The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-11-22 00:00:00

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1853'

LIBEL ON

A LADY.

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, Nov. 17.
(Before Chief Justice CAMPBELL, Mr. Justice COLERIDGE,
Mr. Justice WIGHTMAN, and Mr. Justice EARLE.)
CRIMINAL INFORMATION. THE QUEEN (ON THE
PROSECUTION OF FRANK) v. WILL3IER AND ANOTHER.—
Sir F. Thesiger said he took the earliest possible oppor-
tunity to apply to the court, on the part of the prosecution,
for .a rule calling upon the defendants, Edward Willmer
and David Smith, printers, publishers and sole proprietors
of the Liverpool Chronicle, to show causes why a criminal
information should not be filed against them for a most
cruel and scandalous libel upon the honour of a lady, by
which the peace and happiness of a most respectable
family had been shamefully invaded. The gentleman, on
whose behalf he was compelled to make the application,
resided at Aigburth, in the neighbourhood of Liverpool.
In 1847, he married the only daughter of Sir John
Bent, a gentleman residing at Edge-hill, also in the
neighbourhood of Liverpool. Mr. and Mrs. Frank
lived together on the most affectionate terms, and Mrs.
Frank's conduct had been always most correct. Until
Saturday last, Mr. Frank had never heard an impu-
tation to the contrary, and on that day when he called
upon his mother-in-law, Lady Bent, he was startled to
hear that there were scandalous rumours current in the
neighbourhood, that his wife had been guilty of infidelity
with a servant formerly in his establishment ; and he was
referred to Mr. Mould, at Liverpool, for further informa-
tion on the subject. He immediately proceeded to, and
saw that gentleman, who put into his hands the newspa-
.

per containing the paragraph imputing infidelity to his
wife. The paragraph stated that " gossip " had been
making free with two cases of conjugal infidelity, one of
them relating to parties who resided in the neighbourhood
of St. Bride's Church, and the other to a family residing
at Aigburth. The paragraph having entered somewhat
Into descriptive particulars of the first case, then drew
attention to the alleged case at Aigburth, which it spoke
of as still more distressing from the position of the un-
fortunate lady, a position which rendered it hardly likely
that an action could be brought, from the fact that the
defendant was a servant, "not worth powder and shot."
The paragraph, in further commentary upon the scan-
dalous report,' added that the event had Oren great pain
to the husband of that lady,' who possessed large fortune,
" troops of friends," and all that could make life desirable.
Mrs. Frank,. who was thus cruelly maligned, had been
obliged to submit to the degradation—for so, he must
designate it —of utterly denying that there was the
slightest truth in the scandalous imputation upon her
honour. He wodtdprove the publication of the paragraph.
Lord Campbell—Do.your affidavits show that the com-
plainants are the parties referred to in the paragraph.
Sir F. Thesiger said that the affidavits on that point
were complete. Thormention of the father of the laity as
a gentleman bearing a title' was itself sufficient, for that
description did not apply to the father of 'any other
married lady living at that spot. There were, besides,
affidavits of third persons; declaring that they had no
doubt as to the parties to whom that libel related. He.'
ought to mention that the paper against which this appli-•
cation was made was pedlished every Saturday. The
learned counsel then went on.to say that he would have
made the application before;.• but that the parties had
thought proper to publish awadvertisement in the Liver-
pool Standard of Tuesday last,. headed "Scandalous
Reports." The advertisement set forth that the Liverpool
Albion of that day had alluded4o, the paragraph which
appeared in the Liverpool Chronicle of the previous
Saturday, and explained that the., slanderous imputation
contained in the paragraph had itenrigirt in the malignity
of aidischarged servant ; and that theLivrerpool Chronicle
had merely inserted the rumour amongst the " gossip of
the week," The advertisement revs etted the suffering
that harbbeen inflicted on a respectable family, and volun-
tarily pledged that a strict retraction of the entire state-
ment, meting imputations on the lad+'s, honour, should
appear in +the. next number of the Liverpool Chronicle.
It did not ,appear to him (Sir F. Thesiger) that this was
sufficient in ,a case of such seriousness, and. he therefore
deemed that he. would not be discharging, his duty if he
did not appeahto this Court for a rule to show cause why
a criminal information should not be fled against the
parties who published the slander.

Lord Campbell was of opinion-that the ednrse proposed
by theparties did. not disentitle the learned. counsel to
take a rule, whatever might be the result of, it hereafter.
Rule nisi granted.

AE
THE REV. DR. 31-6.IIrEILE AND -
EDINBURGH REVIEW

tsrl,
Ti following is the reply of the Rev. Canon 31`-
to the letter of the Very Rev. Dean CONEYBEASA W

SO.
Albany-house, Liverpool, no AP'
"Dear Sir,—The greater part of your letter has 014
plication to mine, and I am sorry to say your letter_tv,e,
Editor of The Times contains a misrepresentation. of;e,
" That church parties ' form a very fit object for .01101
tigation' I never denied. That 'a general classino the
the several prominent schools' may be necessarY Do.
purpose, I did not question. Bad your son confiiteeiritil
self to this I would never have noticed his article. ,Ter,l
the justice, or otherwise, of his delineation of these‘s,et,`, ee
schools, I have no concern. With the applicab,T
otherwise, of his remarks in the special case of thef,eani
I have no concern. I distinctly said so in my legit it
limited my enquiry to the single point, on what e ,rll
he brought me forward by name as the leader 013 ITO
described as he describes the Recordites--a Part/
teach by inference the worthlessness of morality „ the
" To this point you at last address yourself, 'lllOO,
evidence you adduce is not from any one of four
or above twenty separate sermons and speeches' v'e'spre
have published, but from your recollection of ail
sion which you say I made use of in some speech ca ;hid!
platform in London some 18 or L'o years, age, an, lybicli
you yourself acknowledge you took up in a sells
you are well persuaded was not my real raeaning, deb;
"I put it to your own sense of propriety and tVour.ie)
ing whether this is sufficient • evidence to Jutiv4
or your son ?
" Surely, if I deserve to be held up to reprobatie.ll:eot;'
ft is nothing else—ac the leader of a party dt4si tDe
antinomian, my authenticated publications, and rotiv 0
general recollection of my accusers, ought' to 0E1;100
adduced,evicice niFyailiacenusgetrso fimnudstb,etter evidence than Y_,lto
out of court.
viction that 1 have of my own existencf,, that I
"I have only to add, that in
hanavefaiti:eessistm' beesoliret:ef!ecile;
used, or could have used, unless to condemn,. the esi',:d
sion you attributed to me the soul-destreit'?
doctrine of repentance.' It is abhorrent to, my litO
It is as morally impossible that I could have. I.leisitite,
my own, as it is that I could have said that black is
or that two and two make five.
"To the Very Re" remain, Sir, snire;biena
joutr.,, fillitishifu,sllpru•

appeared in our lad

SCRIPTURE JEADERS' SOCIETY

,ety,
Ox Tuesday, a meetingef the friends of this s Joe!,
dent in Rodney-street Ward 4 was held at the Teiniagli,
School-room, St. James's-read, Mr. Councillor F' ntleoe
the chair. The Rev. Wnx. Pollock and other ge of 01
society for fionrttohae dpeastatilyedeasrta, tsemhowenintgofththee
the'con yts
which had resulted from then; anti appealing toA cor:
pathies of the audience in support of the soeietPogiagt;
mittee was appointed for the purpose of 11,,rendltri.
effective canvass of this ward, and to aid e' uhsc,..„ry-tbf
operations of the institution by procuring nes__viisirest
A. meeting of the friends of this uocietY,
Ward; was held in St. Jude's Boys' School
-.--atiellagri•
hill;. on Thursday. There was s. numerous' -.or '
and amongst those present were Mr. Calu'et3 e 131.0
Clintl(in. the chair), the Rev. J. 8... L0We.,.,.,,e1 onus,
Barketi the Rev. J. Bardsley, the Bevs,
Rev. Ji Butler; Messrs. Henderson; Char
Hilton' Flathead, William Rowett, R. M• °AV
The chairman briefly addressed the meeting °llejaceo -00
for which. they had been convened, and- spaljeoi
goopoderatio,,eseeo
Rev. F. Barker, of St. Mary's, Edge-hillf IvP",,aAd
the importance of the objects of the seetq:o' pgire,`.
intended to-assist the clergy in carrying,:otkl"'
ministrations, and he argued that, from the tug, cis
duties of titer clergy, particularly in I.iverP°d putt v~
impossible for them to perform their duties as ter;
larly the visitation of the poor, without the T-4'1,11-,.lle''ti;
operation by. this. society. He pressed ne.„.l,!`onotet&tif
the necessity of contributing to support "6hristl,„'g 0
object being to diffuse the principles 4:0 ,reas:tis.
amongst the mAtses of the people, who were.i
power and in intelligence without any correSanej
crease in the knowledge or fear of God.---311%catnaetilj to
Henderson was the- next speaker, and strongly co),lef
to his hearers the duty of doing what' theYvold!
forward the objects of the society.—The Bec.l iseetiPot
moved the following resolution That
being deeply sensible of the great spiritual de'37l/230';
large masses of the population in this town;
confidence in the system of lay agency as enip%!. S°,.. of
Liverpool Church of England Scripture Ralue. 00)710
hereby resolve to appoint a committee for the air
arranging an effective canvass of the ward, all" 10. aet4" sgeir
important and valuable institution by proeucitt refi,tot
scriptions." In speaking to the . resolution, the the rof
tlemau entered into/ some statistics to show
spiritual destitution of the town. The Alf co 0001
Canterbury had stated. that no clergyman, if a" of.s,diir
his duty, ought to have more than a ponala-nfl the
and the Bishop off inehester stated that in eca'od.iteto
tricts the church ght to be able to accotoradt
be
accommodate fiv
half of the populat on,. and in large towns they
itfio
a very fair estimate-of what ought to be, of
ost
between it and the existing state of things iabich
ices'
would show the vastamonnt of destitution, w, tett
e-eths. As this might be t
exist in the town. Tha-population of the par°ooas of
pool by the last census, Including 12,006 sailors, 0,0 9,i0
to about 270,000, and. the• number of churches bia_do
51, giving an average Ropulation to each of ElL)°°, as ctt
several districts there was a, population of 1,1,,e
or two of 16,000, to a sifiglethurch; and in these 091.
the people were so poor that, even if they've rthe
ftie
they could scarcely afrordtto pay for sitting's al,rostial'the.
in which there were orlp 9b. free sittings. Cet,,siorioc
number of clergymen with-men of other Pre"- the
iii
rev. gentleman, foundibg his calculations on, eialtof
basis on which a similar- statement had heeltione,
London, stated that for -every clergyman of tbe,„ se;(fost
England there were seven, or- eight medical 'ova jyter
eight missionaries, seven or eight policeraeo,s org,„
was still worse, twenty-eight or thirty publial' „I'll' 40'
houses, Liverpool being„ini this respect, consideriner
than London. He next spoke of the great. 11'
iii a the
population in Liverpool, without a correspoudi?,
of church accommodction ;- and after eel the
great advantages which. the active workhig t"
was likely to produce, he• concluded by reilunoair,:),/
extracts from the journals- of the Scripture,:ip
.t Olt
show the good results...which flowed from t"-,rb/ii.etti
The Rev. J. B. Lowe seconded the resolutionl,r. $o 0,4
carried unanimously ;- and. on the motion of al,on-k-S-gia
seconded by the Rev....F. Barker, a vote of
passed to the chairman.. Aninfluential conaioa
been named, the proceedings terminated. fy

GE O.R

PROGRESS OF ST.

is
iSnT .s
uGce Oh rag ~,je
4111. ieleciiiig
ef'osrHwaratil:ltsistaterecenthatlty:mdea;n:est 111;.bui iii,
towards completion., and we understand that tseto Ow
°Prot.
oral
tended, with a musical festival, in Septeinhe,„r wUA,,,eOi
aasinanthtiecigrepsteatd
British Association,will pay a visit to this rieif '',.olS'
afterwards, and they may probably hold, their 'e
,clef
anticipated,. the the p 1 meetinge t e
completion as will take 0.00,
the presidency of the: resent chief magistrate-rail.
_.,e 5,,;
openingp
Should the bin' ocktildi
Esq.. who, as chairman of the St. George'S "----,j, ti'lt Pir
tee, has for several: years t devoted ironiclllalti„,o3`
attention to the . building, with a view "" s .ni "'-
render it wortbt of the town. It is hoPe',r,it, Lice
pected in the town;. that Her. Majesty will ?I''' ai,g'
10
Two iagmegafr.ltyhea).petan.le, and at, the
fi,.scijw,„6,o4,
_A -13tlie 004
o years. ago, the biding was place' ~, the to ,1•
Mr. Cockerelli and he furnished designs-":urse.4.oe_du'
ion of the kali,, which designs are now iev vstlPtatAll
carried out.. It will be recollected that the,,edie ntar'
ing is of briek,.;.and the architect has sue arch ,relineJA
fifteen
it with the .most elaborate and elegm% tho „or 0",
mouldings . and: decorations. 'There sre 'in 3•74eeti
be • , ,rha earcole ide. ote
bearings, carved in high relief. ~„te tile ~ rite,
the royal arms, the arms of the Plat";' ilic elfra,k ,
arms, andthe patron saint, St. Ge° 1e e' othlein,*'-b,;ingefel,
panellingjS filled in with a varlet)" ° ~; wlicie. The l'
P111144'4 compartments, each oontsl._„„ reir-tveo,
meats. and. enrichments in low relief, ".`tildiog.. ittabei;
propriato.to the general design of the .1i) to ten ino; recety
ing of the side recesses, which aln°lll le. Ir'e 'ebea
are itaiehed in the same elaborates Sfiirther e'lliiyill CL
11
are introduced lunettes, which sre,jer of the.. Ailed 1,,
arehitecturat sculptures, after the,_...-g`ta-aie areu. ,vie Ailed
nag. The spandrell panels of Art, in't'ilk handsl.
with,genii, representing Scien4eohandeliers' -win bet!tod
Tbniperance, and Prudence; w,ntionsn6'werche' titshel°,at a. 4
andr appropriate design ano, "r- roheS• '- tvele s' -If
pended from each of the sitle the..°Th saes te e'''' WO tie
walls, &c., are to be executed la, • tient/0 has trots t,a
the main building. Considerable °,„l wbic, ,ed, esai„
stowed on the side galleries of the la, enlPl°Y.,ool.e o,f;red-
beauty of the design and the niater_o, even in - asiu." iS
anything of the kind ordinerilY she work 'et C° igerit
finest buildings in thie,countli• f the grea&,reric.s,
very similar to that found in many ° The .le iyi
Italy and other parts f .the continent.
s plaCed „ill iill.„1•
to be still further earl° ched be' „,,,, jutranc,- g's 2',,eii
appropriated to their reception- The aidors, lisY-et !;4,,
filled with highly-ornamented brass not Y. tiov;f
..,,,- has ,,. it )3'
forested ormohl panels. The. 11W—
dg for laYla' a I'," ef'
laid, but preparations are being raa etatufaetareoll, is.re
It will be forined. of tesseiated tiles' rat of the igti.l el°
Minton, of Staffordshire, mad this Par , afect s 5,04°0
pected, when completed, to he a most, Paud the ge
rate work of art. The organ gallerY the 00°000
other structural works for containinigthe bell ii4o 0.01
rapid progress; in fact, this Part e 'he
t eil)(1
completed. The organ, which is to be p. ~,n, sin of }lit
end,, will project a short distance into tne.c7_,,irt.ll3.
A the opers'w 1 ole " ir.',
organ are nearly complete, an- , ~,;,,, 0 i
~A g I,
the case will be shortly commenceu. t
tl s.l)';-eilPg '
upon, polished granite columns. The various fij I
The coloured decorations of the ceiliug ', i., eel olf,
windows of the hall are to be fdled wl
11., es ivttlil)o
+o the he'''i 0°
calculated to give an apparent increase -
_once Alie illAio
chaste and elegant, and their general erect' i,lit
building-a point of considerable inlP?' in 1 iii 'A
edifices of this kind. The armorial bearings those let .l
other parts of the hall. When the whole lie coil Po
ceiling are rather more highly coloured 0110;1 eolliP4o!‘i
and the coloured floor brought into agreefrect ' It.,
doubt be even more chaste than it is at P,,rit osio'etl",, with the other decorations, 'the general
present.,„ ‘..h;
worthy of remark that the whole of the
.t‘yeice ni pi.);
cribed has been executed within the last. tw. ~ wiPeile"
bu,oo-6 lite
and it'is confidently expected that the , .15 i ,
nal . 14
such a forward state that it may be oPe is P 1,1
with a musical festival, in September next..i_ itall 1 iS
The concert-room at the north end of tvoe pro ,o:,
gressing satisfactorily. It is of the horse-siltheetre4etti,
will be fitted up in the style of a handsonive ~,r col...cer ,
to afford ample space and accommodatio ,i'l,o
.ceePeiS.','
lectures, and other public proceedings.: _bent Totti'll,
room, it is expected, will be completed .
I e other r'..l
time as the hall. The courts of law and tii coca
ovelitil
of the building, excepting the hall anti_ 0,11000 l''',,f
appear to be nearly in the same condition run to
totlo
in December, 1851. Visitors are adnut
rp CO
daily, between twelve and one o'clock, on
an order from a member of the councils