A CARDINAL IN THE WITNESS BOX.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 30, 22 November 1873, Page 12

A CARDINAL IN THE WITNESS BOX.

We take the following clever pen-pictuve from the Irish correspondence of the 'N. Y. Tribune,' describing the scene in court when his Eminence Cardinal Cullen entered the witness-box :—: —

Here there is an interesting " situation " for the future historical novelist ! As a contemporary chronicler and eye-witness, I can help him to conceive the picture, for I sat beside the jury in the gallery just opposite the witness-box. The court was crowded with a select audience, including a large number of priests and a few ladies in the galleries. The members of the bar, with their wigs and gowns on, filled all their own seats, the counsel engaged in the case, except the juniors, occupying t lie Bench called the Inner Bar. Tlie Chief Justice, clothed in ermine, and fully concious of the dignity of his ofßce, does all he can to preserve it ; but he sometimes fails, from the excitability of his temperment, which is a mixture of the nervous and the Banguine, his pule, thin features, by their quick changes of color, betraying the emotions that agitate him, and make him restless and impatient. Tina sometimes gives an advantag ; to Mr But and Sergeant Armstrong, who do not alwuys trea. him with tl c respect whioh Mb position demands. He is an acute, though not a profound 1 '.wyer, a&d considering that he was all his life an excessively strong pa-tisan, and that hii intellect is weakest ia the judicial faculty, ho has proved

an efficient Judge, and he generally decides fairly. In the Tecent hbel case, however, Stannus «. Finlay, proprietor of the ' Northern Whig, his partiality towards the land agent was so marked that an order for a new trial has been obtained, on the ground of misdirection of the Jury. He went so far as to maintain that a landlord or his agent had a perfect right to refuse to sell or let a site for a place of worship, Catholic or Protestant, if it Beems good to him to doom the population of the locality to spiritual destitution. It is worth remembering also that this former ardent champion of Protestant ascendancy w the author of a work on Italy in which the Papacy is not spared. He is 67 yeary of age. Paul Cullen, Cardinal Archbishop of Dublin, was called as the first witness for the defence. A priest beside me said it gava him great pain to appear in that capacity. We can easily believe that. At all events he decided wisely for the interests of his Church. He might have let judgment go by default, and paid whatever damages a jury might award against him, thereby asserting the dignity of his office as a Prince of the Church. But against this course several important reasons might be urged. All eyes were eagerly directed towards the Cardinal as he slowly ascended the platform and stood beside the witness's chair, while the New Testament was put into his hand, and the official said (rather flippantly, then resuming his seat) : " The answers you shall give to the Court and the Jury shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God." ThinV of Piieh language addressed by a young Protestant official to a Cardinal, a delegate of the Vicar of Christ ! The book was hurriedly kissed, and handed back. His Eminence then quietly took his seat. There was a subject for a picture. The densely-crowded court, the jury-galleries on each side the public gallery in front, with the fat court-crier, cooped in his cage' the barristers, in their costume, filling the middle of the court ; the side passages thronged with gentlemen standing, and guarded by police ; the Lord Chief-Justice alone on the bench, looking as grave as possible ; the grand central figure of the Cardinal attracting every eye, with his long black robe reaching down to hia feet, his small red cap placed back on his head, his scarlet apron, his chain and cross and his ring, which the faithful, wealthy and high-born are proud to kneel down and kiss. His presence is very venerable. He has a remarkably fine forehead— high, broad, and nobly arched— indicating benevolence, veneration and ideality, although there is not a gleam of fancy or imagination in his writings or speeches. His face is full smooth, florid and unwrinkled, with the healthy hue of temperance' quite different from the meagre physiognomy of Dr Newman or Archbishop Manning. The expresioa of the Cardinal is quiet, placid rather heavy, but determined. He speaks always as the conscious' organ of an infallible Church, and missing no opportunity to assert its claims. Thus, when asked whether the Pope has a right to interpose directly m the government of the Church in all countries, he answered : " From the day that Jesus Christ said to Peter * Thou art Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church,' till the last Vatican Council, the Pope has always had the right to rule directly and personally every part of the Catholic Church."