The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-09-01 00:00:00

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The JUDGE then summed up. After some general re-
nutrks upon the importance of the case, he told the jury, that
they must know no distinctions in point of right between the
noman catholic religion, the religion of the state, or any form
of tolerated dissent. All were equal in the eye of the law ;
and in the eye of the law all were equally entitled to redress
for any injury they might have sustained. The plaintiff came
before them as a priest of the Roman catholic religion ; and
lie sought compensation in damages at their bands for that
which he characterised as a foul libel upon him, imputing to
him practices derogatory to his character as a man, and cal-
culated to injure him as a priest. The learned counsel for
the defendant was Wrong when he stated, that in the eye of
the law this was not a libel. That Mr. Stowell read the pa-
per in question, there was no manner of doubt. That was
proved, and not denied. The defence suggested was matter
of law. The law of the case the jury were bound to receive,
and he had no doubt they would receive it from him. He
would state it as distinctly as he could, and if he made an
error, the Court of Queen's Bench would set him right. In
the discharge of his duty, therefore, he told them, that the
l, as stated by the learned counsel for the defendant, was
entirely wrong. There was no such principle known to our
law as that a man might go to a public meeting and read docu-
ments to the disparagement of the character of another in-
dividual. God forbid that we should ever live in such a state
of society as that. Referring to the evidence of the priest
as to certain doctrines of the Roman catholic religion, the
learned Judge said there was one answer to which he felt
bound to advert. He meant the answer to the question
whether it was part of the doctrine of the Roman Catholic
church that a priest had poWer to forgive sins. He thought
there ought not to go abroad upon one side or the other any
prejudice about peculiar tenets, because the witness might not
have fully explained his answer. The witness said it was
Part of the Roman Catholic doctrines that the priest had
Power. to forgive sins according to the words of Christ, and
that airy person denying such power was accursed. This was
really beside the subject, but he must caution the jury against
taking the answer of the witness literally.. He was no advocate
there for the Church of Rome—God forbid, if she wanted one,
that she should have one so feeble, or so little inclined to her
doctrines as himself, to advocate her tenets ; but this much
he must say, if the jury had asked that gentleman to inter-
pret a little more minutely what he tneant by saying the priest
had power to forgive sins—he did not mean he would give
the same interpretation to the words as a Protestant clergy-
man would, but that it would have approached much nearer
to that than the phrase taken literally, appeared to do. So
would the words thqt any person denying that power was
held accursed. In reference to the subject of damages, his
lordship said that when a libel was proved the law implied
malice, but in assessing the amount of compensation, the
whole circumstances of the case were to be taken into consi-
deration. Heavy damages ought not to be given against a
party who had libelled another without any intention of ma-
liciously injuring his character. That the defendant had not
tone to the meeting •for the deliberate purpose of traducing
the character of Mr. Hearne, might be inferred from various
circumstances. All hi% remarks referred to Maynooth. The
amount of damages would be a question for the jury ; and be
Would conclude by reminding them that it did not appear
that the defendant at the time he uttered the libel had any
deliberate malice towards the plaintiff, or any intention of
injarin,, his character.
The Jury then consultd verdict and, in the course of a few
minutes they delivered a for the plaintiff, damages
408,

Previous to the rising of the Court, the Juocr; intimated,
that. as the great will cause, Blundell v. Lord Camoys, would
commence on Monday, the witnesses in other cases might be
dismissed till 'iii. :rs lay. The Jurymen, who resided be-
ond five miles ftom Liverpool, his lordship also stated, might
be relieved till the same day.
The Court adjourned about six o'Clock.

MONDAY

NISI PRIUS COURT.—.
THE GREAT WILL CAUSE.—BLUNDELL V. LORD CADIOYS,
(Before Mr. Baron ROLFE and a special jury.)
This important cause commenced this day. The Attor-
IleY-General, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Crompton, and Mr. %Vat-
Se, aPpeared in support o the will ; and the Solicitor-
_ eneral, Mr. Cresswell, Mr. Wighturan, and Mr. Martin,
for the alefendant.
At six o'clock when the court rose, the ATTORNEY-GENE-
-4L had not conclude] his opening address. The learned
E!ntlema after giving a bare ohtline of the history of the late
alr • Blundell, produced and read an immense mass of cor-
r!!Pondence between that gentleman and his friends, for the
o showing tht for many years pevious to Ireexeutin will inf dispute which was on the 25thr of November,c 1834,g 44_114 to his death afterwards, he was of perfectly sane mind,
n',l was so regarded by all his friends and associates.
to the crowded state of our columns; we are reluctantly
'''''LaPelled to withdraw our report of the Attorney-General's
-Peech. as far as it has hitherto proceeded ;. but in our next
our readers will find the whole proCeedings.

PRESTON

AND ITS RAILWAYS.

Thee n avidity with which the inhabitants of Preston have
,; zed Upon the swift modes of rans affored by ways is
°ar
wn in the fact that there et nowit four lines of railrail way, in
active ,cork, in connection with this town, and the traffic in
s telleral has been satisfactory to the directors and sharehold-
era,-
and the prospects of each are considered as indicating a
ieat accession of business, and, of consequence, of profit to
I
re proprietors. The North Union Railway was the first
•Ine Opened to the public in Preston, and it has not yet been
operation two years. The two dividends already paid to
the shareholders, and the satisfactory report produced at the
late meeting in Liverpool, and since distributed to the share-
,elders, sufficiently show the great success of this line. The
rreston and Longridge Railway is of a different character to
most of the lines opened in England, as no steam engines are
nuiPloyed, and no locomotive power is required to work it in
tThe hat direction in which the hea weights are to be conveyed.
main object of this line isvy
to bring down freestone from
."ongridge Fell, where inexhaustible quarries of the finest
quality of stone for building purposes may be opened. The
Lancaster and Preston Railway forms a link in the chain of
that line of communication between the metropolis and the
Iwo great cities of 'Scotland, which the Royal Commissioners
nave declared to be most worthy of government support. We
cap' in a Lancaster contemporary, a week or two ago, that it
was expected that the line from Preston to that town would
be one of the most lucrative in the kingdom. With less san-
guine hopes than our neighbour we yet trust that it will afford
k good return of interest upon the capital sunk in the under-
dertaking. It has the advantage of better gradients than
most other lines, and has been formed at much below the
average cost per mile. The last one opened, is the Preston
44(.1 Wyre Railway, and it is the one that has been, until its
;Pening, the most cooll looked upon. The main businss
O! which this line of railway was laid, has not yet begune to
btransacted, and, as much depends upon the use made by
ders of the harbour of Wyse, we shall not speak upon this
nch of the company's revenue. There is one point, how-
Zivl:r, to which we must allude, as showing how mush more
..railway has been used for passengers than its promoters
aoLteipateti. In the original prospectus the number of per-
orns, Which the company calculated upon carrying, (exclusive
fur Ireland and Scotland, arrangements for which
Cve not yet been made,) was, 15,000 annually. The num-
C: actually conveyed in the six weeks during which it has
;t! opened amounts to 30,079 !!
The facilities for visiting Fleetwood by bathers, and those
,"Ileus to resort for a short time for the benefit of sea air,
tilialvde stirred our neighbours of Lytham and Blackpool. To
sgeni..,roln the latter place and the railway-station at Poulton,
tlie.'!"°:es and coaches are daily running in connection with
plae trains,„ and, in consequence, this fashionable watering-
etg,- "" been crowded to such an extent, as to defy the
sit,itnos_t exertions of the inhabitants to accommodate the
t r.B' The disposition shewn by those confined in manu-
e
to the g towns to take the advantage of a summer excursion
lig, sea side, when it can be done with so little loss of
;Hit:, has, we have heard, determined the spirited inhabit-
fro " Blackpool to turn their attention to forming a branch
44(ite the Wyre Railway-station at Poulton, to Blackpool,
atei bear that steps towards this object will be immedi-
for Y taken. The number of visitors to Lytham this year,
sorr_reasons that will be apparent, has been made less than
has Y, and the diminution of sojourners to this village
be
a,ve learn, called forth a determination that it shall nut
an._"-ogether deserted. Arrangements are in progress for
tc';'.veying the line of country between Lytham and Kirkham,
ita7ersaig the best line of communication between the Wyre
I,,yraY and the former place: Both the Blackpool and the
fre-
quently branches will pass over a country where the fre-
be nY heavy, expense of embankments, bridges, tee., will
4:voided, and the cost will of course be comparatively light.
°id these lines be executed, we shall then have the same
meansor, of swift transit to the sea side—to the new town and
of Fleetwood, the pleasant watering-place of Blackpool,
toli• the pretty bathing-village of Lytham—as we now have
kr. e great seat of commerce Liverpool, and the vast ern-
mgli!rn of tnainsfacturea, )Mancliester. As the railway coin-
lettrileation between all these places will be complete, we
nsiY "Peet that the inhabitants of Manchester and the
ghbourhood will the more frequently be tempted to avail
,ssetnselves of a healthful and pleasant trip to the sea side.
iti,:irllew projects to which we have alluded are of course in
and Infancy, but we shall not fail to mark their progress,
• ~,ItY before our readers from time to time such particulars
waY interest thein.—Preslon Chronicle.