nd corroborated these facts. The
nurses, on the other hand, when recalled, denied all knowledge of this
second child, and affirmed that a child could not have been brought to
her without their knowledge.

The court delivered judgment on the 31st of March, 1870, when the Lord
Chancellor announced that their lordships had come to the conclusion
that Charles Francis Arnold Howard had made out his claim, and was
entitled to vote at the election of representative peers for Ireland
as Earl of Wicklow; and that the infant claimant, the son of Mrs.
Howard, had failed in establishing his claim to that privilege. He
said the marriage between Mr. and Mrs. Howard was undisputed, and the
real difficulty that surrounded the case was in proving the birth of
this child without the evidence usually forthcoming of such an
event--neither medical man nor nurse having been present at the birth,
or having attended either the mother or the child subsequently. The
fact that the existence of the child had been concealed from all the
world, and that it had neither been registered nor baptised, increased
the difficulties in the way of Mrs. Howard's case. It was a remarkable
fact that, up to that time, with the exception of three persons who
had undoubtedly sworn distinctly to certain circumstances, no human
being had been called who had noticed that Mrs. Howard had shown signs
of being in the family-way; and it was equally remarkable that those
who had had ample opportunity of noticing her condition at the time,
and who might have given distinct and positive evidence on the point,
had either not been called, or had refused to give evidence in the
case. Undoubtedly, as far as words could go, their lordships had had
the distinct evidence of two witnesses, who stated that they were
present when the alleged birth occurred, and of another who had stated
that he had gone to fetch the doctor, who was sent for, not because
the birth was expected to occur, but because Mrs. Howard was taken
suddenly ill. Of course, if credence could be given to the statement
of these witnesses, the case put forward by Mrs. Howard was established
beyond a doubt, and most painful it was for him to arrive at the
conclusion, as he felt bound to do, that those persons had been guilty
of the great crime of not only giving false evidence by deposing to
events that had never occurred, but of conspiring together to
endeavour to impose upon the Wicklow family a child who was not the