The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-31 00:00:00

MR. WASHINGTON WILK&

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This d'stinguiehed State prisoner was yesterday after-
noon, by the grace ant laveur of the Sergeant-at-Arms
ef the Ihuse of Commons, in whose custody he haste en
since Friday evening, permitted to attend Divineeervice
in IVestutinster Abbey. Ile ai as attended by two officers
of the house, and oci;opied a seat in the choir. Beyond
one or two of the vergers his person was perhaps un-
known to a single individual in the congregation, rurehat
his appearance excited no curiosity or interest. At the
conclusion of the service he was escorted back by his
attendants to the place in which he is incarcerated, in
immediate contiguity to the House of Commons., To
, this he was conducted on Friday nielit by Capt. Gossett,
the Deputy-Sergeant-at-Arms, shortly after undergoing
his exernieaiioo at the bar of the house, under a warrant
by the Speaker, which, carrying out the decision t f the
house, ri netted him to the care of the Sergean'-at-Arms.
For ths infor;eation of some, it may be necessary briefly
to state that Mr. Wilts has been occlared guilty by the
.f comments is a ',lse rna scandalous libel"—
quoting the language of the journals of the house—which
recently appeared in the Carlisle Examiner, of which he
is the editor, proprietor, and publisher, on MreClive,
the member for Hereford, chairman of a &elect commiitee
on a group of railway bills. To this committee, in the
present si scion, two rival railway bills for connecting the
city of C rlisle with the town of Hawick were referred—
one ef which was prom ate:i by the Caledonian Railway
Company, the other by the North British, and, sfi.er an
inveteigation, which lasted some three weeks', the com-
mittee decided in favour of the Caledonian project. As
usual, a high degree of party feeling was exhibited by
the railway magnates interested in the rival lines,
and by mace, of the leading inhabitants of the districts
which they were intended to accommodate, and a corre-
sponding amount ef di-iappointment was felt by the
parties who zero worsted in the conflict. Espousing
the beaten cause, Mr. Wilke inserted in his paper,
which has not been long in existerce, an article imput-
ing to Mr. Clive, in languave somewhat Mining and
occasionally inset- nt, a manifest feeling of partisanship,
arising, as was ailsged, from interested motives in favour
of the Caledonian project., throughout the whole of the
investigation, aid attributing to this circumstance the
Ices of the competing scheme. For this he has b. en
called to the bar e f thellmr,e, and, refusing to a itbdraw
the imputations on Mr. Clive, and not i xpressing. his
readiness to substattiate them, has been adjudged to
have committed a breach of privilege, which he is now
expiating in a snug little suite of apartments in the
Palace at Westminster. Here, by the generosity of
the. Legislative body, whose dignity he has wounded in
the person of one of its members, he certainly hes eio rea-
son to complain of the treatment he receives. Indeed,
the ate ntiou and consideration shown to the prisoner are
tilde less than fl tittering. He has regularly supplied him
from the estiine of the house everything in the way of
refreshment which he may order in reason, spirits ex-
cepted. His quarters consist of a eittiug rootn az d bed-
room comfortably furnished, and, unlike the limbo in
which similar mi-derneanants were accustomed in days
not far remote to purge themselves of kindred offences,
his is situate in an elevated and airy part of , the
Palace, commanding an exteusive view of the spacious
quadrangles below and all the surrounding architec-
ture. The last political celebrity by which this part
of the Palace was occupied was Feargus O'Connor ; but
poor Feargas had but one apartment assigned bins,
which was used both as dormitory and sitting-room, and
he was onlyallo wed occasionally to stretch his legs in an
adjacent corridor. Mr. Wilke, however, is permitted to
take daily exercise in the open air—ot course in.the
company of an officer of the House—on the fine terrace
overlooking the Thames. On Saturday he enjoyed this
privilege for upwards of an hour. He is attended night
and day by a messenger of the House, who occupies an
adjacent apartment. He is allowed the ice of bookie,
newspapers, and writing materials, may smoke a cigar
whenever he likes if he be so disposed, and re oeive visits
from his friends, if not invite them to dinner. What
more in this mundane condition can a man want f If
he be of a superlatively patriotic turn—bad how can a
man owning the name of Washington Wilke be other-
wise ?—he has now leisure enough, if be bad not before,
for the exercises of political oegitation. It is true a few
iron bars, however unnecessary, reticulate the win-
dows of this part of the building, and at present a police-
man keeps watch and ward over the entrance ; but it
has been Laid—

" Stone walls do not a prison make,
" Nor iron bars a cage :
"Minds pure and lowly take
" These for an hermitage ;
and, were it not for " the little bid" which some one
will have to pay, we see no reason why Mr. Wilke
should wish to be at large again until the end of the
session.