The Sun.
London, England, 1859-02-19 00:00:00

TILE CASE OF THE _REV. ALFRED
POOLE.

Yesterday morning the Archbishop of Canter-
bury proceeded to hear the appeal of the Rev.
Alfred Poole. curate of St. Barnabas, against the
revocation of his license by the bishop of London,
on account of his alleged habitual hearing of con-
fession. The Bishop revoked his license, and the
Archbishop of Canterbury confirmed the decision ;
but the Court of Queen's Bench decided that the
Archbishop had not duly heard the appeal accord-
ing to law, and issued a mandamus, compelling hini
to hear an appeal, without giving any directions as
to the manner in which it should be conducted.

The Archbishop, acting upon the mandamus,
appointed the appeal for yesterday, at Lambeth
Palace. His grace was assisted by Dr. Lushington,
who acted as assessor, and was attended by Dr.
Travers Twiss, the vicar-general of the province ;
Mr. Francis Hart Dyke, the apparitor ; Mr. Kny-
vett, his secretary; and the Rev. J. Thomas, 8.C.L.,
bßeihshaol ofA
his chaplain. Mr. J. B. Lee, the solicitor to the
f.
01gst
London,h Nev ae sl e presentrgy
present o
wereis lordship's
.
and Rev. Robert Liddell, the Rev. W. Upton
Richards, the Rev, J. F. Lingham, and others.
There were a few ladies present.
Dr. Phillimore, who appeared for Mr. Poole,
stated the grounds on which the appeal was made.
The first was that Mr. Poole had never been heard
by the court below. • The second, that lie was con-
demned on charges which were within the citation,
and that the citation was not served anon him
according to the provisions of the statule. The
third, that he was condemned on alleged oral ad-
missions (of which there is no record), which were
denied by the accused but admitted by the Bishop,
who thus became accuser, supported by his own
evidence, and afterwards acted as judge. The fourth,
that he was condemned on the evidence of women
who he was prepared to show were of infamous
character, and utterly unworthy of credit in any
court of justice. The fifth, that he was condemned
partly on evidence taken behind his back, with-
out his consent, by some legal person employed.
by the -Bishop. The sixth, that he expressed
himself at the time willing and read y to obey
the
godly admonitions of his ordinary. He (the learned
gentleman) proposed, before entering upon these
points, to state fully what was the doctrine of the
Church of England on the subject of confession,
distinguishing the two kinds as, first, the daily
bread of the church, and the second its extreme
medicine. The learned gentleman proceeded to
quote largely from Archbishop Wake, Usher, and
Jewell, Archdeacon Paley, Bishop Tomline (on the
Thirty-nine Articles), and other high ecclesiastical
authorities, for the purpose of showing that the
Church of England encouraged confession to the
clergy, with a view to the spiritual comfort of the
penitent. The great difference on these points be-
tween the Church of England and the Church of
Rome was simply this, that whereas the Church of
Rome held that confession was a sacrament, the
Church of England denied that it was so. It was
contended by Mr. Poole that he had never taught
confession according to the Roman Catholic doc-
trine, but in receiving the confession of those of his
congregation who chose to come to him to open their
griefs, he did nothing more than obey the plain
directions of the Book of Common Prayer, which
he was bound to do. The Bishop of London ought
never to have condemned Mr. Poole on the evidence
of the women to whom he was alleged to have put
improper and disgusting questions, without hearing
that gentleman in defence, more especially after his
solemn denial of the truth of the charges. In tak-
ing the course he did the Bishop trampled upon
the plainest principles of justice. The Bishop of
London had, moreover, declared that no reliance
could be placed upon the evidence of the
women, and yet he revoked his license. Under
these circumstances he contended that the Bishop
of London's sentence of revocation could not stand.
The appeal was against that revocation, and he
maintained that what this curate asked of the
Bishop as a favour, that of being heard in his
defence, the statute gave him as a right. It was
certainly an-extraordinary thing in the history of
the Church that this man, who had been accused
of teaching Roman Catholic doctrine while he held
office in the Church of England, and had received
all sorts of abuse at the hands of his opponents,
had been absolutely refused by-,his Bishop an op-
portunity of clearing himself before sentence was
pronounced against him. If Mr. l'oole, instead of
respectfully appealing to the Archbishop of Can-
terbury, as he had done, had set the decision of the
Bishop of London at nought, and continued to offi-
ciate as a clergyman of the diocese, he would have
been protected by the temporal courts of the land,
who would have treated with scorn the notion that
because a man held only the humble office of a
curate in the church, he was to be treated in a
manner to which they, would never allow the
meanest suitor in a civil case to be subjected. In-
stead, however, of adopting that step Mr. Poole
had taken the course which suggested itself to him
as an obedient and subordinate minister of his
bishop. What was the consequence of this ? That
he had been condemned on the testimony of in-
infamous women who would never have been
believed in any court of law—their evidence having
been taken down privately by a legal gentleman
employed by the bishop, who was accuser, witness,
and judge. Nothing could be a greater mockery
than to call that an examination, and he did not
think that any appellate court of England
would ever confirm the sentence. The learned
doctor briefly summed up the arguments on -which
he considered that the decision of the court below
should be reversed.

Mr. Coleridge followed on the same side, starting
with the argument that there had been no hearing
in the court below, and no distinct charges, calling
for a sentence, preferred against Mr. Poole. In any
criminal case, if the judge said he disbelieved the
evidence, or that he viewed it with suspicion, there
would of course be an end of the case, and yet upon
that principle Mr. Poole was condemned. It was
not a very kind or considerate course on the part of
the Bishop of London, for it was conceivable that
other bishops might in consequence of these pro-
ceedings refuse to license Mr. Poole, as indeed had
actually been the case.
Mr. M. Smith opened the case for the respon-
dent; but at five o'clock the learned counsel was
interrupted in his speech and the inquiry was
adjourned till this morning.

The case was resumed this morning.
Bishop
of
ow f. dl‘hich woron.
n,tre:
os Smith,usml eoCldw.aein:daetelolantschl etuldipeeaid.:t
was arguments,tniol
contra-
dictory evidence offered, and Mr. Poole himsel f
himself
in
justifiediiiade certain
in
adopting admissions, he considered
the course ho had done.
Dr. Phillimore replied on the whole
ease on
behalf of Mr. Poole, and at the conclusion of the
learned gentleman's argument,
Dr. Lushington, the dean of the Arches Court,
said that the reason his grace in hither-
to declining to hear this appeal had been owing
to the thought that it would be entailing great
expense on both parties. His grace having heard
the arguments of the learned counsel on both sides,
would be enabled to give the subject his most
serious consideration, and he would there-
fore deliver his decision in writing. For his own
part, the advice that he would give to his grace
would bc—First. Whether the charges were suffi-
ciently definite and so clearly stated as to enable
Mr. Poole to defend himself. Secondly. Whether
there was produced adequate legal evidence
to sustain and prove such charges. And,
thirdly.. Whether Mr. Poole had sufficient
opportunity to make his defence. In the event
of his grace thinking that neither of these points
were proved, then he should advise his grace,
in accordance with law and justice, to reverse the
decision of the Court below.

His grace took time to consider his decision.

A deputation from the Law Amendment Society
on the concentration in one building of the superior courts
of law and equity had an interview with the Earl of Derby
yesterday, at his official residence in Downing-street. The
deputation consisted of Mr. Hastings, Mr. W. Strickland
Cookson, Mr. Sergeant Woolrych, Mr. Vaughan, Mr
Allen, and Mr. Edgar (secretary).
THE INDIAN LOAN.—The total amount of sub-
scriptions to the Five per Cent. Loan opened on the 16th of
January, 1857, in India, is returned as 16,98,03,200 rupees,
of which 9,56,02,759 rupees were in cash.
PROVINCIAL BANKS.—The Carlisle C
s-
trict Banking Company have just divided 19 Cityand Di
pecn on
their 1858 account ; and the Leeds Banking Company have
renns tpari na
ecee
aot f
Hparroartvlt,
oh' ell parroquets from
divided 20 per cent. for last year.
Bedfordshire. About three months ago 31 S. Green,
PARROTS.—thiAs
cnouenxttrryaloiarsdiunsatrtaky
of the
incubationPAlt
receivedlaVpalt.'ofThe are f
Wheatsheaf Inn,
a friend in New South
Nagler, and are of a beautiful green and
_y o the genus
the hen laid
five eggs,
blue plumage.
larl on them.
and is sitting regu y
Raphonia, of
boocucturarfeodrtantigNhtiaaggaora
A BOY CARRIED OVER THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.
Falls on Saturday.
An adopted son of Mr. Gibbs, foreman of the paper mills,
accidentally fell into the river and was carried over the
American Fall. We understand that the lad was on the
ice, near the mills, where men had been running drift ice
from the flume, and accidentally fell into the swift stream.
—A sad accidentA
lie was not seen to fall, but was seen some distance down
the river, in the rapids, when
beyond the reach of human
aid, and speedily passed over, of course to rise no more
alive. The child was 12 years old, and a lad of much pro-
mise, beloved by his adopted parents and all who knew
him. The calamity caused much sensation at the village
where it occurred.—Rochester Union and Advertiser.

MERITED L HONOUR.—The friends of the late
much-esteemed Josiah Conder, so well known as a poet,
and as the editor of the Eclectic Review, the Patriot news-
paper, and author of many other works, will be glad to
learn that a suitable monument has been erected over the
grave of the deceased by some of his friends, at a cost ex-
ceeding 100 guineas. It is of vlain and polished granite,
with a suitable inseription,—firdish Standard.