The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1842-04-12 00:00:00

SATURDAY.
LITTLEDALE

ALMER V

Tbis case was resumed this morning, at nine o'clock, when
Mr. Baron ROLFE intimated, that the evidence on the part
of the plaintiff was extremely slight, but he should not take
upon himself the responsibility of stopping the case. He
would leave it to the determination of the jury.
Mr. KNOWLES recalled Mr. Comer, to explain some mat-
ters in his evidence yesterday • but, after some discussion,
the learned Judge said he could not receive additional evi-

dente.
Mr. *WORTLEY then proceeded to address the jury on the
part of the defendants. He should not attempt to go through
the details of the case, and he had only risen to lay before
them the grounds upon which Messrs: Littledale resisted this

action. If Mess. Littledale thought they were at all to
blame in the transaction, they would rather have sacrificed a
thousand pounds than have put auy party who dealt with
them to the trouble and expense of litigation. They resisted
this demand, because the plaintiff,

hatever

s he sus-

tained, had brought it upoh himself by the manner in which
he had chosen to carry on his dealings. He had not dealt
with Messrs. Littledale upon the same terms as other mer-
chants dealt with them ; and now he wanted to recover da-
mages for the consequences of his own fault. Everybody
who knew Messrs. Littledale knew that their business was
conducted with extreme regularity, precision, and propriety.
Whether Mr. Balmer was a regular merchant at Runcorn or
not, or whether he was a private gentleman making occasional
speculations for his own benefit, he did not know ; but he
ought to have understood, that if he dealt with Messrs. Lit-
tledale, he must deal with them upon precisely the same
terms as other merchants. Instead of that, it appeared,
from first to last, he had never dealt with Messrs. Littledale:
he had made the person who was employed by Messrs. Little-
dale his own agent and partner in all his transactions. Mr.
Corner, therefore, was the person he dealt with, and not
Messrs. Littledale. Under these circumstances, he con-
tended that the plaintiff had not, as the learned Judge had
intimated, established his case.
Mr. Baron ROLFE then summed up the case, and the jury
retired to consider their verdict. After an absence of some
time, they returned into court with a verdict for the plaintiff,
damages £383.
SLANDER AGAINST A CLERGYMAN OF THE CHURCH OF

ENGLAND.-PALEY, CLERK, v. FARRI MOND.
This was an action brought by the Rev. Joshua Paley, in-
cumbent of Pemberton, near Wigan, to recover compensa-
tion in damages for certain slanderous expressions uttered by
the defendant, William Farrimond, a farmer, residing in the
same township. The following gentlemen were sworn a Spe-
cial Jury to try the case :
Mr. Hugh Hornby, Mr. Thomas Barber,
Mr. Thomas Fannin, Mr. Win. Chas. Fosberry,
Mr Charles Alexander, Mr. Isaiah Ashlin,
Mr. Mayer Frank, I Mr. C. S. Middleton,
Mr. John Bentley, Mr. ;lames ,llargreave,
Mr. Henry Wilson, Mr. George Grace.
Mr. Dundas, Mr. Cowling, and Mr. Ramshay appeared
for the plaintiff ; Mr. Wortley and Mr. Watson for the de-

tendant. •
Mr. RAMSBAY stated the nature of the declaration. It
contained three 'counts, alleging various slanderous imputa-
tions upon the plaintiff. The defendant pleaded, first, not
guilty, and, second, by a justification.
Mr. DUNDAS then proceeded to state the case, observing
to the Jury, that they had heard from his learned friend the
nature of the inquiry they were about to be engaged in. It
was one of the most solemn and anxious investigations that
could occupy the attention of a court of justice. Before he
detailed the circumstances of the case, be must confess, that,
often as he had been engaged for clients where life had been
intrusted to him to defend,- or liberty to maintain, or the
rights of property to assert for his fellow-countrymen, he
never, in the course of his life, felt upon him the responsibi-
lity which now rested upon him in doing his duty to his
client; for there was 'something dearer than liberty, there
was something that he valued higher than property, nay,
there was somethingin issue to-day which was dearer to him
than life itself, because the charge made upon his client was
of a nature so revolting to every feeling which God had im-
planted in our bosoms, so hateful to every thing decent and
honourable, and of good report in Christian society, that, un-
less he could, by the verdict' of the •Jury to-day, clear
his character from this false and malicious slander, a
wanderer upon the face of the earth must he be from this
day forth. His family, his friends, the sacred calling in
which he had hitherto been occupied must all be flung to the
winds, and he must go far beyond the eye of all people. It
was, therefore, God knew, that he (Mr. Dundas) felt the re-
sponsibility that lay upon him. After some further general
observations, the learned counsel stated, that the crime of
which the plaintiff was accused, namely, sodomy, was, from
the very nature of it, calculated to subdue the most firm ; the
most virtuous could scarely stand up against it, such was the
nature of its poison, such the nature of the wound it was cal-
culated to inflict. If be satisfied the jury, to whom he ap-
pealed, that his client was entirely innocent of such imputa-
tion, that it was made upon him by a false and calumnious
tongue, there could be no damages he was not entitled to re-
cover. The plaintiff was the Itev. Joshua Paley, incumbent
of Pemberton, in the neighbourhood of Wigan. He was a
gentleman about thirty-six years of age ; a man of education ;
who, after leaving Cambridge. entered into holy orders, and
since 1832, had resided with his cure at Pemberton ; and if his
instructions were right, he was one of the most painstaking
and worthy ministers of the church in whose service he was
engaged. It was a district about three miles long by as many
miles broad. It contained a population of between 5000 and
6000 persons, consisting, principally, of weavers and colli-
ers ; and the plaintiff, from his earliest connexion with that
people, had devoted himself to them in a way, as far as lay
in his power, which all of us must applaud. He had, by edu-
cating the poor, through the day schools and Sunday schools,
through lectures in the week, through regular services in the
church, (where none had been before) done his best, and
done it most successfully, to improve the condition of the
people there, and to place them in greater light in the land
wherein they lived. He lived there in great harmony among
his people. Some time ago from over-exertion in his duty
as pastor, he fell into ill health, and was obliged to go abroad,
and in some part of 1841 he was absent from Pemberton.
The defendant, Mr. Farrimond, was a proprietor in•that part
of the country : and he (the learned counsel) knew not whe-
ther, in the course of the case, it would transpire why he
pursued such studied revenge against Mr. Paley. He could
not tell why the defendant, time after time, seemed to have
felt it a sort of duty to hang on his ciient's skirts and stab
him in his reputation in the manner that he had ; but the
jury would find, that, on the 25th May, last year, when Mr.
Paley was not at home, there was a town's meeting at Pem-
berton. It was attended by a considerable number of per-
sons, the defendant among the rest. Thera was there a gen-
tleman named Stephen, one of the churchwardens; and,
when the people were all there, Farrimond, addressing Ste-
phen and some persons within his hearing, uttered this slan-
der, and the jury would judge whether it had not a tendency
to destroy a clergyman's reputation :—" Mr. Paley ! he ought
to be brought up, for there is no keeping him"
an insinuation perfectly intelligible to every man who beard
it, implying that Mr. Paley was addicted to some unnatural
propensity, or to some indecent and disgusting passion, Mr.
Stephen, when he heard it, said, " If you have anything to
say against Mr. Paley, speak out, and I will speak to Mr.
Paley about it." The defendant said no more : having ut-
tered this peison he left it to circulate. In the month of
July this same Mr. Farrimond was at Wigan, in a public-
house called the Dog and Partridge, at which was Mr. Mars-
den, the sidesman, or some other ecclesiastical officer of Pem-

berton, with several other persons. Some question arose as
to who Mi. Marsden was, and some one said he was one of
Mr. Paley's churchwardens : upon that Farrimond did not
miss that opportunity of smiting the clergyman, for he said,
addressing Mr. Marsden, " Thou art no grcat things, or
else thou would not be churchwarden for such a devil as
him :" * * * I told Mr. Stephen, at a
town's meetir- Mr

about Mr. Paley carrying on so, anu
Stephen promised to have him up." The filth and abomina-

tion's of such a man no man could di

, nor the imputation

it was meant to convey. Here .were words spoken, to per-
sons who knew the plaintiff, of the plaintiff, the revolting
and disgusting nature of which be was not going to enlarge
upon. It was quite enough for him, if, in the course of his
painful duty, he had to mention them. He laid them before
the jury, and he left them to judge what, when they were
communicated to Mr. Paley, his feelings must have been.
He left' them to judge, if these words were proved to have
been uttered by Mr. Ferrimond, and they were as false as he
was sure the jury would believe them to be, when they had
heard the case out, what a calumny that was ; what measure
of damages the defendant ought to pay ; to say whether they
should not inflict, with a ready hand, such measure of damages
as, in their judgment and conscience, Mr. Ferrimond ought to
pay. But what sort of a man is Mr. Ferrimond? What sort of
a um must he be, if he really believes this to be true? What
would the jury think of Mr. Farrimond, a man witha family of
grown up children, permitting some of his growing up family to
attend Mr. Paley's lectures, as if MP. Paley was not the man
he made him to be, and as if he was still so good a man that
his children must attend upon him for instruction Having
circulated this poison of Mr. Paley ; having done him this
wrong and cruel injustice, he still allowed his family to go in
the face of the public, as if Mr. Paley was as good a man as
ever, and as if it was proper for them to attend his lectures.
The plaintiff felt himself called upon to try this question with
Mr. Farrimond : he said, " I will bring my action against
you, and leave you to justify your words, if you dare." He
brought his action, and Mr. Farrimond justified his words.
His client, strong in the integrity of his innocence, cared not
for such justification; but Mr. Farrimond still said, " You
are guilty of these indecent practices ' • there are eight per-
sons whose names are upon the record upon whom you have
taken some liberty, or made some attack or other, and I
shall prove it." Said his client, "Do what you can ; any
man in England may be subject to this charge ; the best,
the most honourable, the most innocent man among us may
be thus tried." And so said be. (the learned counsel,) and
God help him unless he were innocent. The defendant then
put upon the record, " You have been guilty of some dis.
gusting and loathsome practices with the eight persons
whose names I give ,_•" but he did not stop there, for he
went on to say, " Not only have you been guilty of
them with these eight persons, but I will show that you
were guilty of them with divers other persons!' The
plaintiff was determined to know the meaning of this al-
legation, that other persons beside the eight could
prove he bad committed some indecent and disgusting
practice upon them ; and he did what an innocent man
ought to do. He went before Lord Denman, and applied
for a summons to that learned and noble person to know
who were those divers other persons whom Mr. Farrimond
chose to charge him with some indecency or other. He said,
" Tell me what their names are, that I may know who they
are, and that if they come into court I may confront them
and establish my innocence." Lord Denman felt that he had
no power to grant any such order; so that to this day the
plaintiff did not know what Mr. Farrimond meant by saying