The Sun. — 1838-07-16 (London, England)

CRESSWELL—May it please your Lordship—Gentlemen of the Jury—The prosecutors in this case, who have instituted the proceedings in the name of her Majesty against Mr. Ga.thereole, are the lady abbess and nuns of a religious establishment at Scorton, in the county of York. This order was originally established in France; and during the time of the revolutionary troubles in that country in 1795, they came over tel England and for a considerable period,:through the kindness cf Sir Carnaby Hageerston, were allowed to occupy Haggerston Castle. In 1807 they removed to Scorton, where they 'now reside. In 1837 the publication in question was put foroa,d. The ladies applied to the Court of Queen's Bench for leave to file a criminal information against Mr. Gathercole for the publication of the libels in question. The course of proceeding in such cases is this. The parties who complain in this way of their characters being attacked, are obliged to make affidavit, and to prove on their oaths before the Court, that they are perfectly innocent of everything imputed to them ; and the defendant, on the other hand, is at liberty, if he can, to bring forward any evidence cf which he is in possession, to substantiate and justify the charge he has made. Therefore, before a record of this nature can be brought down for the consideration of a jury, it is necessary to satisfy the Judges of the Queen's Bench that the charge is libellous. and that it has been published without any the slightest faunCation. When, therefore, you find a record of this nature sent down, from the very course of proceeding, you must take it for granted that there was not the slightest foundation for the charge made, that Mr. Gathercole, when challenged to produce his evidence, if he had any, failed to do so, and that, in the opinion of the Learned Judges presiding in that Court, the charge was a libel. The latter, however, by the course of justice in this country, is submitted to you, as the ultimate authority to decide on that question. Therefore, the questien for you to decide this day is simply this —ls that which Mr. Gathercole has published of these ladies a libel or not ? It appeared in the Number of the Churchman for February, 1837, and the first passage which is set out in the record is part of an article headed " Petitions to Parliament," and reads thus:—Petitions also for ry into the numbers and state of those brothels for the priests—the Popish nunneries—in the United Kingdom. That such houses of prostitution should be allowed to erect their impudent and filthy fronts in this land is a disgrace to its professed Cliristizini!), and morality. All such Popish stews ought to be burnt to th.eground, only tilting care to let their poor deluded and prostituted inhabitants he preserved and set free. We should be glad to know how many Popish priests enter the nunneries at Scorton and Darlingto❑ each week ; and also how many infants are barn in them every year, and what becomes of them, whether the holy fathers bring them up or not, or whether the innocehts are murdered out of hand L,r not ?" Gentlemen, I will not go threngla the disgusting task of reading the abominable publ,cations of this man, one after anoilier. I have given you n sample; the remainder shall be read by the officer. '1 he remainder of the libel,: were then read and wn.nesses examined,  after which the Jury retired. and after consulting half an hour, rvturned a verdict of Gui:ty on the first count. Judgment, we underatard, will cot be given till Michaelmas Term. Th' other iiiforma.ion, oil the prosecution of the Darlington nunnery, was not Foceedcd with, it being agree 3 that the Jury should b:3 discharged from giving- a verdict.