The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-12 00:00:00

lIIE CONFESSIONAL.

When a minister of religion is taken from his
flock by the magistrate, and for refusing to do some-
thing which he alleges is contrary to his conscience
is imprisoned,lt is important that the grounds and
reasons of such an act should be clearly appre-
hended by ourselves and be made plain to our
neighbours. On Monday last, at the Durham
Assizes, the Rev. John Kelly, a Roman Catholic
priest at the Fellings, in the Durham Coal-field,
was committed by Mr. Justice Hill for contempt
of court, in refusing, as a witness, to speak to a
fact within his knowledge on the trial of Wil-
liam Hay, a pitman, charged with robbery. The
ability of the reverend gentleman to give ma-
terial evidence for the prosecution is attested by
the fact that only a few hours after the robbery the
reverend gentleman handed over a watch, part of the
stolen property, to a policeman. Before entering
the witness•box, Mr. Kelly objected to the form of
the oath, as requiring him to speak not only the
truth, but the " whole truth ;" whereas, he urged
there was a part of the truth which had come to his
knowledge under circumstances which made it his
duty as a member of the Catholic Church to pre-
serve secrecy; nevertheless, after alleging some
further objections, the witness took the oath in the
usual form, and thus answered the questions put
to him :
Mr. Headlam—From whom did you reoeive that watch ?
Witness—l -received it in connection with the Confes •
sional.
His Lordship—You are not asked at present to disclose
anything stated to you under the Confessional ; you are
asked a simple fact—from whom did you receive that watch
which you gave to the policeman ?
Witness—The reply to that question would implicate the
person who gave me the watch, therefore I cannot answer
it. If I answered it my suspension for life would be a neces-
sary consequence. I should be -violating the laws of the
church as well as the natural laws. [Pulls a book from his
breast pocket.]
His Lordship—l have already told you plainly 1 cannot
enter into this question. You may put up that book. All I
can say is, you are bound to answer, " From whom did you
receive that watch ?" On the ground I have stated to you,
you are not asked to disclose anything that a penitent may
have said to you under the confession. That you are not
asked to disclose • but you are asked to disclose from whom
you received stolen property on the 25th of December last.
Do you answer it, or do you not ?
Witness—l really cannot, my lord.
His Lordship—Then I adjudge you to be guilty of con-
tempt of court, and order you to be committed to gaol.
To gaol accordingly Mr. Kelly was committed,
where he remained until ten o'clock on Wednesday
morning, when he was liberated by order of the

judge. -
To Englishmen acquainted with the principles
which pervade our educated classes, and the temper
in which justice is administered in our courts, it is
quite unnecessary to say that the committal of Mr.
Kelly had no other purpose than to vindicate the
supremacy of the law of the land. Many of us
have strong opinions on the subject of the confes-
sional as an ecclesiastical institution ; but as Protes-
tants we should be both ashamed and alarmed
if we could believe that the powers of an English
court had been abused to give expression to either
religious preferences or dislikes. It is certain
that the claim to be exempt from a common civil
obligation is one which we should reject as peremp-
torily if made by a beneficed clergyman of the
Church of England as Mr. Justice Hill rejected it
when put forward by a laborious and ill-paid minis-
ter of a church in disrepute. And it is necessary
that we should do so. Living under the protection,
not of this or that ecclesiastical system, but of the
general laws of the country, any knowledge
of ours needful for the purposes of public justice is
due to the commonwealth, at the call of the magis-
trates. Mr. Kelly demurs to this doctrine. He
asserts that there is somewhere an authority which
warrants him in withholding from a court of jus-
tice that which other persons are bound to render.
Whether he calls this authority the Holy Catholic
and Apostolic Church, or reason, or conscience, or by
any other name, the claim of the community upon
its individual members in a matter which con-
cerns public justice is paramount. " From whom
did you receive that watch ?" the reverend
gentleman was asked. " The answer to that
question would implieate the person who gave
me the watch," he replies. Of course it would,
that is just why the question was asked. " There-
fore," he adds, " I cannot answer it." In other
words, " I am a person privileged to conceal a
knowledge of felonies, which my lay cour_trymen
would be bound to disclose."
Mr. Kelly pleaded that by answering the ques-
tion put to him he should be violating the laws of
his Church and rendering -himself liable to a sus-
pension from his office for life. We ,do not know
how thiS may be, but if the rev. gentleman is right
lib ecclesiastical superiors should intervene with
such regulations as would reconcile the duty they
impose on him with the law of the land. Practically
the interpretation of his duty in regard to knowledge
obtained in the confessional is, by our laws, left in a
great degree to the conscience of the priest. He may
know enough to hang a dozen men, and he may live
in a community every member of which in similar
circumstances would feel it his duty to denounce
these men to justice, yet if be chooses to be discreet
no power can screw out his secret. Mr. Kelly was
told 6by the Court that he need not disclose anything
stated•
to him in the confessional, but that having been
inof
theact uparloce
epossession,ds o fa
although bute m
fuo rst
tas shortate in h
t time,e
witness-box from whom he
robbery,
b received it. We doubt
exceedingly whether any law of his Church obliged
the rev. gentleman to receiv6 the watch at all; but
certainly the impotece of British justice would
e striking
had been have been demonstrated in amanner
per-
mitted, m havingtt e d,
withhad it in his possession,impunity,
to refuse to say how he came
by it. The law of England is
ii, and
unquestionablyw trust
itt
was expounded by Mr. Justice
it will long continue to be. There can be no aceknrouws-
ledgment of tenets, principles, or practices that di-
rectly tend to disturb or subvert thecommonwealth
or to obstruct justice. So long as it is part of the
Roman Catholic faith or practice that what a priest
knows in confession he is not at liberty to reveal—
whether "to avoid the greatest evil that can hap-
pen to an individual, or to rescue a whole commu-
nity from destruction, or to save the lives of all the
monarchs in Christendom"---so long will all well-
ordered states be justified in denying the sanction
of their laws to such communications. It may seem
a small matter for a priest to screen the petty lar-
ceny of a watch ; but he would equallY have exerted
his vaunted privilege on the behalf of a criminal ac-
cused of murder or treason. This was not the hot-
headedness of a rash or inexperienced youth ambi-
tious of notoriety, nor the .idiosyncrasy of a
crotchety or ill-regulated mind, but it was the de-
liberate and considered action of a mature-minded
and sober priest of 12 years' standing. He sought to
aggrandise his order, or (as he would perhaps have
said) merely to maintain and vindicate the privi-
leges of that order : in other words, to assert and
maintain the supremacy.of the ecclesiastical over
the secular power—to establish an " imperium in
imperio." To this Englishmen will never again as-
sent. Schooled by history and the experience of
their forefathers, our nation will never again tole-
rate the predominance of priestly order, whether
Anglican or Roman Catholic, or allow to religionists
of
any denomination immunities from the provi-
sions of the law. We have not now to consider the
merits or demerits of the confessional in a social
or religious
as in conflict
the
powinitthof view, but we look at it merely
viewing it in this broad and clear light we have no
doubt which ought laws of our country. And
t
glad that Mr. osuecumb to the other, and are
Justice Hill did up on the occasion in
question impartially administer the law, which he
and, to see observed. We
was bound to observe

doubt whether the question put to the priest did, in
fact, involve the consequences assumed by him ; but
be that as it may, we do not doubt but that he en-
tirely brought upon himself, and actually went out
of his way to invite, the punishment he suffered.—
Daily News.

THE BURR 3 DON COLLIERY EXPLO-

SION.

NEWCASTLE-ON-TYNE, SATIRDAY. ]
The coroner's inquest upon such of the men killed
in Burradon Pit as were got out before the after- •
noon after the accident, and which stood adjourned
from Saturday afternoon last to Friday, was re-
sumed by Mr. S. Reed, the coroner, yesterday
afternoon, in the chapter of the village. The build-
ing was densely crowded with pitmen, viewers,
and' others concerned in colliery operations, nearly
all the leading men connected with the mines of
the northern district being present. The remarks in
the newspapers upon the manner in which the in-
quest held on Monday was slurred over have at-
tracted attention in the proper quarter, and a very
strong official letter has come down to the coroner
from the Home-office on the subj act.
Mr. Dunn and Mr. Atkinson, Government In-
spector of Mines, and Mr. William Lockey Harle,
solicitor of this town, appeared for the Crown ; Mr.
Philipson, represented the owner of the colliery ;
and Mr. Blackwell, barrister, and Mr. W. P.
Roberts, of Manchester, solicitor, the relatives of
men killed by the explosion. Through the libe-
rality of a gentleman of wealth and position in the
county Mr. Serjeant Ballantine is expected down
on Monday to appear on behalf of some of the re-
latives of the deceased men.
There was only one body left in. the pit this I,
morning, that of Thomas Wilkinson. Parties had
been searching for it all night, but no one can give
an idea where it may be found.
This afternoon a very influential meeting of the
inhabitants of Newcastle and the district was held
in the Guildhall ; the Mayor, Mr. Blackwell; pre-
sided, and among those present were the Bishop of
Durham and Lord Ravensworth: The Bishop, in
a feeling speech, moved a resolution expressive of
sympathy with the bereaved families ; which was
followed by another resolution proposed by Lord
Ravensworth, opening a general subscription list on
their behalf. Mr. H. L. Pattison, chymical manu-

~...-..... ........._ .
facturer, argued that these horrible explosions, scat-
tering death and ruin among so many families, arose
from the conduct of colliery owners in not provid-
ing an ample supply of fresh air in their pits, and he
moved, as an amendment, that the meeting be ad-
journed until after the inquest, for he maintained
that if the loss of life was occasioned by the neglect of
those having charge of the mine the owner would
be compelled to maintain the widows and orphans
of those whose lives had been sacrificed. The Mayor
of Gateshead, another large manufacturer, ex-
pressed similar views. Mr. Mather, of South
Shields, recommended that a committee should be
appointed to investigate the circumstances of the
explosion, but that the flow' of public benevolence
should not be interfered with. The amendment was
withdrawn, the resolution was adopted, and a very
efficient committee, consisting of coal owners, the
mayors of the Tyneside boroughs, manufacturers,
and merchants, and working men, was appointed to
take charge of and administer the funds collected.
A resolution expressing an opinion that the circum-
stances of the explosion'should be fully investigated
was also adopted. A large meeting of pitmen's
delegates was also held this afternoon, and measures
were adopted for collecting subscriptions for the
bereaved. To-morrow collections will be taken in
nearly all the churches and chapels of this town,
and the Theatre and the New Town-hall will also
be occupied for special religious services, where col-
lections will be taken. Several inquiries have been
made in Newcastle with regard to opening a sub-
scription in London; a subscription list is open in
the Coal Exchange.

THE MURDER OF THE CAPTAIN AND
CHIEF OFFICER OF THE ACCRINGTON.

SOUTHAMPTON, SATURDAY.
Frederick Casman, a man of colour, was this day
brought up before the borough magistrates, and
examined on the charge of wilful murder on the
high seas.
The A ccrington was on her voyage from Liver-
pool to Calcutta with soldiers' wives and children,
and when about 3 degrees north of the line, on the
14th of November last, the captain and chief officer
of the ship died in a mysterious manner, with the
symptoms of having been poisoned. The ship then
proceeded to Pernambuco, and an inquiry was made
into the circumstances by her Majesty's consul at
that port (Mr. H. A, Cooper), the result of which
was that Frederick Casman, steward of the ship,
was sent to England by the steamer Oneida. With
the prisoner twelve witnesses were also sent, who
appeared on the present occasion to give evidence,
the particulars of which may be obtained from the
depositions of the two following witnesses :
Samuel APCune was third mate, and shipped on
board the Accrington at Liverpool. During the
voyage the captain was very cruel to the men, and
witness had several times seen him strike them.
In the captain's mess there was only the chief offi-
cer and the doctor. It was the duty 'of the cool
(prisoner being in that capacity) to look after the
fowls and live stock. On the Thursday previous to
the captain's death a pig died in a somewhat re-
markable manner, and the prisoner and steward
were both put into confinement, as having been the
cause of such death. Witness remembered the day
on which the captain died. He saw him at 10
o'clock in the morning, when he appeared in his
usual good health. The direction of the ship was
about three degrees north of the line. Saw the
doctor also that morning, who appeared in his usual
health. The weather was fine with a light breeze.
At half-past eleven that morning witness went to
the chief officer's (Cooper) cabin. He was sitting
on the head of the bed vomiting. Prisoner was in
the cabin, which was next to the cabin of the chief
mate, and he asked him what was the matter with
Cooper, to which prisoner replied he did not know,
but they would hear about it in time. Witness then
went to the captain's cabin. Saw the doctor stand-
ing at the door of the water-closet, and heard the
captain speaking inside. The captain asked the
doctor for a pillow. The doctor asked witness to
get a bottle of brandy, which witness obtained, and
on his return saw the captain lying on the floor of
the closet. He appeared very ill. Witness, with
the second mate, assisted to remove the captain.
They laid him on a bed on the floor of the saloon.
He did not speak. The doctor at that time seemed
well enough, but he soon after laid down on the
floor. Witness remained with the captain nearly
all the time till he died. It was noon when the
captain was removed to the saloon, and he died at
three in the afternoon. During that time he did
not speak a word in the hearing of witness. He
vomited, had pains in his stomach, and his legs were
cramped. The doctor made some pills for him, but
he could not take them. Some tea was also made,
but he would not swallow it. The doctor was taken
ill about 1 o'clock, and vomited very much as he lay
on the floor. Witness saw the chief mate several times;
he was in the same state as the two others, and died
at six the next morning. The doctor recovered. (In
answer to questions from the bench, witness said
that no medicine was offered them excee the pills,
which they, refused to take. The magistrates ex-
pressed their surprise at the conduct of the doctor.)
The day after the captain's death witness was sent
to the medicine chest by the doctor to get a bottle
labelled " tartar emetic." The medicine chest was
in the state cabin. It was the ship's medicine chest
and was in charge of the captain. No one had ac-
cess to this cabin but the captain, doctor, and
steward. The steward's duty would call him there,
as the cabin contained some stores. Witness found
the bottle, which was not quite half full, and ap-
peared as though there had been some taken from it,
or that it had been shaken against the side. Wit-
ness took it to the doctor who said there had been
something taken from it. The day after they died
the captain and mate were buried in the sea with
the usual solemnities. There was no examination
made of either of the bodies. The ship was then
running for Rio Janeiro, but owipg to variable
winds they put into Pernambuco, at which port
they arrived on the 4th of December. In answer
tpworeeqrteut
pretty
otwiooednl :for
oiferntimes
voyage
bench and from prisoner's
solicitor, witness said the captain and doctor agreed
rePrevious
butous
tohe
the cou
captain'sl could not s yde theyat
h
there was much more illness'from scarlet fever and
other diseases among the children, 54 of whom died
'hsedsehaitph, and 64 and one womanTh
thatx Theyhito vas
nti
en. thetth
heTe talkbhc nao bsgpi oin.
hospi-
tal, f
.
obne fo
there tahrer
icraapi tuari nt
at Pernambuco. ero
were on board 261 children. The doctor and cap-
tain were constantly drinking together, and were
ttl
bottles
drank
o f brandy
argarnedayt
dfreettqluoefnht
ay
ntidhlye
e,wysoorhsamedfuoesrhbl iocsioeutosri.
other day
given,
ebl ie
es
vi
outde ed besides
ft
oginrw the
end and
us
ewn
drunk
b
yndthe captainh died the prisoner was
complained of being sick and
suffering in thv
ethveeryship.
iasonnndt
the
we
thepi nsaean
same
eye r:
aa
b but witness
~, samenweraayntd ethoetheeorsokdidw.eArefptelruetehde
captain's death priso
under arrest.
Augustus ()bard was then examined—He shipped
the Thurs.
andf romt
hLei vper
spoonoel
raws satseewo ao rd
k. oTnheboardpt is the-o n
prisoner
r Ahcacdr ienhgatrogne,
tohfethdeaypiwgsh,
eanndthwe iptingessdieodf.thelnfowwalss.
on Remembered
placed ay
ep roenv iwoluosn
dtuoy, h
tanpetsasi captain's 'd, dd
tehaet hp,r
iws
ohinecrh
wt oeorke
desired by the chief mate to , throw the pig over-
board, when the mate said to them, " Now get into
the stye and take the pig's place." They were both 1