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    Jan. 21, I860.] The JLeade: *6iid Saturd...

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    THE BEAT.SON LIBEL CASE. rVoLERTDGE is s...

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    THE POPE IN IRELAND. A N Irishman loves ...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    Beltgious- Desecration

    large as that which follows Mr . Spubgeon himself , if he relinquished for a time his archiepiscopal functions , and appeared in a pas senl on the boards of Drury Lane theatre !• Awhile on this subieet we may remark that the -dramatic world does actually possses one theologian , at least , in Mr . Harcourt Bland , whose argumentative powers maybe said to be on a par with his histrionic : and all London knows the reverend " incumbent of the Hay market . " . . This subject is one on which much more might be said , but let us trust that the good sense of the public requires only that such things should be brought un der their notice * for them to see the necessity for their being at once discountenanced and put an end to . That the religinus tendencies of Eng lish society are ,

    o-enerally speaking , in a right and wholesome direction , cannot be denied , and that they be not misdirected by the vagaries of vanity , the mistakes of zeal without discretion , or the sinister and selfish interests of persons who derive unhallowed profits and influence f rom their perversion , is most cordially to be hoped . It is consolatory to hear that something is about to be done with respect to things mooted in the Liturgy of the Established Church when the Parliament assembles . It is high tune for the adoption of mea sures that shall effectually remove a crying scandal . Let the public , however , neither slumber nor sleep m watching the promised legislation ; it will be found a duty requiring their vigilant attention .

    Jan. 21, I860.] The Jleade: *6iid Saturd...

    Jan 21 , I 860 . ] The JLeade : * 6 iid Saturday Analyst . 61

    The Beat.Son Libel Case. Rvolertdge Is S...

    THE BEAT . SON LIBEL CASE . rVoLERTDGE is said to have considered legs of mutton to be ^ the final cause of turnips ; but , with less stress of imagination , we may assume General Be at son to have been specially born to inflict well merited torments upon pur military authorir ties ; for , in addition to clearing his character from charges that ought never to have been brought against him , he has succeeded in exposing the dishonesty and trickery of . the Horse Guards to an extent which must lead ' every-honest man to be ashamed of those defecFs of our parliamentary system , which permits such conduct to be perpetrated with comparative impunity . General Beats on * , it will be remembered , being famous , his management and training of irregular cavalry , was very properly selected to manage the Bashi Bazonks at . the time of the Russian War . To account for their behaviour , we must , suppose our officials to

    Horse Guards should produce some official papers , and in one instance a clerk from that establishment informed Mr . Baron BBAMWEiiii that the document should be forthcoming if he thought it was required , although the Duke of Cambridge and the War Minister thought it ought to be reserved-. Upon- this the learned judge seemed so overtaken with a fit of flunkeyism as to make him forget the dignity and interests of his court . Alluding to the Duke of Cambridge and the War Minister he declared " he was very glad to see persons in their high station showing such deference to a court of justice ; " but he at once deferred to their view that the papers should be withheld . His

    lordship might have known that the mere offer to produce the papers if he asked for them , was proof that the public service could suffer no great detriment ¦ from their publication ; and as the matters are now historical , and the very war they relate to long since concluded , it was perfectly inexcusable that the judge should thus decline to obtain the best evidence in his power , and damage the cause of a gallant soldier in order to do the agreeable to persons of rank . " Quite in keeping with this unfortunate conduct was his summing and directions to the jury , whom he bewildered with a jargon about " privileged communications , " and induced to find a verdict for the defendant which will go far to establish the doctrine that officials are entitled to slander whom

    they please . Although the defendant admitted having made the objectionable statements , the Judge suggested that the jury should consider he had not done so , because General Shikley ' s recollection was somewhat different . He thought it would have been " more becoming if the defendant had said that he recognised the report he had circulated to be erroneous , and he gladly acknowledged it . " But he suggested the consideration Avhether the communication was not made by Mr . Skexe " discharge of his duty , and therefore privilege ' d . " The only pretence ot : privileo- ( T arose out of the fact that Mr . Skene was in official

    communicatipn with ; lns superior . But surely that cannot justify the propagation of a slander wluch , if believed in and acted upon , would ruin for life the character and prospects of an innocent man . If Mr . Baron Bra M well , 's law . of privileged communications is to be swallowed by juries , no one will be safe who has the misfortune to . suffer the bad opinion or dislike of any official who chooses to coiivey a slander to his superior . Such a doctrine is monstrous ; and we can only account for the learned Baron havirtg given force to it by supposing that lie had swallowed a red-tape worm , which a vigorous ahthelmintic will be required to expel . ¦ - .

    have suffered pangs of mental torture at the thought . of having made an honest appointment of a Company ' s officer , who was not in the habit of going out shooting with the Prince Consort , nor furnished with a grandmother decorated with the livery of the Court . The general ' s task was a hard one , and it would have been more honourable , although less congenial , to their instincts , if the fraternity-of red tape worms had exerted themselves to procure pay and food for his men , instead of establishing a foraging party for the collection of tittle-tattle , and a commissariat of " scandal for the most mischievous use of the trumpery gossip they managed to bring together . It appears that Mr . Skene , the Consul at Aleppo , was appointed Civil Commissioner at the Dardanelles , and Mr . Calvert , the Consul at

    the latter place , was directed to assist the General in his operations . Having a good apparatus for the purpose , Lord Pan-MtmE soon received stories against General Beatson , and directed an inquiry into his conduct , but neither informed him who iiis accuser was , nor at first even communicated the notice of the accusation . The affair , however , readily answered one purpose—it enabled the Horse Guards to find something to do for Generals Shirley and Vjivjan—the former was to take the superior command over Beatson , and the latter inspected the force . In the recent trial pf Beatson v . Skene , General Vivian thus described his own position and proceedings : — " Tt was most disagreeable to me to meet GpneralBEATSON , because I had caused an inquiry to be

    wade by a body of officers , and was not in a position to inform him who his accuser was ; and I got permission from Lord Pan-MURE to give him a copy of tho charges . " A more disgraceful way of treating a general officer of known character and merit could not be conceived , and tho authorities have been obliged to confess they were wrong , by giving him subsequent employment . But , though all the charges broke down , Goneral Beatson did not receive that satisfaction from the Horse Guards to which ho was clearly entitled , and having discovered that sonic , of tho most serious accusations came from Mr , Skene , lie sought redress in a court of law ; and after a long delay , arising from Iiis absence from this country , the ease came off lost week . The opunscl for Mr . Skjunk acknowledged tho use of tho words complninqd . of , to tho oft'ect that General Beatson had assembled tho commanding officers of regiments and . endeavoured to porsuadc them to mutiny against Goneral Smith , by whom he had been suporsoded . For tlio course of justice in this ' case it was important that tho

    The Pope In Ireland. A N Irishman Loves ...

    THE POPE IN IRELAND . A N Irishman loves a row ; indeed , as the ethnologists tell us , a Celt always did , and always will as long as the largest part of his brain bumps out oviir . his . ears , as it does , into that double-barrelled , dangerous organ of Combatioencss . Well acquainted with this scientific fact , " it was with no surprise that we read the other day the blatant speech of an Irish Roman Catholic priest , who declared that he had about a thousand young shillelagh-men in his two parishes of Knockmadown and Ballybrag , and that he was prepared to lead them over into Italy , and bring back tho Pope in . triumph to Dublin . An old song says that the -shillelagh is superior to the musket because

    it never misses fire—as to its superiority to grape shot we nru dubious ; though we believe that Hoohkjaqujsijn ' nnd . his Vendean peasants several times won cannon from the French Sans-culottes with no stronger weapons than clubs . We wens not the least surprised to find this Irish . Friar Tuck wielding his quarter staff so lustily on the papal platform . Wo are quite sure that there are few villages in the hot-blooded south of , Ireland which could not furnish a Vistea the Hermit , in tho shnpu of a priest , to preach up a new crusade , or to help to uhair tin ; could the

    Pontiff in the choir of Dublin Cathedral . We iwngino dismay of the good old gentleman in difficulties , when tho vessel of St . Peter , now a little leaky , touched the sh & rus of tho Emerald island . How turbulent , after the ominous quid , of tho streets of Homo , the roars of " Oend millo lAiilthii , " " Long lii ' o to your Itivcrince , " "O that Dan had seen this day 1 " " Down with tho murthering Saxon ! " 1 low scared he would bo at tho upward flight of briinloss hats , the scurry of frightened pigs , tho mad raoo and whirlwind of jaunting curs ! He might certainly bo a little shocked to soo tho Reverend Father Poujoodik suddenly

    loave his side , in tho midst of a " diseoorso" about " Josbi-h ol Austria , " to burst into some crowd of Papal followers , who lor mere joy wore breaking oaoh other ' s heads , and dispose them with sidling blows . of his heavy-horse-whip . It might puzzle him too when rude men in friesse coats , at sccrd ; audiences , showed him suddenly their hands wet with landlord a blood , ana prayed 1 ho lltwl of tho O | iuroh for the absolution their parish priests had a thousand times promised them for such holy deeds .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 21, 1860, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21011860/page/9/