship for the
last fifteen years or so, hes seen the famous black and
white trousers in which he delights. The fact as to these
monotously succeeding garments, wo believe, from good
authority, to be this:—when Lord Brougham, then
holder of the Great Seal, was in Inverness—when, in-
deeo, ho made the c:lebrated declaration at a public
meeting that he would write to the King by that night's
post—he purchased from Mr. Macdougall cloth for no
less than forty pair of shepherd-tartan trousers, and in
this ample supply he has been going on ever since. The
tendency of greyish stuff, however, to take the place of
the ancient clan colours would not have been less marked
had Lord Brougham never worn anything but broad
cloth."
Observing that all the adjuncts of the old Highland
dress were abundantly displayed on the stall—with
a tribute to the neatness and comfort of the Glen--
garry bonnet, and its preference to the monstrous
" cylinder of feathers" worn by the Highland regi-
ments, and its beauty and picturesqueness compared
with the " gude braid blue bonnet" of the lowlands—
he gees on—
" Some interesting specimens of the old brogue are
shown. Tho wondrous peculiarity to an English eye in
the Highland school of shoemaking is that the upper
leathers are pierced with rows sled arches of holes ar-
ranged in fanciful combinations, and inn,rspersed with
little scolloped and isggr.tl edges. of leather, desigLe to
ern:-Ant the shoe. Well, now, if I ever saw the like
of that—makinginoles in their shoes to let the wet come
through—they must never ho without colds in the
was the purport of a not unnatural remark I heard
nisa!e, in different words, more than once while examin-
jot, Mr. Macdougall's stall. Bat the speaker was not
aware that wet feet is a bugbear unknown in the high-
lands. Shoes without holes tray do capitally well for
the pond or the turnpike, but transfer the scene of ope-
rations to a mossy hill-side or a wild ravine, down which
scores of tiny brooks come foarnitie to join the torrent
at the bottom, and the winter will shortly find that no
holes are no protection against the water getting in, but
a great hindrance to its getting out, and so
will go hobbling along vita an uncomfortable
quantity of fluid splashing between his toes.
while his brogued guide, on every dry bit of
ground, squirts the superfluous moisture about with
every step. Shoes intended for hard work among the
heather are peculiarly made in being double-tned. V"
or two strongly and firmly-made specimens
are exhi-
bited. me stem of the heather plant is very rough, and