Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-01-18

regiment OF foot. He had held ms com
mission more thar three months withou
taxing the sacrament. He was habl
e therefor to q penalty Of five hundre'
pounds, which an informer might re
. cover by action Of debt. A meniai ser
want was employed to bring asuit for tn
{ sum, in the court of Kings Bench. 81
EDWARD pleaded that be had letters
patent from the King, authorizing hin
to hold the commission notwithstanding
the Test Act. The Plaintiff demurred
and thus presented the question whetheI
this was q sufficient defense. Thus thu
simple question OF law vas raised, fol
the Judgment Of the Court. Judgmen.
was given by HERBERT, Lord Oh. Jus
tiee, who announced that he had sub
mitted the question to all the twelve
Judges, and that in the opinion Of clever
OF them, the King had the dispensing
power. One only dissented, by collision.
that the Bench might appear to be indie
pendent. Courts may be packed as vel
as juries: and if the jury are no judges
Of the law, the direction Of a packed
lCourt. or Of n VIGOROUSLY incompetent
and p~reiudiced knave like UNDERWOOD,
is as binding on them rs that of the
most venerable of human tribunals, and
they must murder in obedience to the
mandate OF the paltriest Judicial pimp Of
power.
His Majesty's gracious Declaration to
all his loving subjects for liberty of Con-
science" was issued on the 4th of April,
1857. Among other things, it declares
that thenceforward the execution of all
penal laws in matters ecclesiastical for
uon-csnformity, should be and thereby
was suspended, and that the oaths COM
monty called the oaths Of supremacy
and allegiance and the several tests and
declarations mentioned in the acts of
Parliament Of > and so CHARLES II,
should no longer he required to be taken,
declared or subscribed by any one en-
ployed in any Office or place Of trust,
civil or military, under the Govern
ment the King promising to grant dis
pensstions under the Great Seal, to all
who should not take such oaths, or sub
! scribe or declare such tests or declars.
/ tons.
On the 4th of May l6SS, it was ordered
by the King in Council that the Declare
ton Of 9th April 1888, which recited
and renewed that Of Attn April 1887,
should be read in all Churches and
Chspels throughout the Kingdom, on
certain days; and the Bishops were re.
quired to cause it to be sent and dis
tri6uted throughout their Dioceses, to be.
read accordingly.
WILLIAM Lord Archbishop OF Canter-
bury, WILLIAM Lord Bishop Of st.
Asaph, FRANCIS Lord Bishop Of Ely,
JOHN Lord Bishop Of Chichester,
THOMAS Lord Bishop Of Bath and
Wells, THOMAS Lord Bishop Of Peter
borough and JONATHAN Lord Bishop of
Bristol presented a petition to the King,
declaring their averseness to the dis
tributing and publishing the Declaration
for Liberty Of Conscience, for the reason,
especially, that it was founded " upon
such q dispensing power as hath been
often declared illegal in Parliament, and
particularly in the years 1862 and 1872,
and the beginning OF your Msjesiy's
Reign" wherefore they declared that
they could not, in prudence, honour or
conscience. make themselves parties to
ID by distributing it.
Upon this an information was fled IN
the Kings Bench by PowYs, Attorney
General, charging the Bishops with con-
sulting and c~oDspiring together to lessen
the Royal authority, the regal prsrogs-
tive and power and regimen of the King,
aud to infringe and elude his order, and
that in furtherance and execution
thereof, they, at Westminster in the
county Of MidJlesex, on the 18Th Of Nav,
1858, unlawfully, ma~liciously, seditiously
and ~sssndalOusly fabricated, composed.
wrote and published, a certain false.
feigued, perniciOus and seditious libel
under pretence Of a petition, in regard to
the King and his Royal Declaration and
Order, (which petition was set forth in
the inlormation), in contempt of the
King and Of the avs Of the Realm, etc.
and against the peace, crown and dig
nity Of the King.
The cause was tried in the Kings 1
Bench, before Sir ROBERT WRIGHT,
Lord Chief Justice, and Holloway.
Powell and ALLYBoNE, Judges, at Trim
ity Term, 16SS, which commenced on
the 5th Of June. The Bishops were
brought into Court on q Habeas Corpus
TO the Lieutenant Of the Tower, to
which they had been committed by a
warrant Of the Lords OF the Privy
Council.
The Bishops pleaded not guilty; and
on the 29th Of June the Jury was sworn.
Sir ROGER LANGLEY was the foreman.
and the others were Sir WILLIAM HILL,
Roger JENNINGS, THOMAS HARRIor.
JEOFFEREY NI~GHTINGALE, WILLIAM
WTrERRs, WILLIAM AVERY, THoMAs
AUSTIN, NICHOLAS GRICE, MICHAEL
ARNOLD, THOMAS DONE, and RICHARD
SHoREDITCH, Esquires.
The writing Of the petition was proven.
but the prosecution failed to prove its
publication ia Middlesex, i. e., that the
Bishops sent or delivered it 10 the King
there; and the Chief Justice began 10
the jury and would have told
them to scquit, because publication was
not proven; but FINCH, one Of their
counsel, i~mprudently said that they
could produce evidence that it was no.
published, and the Chief Justice caught
It that, said they should have OppOrtu-
lity to produce such evidence, and
in his charge. The counsel for
he Crown then sent for Lord SUNDER-
AND, having learned that they could
by him the publication the Court
Waited until he came, and he did prove
t. The question for the jury then was,
imply and nakedly, whether the petition /
vas libellous; and that depended upon |
question whether the King had IN
the dispensing pOwer,-a pure ues- :
OF Jaw ana q already decided in
be affirmative by the twelve Judges Of !
/
When Sir ROBERT SAWYER, in open /
e for the defence to the jury, after
ritIng and publication proven, began TO l
'eak Of the clause Of the declaration 7
lat suspended the penal laws, the Chief o
lstiee, speaking aside, said, "I must e
It suffer this; they intend to dispute
e Kings power Of suspending the :
ws.D II
Mr.. J. Powell. My Lord, they must necessa-
y fan upon that poiut for ~ the King hath n
such power, las clearly he hath moi 10 my =,
the nsturEl consequence will he. "
j thh Peiitsoa = Rp ~aimlpuIioH Of he 81