The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-04 00:00:00

Cifitrb Mlittton

SUN OFFICE, Seven o'Cloch

CENTRAL CRI VIINAL COURT.
OLD COURT.
(Continued from our Afternoon Edition.)
PAGET V. HOLT.
Mr. WORDSWORTH then addressed the jury for the defendant
and said, the question they had to consider was, whether a
paragraph which appeared in the Age, a newspaper published
by Holt, was libellous or not. The Learned Counsel for the
plaintiff had stated that Lord William Paget was a most un-
fortunate man. He was truly an unfortunate man to have
been placed in the position in which he had lately
appeared before the public. He was compelled to
come into a court of justice for the purpose of
instituting an inquiry into the circumstances which
imputed infidelity to Lady William Paget, his wife,
and the mother of several children. He (Mr. Wordsworth)
had no doubt but the late trial between Lord William Paget
and the Earl of Cardigan would be fresh in the memory of
the jury. The alleged libel went to state that the placing of
the witness Winter under the sofa was "a plant," a defi-
nition which was liable to various constructions, and
did not appear to him (Mr. Wordsworth) to be libellous.
It also stated that it was the Earl of Cardigan's intention to
indict the whole party for conspiracy." The alleged libel was
nothing more than a series of remarks on a mere topic of the
day, it mentioned no name; the words might apply to a
great number of respectable individuals. The paragraph
contained nothing more than an account of certain topics
current at the time of their publication, a mere inuendo, and
could not, therefore, be consideredlibellous. He denied that
the paragraph was intended to convey to the public the idea
that an action then pending against the Earl of Cardigan,
was to extort money from that nobleman. He was instructed
to say that no such' intention existed in the mind of the
writer of the paragraph.
The Learned JUDGE then summed up the evidence. He
commented at considerable length on the law of libel, and
the various constructions which might be put upon the para-
graph published by the defendant. The question the jury
had to consider was, whether it was a wicked and malicious
libel, tending to affix improper and unworthy motives on
Lord William Paget, or of a different tendency.
The jury returned a verdict of Guilty in all respects.—
Sentence deferred.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT

(THIS EVENING.)

H OUSE OF LORDS.

The LORD CHANCELLOR took his seat on the Wool-
sack shortly after Five o'Clock.
Earl PO WIS presented several petitions from dif-
ferent parts of Wales against the union of the sees of
Bangor and St. Asaph.
IRELAND..
The Marquis of WESTMEATH trusted that
their Lordships would excuse him for a few minutes
while he adverted to the letter which the other evening,
had been produced by the Noble Marquis opposite, deny-
ing the statement which he (the Marquis of Westmeath)
had made. Upon that occasion, he had stated that in
the county of Westmeath, the Roman Catholic Bishop
had suspended a Roman Catholic clergyman for having
refused to assist in the collection of money for the re-
peal of the Union. At the time le (the Marquis of
‘Vestmeath) made that statement, he thought it was
true, but when the Noble Marquis read the letter
purporting to correct it, he (the Marquis of Westmeath)
hesitated as to its truth, and in order to ascertain the
fact he had written to Ireland upon the subject, and
the answer to that letter proved that what he had
stated was substantially the fact. What he had
said was, that the Roman Catholic clergyman had
been suspended from his living. Perhaps he would
have been more correct if he had stated that he had
been superseded. It was intended to hold one of
those monster meetings at Mullingar. This clergy-
man had exerted all his influence to prevent the col-
lection of money, and also to prevent his parishioner:,
from attending this meeting. Previous to the meeting
at Mullingar taking place, the clergyman, whose name
was Murray, and who had since died, was informed
that a curate would be sent to his congregation for
three Sundays. That was done, and the result was,
that Mr: Murray was superseded in his own parish.
Such were the real facts of the case, and in his
opinion the titular bishop had made the denial ad-
verted to by the Noble Marquis in order to
prevent the odium that would attach to him for the
course he had pursued. Now, in order to show that
what he (the Marquis of Westmeath) had stated was
no exaggeration, he would read to their Lordships'
some of the expressions used by this titular Bishop at
Mullingar. At that meeting, fifty-one Roman Ca-
tholic clergyman attended. It took place on Sunday
the 14th May. The Roman Catholic Bishop was in the
Chair at the dinner which took place after the meeting,
and during the course of his speech on that occasion
he stated that the Irish deserved and should have
self Government. He then expressed the great plea-
sure that he felt at the glorious demonstration that
had taken place that day, and he expressed the de-
termination on the part of the Irish people to follow
the course they were adopting till they wiped off the
stigma that rested upon Ireland, and until they again
made her what she ought always to have been—a nation.
Another peron of the name of O'Higgins also made
a speech of the same tendency, and in language
equally violent.—(The Noble Marquis then read an
extract of some length from a speech of the Roman
Catholic Bishop Dr. O'Higgins, in which that re-
verend person declared himself a zealous repealer,
and denounced the malignity of the Government,
which he said would be ineffectual towards put-
ting down the demands of the Irish people
to legislate for themselves.) In bringing this
matter before their Lordships, he had only been im-
pelled by a sense of duty. It would be much more
agreeable to him if he could speak well of the Roman
Catholic bishops and clergy, but he thought it
was his duty as a resident magistrate to bring before
the House any facts of importance which came under
his cognizance in the discharge of his duties as a
landlord and magistrate,
The Marquis of NORMANBY thought he would
best meet the substantial justice of the case,
by denying on the part of the right reverend
person who had confided his defence to him (the
Marquis of N.) On the former occasion he had con-
fined himself to a specific denial of the charge. The
Noble Marquis seemed to have a strange mode of
making out his case. The Noble Marquis had made
a speoific charge, which was met by a specific denial,
upon which the Noble Marquis retorted, by reading
not only a speech of the Right Rev. Person, but the
speech of another titular Bishop also. Certainly
that was carrying the doctrine of conspiracy rather
farther than it had been carried even of late yearp.—
(Hear, hear, and a laugh.) He (the Marquis of Nor-
manby) had received by this day's post a letter
from the Right Reverend person, Dr. Cantwell,
who assured him that he had never either
spoken or written a word to the late Dr.
Murray, parish priest of Clannellin (four miles from
the residence of the Marquis of Westmeath), and that
for the 14 years that he had been bishop of that
diocese in which Dr. Murray had been 35 years the
incumbent of a parish, he had lived with that Rev.
Gentleman on terms of the- closest friendship, and
had always regarded him with respect, esteem, and af-
fection. He (Dr. Cantwell) attended at the funeral
of the deceased gentleman, assisted by 30 clergymen,
and nearly 3,000 persons, attended at the funeral
ceremony.—(Hear, hear.) Was not that a complete
answe.i to the charge that Dr. Cantwell had passed
an ecclesiastical censure upon his subordinate. On
what then did the Noble Marquis rest his charge of
suspension ? That the aged and rev. gentleman, after
having performed the duties of parish priest for nearly
forty years, left his duty to be performed by his
curate, for three successive Sundays, shortly before
his death. He (the Marquis of N ormanby) would
leave statement of the Right Rev. Gentleman Cant-
well in the hands of the House, and he thought it so
complete an 'answer that he would not add one word
to it.—(Hear.)
The Marquis of WESTMEATH said, that their
Lordships would decide between them, but he would
not on any account state who the person was from
whom he had received his information, for if he did
he would expose that person to imminent danger.
He had heard the matter at the time, and he still
firmly believed notwithstanding the contradiction
which had been read to their Lordships, who would
give it its full value when they recollected the language
which he had just read as having been used
by the Right Rev. Person. Their Lordships would
also judge whether he would make a personal attack
upon an individual with whom he nad no intimacy
whatever. There was another circumstance which
was, perhaps, of some importance. The Noble Mar-
quis had spoken of the parish of Clonmellon, but the
affhir to which he (the Marquis of Westmeath) re-
ferred took place in the chapel of Kilallen. Did the
Noble Marquis deny that the curate had presented
them three separate Sundays ?
The Marquis of NORMANBY said that he had
made no mention of any matter of the kind to which
the Noble Marquis now referred. He had confined
himself to the specific charge made by the Noble
Marquis, and there was a distinct denial on the part of

On the motion of Lord RINDLESHAM, the
Beccles Navigation Bill was read a second time, and
ordered to be committed.
Mr. G. DUNCAN presented a petition from
Dundee, in favour of the Edinburgh and Glasgow
Railway Bill.
Sir F. TRENCII presented a petition from Scar-
borough, in favour of the Scarborough Railway Bill.
On the motion of Mr. WILSON PATTEN, the
Manchester and Birmingham (Macclesfield and Poyn-
ton branches) Railway Bill was read a second time,
and ordered to be committed.
• Mr. GREENALL presented a petition against
the Norwich and Grantham Railway Bill.
Mr. EICOTT presented a petition from Exeter
against the South Devon Railway Bill.
Mr. PATTISON presented a petition from various
Western
of London against the 41st clause in the Great
1;
Western Railway Extension Bill.
Mr. RUSSELL said the Company had decided
upon withdrawing this clause. They were also ready
to submit to any provisions which the Committee
might recommend, or Parliament might think proper
to adopt. 1