"ENTIRELY A LIE."

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IX, Issue 431, 15 July 1881, Page 23

"ENTIRELY A LIE."

The following is the Jersey police report of the brutal and cowardly attack made upon some of the fathers of the Society of Jesus in that island — a case which Dr. Potter affirms is entirely our own invention, or (to use his elegant phraseology) " entirely a lie of the Universe." What a dreamland this world would ba were there many sleepers of the Potter tribe. Monday.— Before Mr. Gibaut, magistrate. — Assaulting the Jesuits. — Mr. John Nicolle was charged by Centenier Baudains, of Bt. Saviour's, with having on Friday, March the 18th, assaulted Joseph Heinrich, Jean Baptiste Servin, Alfred Preston, Jean Charpeutier, Guillaume Ulmas, and Tanner Bacceroni, Jesuit priests ; also with having on Thursday, April 28th, assaulted Eugene Vaniot, Louis Bamont, Gaston de Gouville, and Emile Berton, also members of the Society of Jesus. — Mr. Roissier, solicitor, defended. — It was shown in evidence that the prisoner was driving on the public road in St. Saviour's parish on the days in question, when he met the prosecutors accompanied by other members of the society, and, without the slightest provocation, struck them several times across their faces with his whip. They did not complain to the police till after the second offence. The prisoner practically admitted the charge. The complainants would have withdrawn from the prosecution provided he had apologized, and given a donation of £5 to the poor, but this he declined to do. — Mr. Roissier addressed the Court on behalf of his client, who, he said, had no intention to inflict bodily injury upon the prosecutors. He hoped the Court would liberate him with an injunction. — The magistrate commented upon the unprovoked nature of the offence, and expressed his surprise that a person in Mr. Nicolle's position should have acted as he had. He fined him £2, and also strictly enjoined him not to molest the prosecutois in future." Commenting on the above, the Jersey Observer remarks :—: — " Men who call themselves gentleman — who are dealing every day with the actualities of life, and who can reason and act fairly in all ordinary matters, have only to be posaessed of one craze, and lo t there is no telling to what depths of folly and degradation they may fall. When this craze is fostered by fanaticism and old-fashioned bigotries, even the first principles of honesty and truth are impaired, and such men become like inhabitants of some unaccountable, incomprehensible fairy-land. Such a fairy-land is that region of fiction and fables, of lies and calumnies, of absurdities and impossibilities, represented by the tract bearing the stamp of the Jersey Protestant Defensive Union. Practical and respectable men are found, who are willing to become earthly representatives of this region, and to arm themselves in its defence with whips and stones, and (as if holding a supernatural commission) to defy all the decencies of life and all possible laws. " Happily, our Jersey laws do not recognize ench unearthly credentials ; and on Monday last the pitiable spectacle was presented before the magistrate of our Petty Court of one of these victims of delusion. It was sad to see a venerable-looking gentleman, apparently sixty -five years of age, placed in such a position. We would willingly exculpate his excess of religious zeal, were it not tor his ' whip.' We could have excused his wanton violation of the ordinary laws of decorum and the public respect which is due between man and man, had he chosen more noble weapons — were they only his own fists. "We thought Judge Lynch was an exotic, even for Jersey. Burglars and ruffians, however spiritual and celestial, we are glad to find, cannot with impunity defy, even here, our mundane laws and customs. This gentleman may possibly rejoice in his heart that he has had to suffer in his cherished cause. He may, and no doubt will, win the golden opinions of the gentlemen of the J.P.D.U., and such like cranky folks, so out of joint with this practical age ; but we opine, since he preferred appearing before the world to be pilloried and stigmatized —rather than pay £5 to the dispensary — that Mb chief suffering will bo the fine of two pounds. He evidently rates his heroism, and the defence of the ' faith which was once delivered unto the saints,' at something considerably beneath money. In justice to this martyr, will not the J.P.D.U. openly pay his fine? Will it not add ;i testimonial ?''