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1 Achilli vs. Newman: A Full Report of the Most Extraordinary Trial for Seduction and Adultery Charged against Dr. Achilli, the Apostate Catholic Priest, by the Celebrated Dr. Newman, the Oxford Puseyite, Both of Whom are Seceders from Their Former Creeds 1852

handle is hein.trials/abcj0001 and id is 1 raw text is: ACHILLI vs. NEWMAN. COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH. SITTINGS AT NISI PRIUS AT WESTMINSTER.-BEFORE LORD CAMP- BELL AND A SPECIAL JURY. THE QUEEN v. NEWMAN. CRIMINAL INFORMATION. MONDAY, JUNE 21, 1852. THIs was a criminal information filed by Dr. Gia- had left; heswas a formidable adversary; and they cinto Achilli against John Henry Newman, D.D., a seemed to have consioered it was their duty to en- Roman Catholic priest. The in formation charged J deavor to disable his authority, to impeach his ye- defendant wsith composing and publishing a libel on racily, and to destroy his credit ; and no person ap- the said Giacisto Achilli. Tie defendant pleaded ipeared to have applied himself to the task with first, not guilty, upon which issue was joined ; sec. , more zeal, if not with more ability, than Dr. New- ondly, he pleaded certain allegations of fact, and man, the defendant in this information. He was said that the libel was true in substance and that, aware of the temper of the English people; he knew its publication was for the public benefit. To this that nothing was more likely to interest them than the prosecutor replied that the defendant had pub. any act of impropriety committed by any one clothed lished it in his own wrong and without the alleged with a sacred character. For that purpose he had cause. Upon this plea issue was also joned. I raked together all the scandal which the malice The Attorney-General, the Solicitor-General and 'and the invention of the enemies of Dr. Achilli could Mr. Ellis, appeared in support of the prosecution; 'devise, in order to print and publish them in a pa.- and Sir A,.. E. Cockburn, Mr. Serjeant Wilkins, Mr. phlet. In 151 he seemed to have been engaged in Bramwell, Q.C., Mr. Addison, and Mr. Baddeley, flr delivering a series of lectures to the brothers of the the defendant. Oratory, and the pamphlet in question was repre- Mr. Ellis having opened the pleadings, sented to be the 5th 'lecture on the logical incon. The Attorney-General stated the case to the jury. sistency of the protestant view. In this pamphlet This was a criminal information filed against Dr. he undertook that which he considered to be a duty Newman for a libel contained in a pamphlet pub. to the faith he had embraced, to destroy the char- lished in Octoberlast year, entitled Lectures onthe! acter of Dr. Achilli. In page 195 he introduced the Present Position of Catholics in England, addressed subject in this manner : to tle Brothers of the Oratory, by John Henry New- t 0 the one-sided intellect of protestantism. I man, D.D.. Priest of the Congregation of St. Philip appeal in evidence of it to a great banquet, where Neri. The prosecutor, Dr. Giacinto Achilli, was an amid great applause, the first judge of the land Italian by birth. He had been a monk of the Domini- spoke of trampling Cardinal Wiseman's hat under can order, and a priest of the Roman Catholic church; his feet.& I appeal to the last ath of November, when he had since embraced th. Protestant faith, and was jeers against the Blessed Sacrament and its rites now a preacher of the golpel in the Italian Protes. were chalked up in the metropolis with impunity tant Chapel, in the neighborhood of Golden square, under the very shadow of the court. and before the Dr. Newman was formerly in tile communion of the eyes of the Home-office and the police. I appEal to established church, a very distinguished graduate the mock processions to ridicule, and bonfires to of the University of Oxford ; he had been converted burn, what we hold most venerable and sacred to the Roman catholic faith, of which 'he was now, not only Pope, and cardinal, and priest, but the ven if not one of the most able, certainly one of the most mother of our Lord and the very crucifix itself. I zealous, preachers. Dr. Achilli, in 1850, had paid appeal to those ever growing Jfies of newspapegf, occasional visits to this country, but at the com- whose daily task, in the tedious succession of mencement of that year, having recently escaped months, has been tocater forthegross palataoftheir from the prisons of the Inquisition at Rome, in which readers all varietfes of disgusting gossip, and of bit. he was confined for six months, he arrived' in this ter reproach, and of extravagant lland, aid of Af- country; and had been here ever since. He was a fronting, taunting. sneering, irritating, Invective person of very considerable talent, of great self-re- , against us. And in the midst of outrages such as lance, of indomitable energy; and, he might add these, my brothers of the Oratory, wiping its mouth' appeared to possess a strong and determined will; and clasping its hands, ad'd turning up its eyes, it and a spirit of indepeidepce which made him ocoa- trudges to tIe Town Hall to hear Dr. Achilli exposb atonally unwilling to submit to authority. Such a the inquisition. Ah ! Dr. Achilli, I might have person having revelations to make respecting the spoken of him last week had time admitted of it. dungeons of the inquisition, in which he had been The protestant world flocks to hear him, because At6 twice incarcerated, and the errors of the faith he has something to tell of the catholic church. 0 had relinquished, was likely to be listened to. He i has a something to tell, it is true; he has a seandil was a person of importance to the church which he to reveal; lie has an argument to exhibit. It is a

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