The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-16 00:00:00

THE CONVENT CASE.

The interest in the case of Saurin v. Starr has fallen
considerably. When it was first known that a professed
nun, named in the language of the convent " Sister Scholas-
tica," was raising the curtain and giving to the world " a
glimpse of convent life," everybody began to open their
eyes. People thought that some such " disclosures" as
those with which the " Protestant Alliance" had tried to
keep unsteady feet from straying into the errors of the
Papacy, were about to be made. But they were wofully
disappointed. The tale told was simply one of trivialities.
Instead of romance and excitement, it appeared that the
narrowing of the circle in which the sisters lived only re-
sulted in increasing the importance to them of small
things. Nevertheless, the Court of Queen's Bench yester-
day was crowded to overflowing, and Westminster Hall
contained the " sprinkle " of a good crowd.
Mrs. Kennedy's evidence was continued. Her examiner
was Mr. Mellish. She charged Miss Saurin with disobe-
dience to her as a superior, said the plaintiff did not teach
the children properly in the school, and in the course of a
few months under Miss Saurin they managed to forget
their letters. Miss Saurin sent the children home too
early, and neglected her work. She also ate the children's
dinners sent to them from the convent. Mrs. Starr con-
sulted me with reference to the plaintiff's conduct. I
advised the superior to ask Miss Saurin for her pocket as
she came in from the school, in order to see if she brought
the children's dinners home to the convent. The superior
replied, "Perhaps she will only give me one pocket, and
yet have three or four others that she would tot give up."
After supper, about twenty-five minutes after four, the
mother superior called Miss Saurin into her own room. Mrs.
Starr bolted the door to prevent any one from coming in.
Miss Saurin could have unbolted it if she liked. I sat
down at a table to write, and the mother superior desired
her to take off her veil, habit, and so on. I can't say for
a fact what she took off, as I merely glanced at her once,
but I know Mrs. Starr's manner was very gentle—particu-
larly so. I can't recollect the conversation. We went
to spiritual lectures at five. Mrs. Starr took the uotes
out of her pocket and read them. We understood them
perfectly well. (Laughter.)
The Lord Chief Justice : There is very bad spelling
in the notes.
Witness : She cannot spell

The Lord Chief Justice : So I should think. it seems
strange that she should have had to put up the schools
at Clifford.

Witness : I should have spoken of that if I had been
asked. I saw that at one time she did not eat all
her meat ; and in June 1864, after herreturn from Hull, she
had less because she did not eat all that was given to her.
That was mutton, and we generally at that time had
mutton. It was customary when a sister did not eat all
her meat to help her to less at the next meal.
We all wear old clothes. As a practice of poverty we
wear our clothes as long as they will keep together. This
is the fourteenth year I have been constantly wearing the
habit I have on. It is the practice also to take old
clothes from one sister and give them to another. Miss
Saurin asked for another veil. I saw that the one she
was wearing was quite good enough, and was newer
and better than the one I had on. Another sister,
Mrs. Hewitson, is, I believe, now wearing that veil.
In April 1865, Mrs. Starr consulted me about sending
in her resignation. She was in delicate health. In fact,
she has been so for the last ten years. I know she was
really desirous of resigning. I did all I could to dissuade
her from it, because I knew the community would be very
sorry for it. In August 1865 I wrote to the bishop.
The sisters saw that the mother superior was
fretting very much. We all really felt ashamed
lest Miss Saurin's taking the children's dinners should
bring disgrace upon the convent, and one of the sisterhood,
who is now dead, came and begged me to write to the
bishop about the matter. I wrote accordingly, but Mrs.
Starr did not see the contents. (The letter was put in and
read. It asked the bishop under the circumstances to
remove the plaintiff, and, if not otherwise, as a boarder in
a convent, which could be done for £3O per annum, and
that there would be no difficulty in Bagot-street returning
her dowry. The letter was dated Bth August).
The witness gave other evidence to the same purport
maintaining that the plaintiff was not subjected to any
treatment different from that of the other inmates.
Mrs. M`Owne was also examined, and gave evidence
much to the same effect as had been already given. At
the close of the day the Lord Chief Justice asked : Holy
many more days is this case likely to occupy? •
`Mr. Mellish : I am afraid I shall not be able to close my
evidence much before Thursday night, and it will be as
much as we can do to get the rest into Friday and
Saturday.

The Lord Chief Justice : How many other sisters have
.vou to examine ?

Mr. Mellish : There are six sisters and the bishop, ana
I understand Dr. O'Hanlon has arrived.
The Lord Chief Justice : There is one thing to which 1
must call your attention. My judicial functions end with
to-day, the time allowed for these sittings having expired.
To-morrow I ought to be at Guildhall. I can only sit here
to finish this case by consent. Will you both give mt
power to sit on?

Mr. Mellish : All I can say is, it is not my will that
consents, but my clients'.

The Solicitor-General : We must suffer and exercise not
only the penalty of poverty, but obedience.
The Lord Chief Justice : I believe this will be the
longest case that has ever been known within these walls.
From the mass of documents, in order to put the case in
the most condensed form, and save them from being
wearied by my reading over the evidence, I think it will
be desirable that at the end of the case I should take s
'day to read them over and arrange them, before I procek
to sum up. I will leave it to the counsel engaged whether
they will go on and address the jury or take the day alsc
I propose for myself before they address the jury.
The Solicitor-General and Mr. Mellish said they thougnt
time would be saved by their taking the day before they
addressed the jury.

The further hearing of the case was then adjourned.

MISCELLA NEO US NEWS.

A NARROW ESCAPE.

Mr. Purcell, a leading barrister at Dublin, has very
nearly been committed for contempt of court. When
giving his decision on the petition against the
return of Sir7Arthur Guinness, Mr. Justice Keogh
commented on the fact that one of the revising
barristers had been a member of the Conservative
Registration Society, and an active agent on the
Conservative side during the election. Thereupon
Mr. Purcell wrote to Justice Keogh asking him if the
report of his speech were correct, and controverting
its statements. The judge subsequently in open
court, pointed out how indecorous it was for anyone
to write to a judge challenging his decisions, and
asking the reasons for them, and he said that Mr.
Purcell had rendered himself liable to committal
for contempt. He then went on to justify the
remarks which he had made, and reminded the
court that Lord Chief Justice Cockburn had removed
Mr. Beales from the list of revising barristers, not
because he had taken an active part in the politics of
the borough with which he was officially connected,
but for the far less urgent reason, that he was a
prominent member of a political association. The
appointment of Mr. Purcell, a notorious partizan of
the late Government, is only another of those nume-
rous acts which are constantly coming to light, and
by which the Conservatives, in their straits, sought
to retain power by unduly influencing the elections.