Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Historic Doubts On The Birth-Place Of Celebrated Men;
" A sight to make surrounding nations stare , A kingdom trusted to a schoolboy ' s care . "—ROLMAO . Nevertheless , Mr . Pitt far eclipsed many of the seniles who followed him . After all , however , there could not have been much difficulty in establishing the duke ' s birth ; for his parentsthe Earl and Countess of Morningtonwere residing
, , in Dublin , and they might have been called as witnesses : moreover , other satisfactory evidence might also have been obtained from various Members of the House of Commons , as several of the duke ' s connections were returned to the same Parliament , viz ., the Pakenhams , the Rowleys , the Taylors , the Ponsonbys , and the Conollys , all of whom were connected
with the Wesley family either by consanguinity or affinity , and were , doubtless , well conversant with their relative ' s birth-place and birth-day ; but no such evidence appears to have been adduced , the agent of Arthur Wesley probably considering it to be his sole duty to secure the seat for his client ; and that he did successfully perform his task , the
records of the Irish House of Commons furnish abundant testimony . We must not , however , be too severe on the old Parliamentarians of " College-Green ; " for if they had their boroughs of Lismore , Antrim , Lisburn , Tallagh , and Trim , do not our own parliamentary blue-books demonstrate that we have had our Gatton , Old Sarum , East Redford , Harwich , Sudbury , and St . Albans ?
As regards the attempt made to prove , from the entry in the registry of St . Peter ' s , Dublin , that the duke was born in the month of March , we may observe , that , legally speaking , there is , perhaps , no species of evidence received with a greater degree of unwillingness than that of entries found in the parish registers of former times : indeed , we do not find
any case in our law-books where such evidence has been held conclusive per se ; but , on the contrary , we find many of our most eminent judges utterly repudiating such testimony . In the case of Wihen ¦» . Law , it was laid down by Justice Sir John Bailey , that "an entry in the register of the christening of a child , is not of itself sufficient evidence of the
age . " { Btarkie ' s Reports , vol . iii . p . 63 . ) In Rex v . Clapham , Lord Chief Justice Tenterden held , that " although a parish register of baptisms states that the person baptized was born on a particular day , yet that is not evidence of the date of his birth . " ( 4 Carrington and Payne ' s Reports , p . 29 . ) And we also find the same principles thus laid down by Baron Sir Edward Alderson in the case of Burghart v . Anger-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Historic Doubts On The Birth-Place Of Celebrated Men;
" A sight to make surrounding nations stare , A kingdom trusted to a schoolboy ' s care . "—ROLMAO . Nevertheless , Mr . Pitt far eclipsed many of the seniles who followed him . After all , however , there could not have been much difficulty in establishing the duke ' s birth ; for his parentsthe Earl and Countess of Morningtonwere residing
, , in Dublin , and they might have been called as witnesses : moreover , other satisfactory evidence might also have been obtained from various Members of the House of Commons , as several of the duke ' s connections were returned to the same Parliament , viz ., the Pakenhams , the Rowleys , the Taylors , the Ponsonbys , and the Conollys , all of whom were connected
with the Wesley family either by consanguinity or affinity , and were , doubtless , well conversant with their relative ' s birth-place and birth-day ; but no such evidence appears to have been adduced , the agent of Arthur Wesley probably considering it to be his sole duty to secure the seat for his client ; and that he did successfully perform his task , the
records of the Irish House of Commons furnish abundant testimony . We must not , however , be too severe on the old Parliamentarians of " College-Green ; " for if they had their boroughs of Lismore , Antrim , Lisburn , Tallagh , and Trim , do not our own parliamentary blue-books demonstrate that we have had our Gatton , Old Sarum , East Redford , Harwich , Sudbury , and St . Albans ?
As regards the attempt made to prove , from the entry in the registry of St . Peter ' s , Dublin , that the duke was born in the month of March , we may observe , that , legally speaking , there is , perhaps , no species of evidence received with a greater degree of unwillingness than that of entries found in the parish registers of former times : indeed , we do not find
any case in our law-books where such evidence has been held conclusive per se ; but , on the contrary , we find many of our most eminent judges utterly repudiating such testimony . In the case of Wihen ¦» . Law , it was laid down by Justice Sir John Bailey , that "an entry in the register of the christening of a child , is not of itself sufficient evidence of the
age . " { Btarkie ' s Reports , vol . iii . p . 63 . ) In Rex v . Clapham , Lord Chief Justice Tenterden held , that " although a parish register of baptisms states that the person baptized was born on a particular day , yet that is not evidence of the date of his birth . " ( 4 Carrington and Payne ' s Reports , p . 29 . ) And we also find the same principles thus laid down by Baron Sir Edward Alderson in the case of Burghart v . Anger-