The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-10 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.—Dec. 9.

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.

Sittings at Nisi Prius at Guildhall—(Before Lord
Campbell and a Special Jury.)
SCULLY V. INGRAM-THE SADLEIR FRAUDS.
The trial of this important case was resumed at
the sitting of the court to-day.
Mr. Scully, the plaintiff, by the permission of
Lord Campbell, was allowed to be, recalled. In
reply to Mr. Bovill he said—Sadleir sent me the
£6OO profit-on -the sale of. Castle Hyde in the be-
ginning of March, 1852. It was employed in the
expenses of my election. It came a little while
after the £l,OOO. The arrangement with Sadleir
was that he should pay me my debt of £9,000 as
soon as he could and then I should pay the whole
of the purchase money. The completion of the pur-
chase in my name'depended on Sadleir paying me
my £9,000. There was no arrangement between
us that he should find £5OO of the £l,OOO deposit.
He owed me £5OO as interest, I believe at the time
and I think he directed me to set off against that
£3OO, being half of the £6OO which I promised he
should have, being half of the profit of the sale. I
have no account of my transactions with Sadleir
except that in evidence. I last settled accounts
with him in Nov., 1852. Some weeks after Sadleir's
death I employed Mr. Mahoney as my solicitor. It
appears from the last settlement that he owed me
£9,000.
Mr. Herbert Ingram, M.P., the defendant, was
then examined by Mr. Huddleston. He said—l
knew the late John Sadleir. He first mentioned to
me the Castle Hyde estate in Aug. or Sept. 1852.
He said, ' I have got a very nice estate in Ireland
which I should like you to have." He described it
and said he was sure I would have it, and if I would
not it would do for the company. I was associated
with a company in Manchester for the purchase
and resale of Irish estates. I was a shareholder
and director. I think Sadleir said be would send
the particulars. I had never before heard of the
Castle Hyde estate. He did not at that time men-
tion Mr. Scully's name in connection with the
estate, nor Mr. Morrough's. I received the par-
ticulars of the estate about a week afterwards,
directed to me in the handwriting of Sadleir.
I was living at that time in Hertford-street,
Mayfair. A few days afterwards I saw Sadleir at
the Reform Club. He then said, " I have sent you
the particulars of it, and you shall have the refusal
of the estate." He named £22,000 or £22,500 as
the price. I told him I might happen to go and
see it. He said " You must go and see before you
give a refusal." I saw him again about a week
after that. He asked me again if I had looked at
the particulars, and when I could go and see it. I
said I would go as soon as I could, as I wished to
see over other estates, meaning the estates of the
company. He told me, if any one came to me, I
was to ask a price for it. This conversation took
place at the end of 1852. There is a letter, dated
30th January, 1853, from me to Mr. Sadleir, say-
ing the arrangement he had made as to the estate
was perfectly satisfactory ; but it had no reference
to Castle Hyde, but the Kingstown property,
which he was about to purchase. In February,
1853, I had not purchased the Castle Hyde property.
I never paid £6OO profit on it, nor agreed to do so.
I never agreed to sign a purehase on being paid
£5,000. The document produced, sent by Sadleir
to Scully, was never seen by me. [This was the
memorandum of the 7th February, 1853, enclosed
in a letter from Sadleir to Scully.] I never con-
sented to sign such an agreement. I knew nothing
of the transaction stated in the letter. Sadleir
never gave me any bank shares, as he mentions in
one of his letters. I remember Mr. Scully coming
to my house at Loudwater, Hertfordshire, on a
Sunday morning, in February, 1853. He came
in a fly, and it waited while he was with me. He
came between half-past ten and eleven, and stayed
less than half an hour. I had never seen him
before. He said, " I have come from Mr. Sadleir.
lam his cousin, and a member of Parliament." I
invited him into the breakfast-room. I thought it
was rather strange his coming on a Sunday morn-
ing. He said, " I have come with a message from
Sadleir about the Castle Hyde estate. I have come
to see whether I can purchase it of you." I told
him whatever he had got to say he had better put
it in writing. I fetched him pen, ink, and paper.
Mr. Scully had all the talk tohimself. I walked out
on the balcony and left him writing. When I came
back he had finished writing, and he gave me the
piece of paper, saying, " These are my proposals."
I said, " Leave it with me and you shall have an
answer in a day or two." I had then a little con-
versation with him on Irish matters and Irish
estates. When he left I said I would see him again'
and I think I wrote saying I would see him on
Tuesday.
To Lord Campbell—l read the paper when he
was gone, and not sooner.
Examination continued—He never uttered a
word about the original purchase of Castle Hyde
by Sadleir for him, nor about a re-sale of it to me
at a profit of £6OO. He never said anything about
his standing. for the county of Carlow on the faith
of the promise which Sadlier had made to him that
he should become again the purchaser of the estate
on the payment of the interest. No discussion took
place about the paper. I never said I had been at
considerable inconvenience in providing funds for
the payment of the money for the estate. After
Scully left I wrotethe letter of the 13th of February
to Sadleir, enclosing the document which he had
left with me, and saying I had appointed to see
Scully on Tuesday at the Reform Club. I saw
Scully at the club on Tuesday : Sadlier was there
also. Sadleir and Scully went to a corner and had
some conversation together. They then came to
me, and I said to Scully, " Before I can say any-
thing about the estate I must go and look at it.
Mrs. Ingram wishes me to look at it." Before this
I had shown her the picture, and the particulars of
the estate, and she thought it would be a very nice
place to live at. Not a word was said about the
purchase of the estate by me from Scully at a pro-
fit of £6OO. When I wrote the letter of the 16th
of February I had spoken to Mrs. Ingram on the
subject of the estate, and she was disinclined to
part with the offer of the refusal to take the estate
until I had seen it. In May I went to Ireland. I
went to see the estate, taking wiih me Mr. Powell,
who is referee of the Board of Trade. He is a gen-
tleman of great experience. I also went over
to see the estates of the Land Company, near
Mitchell's Town. I wrote the letter produced
to Sadleir. It is dated from the Strand, and

states that I would be in Dublin on a certain
day, and asked him to get me an order to vie ry
the estate. I went to Castle Hyde in company with
Mr. Powell, and as he said it would take £lO,OOO
to put the mansion in repair, I made up my mind to
have nothing to do with the property. I communi-
cated my determination to Sadleir on my return to
England. Afterwards I had nothing to do with
the estate. After May, 1853, I saw Mr. Vincent
Scully several times in the lobby of the House of
Commons, and he never said a word to me about
Castle Hyde. In Aug., 1856, I saw Mr. D. Maho-
ney, who said he called upon me to make a com-
plaint against me in the affair of Castle Hyde. He
said, " Through you Mr. Scully was induced. to
believe that you were the purchaser of Castle Hyde,
and were ready to sell it to him, and that in con-
sequence of that belief he stood for the county of
Cork, and incurred great expense." He said' Mr.

Scully's claim was X 75,000. I replied, "If you
have anything to say about this I will give you the
name of my solicitor," and he left his card and did
not utter another word. After that I lent Sadleir
£2,000, about Jan., 1853. By my request Mr.
Sadleir became a director of the Boston Railway,
and I guaranteed him against all loss in respect of
his shares. I once accepted a bill for £2,000 for
his accommodation, which he took up.
Mr. Bovill, in reply to Lord Campbell, said the
date of the conveyance of Castle Hyde to Mr. Mor-
rogh was the 24th of July, 1852. It was signed by
Mr. Eyre. the-plaintiff's uncle, who was represented
as the original purchaser in 1851. Mr. Eyre, Mr.
Morrogh, and John Sadleir were parties to the
mortgage.
Mr. Ingram,. the defendant, was again examined.
Cross-examined by Mr. James—Before Feb.,
1853, when I saw Scully at Loudwater, I had no
pecuniary transactions with Sadleir, except with
regard to the railway. The letter of 3d Jan.,
1853, alludes to a bill Of £2,000. It was an accom-
modation bill. I wrote to Sadleir about taking it
up at Glyn's. There were two bills, but I cannot
say to which the letter refers. He gave me ab ill for
£2,000 I had lent him. I did accept a bill for
£2,000 for Sadleir 's accommodation, but I u
discounted a bill for him.
Glyn's were at thatteiNm.er
my bankers. I accepted the bill payable at G 1 - ' e
The letter of mine of December 15, 1852 thanking
Sadleir for the payment of £2,000, alludes to algrue
•
payment of money which I had lent him. I swear
that such a transaction never took place as &Alder
giving me bank shares at a price which would put
£450 into my pocket. He never gave me shares in
the London and County Bank, but he promised me
sonic. The paper produced is in my handwriting.
(It was dated 17th March, 1852, and addressed to
Sadleir. Mr. Ingram said in it, "I have not yet
received the shares in the London and County
Bank ; if it will make no difference, I would rather
have cash.") On my oath that does not refer to
his promise to give me shares in the London and
County Bank which would put £450 into my
pocket, but it refers rather to the Kingston estate,
which he said he wished to purchase. At his re-
quest I and several other gentlemen put down our
names as Security for him to the London and
County Bank. My share of the profit on the trans-
action was to be £5OO. He said he would give inc
London and County shares for the amount, and I