The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-13 00:00:00

TBE OFFICE OF TIIF: JUDGE PROMOTED BY KITSON

AGAINST LOFTUS.

Sir H. JENNER FUST gave his sentence in this case,
in which the office of the judge had been promoted
by the registrar of the diocese of Norwich against
the Rev. Afthur Loftus, vicar of the united vicarage
of Fincham St. Marton, and rectory of Fincham St.
Michael, and also vicar of the vicarage and parish
church of HolAliton, otherwise Helhoughton, with
the vicarage of Rainham St. Martin annexed, all in the
county of Norfolk. The case came before this Court by
letters of request from the Bishop of Norwich, and the
articles (which the Learned Judge read in detail) in
substance charged Mr. Loftus with frequenting houses
of ill-fame ; having intercourse with prostitutes ; hiring
women of that description as domestic servants, and,
whilst retaining them in his service, having carnal inter-
course with them. In his defensive allegation he had
denied these charges altogether. It could not be doubted,
the Learned Judge observed, that the offences imputed
to Mr. Loftus were exceedingly grave, and, if proved by
credible testimony, it had been admitted on all hands,
that nothing short of deprivation would be a sufficient
censure to be inflicted upon him. It unfortunately hap-
pened in these cases, that the witnesses produced in sup-
port of the charges were mostly persons of
bad character, upon whom the Court could not
place implicit reliance, coming as they did
to confess their own infamy ; but they were
competent witnesses by law, and the Court was not at
liberty to reject their testimony, though it must look
carefully to see how far their testimony was credible
per se, and how far it was confirmed by the evidence
of other witnesses, or by the general circumstances of
the case. It had been argued, that in a case like this,
the unblemished character which Mr. Loftus had
enjoyed up to the spring of 1844, according to the testi-
mony of eleven or twelve gentlemen, including clergy-
men, magistrates, and Members of Parliament, ought to
have great weight; and undoubtedly those gentlemen
had deposed that they never had a suspicion or surmise
unfavourable to his moral character, and that he was a
person least likely, in their estimation, to be guilty of the
acts with which he was charged. Mr. Loftus, therefore,
came before the Court with all this testimony in his
favour, in addition to the presumption of innocence which
every person was entitled to until his guilt was proved.
But it might appear that, notwithstanding the character
given of him by these respectable witnesses should be
true, a change in his conduct had taken place, and that
such high character may have been forfeited by him.
Before entering upon the evidence in support of the
articles, the Learned Judge adverted to the statement
made by Mr. Arthey, a medical attendant of Mr. Loftus,
that in the year 1841 the health of Mr. Loftus was highly
deranged; that in consequence of proceedings in the Ec-
clesiastical Court of Norwich, in which Mrs. Loftus had
sued her husband for a divorce on the ground of cruelty,
in which she had failed, he was in a highly excited
state; and that he had advised Mr. Loftus, on the occa-
sion of his leaving home in September, 1843, on account
of his health, to cohabit with some decent female, of-
fering, though half in joke, if he " got into a scrape"
thereby, to give him a certificate that should extricate
him. The articles charged Mr. Loftus with being in the
habit of resorting, in October, November, and December,
1843. and in many of the months of 1844, accompanied
by Henry or Harry Twiddy, his footman, or butler, to a
house of ill-fame, kept by Mrs. Sconce, in Birdcage-row,
Lynn, and there committing adultery with coo or more
prostitute or prostitutes; and that, on one occasion of
his resorting to this house, he sent for a prostitute
named Chilvers. Mrs. Seim ce, the keeper of this bro-
thel, had b, en served with a compulsory summons; but
she was confined to her bed at the time, and bad not been
exatnined. Mary Anne (Mayers, however, had been
examined, and she proved that she had been sent for by a