Lord Campbell has replied to the letter of Mr. Scott
Murray. Re simply asserts that it was indecorous in Mr. Murray to obtrude his Ro- man Catholic chaplain upon two Protestant Judges. In saying that the chaplain of the Sheriff was the chaplain of the Judges, he meant "that pro hac vibe he officiates as chaplain to the Judges." The phrase, "the Protestant religion is the religion of the Judges," of course only stated a fad—that all the Judges who go on circuit are Protestant : how, therefore, could any Sheriff do anything to offend their Protestant feelings, from a con- sideration that in point of law persons of a different persuasion may be ap- pointed Judges? The custom of having a chaplain sitting by them in court was adopted out of t‘ compliment to the Judges," and not as "a privilege of the Sheriff" Lord Campbell observes that two of the precedents relied on by Mr. Murray are incorrectly stated : in Staffordshire both the Roman Catholic Sheriffs employed Protestant clergymen to officiate at the As- sizes, and one of them was attended by no Roman Catholic chaplain whatever. But even allowing these precedents to have been correctly stated, he would not be bound by them ; "believing that they passed per incuriam, or upon an erroneous view of what is becoming." Mr. Justice Crompton concurred in the propriety of Lord Campbell's conduct.
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