The Sun.
London, England, 1851-07-10 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, July 9.

:Sittings at Nisi Friuli, at Guildhall, before Lord Chief
Justice CAMPBELL and a Special Jury.)

- .
GRIMINAL INFORMATION.-THY QUEEN (ON THE PROSE•
CUTION OF THE RET W. H. CLARKSON) V. KAYE, PRO-
PRIETOR ♦ND PUBLISHER OF THE " WESLETAN
TIMES,"

This case, which has already been before the public,
came on for trial to-day, as the result of a rule granted
to the Rev. W. H. Clarkson, a Wesleyan minister, to
file a criminal information againet the defendant, pro-
prietor and publisher of the Wesleyan Times newspaper,
in which a series of articles were published, reflecting on
the moral character of the prosecutor.
The defendant pleaded Not Guilty.
Sir F. Thesiger, Mr. Atherton, and Mr. J. A. Russell
appeared as counsel for the prosecution; the Attorney-
General, Mr. Montague Chambers, Q.C., and Mr.
Hance, conducted the defence.
Sir F. TiIEsIGER, in stating the case for the prosecu-
tion, read the various articles reflecting upon the cha-
racter of the prosecutor. The first of those articles ap-
peared in the number of September 16, commenting on
proceedings before the magistrates at Leamington, is
which a case of affiliation was preferred against the
prosecutor by a young woman named Charlotte Hirons,
who bad been in his service, and who said he had taken
liberties with her. She made information that the Rev.
Gentleman was father of an illegitimate male child,
to which she had given birth on the 12th of Sep-
tember. The case was beard by the magistrate for
the e unty of Warwick, on the 27th of November, and
after the complainant, Mrs. Abbey, the mother of Mr.
Clarksun's wife, and a young man, who alleged that he
was the father of the child, bad been examined, the
magistrates dismissed the case, without calling on Mr.
Willimore, who appeared as counsel for the defendant,
to enter into the defence. The Wesleyan Times, on the
2d of December, published a report of the proceedings
before the magistrate, and, in the same number, an al-
tiele commenting on those proceedings, and on the whole
case, and expressing an opinion that, " as the matter
then stood, neither party bed any cause for satisfaction,
the defendant no more than the complainant," and that
" judgment of the magistrates was neither a condemna-
tion nor au acquittal." " The case," the commentary
went on to remark, " was not decided; it was dismissed."
As to Mr. Clarkson himself," the writer went on to
say, " we sincerely regret that the judgment pronounced
is one which he cannot point to as a positive vindication
of his character from so foul a stigma, and we earnestly
wish that we could pronounce him a clear and acquitted
man." On the 16th of December, another article
appeared in the Wesleya* Times, beaded "An Unau-
thenticated Tale," which commented upon complaints
made, that a man who had paid ss. in the pound to his
creditors, should be allowed to remain and to exercise

the functions of a Wesleyan minister, and proceeded
in these terms—" Is not every Methodist in the
United Kingdom able to name one man who is, at this
present time, doing every duty that tells to a travelling
preacher, with the strongest accusation that a woman
can bring against a man hanging over him?" The
number of the 23t1 of December contained an article
headed The Rev. E. Everett and Ourselves." in which
a comparison had been drawn between a Mr. Everett,
against whom a charge had been made, and the Rev. Mr.
Clarkson, setting forth that while " the Reverend Mr.
Everett was suspected. the Rev. Mr. Clarkson was ac-
cused; Mr. Everett called for an accuser, but none ap-
peared; for a charge, but none was presented; for proof,
but none was forthcoming;" and then went on to de-
scribe Mr. Clarkson's conduct, "so far," the writer ob-
serves, "as we know, as the reverse of this. He called
_

for neither accuser, charge, nor proof; and why? Was
it that he knew all three were at hand?" The libels, in

succeeding numbers of the paper, went on to say that
they were " glad to see that the trustees of the chapels
in the Leeds second circuit" (that in which the Rev.
Mr. Clarkson was located), " had appointfd a committee
to examine into the case of Clarkson v. Hirons; that
they were far from satisfied with Mr. Clarkson's expla-

nation, and were determined that the case should be
thoroughly investigated." This was the last article, the
Learned Counsel continued, complained of in those un-
eoubtedly scandalous and malicious libels, the accusa-
tions in which Mr. Clarkson most distinctly denied upon
oath; and the defendant might, if he pleased, under
Lord Campbell's Act, plead the truth of the accusations
he had published, and that he had published them so for
the public good, but he had not done so, and therefore
he had gone far beyond that limit which the law allowed
to a public journalist; and having pleaded only " the
general issue," the truth of the matter in the libels could
not come in question, and they must confine themselves
to the proof of the publication of the articles complained
of, and determine whether they were libellous or not.
The ordinary proot was then put in, showing the de-
fendent to have been the registered proprietor and pub-
lisher of the Wesleyan Times, at the time that the libels
complained of appeared. The papers containing those
libels were also put in, and the libels read.
The Rev. W. H. Clarkson was then examined, and
deposed that he was a preacher in the Wesleyan Con-
nexion, and had been so for upwards of thirty years. He
had been stationed on the Derby circuit in 1847, and in
1850 he removed to the Leeds circuit. Charlotte Hirens
was then in his service, and had been for about three
years and a half, and he was a married man and had been
living with his wife during the whole of that time.
Witcess, on cross-examination, said he had been ap-
pointed to the Leeds circuit about the middle of Sep-
tember, and was a member of the Conference. It was
one of the rules of the Wesleyan Connexion that if a
charge of immorality was made against ministers of that
connexion, those charge. must be investigated with a
view of determining whether the minister against whom
they were made was fit to be continued in his office.
The conference was the proper and authorised tribunal
for such investigation. According to a law passed in
1795, an inquiry might be made before the district body ;
but the final settlement of the matter was with the
conference. There was no dispute about the fact,
although some parties might wish for an alteration.
Ono hundred preachers constituted the legal conference;
but all minis era permitted to attend by the districts
might attend the general conference. The examination
of a charge of immorality would go to the general con-
ference, the number to go to which was regulated by
the district. The trustees of chapels had a right to call
a meeting of the district, and other trustees and minis-
ters had a right to inquire into the conduct of an accused
minister, and to suspend him until the meeting of the
conference, and they might have adopted that course
with regard to him.
Witness, in re-examination, said the conference did
not originate any charge; but some one should prefer it,
and bring it before them.
This closed the case for the prosecution.
The ATTORNEY-GYNERAL addressed the jury for the
defence, and submitted that it had been correctly stated
by his Learned Friend, Sir F. Tbesiger, that the defend
ant had not placed on the record any allegation that the
matters were true; and he might add, that he had not
done so from the beginning to the end of the proceed-
ings. He had never stated that the charges complained
of by the prosecutor were true, but merely that the in.
terests of the " Wesleyan connexion" required that such
grave charges should be fully investigated and disposed
of by the proper authorities, and that it was not right
that the investigation before the magistrate at Leaming-
ton should be considered as conclusive, because
the case had been dismissed by those functionaries,
merely because certain exigencies of the Act of Parlia-
ment had not been complied with. The defendant
had a right to assume as the basis of his
observations those statements which had been made
in a court of public justice, if the subject-mat-
ter were within the scope of legitimate discussion
for a public journalist, and they were made without
malice. The prosecutor was occupying a public
position as the minister of a large community, and it
was a law amongst that community that a charge of im-
morality against one of their ministers, calculated to
bring scandal on the body, should be investigated by
parties competent to come to a conclusion upon it. In
that sense the de fend
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interest than that the ministers of their religion should
be free from all stain and reproach. The journalist bad
not averred that the statements of Charlotte Hirons were
true; but he had certainly commented on the efforts
that had been made by the friends of Mr. Clarkson, to
induce her to sign a paper contradicting her previous
statements. It was not part of the defendant's business,
as a journalist, to say that the girl's accusations were
true; but she had openly made an accusation against
her master, that certain things had taken place before
she left his service, which he considered ought to have
been investigated; and it was for the jury to say whether
the defendant had written the articles complained of
with a malicious purpose; but, looking at the feelings
by which he had been actuated in writing those articles,
they would, he hoped, come to a different conclusion.
Lord CAMPBELL summed up; and observed that
it would be for the jury to say whether the articles
in the Wesleyan Times were fair commentaries or not
upon the accusation against the Rev. Mr. Clarkson, and
intended for the service of the Wesleyan community,
and the promotion of religion and morality. The Con-
ference, his Lordship continued, appeared satisfied of
the innocence of the Rev. Mr. Clarkson, and bad allowed
him to remain in the exercise of his sacred office. The
journalist certainly was properly allowed a great limit
for commentary on public matters; but they must take
care that the limit of the law should not be abused for
the purpose of gratifying private malice. He did not,
in making those remarks, say that the defendant had
sought to gratify any feeling of malice in the matter;
Ting to say w
but the whole case was before the jury, and it was for
them whether the
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aamn in imputing rwas guilty o
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offence charged against the prosecutor.
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ving unfairly
The jury retired; and after a short absence returned
a verdict of Guilty against the defendant, coupled with
a recommendation in his favour to the mercy of the
Court, on account of the strong party feeling existing.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.
OLD COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice CRESSWELL.)
Thomas Snee, 32, a post-office letter-carrier, pleaded
guilty to a charge of stealing a letter containing money,
the property of the Postmaster-General.
Martha &dyers, 22, was indicted for stealing a letter
containing a Bank of England note far 101., the property
of the Postmaster-General.
Mr. Clarkson and Mr. Bodkin were for the prosecu-
tion; Mr. O'Brien was for the defence.
It appeared from the statement of the Learned Counsel
for the prosecution, and the evidence that was adduced
in support of it, that on the 4th of June a lady named
Rice, being desirous to transmit a sum of 10L to her
daughterl at Alderney, enclosed a note for that amount
in a letter, which she posted and registered at a post re-
ceiving-house at Notting-hill, kept by a lady named
Underwood. The prisoner was in the beryioe of Min