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    1208 THE LEADER. ¦ [Saturday ,

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    OUR FRENCH COOK IN THE FOREIGN OFFICE. A...

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    Kir Wan's Cask. Omoumhtantiar, Kvidbnck,...

    judicial sacrifice about to be perpetrated in Ireland ; and it is not at all improbable that with , this happy illustration they will achieve a considerable success ; perhaps , as a first step , the concession that for the future circumstantial evidence shall in no case hang a man . Some too ardent young gentlemen suggested that the meeting should be held , at once , and petitions got up thereat in favour of the unhappy artist , whom a weary jury found guilty of living in adultery , and depriving them of refreshments last week—both , capital offences , as it appears . The suggestion was of course rejected , and on the usual ground —philanthropists , like politicians , assert principles ; details they have nothing to do with .

    We , however , who think examples often the best arguments , will say our say , or part of it , on this question at once . It is not so unimportant , even in its isolation , as it may seem , and moreover , as we believe Kirwan to be innocent , we should be glad to save his life . He " declares , before God , that he had neither hand , act , part , or knowledge" of the death of his late wife ; and we venture to credit his statement . But the great point , after all , as far as the public are concerned , and putting the duties of humanity out of the question , is not the mere settlement , yea or nay , of his guilt : the chief thing for us to consider is the terrible consequence of the new doctrine , that in cases of

    circumstantial evidence , consistency of the facts proved with the theory of the prosecution , should of itself be a sufficient satisfaction to the mind of the jury . The old dictum , that the proofs must be inconconsistent with any other hypothesis , is the one which , with Judge Crampton ' s permission , we shall uphold . The general facts are very easily mastered . It

    appears that Mr . Kirwan , an artist , of middle age , married some time in 1840 a lady fifteen years his junior , whether from love , or why , does not appear . About the same time , perhaps before , he made the acquaintance of a Miss Theresa Kenny , upon whom he bestowed a share of the affection undividedly " due" to his wife . Till a few months since , neither lady knew of the existence of the other .

    In September last , Mr . Kirwan went to live at Howth , and there he and his wife stayed in the house of a Mrs . Campbell , a widow , with remarkably good ears and a very scrupulous conscience . This woman , who is minutely accurate in her recitals of conversations which , went on in the parlour while she sat in the kitchen , laid an information before Captain Furnace , to the effect that Mrs . Kirwan had been constantly warned by her mother not to be too venturesome

    in bathing , and that " no couple could live more united , " except during one fortnight , than did the Kirwans . On the trial , however , this exemplary female objected , that though that information was hers , yet she had not kissed the book . She has Commissioner Phillips ' s authority for the A'jiluo of these formalities . A proper reverence for the Scriptures forbids her to tell truth , except when " the book" is within oaeulable distance .

    Mrs . Campbell , then , witness for the prosecution , tells us that the Kirwans quarrelled ; that Mrs . Kirwan bathed constantly ; and that on one occasion , after they had gone together to Ireland's Eye , M i \ s . Kirwan , with a bathing dress on her body , was brought home doad . J 5 y a re - markable coincidence , considering that it had boon raining , and that Mr . Kirwan had been running about in all directions in search of * his lout , wife , lii . s trouHera were wet . Considering that the couple had been known <<> quarrel , and that one of them had died unaceounla . bly , JV 1 rs . Campbell lias eireuniNtnntial evidence enough to satiufy her who was the- murderer . Mv . Kirwan had forcibly drowned hm wife .

    The next wil nesses an ; boatmen , brolhern , who ferried the kirwan . s over ( o Ireland ' s ICye in the morning and 'returned for Iheni at ni «_> lil ,. 'They depone to Heardiing wil . h Mr . Kirwan for Iuh wife , who , lie stated to them , had left him l . o bathe lit nix . o ' clock , it being then cighL Ultimately they found her iu a hole , on a , roeli , with various . scratches upon her ; Uio only point here being that she wuh in a . somewhat awkward position , 2 i .. s ladies dying in liUs are rather liable to l > o . They then wont in search of her elothcH , which they at length found in a place where one of tho witneNHcs had just previously been , and ween nothing of Iheni . Tho inforonce left to bo drawn was , ihuLKirwua had meanwhile put thorn

    there , with what object we confess we cannot discover . Two women were next examined , nurses , who washed the body . They deposed to the not very damning fact that Kirwan ' s trousers were wet about the . legs , as also to the circumstance that he insisted on having his wife ' s body washed before the arrival of the police . Even innocent men do not lose wives every day , and cannot therefore be expected to pay such attentions at such times to the police . To this there is literally no evidence to be added , except that screams were heard at or near Ireland ' s Eye . In these cases , people never can be very clear as to the distances .

    As to the medical testimony , that shows nothing at all as against the prisoner . The most hostile witness thought that , " taking the occurrence per se , "—surely it was not for him to take it otherwise , — " it was probable , in this instance , that death might have been brought on by a fit . " And fits , it may be observed , are not readily given by . husbands sketching in one part of an island , to wives bathing or dressing in another ; neither are they , in many cases , unattended by

    screams . Now , the first thing that strikes one in looking at this case is , that there is no possible proof of any murder at all , which surely should be a question preliminary to who is the murderer P It seems that a strong masculine woman of thirty , fond of bathing , and constantly doing so , leaves her husband , plunges into the water just after dinner , and either has a fit there , or has one just after scrambling out upon land . Any way , she is dead , with no marks of violence about hernothing but a few scratches , which falling on , or

    scrambling up a rock would give any one , so lightly clad as was she at the time . He , who has been sketching at a distance , finds her corpse , and exhibits every reasonable mark of grief and consternation at the catastrophe . An inquiry is made , the coroner is satisfied , and the woman is buried ; then , all at once , some local tribunal of ladies and gentlemen , shocked at the Kenny transaction , rake up the whole affair , and bring the widower up in the new character of a murderer . The jury hear everything , and are charged , as no English judge would have

    ventured to charge them . They are solemnly informed that , if they cannot reconcile the innocence of the prisoner with the facts laid before them , they are to find him guilty . They are not reminded that one fact more , existing , though not proved , might have thrown a new light upon the whole affair ; they are not told that it has always been the rule in these cases not only to require every fact necessary for the support of the hypothesis of the prosecution to bo proved , but also to show that that state of facts , so proved , is inconsistent with every other hypothesis which might be set up to account for it .

    The verdict , after reiterated assurances that there was no hoj > e of agreement , was suddenly agreed upon — strangely enough ; lifter a question , on which the difficulty seemed to turn , had been answered by the judge favourably to tho prisoner . A juror had asked to be told the medical evidence im to the appearances of the body when found . His lordship said they might ha the result of simple , and wort ; by no means necessarily the consequence of forcible , drowning . Tlio reply wan ' of no effect . The law does not : illow sufficient refreshments . " Wretches still

    hang , that jurymen may dine . ' Kirwan . was found guilty . "We have no hesitation in saying that there never was iicnsc in which circuni . stani . ial evidence so weak as thin convicted a man . To hang Kirwan would ho a disgrace to the century ; to have tnluMi no step in hin behalf i . s ho to the philanthropist . s . It ' may he very well to execute a , man for not heinif the master ofhinown affections , but it will

    not do ' to hcI . up the precedent that wheu a wde dies , and tlm appearances arc Much that it in possible her luirtband may have lulled her , ho h 1 iu . II liu / ve liis life inip « rille < l , or , at any rate , Iuh peace destroyed , by ( lie vigilant morality of a landlady who ban n <; en him making himself 'disagreeable , and who linn hoard that he does not properly regulate Inn loves . It will not do to get into the way of perpetual exhumation , in cases where conjugal bli . MH has been limited , and whore no policeman or divine wa . H called in to witnenH tho perfectly regular and natural manner in winch tho lady left Llut » life . Wo mutit protest against

    the establishment of a precedent from whirh such princi ples are deducible . If the existence of a , mistress is to be considered a sufficient motive x- ^ murder of a wife ' and if ' caae of the wife s death , the existence of such sufficient m 0 tiye is to be deemed proof of her murder , unless witnesses were by when she died * matrimony must become very unpopular , and married men very unsftfe . And the evil will extend . Presumed motive will be made proof in other cases . If here where the doctors say that a fit and drowning would cause all that was heard or seen of the death of Mrs . Kirwan—where there are no woundt upon her , no marks of a struggle upon , her husband—where there is no reason bevrmd

    the probability of his wanting to get rid of her why a jury should not attribute her decease to simple accident , they have yet chosen the alternative and hanged him , m how many other cases will not similar processes lead to similar results P Kirwan should never have been convicted ; if there is justice left in England , he never will be hung .

    1208 The Leader. ¦ [Saturday ,

    1208 THE LEADER . ¦ [ Saturday ,

    Our French Cook In The Foreign Office. A...

    OUR FRENCH COOK IN THE FOREIGN OFFICE . Astounding as the fact may appear , it is nevertheless true , that the outrage in the House of Lords which we mentioned last week , has attracted comparativel y little attention . Very few of our contemporaries have alluded to it . The Globe was the first to glance at the subject at all , but does not appear to have perceived the full force of the intrusion . It criticised the language employed on the occasion , as if it were that of Lord Malmesbury himself ; although it is inconceivable that any English Peer should be found to convey such a message from Louis Napoleon to the House of Lords . Of the morning papers , the Chronicle alone has recorded its indignation , the others keeping silence . The reason it is difficult to imagine . We might suppose that the silent journals were prepared to acquiesce in the sentiments uttered by the speakers in eulogium of the new Emperor ; but it is almost as inconceivable that English journalists should entertain that view as that the Peers should entertain it . How is it , then , that neither journals ,

    nor any Member in the House of Commons , nor even any bold Baron , has been found to" make his protest against such a perversion of English sentiment in " the highest Court of Judicature' ? Are we to understand that the speech has been felt as a disgrace , and that there is a tacit thou gh universal consent to hush it up ? If that is the determination , we must reject it as a very false policy . It is one thing to hush up a discreditable occurrence , when that occurrenco belongs entirely to the past , and , another to keep silence when a disgrace is continued by not ex->~ n : 4-u ^ ;« fr .. irl r > v Y ? 111 . t . lip . ' intruder is

    sill-, fered to remain in permanent occupation ot tho Vorcign Office , to act for " England" in tho councils of nations ; and thus diplomacy is reduced to tho level of cookery . The States ot Europo become but so many " ingredients in a liaHh . and tlio system which it h " aa cost this country ho much blood and treasure , so much taxation ana discontent , to build , up , ' is ffivcii to tho cook o the Fore ^ n Office to burn , fur firewood . It w 110 , wonder that English influence abroad suite to nothing . , , , , . : _ ... , n ] constitutional

    England can no longer support government . Belgium has given way to J ^ ranc Spain is importing coups-d ' efat from Paris , a Ouqen Isabella , whoin we helped to set upon her throne , iH , become secondary to Uio insliumen !; ofab . solutiHin in Spain . , ProtetsumtiBm is equally beyond tho P . Protestant England to uphold . Popery «»] ' i ) roi > riaLin < ' France , which wan , not f lV f y ' . ' Lu-k , more than half independent of pm-stly jon-( rol . The priest party is overrunning i »« - » \ le . stant Uelgium . Hungary is annexed to Am * ¦ ' « in league with tho Pope . And we arc not at ni sure that < lie cook i . s able to counteract , t . I" ) B «^ V cncroachmenfH in Ireland , which are morn Jorum

    iihlc than the overt " aggressions . Tho English Hubject , who used to carry i protection \ , f his lawn with hhri , to * b ^ oii e _ m nil parts of Europe llic ' favourite object of <^'; Commerce trembles ; for our relation * w'tU ^ f riea arc cooked in the worst sty lo , in « o i , Uioho important allairs which have hitherto « j irmmled Ui « most Blr . muous exertions irom n »¦ of experience , influence , and ^ "Vl ! l ^ u , Aberdeen , Lord Aahburton , or Lord Palwoisto " '

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 18, 1852, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18121852/page/12/