The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-25 00:00:00

THE CONVENT CASE.

The convent case is drawing near its close, and the
public interest, as represented by the crowds round the
doors of the court, is reviving. Mr. Mellish resumed
his address to the jury yesterday. He argues from
the position and character of Mrs. Starr that it would be
impossible to believe all that is said against her ; while
the depositions of the plaintiff make the charges against
her possible, to say the least. Taking each item one by
one in the various classes, he contends that those brought
against the defendants are improbable, while those brought
against Miss Saurin are in many cases absolutely
proved, and in other cases are by no means
unreasonable. He pointed out that all the sisters
wanted to get rid of Miss Saurin. The question
wiih regard to the children's food is not so much that
Miss Saurin took the food, but that the sisters informed
Mrs. Starr she did, and that the latter believed it. The
sisters spoke strongly to circumstances which led them to
believe Miss Saurin did take it. The evidence of the young
children called yesterday in contradiction should be received
with caution. They did not speak the particular
facts, hut only that they did not recollect being slapped
five years ago, or that they bad lost any food. CaTng
attention to the letter from the plaintiff's Lrotl.er, he ke
of it as a most extraordinary document ; it was equally ex-
traordinary that he, a confessor and a Jesuit, could have
acted in such a manner. What an enormous
exaggeration it was, and could they for a moment believe
that he had obtained information in his priestly character
and then have made it public. One operation, he said, had
been repeated four times, and anyone reading it would
have concluded that she had been scourged. She was,
he said, physically supported by God, and that would
lead to the inference that she was being starved.
It would be wrong to make the plaintiff answerable for
this letter. No mortal man could say how much of that
letter was the invention of the man who wrote it.
The Lord Chief Justice : It might have been their joint
production.

Mr. Mellish: I don't make that charge, but it shews
beyond all possible doubt that Mrs. Starr might have had
excellent reasons for keeping the letters Of this man
from his sister, as being unfit for her to read.
After some further comments on other matters, Mr.
Mellish indirectly protested against the action having been
brought at all. The bishop in this case was the proper person
to remove ; and this court will not inquire into the ques-
tion whether he acted according to the Roman Catholic law
or not. If he mistook that law, Miss Saurin had a remedy in
an appeal to the archbishop. This action is brought to
vindicate her character in the eyes of the Roman Catholic
world, in order that she night resume her conventual
life ; but your verdict would nut have t,,e slightest effect
with regard to the latter, because she had an appeal to the
archbishop. What reason was there to suppose that perfect
justice would not have been done her if she had appealed ?
Archbishop Manning is a gentleman of high honour, a
most learned and just man, and if the plaintiff was dissa-
tisfied with his decision, she had an appeal to a holy see.
There is nothing we know of in the private character of
his Holiness to lead us to believe that in a matter of this
kind that he also would not have done perfect justice in
her case.

The Solicitor-General, replying on the whole case, argues,
of course ; in favour of his client's tale being one of hard-
ships; he Commented on the triviality of a great deal that
had had to be tried, and, taking up each case one by one,
contended that his client had been very badly treated.
The Lord Chief Justice promised in the course of the
arguments that he would so 1 y the c Ile before the jury
that they would not have to try the cause over again.
The Solicitor-General:continues his speech today.

NEWSPAPER PRESS FUND.—The managing com-
mittee of the Newspaper Press Fund have appointed
Saturday, the sth of June, for the anniversary dinner at
Willis's Rooms, at which Mr. Reverdy Johnson, the
At the Wedneabury rWi„ , - ---
cases of infringement of the Mines Inspection Act came
under consideration. The Government inspector was the
prosecutor in each case. A charter master was charged
with absenting himself from a colliery without leaving a
competent person in charge. This case was adjourned.
The owner of another colliery was charged with
having insecurely fenced the shalt of an old pit ; a third
offender had neglected to provide a proper steam gauge to a
boiler in use in his colliery; and a fourth, a chartermaster,
bad allowed a boy under 15 to work the raising machinery
in a gin pit. This offender was fined £26, while the other
two had lighter fines imposed.
The Liverpool magistrates have a: pointed a depu.
Cation of justices from the bench, to co-operate with depu-
tations from other places, in pr senting memorials to the
Home Secretary, praying for au alteration in the present
licensing system. Messrs. Lawrence, Robertson, Gladstone,
and Caine were chosen, and it was resolved that the two
points raised by the Salford bench should be supported, these
two points being that all licenses should be granted by one
and the same authority, and that all licensed Lollies should
be required to close at au earlier and a uniform hour. Some
thats%itthhetheGgoivieesrtmioenn,tahnaddit nwoatsshown
moreregretdwis
deter-
mined that great pressure should be brought to bear upon
was
disposition expressed
to eil
deal
them. •

A somewhat remarkable correspondence, says the
Manchester Guardian, has taken place between the Bishop of
Natal and one of the clergy of the Zulu mission. Iu the
course of a letter to the Rev. Mr. ItObertson the Bishop
wrote You are still living. I Lear, on land granted to
me for the Church of England, and over which I claim
the right of proprietorship, and shall exercise it at the proper
time and ill the proper way." Mr. Robertson, in his reply,
addresses Dr. Coleus() as " The Right Rev. the Letters
Patent Bishop of Natal," and defies him to turn him off
the land. "I have an advantage," wrote this meek
and courteous minister of the Gospel, " which the citizens of
Moscow had not, viz., a halfpenny box of matches. ShoUld
you be able to turn me out, you would obtain nothing but a
heap of buwkiNS ruins, T should utterly destroy the, Wm:
tiaticers.2.

MISCELLANEOUS NEWS.