We pleaded somewhat strongly the case of the Vicar of
Ledbury, Mr. Jackson, suspended by the Dean of Arches for five years, on a charge of impropriety and adultery with his servant-girls. We . therefore mention that the Judicial Committee of Privy Council on appeal have upheld our view of Mr. Jackson's conduct, have pronounced him entirely innocent, have quashed the sentence, and have flung the whole of the costs on the prosecutor. The case has recalled atten- tion to the Arches' Court, in which a single judge without a jury has really criminal powers, and may ruin a clergyman because he happens to believe an untrustworthy witness, or destroy a Church because he takes a sympathetic view of some ceremonial. The Church can appeal, expense being no object ; but the clergyman cannot, without financial, and indeed social, ruin. Mr. Jack- son will have endless costs to pay, and to the end of his life will be told by all his candid friends that " the verdict against him was most unfortunate."
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