The Home Secretary on Monday hinted that it was not
intended to remove the Vicar of Spalding from the Bench, as he had served for many years, and would probably not offend again. This intimation appears greatly to have cheered the Vicar, and whereas previously he had been apologetic and contrite for his sentence on Sarah Chandler, he has subsequently assumed an attitude of defiance. 011 Tuesday, an address of con- fidence was presented to him by his friends, and Mr. Moore, in reply, accused the Home Secretary of false assertions ; de- clared that it was out of "pure consideration" for Mr. Cross that he did not get a Radical Member to cross-question him ; announced that he was a Tory—a self-evident fact—" as long as Tories spoke the truth," demanded a Royal Commission to inquire if he had been fairly dealt with, declared that his sufferings were due to Mr. Secretary Cross's statements, and altogether conducted himself as a persecuted innocent. The speech affords no hope that the Bench at Spalding will in future be less hasty, more just, or less undignified, and compels us to hope that Lord Cairns may not think it too late to put a stop to an exhibition which discredits a system his party desire to preserve.
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