The Sun.
London, England, 1851-02-03 00:00:00

' PROSECUTIONof CARDINAL WISEeWAN.
A report has been for some time in circulation that
some gentlemen, resi.lieg in Westminster, who ob-
-1 j,cted to the apFropriation of their ancient city as the
seat of an archiepiscopal see of the Roman Church,
and did not themselves like to be governed by one of
the Cardinals of the Sovereign Pontiff, had accepted
Cardinal Wiseman's challenge to test the legality of
the recent Papal proceedings by an appeal to the law,
provided he would admit that they took place with
his consent. It appears that a lung correspondence
has taken place between the Cardinal's solicitors and
Mr. Fl. W. Valiance, the solicitor retained for the
proposed prosecution, and we are given to understand
that it is in the press for publication in a pamphlet
form. The Cardinal took time to consult with
counsel, and it is understood that, under their ad-
vice, he takes the benefit of the legal axiom, that a
man is not bound to criminate himself. Diligent en-
deavours, it is said, have been made by the solicitor
to obtain, from other sources, legal proof that the
Pope's letter and the Cardinal's manifesto were pub-
lished by the 'authority of the latter, but, hitherto
without success. The following has been handed to
us as a copy of Mr. Charles Pearson's letter, on which
the correspondence ensued :
(Copy of a letter from Charles Pearson, Esq., to Cardi-
nal Wiseman.)
10, Park•street, Westminster, 11th Jan., 1851.
Sir,—At a meeting of gentlemen a few days since, the
all-absorbing topic of conversation became the subject
of our discussion.
1 expressed my confident belief, that by importing,
publishing, and acting upon the apostolical letter of the
Pope, an indictable offence bad been committed, which
was especially recognised in the Act of Parliament 9
and 10 Viet., cap. 67.
I was nut a Member of the House of Commons when
that Act passed (1846), but during the short period my
health permitted me to hold a seat in that assembly, it
appeared to be a recognised fact—as, indeed, the words
of the statute distinctly provide—that it had been the
object of the Legislature in passing the Bill to abrogate
only the specific penalties imposed by certain Acts of
Queen Elizabeth, leaving the unrepealed portions of
these Acts to remain as prohibitory of the offices enume-
rated therein, and as statutory evidence of the pre-
existing state of the law, with its attendant penalties and
pains. _

By reference to the apostolic letter of the Pope—to
your own pastoral—to your appeal—and to three lec-
tures reported to have been delivered by you—all of
svhich have, it is said, been published with your autho-
rity, it appears that you maintain with confidence the
legality of these proceedings, and that your court inves-
tigation; added to which the ordinary sources of public
intelligence inform us, that you have retained eminent
counsel to sustain the position you have thus advisedly
taken.
Her Majesty's Government (probably for sufficient
reasons, which at present we have no means of appre-
ciating) have thought it right to allow a sufficient time
to elapse since the publication of these documents, to
enable us to conclude that they do not intend to in-
stitute proceedings to obtain a judicial exposition of the
existing law.
Taking all these matters into consideration, it was de-
termined to instruct a solicitor (not one of the party) to
take the opinion of counsel; and if found to be in coin-
cidence with my own, to institute the requisite proceed-
ings to bring the subject under judicial investigation,
in accordance with what appeared to be your own wishes.
I have just received information from Mr. Valiance
(the solicitor, whose services we had retained) that
counsel are of opinion, if legal proof can be obtained of
your having published the documents referred to, an in-
dictment may by sustained for offences against both the
common and statute law. I have given Mr. Valiance
instructions to take the requisite proceedings without
delay, not doubting but you will afford him the rt quired
means of proof.
It is not my intention to interfere further. either pro-
fessionally or personally, in the matter, which is left en-
tirely iu the solicitor's hands; but, having originated and
put the legal machinery in motion, I have thought it
right to volunteer these explanations for two reasons-
-Ist. Because, however desirous you may be to have the
question at issue fairly triad, I think it due both to you
and myself that it should be put in due course of inves-
tigation by some person, both legally and morally re-
sponsible for the mode in which it is conducted.
2d. Because I consider that by doing so I entitle my-
self to expect a similar exhibition of candour on your
part, and that the same manly frankness which has
prompted you in your publications to court investigation
will induce you to furnish my solicitor with the means
of proving that they emanated from you.
As my name may have never passed under your obser-
vation I think it right to state that, for years before the
passing of the Catholic Emancipation Act I was, within
the limited range of my influence, a supporter of the
measure for removing the civil disabilities under which
certain portions of my fellow-countrymen laboured. I
had afterwards great pleasure in receiving from Mr.
Charles Butler and Mr. Daniel O'Connell their thanks,
on behalf of the English and Irish Catholics, for my
successful exertions in vindicating the integrity of history
by removing from the Monument the inscription that at-
tributed to the Roman Catholics, in the reign of Charles
the Second, the conflagration that laid the city of London
in ashes.
I advert to these circumstances as affording you some
assurance that instructions will be given to conduct the
proceedings in a becoming spirit, for the sole purpose of
ascertaining and applying the law as it may be found to
be, and without the slightest disposition to expose you
in the pursuit of this object to any avoidable trouble, in-
convenience, or expense.
Mr. Valiance, the solicitor, who will present this
letter to you, will apprise you of the formal admissions
which counsel think it necessary to obtain. If you will
instruct your solicitor to supply them, Mr. Valiance has
my directions to furnish you with a copy of the proposed
indictment, and, if desired, a copy likewise of the case
and opinion upon: which it is founded. The indictment
may, I am informed, be preferred before the Grand In-
quest of the Court of Queen's Bench in the course of the
ensuing week, and if the documents are admitted, and all
parties concur in affording the required facilities, the
question of law may be brought to a very speedy deter-
mination by the venerated judges of that court, whose
station and character, as well as their habits of thinking
and acting, place them above the reach of those feelags
and prejudices which you imagine have influenced the
mind of the public in tbo judgment they have formed in
these matters.—l have the honour to be, Sir, your most
obedient servant, CHARLES PEARSON.-
To his Eminence Cardinal Wiseman.