THE TICHBORNE CASE

Grey River Argus, Volume XI, Issue 1025, 8 November 1871, Page 3

THE TICHBORNE CASE

The Tichborne case has been turned into a melodrama, which was being played in England while the trial was proceeding at Westminster. It has formed the basis of a good deal of writing in the shape of leading articles and sketches ; it for a long time was a ruling subject of conversation, and was also matter of betting and atock- jobbing, and by the following paragraph from the Elgin Cornier, July 21, we set that ifc was worked up by an ingeniouß minister into a sermon : — " On Sunday evening, the Rev. Fergus Ferguson, of Glasgow, lectured on the Tichborne case, in the E U. Church, St. Paulstreet, Aberdeen. He selected as his text Rom. viii. s—"lf5 — "If children, then heirs." In his introduction, Mr Ferguson said he need offer no apology to an Aberdeen audience for the kind of subject he had chosen. He had told them on a previous occasion that he had been in the habit in Glasgow of discoursing on topics causing public interest at the time. He then proceeded with his lecture. No case, he said, had caused such universal interest since Henry Brougham had defended the -Princess of Wales from the ill-will of her Royal husband, George IV. It had often been remarked that " truth was stranger than fiction," and this case of the Tichborne claimant fully bore out the proverb. Its general bearings had more of romance than many, of the fabrications of our most popular novelists. Mr Ferguson then . Compared Sir Roger C. Tichborne to the weary sinner and wanderer, roaming about in the wilds and deserts of sin and iniquity, unacknowledged and unknown. The anxious longing of Lady Tichborne for her long lost son waa like that of the Divine Shepherd for his lost sheep ; and -the advertisements that were inserted in all the papers were like the efforts made by God's ministers to reclaim and bring back sinners to the way of truth. Roger Tichborne's return (id est, the return of the sinner) was powerfully depicted. His mother received him joyfully, and recognised her son at once, despite the many ' changes which time had wrought. To wards the end of his discourse the reverend gentleman dwelt at. some length upon the habits of our aristocracy, and made a few comments upon the pigeon-shooting propensities of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, and other Royal and noble personages. The church was crowded, .and the preacher was listened to throughout with marked attention."