The Sun.
London, England, 1845-01-20 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
510)1 THE MMHG PAPERS OF SATURDAT.
GLOBE,—Mr. O'Connell has been check-mated,
tue:ell agitation discouraged, by the interference
of the Pep si See. A Rescript from his Holiness the
Pope, addressed through the Propaganda, to the
Catholic bishops and clergy of Ireland, commanding
their abstinence from all interference in the political
agitations by which Ireland is distracted, is a heavy
blow and sore discouragement to the repeal cause.
The document in question states that the distrac-
tions which exist among the faithful in Ireland are
"most distressing to the Sacred Congregation, and
to his Holiness himself," as " tending to the detri-
xnent and disgrace of the Universal Church." And he
enjoins on the clergy to "avoid mixing themselves
up with secular affairs, and to assiduously foster
among the people a spirit of quietness, calm, and
peace, which is the bond of Christianity, and a due
obedience to temporal power in all matters of civil
life. The leader of the agitation saw, with instinctive
perception, the effect of such a document on the re-
peal cause, and the necessity which existed for neau-
tralising its power by denying its authenticity. He
therefore asserted that it was a fabrication—a weak
invention of the enemy; framed with some skill, but
still betraying its destitution of authority by internal
marks of its illegitimate origin. Its latinity was
also severely examined. It was submitted to the
crucible of criticism ; and two or three somewhat
clumsily-constructed sentences were detected, and
commented upon—as proofs that the Rescript could
not have emanated from Rome. The Pope's la-
tinity must, of course, partake of the infallibity
of his office. Any defect which criticism could
detect in the construction of a phrase, would detract
from the claims of the document to reception and re-.
apect. The admission of its authenticity would be to
impugn the claims of his Holiness to exemption from
error. Such a discovery would, therefore, in itself, be
sufficient to raise doubts in the minds of the Re-
peelers. These doubts were further strengthened by
some assumed irregularity in the mode of its transmis-
sion. The Pope's Rescript was therefore pronounced
a vile forgery. The Roman Catholic clergy were
assured that they were still "free as air" to aid the
" hereditary bondsmen" to effect a separation of Ireland
from England, by agitating for the repeal of the
Legislative Union of the two countries. The laity,
encouraged and sanctioned by the clergy, would con-
tinue, with undiminished energies, to subscribe to
the funds, and throng to the meetings, of the Repeal
Association. Mr. O'Connell, therefore, in a letter
to Dr. Cantwell, impugned the integrity of the
Rescript, and avowed his belief that it was " not
a canonical document." The Roman Catholic
Archbishop Crolly has, however, set the question
of the authenticity and imperative obligation of the
Rescript upon the Bishops and Clergy of the Ca-
tholic Church, entirely at rest. The Archbishop
states, in a letter to Mr. O'Connell, that " The Re-
script has been laid befor the assembled Catholic pre-
lates in Dublin;' who " not only acknowledged it to
be authentic and canonical, but to be a document of
such importance that they entered it on their minutes,
and unanimously resolved that they would regulate
their conduct according to its injunctions, and use their
influence with their clergy, in their respective dioceses,
to prevail on them to follow its salutary instructions."
'the Pope's Rescript, and the prelate's letter arlirm-
ing and enforcing it, have placed Mr. O'Connell in a
position of serious embarassment. We see no path-
way of escape for them. lle is transfixed between
the horns of a dilemma. If lie obey the mandate,
his political existence, as an agitator, is at an end. He
has hitherto professed to act in the most perfect ac-
cordance with the bishops and clergy of the Roman
Catholic Church, to the authority of which he has
bowed with deep devotion. The presence of some of
the bishops at the repeal meetings, and the active aid
of the inferior orders of clergy in every way in which
that aid could be given, has contributed to keep up
the influence which Mr. O'Connell has wielded over the
Public mind in Ireland. To the sanction and aid of the
priests, O'Connell has been wont to refer the multi-
tudes. He has thus animated the popular excitement
by appealing to the presenceand sanction of the minis-
ters of religion to the cause of repeal. But the bishops
and clergy of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland
must implicitly obey the orders of the Holy See, and
must at once detach themselves from the political
agitation. The withdrawal of the clergy will be the
:signal for all good Catholics to do the same. The re-
sults seem already to be anticipated and prepared for in
the repeal councils. Retrenchment, the necessary conse-
uence of diminished resources, is already commenced.
Still further reductions of the repeal staff are an-
nounced. " The first report of the Finance Commit-
tee, read to the General Committee on Tuesday, and
adopted, recommends the reduction of eighteen
clerks, and also some out-agents, including Mr. W.
J. O'Connell, the London Head Repeal Warden, and
several others of minor note in Dublin. The salaries
of the officers retained are to be reduced, with the ex-
ception of My dear Ray,' who is to be continued,
with his present allowance of 4001. a year, besides im-
portant sundries. A reduction in the printing and
stationery depart:nents is under consideration ;
after which the newspapers in the pay of the Associa-
tion will come under the notice of the retrench-
ing committee." To denounce the authority of the
• Pope, and exhort the inferior clergy and the laity to
refuse obedience to the Bescript, is the alternative of
admitting the Holy See to interfere with repeal, and
thus withdraw the clergy from agitation. Such a
course would, by its desperation, defeat its design.
It would be fatal to his influence as an agitator of the
people, while it would be destructive of his reputation
as a member of the Church, which enjoins upon
all its members implicit obedience to spiritual
authority. In this the crisis of his fate, Mr. O'Con-
nell's tactics will be subjected to a test such as
they have never yet been called to endure. He pro-
poses that " a lay deputation be dispatched to Rome,"
to avert what he designates" a conjuncture which in-
volves their civil and religious liberties in the
most imminent peril." Report this morning states
that Mr. O'Connell is about to proceed to Rome
on this mission. He will thus be able to with-
draw himself from Dublin at a time when it is
peculiarly embarrassing for him to be there. The
circumstance of his proceeding to Rome on the re-
peal business would keep up the delusion a little
longer. He would be thus gently let down from the
elevation of political power, which he has so long oc-
cupied, instead of finding himself hurled from it
suddenly, and unprepared. Mr. O'Connell's apology
for having denounced the Concordat between this
country and Rome, negotiations for which never had
as existence, is remarkable for its puerility. The
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland has set this bugbear at
rest. In a letter, under his own hand, addressed to
Archbishop Murray, his Lordship denies that there
was any,.the slightest, ground for the story respecting
"-a negotiation for a Concordat." The torrent of
obloquy and abuse which Mr. O'Connell poured
forth upon Archbishop Murray, for his sup-
. posed privity and assent to this negotiation, is thus
sbown to have had no provocation. " There has never
existed," says Lord Heytesbury, " the slightest inten-
tion of entering into any negotiation with the Papal
See upon the subject of a Concordat." Fifty of the
clergy in the diocese of Dublin, of which the (Ca-
tholic) Archbishop Murray is the head, have sub-
scribed an address to him, couched in terms of the
most reverential and affectionate respect, and pros
miring in all things to be guided and governed by his
advice and authority. These are unmistakeable signs
.of repeal declension. If the Government be wise
.enough to improve the opportunity, there is hope for
Ireland. But if there be nothing effectual done for
•the improvement of' the people, and the day of pro-
pitious events be allowed to expire, without remedial
measures for the grievances which have produced re-
peal agitation—then will agitation, under another
name, and in another form, be re-kindled, and the last
.error will be worse than the first.
STANDARD.—We never complain of fair war,
iow fiercely soever it may be waged, by the press.
Indeed, we con ceiva a kind of affection for the adversary
- who hits hardest, if only his blows are straight, and de-
livered in a manly manner. We should infinitely
prefer shaking hands with John of Tuam to the
touch of Dr. Pusey, Mr. Newman, or Mr. Oakeley.
Nay, even among the Tractarians, we would respect.
Mr. Ward for that challenge—which Dr. Tait says is
his otily offence—had not the challenge be-en soiled
his subsequent shabby refusal to acknowledge
.bhadus Zste, thbok coirtaining
it. This is, we suppose,
because it is not, we believe, the common
taste. However it is our taste, and we think that
the public interests wouldgain, the interests of
weuld,if . as
truth certainly
wit were made. general.
This, however, by the
do
we a . ln proportion
and it
respect fair war,dislikeexposefoul
a system of foul
play on the part of the Morning Chronicle, to
• which we slightly alluded yesterday, and which
our ' Contemporary seems resolved to persevere
in. We mean the imputation upon the Foreign
„Minister that the Times is his organ. The Mornini,
Chronicle, in a leading article of this morning, re •
?oats the foul imp utation—foul in every sense—
? less than three or four times in one
abort column. If our Contemporary retorts upon
14s;that we ascribe its articles on foreign policy,
- And similar articles of the Globe, to the
.;dictation of Lord Palmerston, our answer is,
that the charging any nobleman or gentleman with
writing in the Morning Chronicle or Globe, or dic-
tating an opinion to either of these journals, im-
putes nothing disgraceful, more particularly when
the nobleman or gentleman happens to be
a Whig, whether " juvenile" or mature.
The case of the Times is notoriously otherwise ;
..aerawling through all parties, it has left some of its
silo° upon each ; and it is a remarkable circumstance
.
• connected with that journal,. that whenever any
foul opprobrium is cast upon any parte, it
is supplied by the conduct of the Times,
during its connexion with that party in the
course of its tortuous career. The Reform Bill,

say the evicted proprietors of Schedule A., was
carried by brutal violence, because the Reform
journals called for " brick-bats and bludgeons ;"
the Times being the only Reform journal that
ever made the savage and treasonable appeal.
The Whig Ministers, say their sorrowing friends,
were driven from office by a fanatical rage,
excited by the orators of Exeter Hall • the
Times, the Standard, and the Morning Herald de-
nouncing the Roman Catholic clergy as " sur-
pliced ruffians," a " demon priesthood," &c.
the truth being that no Exeter Hall orator ever used
such foul and gross language; nor did any journal,
except the Times, ever print such phrases—as, indeed,
we lately had occasion to explain in our own defence.
Thus it happens that the Times leaves its stain
upon every party which it encumbers and soils
with its temporary support. The stain is, how-
ever, a wound when inflicted upon a public man,
and we are sorry to be obliged to declare that we be-
lieve that in this case it is intended to attack the peace
of Europe through the sides of Lord Aberdeen.
The Times is known to be odious—most justly odious
in France—and let Frenchmen be once persuaded
that the Foreign Minister of England entertains as
his organ the journal that for a year has done
little in its foreign department but heap the foulest
insults upon France, her functionaries, fleets, and
armies, and they must regard that Foreign Minister
as an enemy, and even their own ministers as
treacherous servants in keeping on terms of civility,
with such a Minister, and vouching for his good in-
tentions. The Times will not disclaim the Foreign-
office organship ; for when did the Times ever sacri-
fice the chance of a shilling upon its day's sale to
any public object ? And, therefore, we, who know
just enough of the Foreign-office to know that it has
no connection direct or indirect with any newspaper,
are therefore under the necessity of exposing the foul
and mischievous misrepresentation. Of course ene-
mies will ascribe the part we take to jealousy, as the
Standard has been so often untruly called "the Go-
vernment organ;" our reply to such a charge is that
we never, either directly or iniirectly, pretended to
the title, and never omitted an opportunity of respect-
fully but explicitly disclaiming it.

THE SHAPWICK MURDERS.
Yesterday (Friday) the Coroner's jury assembled at
Shapwick, to ascertain the cause of the death of James
Dimond, an illegitimate child, aged seven years, of
Sarah Freeman, who died in N ovember, 1843. The body
was exhumed on Saturday last, and a portion of the
contents of the stomach was subjected to analytical
tests by Mr. Herapath, who pronounced it as
his opinion that the child had been poisoned
by arsenic. Evidence was given which incul-
pated Sarah Freeman in administering the poison ;
and a verdict of Wilful Murder against her was re-
turned. Five other sudden deaths of children have, it
is said, lately taken place in one family in this parish,
which Sarah Freeman was in the habit of visiting ;
and it is expected that further exhumations and in-
quiries will in consequence take place.

BRISTOL, SATURDAY MORNING.—The inquest held
at Shapwick on the bodies of the husband, Henry
Freeman, and the illegitimate child of Sarah Free-
man, concluded late last night, the jury returned in
both cases verdicts of wilful murder against her.
The facts adduced in evidence in the case of the
illegitimate child (a boy about seven years of ege)
showed that it died suddenly in the month of No-
vember, in the year before last (1843), and at the
inquest which was held on the body, the following
day, a verdict of natural death was recorded. On the
body being exhumed, on the 11th instant, the surgeon
took away from the coffin the whole of the intestinal
canal and the liver, and placed them in a jar. Since
then they have been carefully examined, and it was
distinctly discovered that the child's death had been
occasioned by arsenic, a portion of which had been ex-
tracted and produced to the satisfaction of the jury.
In the case of the death of the husband, which hap-
pened shortly after that of the child, and whose body
has also been exhumed, Mr. Hera path, the surgeon,
stated he had analysed the contents of the stomach,
and was of opinion that the death had resulted by the
same poison—arsenic. On the 27th of December the
prisoner gave notice to a burial club that her husband
had died, he having been a member of the club ; 201.
was paid to her, with which she expressed herself
much dissatisfied. The inquest concluded at nine
o'clock last night.
MORE SUPPOSED MURDERS.—At the conclusion of
the above inquests, the Coroner made the subjoined
remarks to the jury :—" Gentlemen, I am afraid I
shall have further occasion for your services. I have
received a letter from highly respectable persons, the
statements made in which are very alarming—namely,
that five other deaths have occurred in the parish very
recently, and all of them in one family. It is also
stated to me in that letter, and I do not know how far
it may be true, that the woman (Sarah Freeman)
was in the constant habit of visiting that house.

MURDEROUS ASSAULT BY
POACHERS.
Saturday information was received of an assault
of a most deadly nature committed upon Henry
Tebby, a gamekeeper in the service of Rousby,
Esq., of Collisford House, near Bicester, Oxfordshire.
The keeper, it appears, was proceeding to Hethe,
about seven o'clock in the evening, for the purpose of
engaging a man to work on the following morning,
and was passing a plantation, when he heard the cry
of a hare, as if caught in a snare, and, going to the
spot, he met three men, one of whom he knew, and
addressing him, he said, "Ah ! Jesse Willis, is that
you know you." The fellow instantly struck
him down with a heavy bludgeon, and as he lay on
the ground all the three men beat him most dread-
fully, and then made off. He was so much injured
as to be unable to move for some time, but at length
made his way to the house of the Rev. A. Maguire,
a Roman Catholic priest, and requested that some one
might be sent to Collisford to inform his brother and
his master of what had occurred.
The Rev. Gentleman himself immediately went
into the village to look for a messenger, and on the
way asked a man whom he met to go to Mr. Rousby's,
at Collisford, and inform him one of his keepers had
been dreadfully beaten by poachers. The man, how-
ever, who afterwards proved to be no other than Jesse
Willis himself, declined the mission, and some one
else was sought for. In the meantime a constable
named Harris had arrived, and from what Tabby
told him he went into the village and apprehended
Willis, and took him also to Mr, Msguire s; and the
keeper, being asked if he knew that man, said, " Yes,
that is lirillis—that is the man that struck me." Mr.
Jones, a surgeon, was sent for to attend Tebby,
who he found to be in a dangerous state, frightfully
cut, and suffering from a concussion of the brain.
The poor man was afterwards removed to his own
house, and the next morning Willis was taken before
the magistrates at Bicester, and remanded for a week,
a medical certificate being produced, stating the
danger in which Tabby was.

ATTEMPTED MURDER AT
UXBRIDGE.

Since Wednesday last the greatest excitement has
prevailed throughout the town and neighbourhood of
Uxbridge, in consequence of a most diabolical at-
tempt made by a young man, named Thomas Deck-
man, to murder his wife and child by means of poison.
From the inquiries made into the circumstances by
Inspector Cooke, T division, and other officers of the
metropolitan police, it appears that Thomas Deckman,
who is not yet twenty years of age, and is by trade a
journeyman baker, was married to his wife, Eliza-
beth Deckman, last October twelve months, and they
have one child six months old. For some time past
the husband has been out of work, in consequence
of which they had been compelled to remove from
their lodgings, and took up their abode at the house
of the wife's father. From the period of their mar-
riage they had mot been a happy couple, and the hus-
band had often threatened to do for her, and had on
one occasion sharpened a razor, and placed it under
his pillow for that purpose. On the morning of Wed-
nesday last the husband got up before his wife, and
left the bed-room, saying he was going to enlist for a
soldier. Before, however, he left the house, and while
he was in the sitting-room, the wife heard a rattling
of crockery, and thought that her husband was get-
ting himself breakfast. She afterwards got up, and
made some coffee, and about nine o'clock sat down
with her sister to breakfast. On adding sugar
and milk to the coffee she noticed that
the milk immediately became curdled, not-
withstanding which, she, however, drank the
contents of the cup, and, in less than five
minutes afterwards, was seized with a feeling of sick-
ness. She then poured out another cup of coffee, and
again added sugar and milk, when the latter was again
curdled, when her suspicions became excited, and she
poured some coffee into a basin, and added some milk,
and found that it did not curdle. She then tasted the
sugar in the sugar-basin, and finding that it had a
strange taste, she concluded that some poison had been
mixed with it, and sent her sister with the basin and
contents to the shop: of Mr. Chave, chemise, in the
High-street, who, on tasting and examining the sugar,
declared it to he mixed with oxalic acid. The wife
was, during two hours after taking the coffee, exceed-
ingly ill, and it was only by administering emetics
that the poison was extracted from her stomach in
time to save her life.

Information of the occurrence was immediately
forwarded to the police
.station, when a search was
made after the husband, but he could nowhere be
found. A. description of his
person was then distri-
buted throughout the police districts, which re-
sulted in his apprehension in the course of the fol-
lowing .night. .On Friday he was brought up for
examination before Mr. T. T. Clark, a local magis-
trate sitting at the offices of Messrs. Riches and
Woodbridge, the clerks to the magistrates at Ux-
bridge, and, after a short examination, was remanded