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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 , fhe 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 —philanthro p ists , 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 he a sufficient satisfaction to the mind of the jury . The old dictum , that the proofs must be iiiconconsistent 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 juni ** , whether from love , or why , does not appear . About the same time , perbaps 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 Kinvans . 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 ' a authority for the value of these formalities . A proper reverence for the Scriptures forbids her to tell truth , except when " the book" is within osculable
distance . Mrs . Campbell , then , witness for the prosecution , tells us that tho Kinvans quarrelled ; that Mrs . Kirwan bathed constantly ; and that on one occasion , after they had gout ; together to Ireland's Eye , Mrs . Kirwan , with a bathing dress on her body , was brought home dead . By u remarkable coincidence , considering that it had been raining and that Mr . Kirwan had been running about in all directions in search of his Jost wife , his trousefs were wet . ( Considering that the couple had lK , cn known to quarrel , and that one of them hud died unaccountably , Mrs . Campbell ha . s circumstantial evidence enough to satisfy her who was the murderer . Mr . Kirwan had forcibly drowned his wife .
The next witnesses are boatmen , brothers , who ferried the Kirwans over to Ireland ' s Kyo in the morning and returned for them ; it night . They depose to searching with Mr . Kirwan for his wile , who , he stated to ( hem , had left him to bathe at six o ' clock , it being then . eight . 1 . 1 . 1 | , i - mutely they found her in a hole , on a rock , wilU various . scratches upon her ; the only point here bein /^ that she waH in a , Home what awkward position , as ladi (! H dying j ,, tU , H , m , ni ( , ] u , ji , ihlo to be . They then wont in search of her clothes , which they at length found in u i > laco where one of tho witnesses had just previously been ami seen nollimg of them . Tho inference loft to bo drawn wa » , that Kirwan 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 . JN " , 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 ? 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 brin ^ t he 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 arc 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 arc 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 be 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 hope of agreement , was suddenly agreed upon — strangely enough , after a question , on whidh the difliculty seemed to turn , had been answered by the judge favourably to the prisoner . A juror had asked to be told the medical evidence as to the appearances of the body when found . IFis lordship said they might be the result of simple , and wens by no means necessarily tho consequence of forcible , drowning . The reply was of no effect . The law does not allow sufficient refreshments . Wretches still
hang , that jury men may dine . Kirwan was found guilty . We have no hesitation in saying thai , there never was a case in which circumstantial evidence so weak as thin convicted a man . To lum <^ Kirwan would he a , disgra . ee to the century ; | , o have ; taken no step in his behalf is no to the philanthropists . It may lie very well to execute a man for not heing the master ofhisown alleclions , but it will not do to set up the precedent that , when a wife lien
( , and tho appcaninccH arc ; such that it is possible her huHband may have killed her , he shall have his life imperilled , or , at any fate , his peace destroyed , by the vigilant moralit y of a landlad y who has seen him making himself disagreeable , and who has heard that , he does not properly regulate his loves . It will not do to get into the way of perpetual exhumation , in enses where conjugal . blins has l > een limited , and whore no policeman or divine was culled in to witness the peifectly rofrular and natural manner in which the lady left this life . Wo must protest against
the establishment of a precedent from which such principles are deducible . If the existence of a mistress is to be considered a sufficient motive for the murder of a wife , and if * in case of the wife ' s death , the existence of such sufficient motive is to be deemed proof of her murder , unless witnesses were by when she died , matrimony must become very unpopular , and married men very unsafe . 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 wounds upon her , no marks of a struggle upo n her husband—where there is no reason , beyon d 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 , in how many other cases will not similar processes lead to similar results ? Kirwan should never have been convicted ; if there is justice left in England , lie never will be hung .
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OUR FRENCH COOK IN THE FOREIGN OFFICE . Astotjktdikg as the fact may appear , it is nevertheless true , that the outrage in the House of Lords which we mentioned last week , has attracted comparatively 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 wo to understand that the speech has been felt as a disgrace , and that there is a tacit though universal consent to hush it up P If that is tlic determination , we must reject it as a very false policy . It is one thing to hush up a discreditable occurrence , when that occurrence belongs entirely to tho past , and another to keep silence when a disgrace is continued by not expelling the intruder . But the intruder is suffered to remain in permanent occupation of tho Foreign Oiliee , to act for " England" in the
councils of nations ; and thus diplomacy is reduced to the level of cookery . The States of Europe become but so many " ingredients" in a hash , and the system which it has cost this country so much blood and treasure ,, so much taxation and discontent , to build up , is given to the cook of the Foreign Office to burn for firewood . It is no wonder that English influence abroad sinks to nothing . . England can no longer support constitutional government ,. Belgium has given way to France . Spain is importing conps-d ' tlat from Paris , and Queen Isabella ,, whom we helped ( , o net upon her throne , is become secondary to the instrument of absolutism in Spain .
Protestantism is equally beyond the power of Protestant England to uphold . Popery is appropriating Kranoe , which wan , not live years back , more than half independent of priestly control . The priest party is overrunning half Prote . stant Belgium . II ungnry is annexed to A ustria , in league with the Pope . And we are not at all sure that the cook is able to counteract the secret encroachments in Ireland , which are nioreformidable than tho overt " aggressions . " Tho English subject , who used to carry tho protection of his laws with him , Iijih become in all Darts of JCurope the favourite object of chase .
Commerce trembler ; lor our relations will' America are cooked in tho worst style . In short , these important affairs which have hitherto demanded the most strenuous exertions from men of experience , influence , and ( station , lik <> Lorn Aberdeen , -Lord Anhburton , or Lord Palmerston ,
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1208 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 18, 1852, page 1208, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1965/page/12/
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