LORD SAYE AND SELE AND THE CANTEENS CASE.
[To nix Enna or rna ../Ipseuroo."] Sin,—During the trial of Colonel Whitaker on the charge of accepting bribes from contractors, Mr. Justice Darling made a pointed attack upon a man who was neither present in Court nor represented there, and whose name was only dragged into the case by a prisoner in the dock who was desperately clutch- ing at any straw that might save him from conviction or lighten his punishment. The victim of this onslaught happens to be a gentleman of hitherto unchallenged probity, a member of his Majesty's household, and a public man who, to the best of his ability, has devoted himself to the furtherance of philanthropic, humane, and patriotic objects. With few exceptions, the newspapers have followed Mr. Justice Darling's example, and, forgetting that there may be two sides to a question, have acquiesced in the injury inflicted by joining in the chorus of censure. You, Sir, have been more generous in this matter than many of your contemporaries. You do not share the Judge's horror that the son of a Peer should demean himself by earning an honest living; you only insist that he should do so scrupulously. You admit that you " do not profess to understand the details," and you "hope that Lord Saye and Sele will make a personal statement on the subject in the House of Lords." I have no doubt whatever that the hope you express will be gratified, and that he will take the earliest opportunity of vindicating his honour before his peers. Meanwhile, may I appeal to your readers to with- hold their judgment on a case which (so far as it concerns Lord Saye and Sele) is still sub judice 7 I would ask them to remember the extreme delicacy and difficulty of his position. Not only has he to establish his innocence of the offence imputed to him, but he has to disperse the atmosphere of prejudice which now envelope him, his family, and his friends. Debarred by many obvious considerations from retaliating upon a Judge of the High Court, from defending himself in the Press, or from making his explanation in the House of Lords during the Whitsuntide Recess, he has no alternative but to suffer in silence. Surely, in these circumstances, any man who values fair play or who knows what it means to be generous will refrain from attacking one who is thus temporarily hors de combat.—I am, Sir, &e.,
AUDI ALTERAM PARTEM.
[We are glad to learn from a letter in Thursday's papers that Lord Saye and Sele proposes to make a personal statement in the House of Lords at the earliest possible opportunity.—En Spectator.]
Previous page
