The Sun. — London, England, 1841-02-22 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION LAW INTELLIGENCE. COURT OF QUEENS BENCH, FEL 20. (Sittings at Guildhall before Lord DENMAN and a Common Jury.) RICHARDS V. YOUNG.LIBEL. The ATTORNEY -GENERAL stated the case as follows : Gentlemen of the Jury—The plaintiff in this case is a respectable merchant of this city, and the action is brought against Mr. Murdo Young, the proprietor and editor of a newspaper called The Sun, a paper of con siderable circulation, and against the respectability of which it is not my business to say anything, except with regard to the conduct of Mr. Young in this par ticular transaction, which I am sure you will very much condemn. Gentlemen, where a newspaper falls into any mistake inadvertently the greatest indulgence ought to be extended to it. We are all very much indebted to the Press—looking at the great advantage and benefit which the public derive from its labours, it should be treated with the greatest leniency ; but when the editor of a newspaper opens his columns for the purpose of calumny, and makes himself an instrument to gratify the malignity of others, it becomes a case of great aggravation ; and when pro duced before a Jury, they well consider that very serious damages should be awarded for a libel so published to the world. Mr. Richards, in February, 1836, had the misfortune to be persuaded to become a shareholder in an undertaking called the Southampton Docks Com pany. His attorneys were Alliston and Locke, and they asked him to become a shareholder in the undertaking, respecting which there was a Bill before Parliament. Gen tlemen, one of the questions you will have to consider will be whether Mr. Richards was the originator of the scheme. Xpu will find there was not the smallest pre tence for tEat assertion. He took forty shares, and paid the deposit of 1001. on them. Gentlemen, Mr. Richards did not traffic in these shares, and speculate on them, but kept them ; and the Bill passed and re ceived the Royal assent in the month of May, 1836. Mr. Richards soon had reason to regret that he had taken any shares at all. He found that it was a job. He was called upon to support the Directors, who wished to have a salary for themselves; he refused to do so ; and from that time to the present he has been continually in'opposition to the Directors, for he found that it really was not a concern which would prosper and could not be carried into effect. But, gentlemen, there were others who had different objects in view—the Surveyor had a bill to make up— the Solicitors thought it for their advantage that the concern should go on, and it did go on although ineffec reetlly. On the 28th of February last there was a meeting of the Directors and Proprietors, and on the following day, namely, the 29th of February, there was published in The Suit newspaper the libel of which ‘.ee complain. It came forth in the shape of a report of - a speech, supposed to have been delivered there by one of the Directors of the name of Liggins. Now, gen tlemen, if such a speech had been made there would be no justification to publish the calumnies uttered at a meeting of the Proprietors of a Joint Stock Company. But, gentlemen, you will find that Mr. Young lent Idniself to the Directors—that he sent a reporter there to take tlic proceedings, and published them on the -.Settle of February, and again on the 2d of March, which must be considered a great aggravation of the injury. The libel is in these words, and is sup posed to he a speech of Mr. Liggins, one of the Die rectors :—" Mr. Richards had complained of the litt'e work that had been done (although he would observe that they had hundreds of men employed), but he did not pay his fair proportion of the expenses to which he was legelly liable." Now, Gentlemen, his name is there, as should have been the names of all the psi ties who subscribed, because he had taken forty shares before the Act was passed, but that he was the originator of one of them is what I utterly deny. The Learned Counsel then proceeded to read the libel : " And notwithstanding that fact, Mr. Richards had himself coolly gone into a Court of Law, and stated in his affidavit teat he had reason to believe (he being one of the originators of the Company) that such Com pany was a bubble Company, and that the Act was ob tained by gross fraud and misrepresentation, and that there never existed any fair or reasonable intention of carrying the pri , jected object to any useful purpose, or for tie henefit of the Subscribers.—(Loud cr,e; of ' Hear, near; ) Now Mr. Ikel ards way. a party to the appli cat:on to P.arlianient for the Act of Incorporation, and it was t, be presumed that he was well acquainted with all that hip] taken place, and it would Le for them to determine whether they would receive the•e statements from an individual who had gone into a Court of Law, awe wing that to be true which he well knew to be false." You have, therefore, Gentlemen, here brought forward a direct charge of perjury, of judicial perjury, against ;Mr. Richards, that he made an affidavit in the case, s ,sating facts which lie wed knew to be talk, for which he 'night be indicted, and, if convicted, would be liable to be transported to Botany Bay. Gentlemen, a letter was wrii`ten to the proprietor of The Sun, giving hire nn opportunity, if he thought tit, of inquiring into and correcting the misrepresentation which his publication contained. No notice was taken of that letter. The writ was sued out, and then, after the writ was sued out, Mr. Young called at the office of Mr. Lowless, the attorney for the plaintiff, and I should like to state to you the conversation that then took place, and as I believe it will be correctly proved to you. The de fendant, Mr. ;Young, said that he was an innocent party, and had not published the libel from any malicious mo tives. Very well, if he had sent as he said, through in advertence a ieporter to the meeting, and if through sonic indiscretion these calumnious expressions had been introduced, and that Mr. Young was willing to- apolo gize, it might be a harsh thing to press the action against him. Mr. Lowless required that the manuscript should be given up, in order that the plaintiff might fix the Di rectors with the publication, and that then the action would Lee stayed, as the plaintiff had no wish to put Mr. Young to any expense. Nothing could be fairer than such an offer. If Mr. Liggins had used these words the plaintiff could not take an action against him for having circulated such a slanderous matter all over the empire, but he says to Mr. Young, give us up the ma nuscript and we shall let you go scot free. Mr. Young said he would consider of the offer, and would call again in a fortnight. Time was given him to consider of it and to makeup his mind whether he would furnish the plaintiff with the evidence, which would enable him to maintain an action against those who were really the originators of the libel. Gentlemen, Mr. Young did not call again, and what is now the consequence. Is it that the libel was published through inadvertence ? No, Gentlemen, he now throws himself into the arms of the Directors, and it is clear that we are now carrying on an action against Limins, who is the real defendant in the cause, and that Mr, Younhas been indemnified by the Di rectors. Instead o fieturuing in a fortnight he refused to make any concession or explenatioe, and when the action goes on he pleads a justification, which is in reality en indictment for perjury against Mr. Richadre. Now is that conduct in the proprietor of a newspaper that deserves any indulgence. Mr. Young knew no thing of the disputes between Mr. Richards and the Directors, and yet he came forward, when he had the offer allowed to escape from the effects of the publica tion, to justify\it. Not only would he not give up the means of tracing the libeller, but he himself became the libeller in his own proper person, for he now brought forward the charge against Mr. Richards. Now, what do you think, gentlemen, is the justification ? It is no less than this, that Mr. Richards had wilfully and know ingly take God to witness what he knew to be false, and you are to say, gentlemen, whether he is g uilty or not. The justification am ounts t h erefore to an indict ment for w ifful and corrupt perjury on the p art of Mr . Richards. The libel stated that Mr. Richards was one . of the originators of the Company. That was untrue. It stated that &fr. Richards had made an affidavit that the Company wag a bubble Company ; th a t t h e A ct of Parliament had been obtained by fraud ; and that there never existed einy reasonable hope of carrying the object out to the useful extent proposed. That was the affi davit which it was alleged .Mr. Richar,iS made, and then here comes zhe assignment of perjury, w .hereas in truth and in fact those statements were false, anel whereas in truth and in fact the plaintiff at the time of making his affidavit had no reason to believe that the Con. 'PeeY was a bubble Company, or that the Act of Purlieu] IPt wa s . obtained by raise rep resen t a ti on ; an d w h ereas i t 1 truth and ia fact the plai n tiff we ll k new t h at at t h e ti me he made the affidavit in questi on , h e was swear i ng ft slsely. No indictnee nts for perjury could contain assign!. nents more precise. than those—" He well knowing at the time he made thee(' affidavits that he was swearing t o that which wa s f a l se ." N ow I s h ou ld l i ke to know whet lier any attempt will be made to p rove t hi s j ust ifi cat i on. If 1 such an attempt should be made, I am prepared to mi ,et it. I can show most distinctly, if the attempt is mac le, that Mr. Richards was not one of the originators , the Company, th a t h e was i ntroduced, and took share 'S while the Bill was before Parliament ; that front the 1 ; 1 beginning he opposed what he considered to be the ism- , proper conduct of the Directors ; and with respect to the manner in which the Bill was carried before 1- Parli• I merit, I am prepared to sh ow h ow the subscription lis t ; s h a d been woe up, who were the subscribers, and whethc r they took .shares or not. lam also in a situation t:o show how the subscriptions were filled up to com ply nominaly with the orders of the House of Lords , and I am pciepared to show that th ere were subscrib • who did this f or the p ur p ose o f d ece i t. l am prep a y ers to show wh a t amoun t was p a id up, an d what alsowa s done with the money ; but at present I am content , Ito prove the conversation that took place between Air. Young and :Mr. Loveless, and then we shall see wheth er Mr. Young will prefer any indictment for the purpe see of supporting • the charge he has had the hardihood to prefer agaieest this individual. I really do think, with great submission to the Court, that this is a case of great aggravation, an d I h ope, gentlemen, that you will think it to leg a case that ought to be visited with MO , tig OA/Plat+ TherAdsd at the Stamp-office, showing that tiv ..., ..., . , 747 A; , .ci,l . proprietor of the newspaper, was ~,,, :s; ...,, i a, -, 1 1; dfte d, and the paper of the 29th of Fe 4, , hi:4 1 , _ . 5. ,,..,-. ti 4 the 0 -teee e s::: e e e , xt,....., 2d of Ma r c h , - ee were also proved Awl a s Lord DENMANNOW, I suppose, you want the passages that are marked in these papers read. Mr. THESIGER—I think, my Lord, that it will be necessary that we should have rather more than those read. But those parts can be read first. The Clerk then read the following part of the speech of the Chairman :—" He stood there as the organ of the Company, and it was with the greatest reluctance he interfered. He felt, however, that the moment was arrived when it was strictly within the line of his duty to ask whether a Proprietor, standing in the position of Mr. Richards, would be permitted to proceed in such a strain.—(Loud cheers.) Mr. Richards had complained of the little work that had been done (al though he would observe that they had hundreds of men employed), but he did not pay his fair proportion of the expenses to which he was legally liable.' Lord DENMAN—Then, does it appear that Mr. Richards had been speaking before? Mr. THESIGER—Yes, my Lord, it implies that. Lord DENMAN—Oh, I was not aware of that. The Clerk then proceeded with the reading of the Chairman's speech :—" He would observe further that Mr. Richards was one of the originators of the Com pany, his name being embodied in the Act of Incorpo poration, and notwithstanding that fact, Mr. Richards bad himself coolly gone into a Court of Law, and stated in his affidavit that he had reason to believe (he!being one of the originators of the Company) that such Com pany was a bubble Company, and that the Act was ob tained by gross fraud and misrepresentation, and that there never existed any fair or reasonable intention of carrying the projected object to any useful purpose, or for the benefit of the Subscribers.—(Loud cries of " Hear, bear.") Now Mr. Richards was a party to the application to Parliament for the Act of Incorpora tion, and it was to be presumed that be was well ac quainted with all that had taken place, and it would be for them to determine whether they would receive these statements from an individual who had gone into a Court of Law, swearing that to be true which he well knew to be false." The ATTORNEY-GENERALWeII, then, there is the paper of the 2d of March ; what do you wish to read from that? Mr. THESIGER—Mr. Richards says immediately following that, that if he had made any such statement the Chairman would have been the first to stop him. " It was stated that he believed there was fraud—that be admitted to be a strong term, but he did not wish to be personal in the slightest degree. It was stated that he was privy to all the introductory arrangements, but that he must beg leave to deny ; he was merely asked in the street to become a subscriber."" The Chairman said they had nothing to do with what took place between Mr. Richards and his friend in the streets. They must take the facts as they stood, and, to use a legal phrase, he must say that Mr. Richards was out of Court." Then Mr. Richards immediately followed ; but I think if Mr. Richards' speech before that of the Chairman's is read, I shall not have occasion to trouble the Court further. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL—That is at the bottom of the 4th column. The Clerk then proceeded to read the following : " Mr. Richards would urge upon the Proprietors pre sent to take into consideration, before they passed the Report, the difference between a Report in writing and that which they could see with their own eyes, if they went down to the town of Southampton. They would see a certain number of piles driven, but as to any thing approaching the shape of a Dock, he certainly could not see it. If there was a Dock about to be es tablished at Gosport, with a railroad to it Joining the Southampton Railway, why should not the people of Gosport be sharers i❑ the great advantages which their Chairman held out to them ? He believed be was ad dressing men of business, and he called upon them to do what they would do in their own own private affairs viz., to go and judge with their own eyes. When they had returned from Southampton, let them go and exa mine the share list, and ascertain how many of them acre likely to he paid up. The argument of the Di rectors was that because so many shares bad been paid up to the present time, that they would be paid up in future. The Directors had given them she stote of the balance sheet up to the 31st of December, but he (Mr. R.) could give it them up to three days ago, and he could tell them that although very c derable sunis had been received since that Report, the balance in hand did not exceed 4,000/. With respect to what he had said of the state of the works, it ap peared to him, although he admitted that he was not a scientific man, that nothing approaching the shape of a Dock had yet been marked out, and, he would add, that the opinion of the geode of Southampton was, that it ; would require an enormous sum to complete the works. He understood further, that had the original plan been adhered to, instead of 350,000/. being required, persons who had a knowledge of the matter stated to nun that if the immense quantity of mud land which had been taken was to be covered with buildings and docks, the sum would be really enormous, and far exceeding any thing which they could raise. Piles had originally been driven out in the mud at such a distance that it was dangerous for the shipping, and an accident had occurred in consequence ; however, these piles had been removed, and the Docks were now being made on a much smaller scale. He had before cautioned them to look well to the share list before they placed credit on the statement that the calls would be regularly paid up. He held in his hand a letter from a shareholder in Liverpool, show ing that a very strong feeling on the subject existed in that town. The writer had had communications with other shareholders there, who were of the same opinion as himself. (•Mr. Richards was proceeding to read a paragraph in the letter, when he was met by loud cries of " Order, order," and " Chair, chair.")" Mr. Lowless sworn and examined by the ATTORNEY GENERAL. Are you the attorney for Mr. Richards 2—l am. Is he a merchant in the city ?—He is. Did you write a letter to Mr. Young respecting the publication of this libel?—l did. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL—We have given you notice to produce Mr. Lowless's letter of the 28th March, 1840. Mr. THESIGER—Perhaps you have a copy of it. The Attorney-General can read a copy. (The officer then read the copy of a letter which was banded in by the witness.) Was a writ sued out at that time:?—No. Was any answer received to that letter ?:---None. After that letter had been sent, did Mr. Young call upon you ?—He did. On what day P—On March 31. Mr. THESIGER—When was the letter written ?—lt was written on the 28th and sent on the 30th. And on the 31st he called ?—Yes. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL—State any conversation that passed between you and Mr. Young on that occa sion. Witness—He said it was very bard for him to be sued—that he was a perfee4 stranger to the plaintiff —that he could not by possibility bear malice against him, and that it had not been intentionally done—that the paragraph had been overlooked. I then remarked that it appeared he had been paid for the publication ; he said be had not been paid exactly for publishing it, but that he had sent a reporter to the meeting at the request of the Directors ; that they had paid him for the attendance of the reporter and the reporting, and had taken 300 or 400 copies of the newspaper containing it ; and he remarked it was not to be expected that he could afford so much space in his paper to such a sub ject unless he was remunerated for it in some way or other. I told him if he would give up— The ATTORNEY-GENERAL—Did he say anything more about the Directors P—He said it had been pub lished at the request of the Directors, and I said that if he would give me the means of proving the publication against the parties who had really published it, so that proceedings might be had against them Lord DENMAN—That is, against the Directors ? Witness—Yes. The action against him should be stayed, as there was no wish on the part of the plaintiff to put him to expense or trouble. He said he would consider of it, and call or give me an answer in a fortnight, and begged that no proceedings might be taken in the meantime. The ATTORNEY- GENERAL—Did you suspend the proceedings for a fortnight ?—I did ; and for a much longer time. Lord DENMAN—Did he call ?—He did not call. [Mr. L . owless is i n error, no doubt from a defect 01 memory. Mr. Young did call a second and third time. Bat that was not all. Mr. y oun g stated that whatever he had said must be considered to be without P REJUDICE, to which Lowless assented. It is absurd to suppose Jlk. Young could have acted otherwise; but Mr. as defendant, could not b e a w i tness in GENERAL—He did not call a t a ll ? You T il u ifl la )n t e he l n p e rson.] The filedol .. 17N a n; d ] eclaration ?—Yes. plea of justification upon the record?— Yee. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL --I believe the paper of tb,. 2d March, containing the same report, has been put .in DENMAN-.—YeS, it has. Cros. , -examined by Mr. THESIGEP.----I suppose y ou were aware that Mr. Richards attended the meeting . . Only from the newspapers ; I was oat concerned for Mr. ,Richards at that time. You are now aware of it P—Certa inly. From Mr. Richards ?—Yes. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL—.DO you know anything et this transaction, except what has come to your knaw a(t, 'ze as the solicitor of Mr. Richards ?—No. Tr. THESIGER—Have you commenced any other acc ts; , is on account of this publication —any action ags a t i s c Mr. Liggins ?—Yes, against Mr. Liggins. For t be statement lie made at that meeting ?—Yes. And, t;or the publishing it ?—Yes, and for publish- , 4:k ;it. When was that action commenced ?—At the same tit ne with the present one. I told Mr. Young so at j at time. Did you at any time see Mr. Bartrum, and was any thing said about dropping both the actions if the Cona- Pa n) , w ould take Mr. Itiebard b ' s s h ares o ff his buds? --, Not distinctly_ THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1841 Mr. THESIGER—Not distinctly ? Why, was it not proposed that the proceedings in both actions should be dropped, if Mr. Richards's shares were. purchased at 101. discount ; and was there not a split about the money that was to be paid ?•-Not distinctly. There had been disputes between Mr. Richards and the Company, and I had endeavourel, by all in my power, to bring them to an end. Then bad some proceedings taken place between Mr. Richards and the secretary P—Mr. Bartrum called upon me and said that all had been settled ; I showed him a letter from the secretary. Mr. THESIGER—Now, don't talk about the secre tary, Sir ; we have nothing to do with the secretary. I ask you, was it not distinctly agreed to settle these actions, on condition that Mr. Liggins, or some person on behalf of the Company, should purchase . Mr. Rich ards's shares at 101. discount P—Certainly not. It was stated that if the disputes could be arranged, the ac tions should be settled on proper apologies being made, and the costs paid as between solicitor and client. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL—Was not all this stated to Mr. Bartrum distinctly to be without prejudice? —Yes. Mr. THESIGER—Do you mean to swear that the negotiations between yourself and Mr. Bartrum were stated to be without prejudice ?—Distinctly so ; I have one letter from the secretary stating so. Mr. THESIGER—Now, really, Sir, we cannot hear anything about the secretary. Will you swear, that, between yourself and Mr. Bartrum, it was ever stated that what was proposed was without prejudice ? Certainly. Was it stated when you met ?—lt was so stated. Verbally ?--Verbally. Do you know anything about the docks yourself ? No. I have been at Southampton, but not to the docks. Have any actions been brought against Mr. Richards by the Company ?—Several. How many ?—Four or five for calls. Has he paid them up P—They are all paid now. Were the actions defended?—Since I have been concerned for him I have defended none. I have car ried them up to a certain point and then ceased. Mr. THESIGER.—Ay ! Made a show of fight and then, when it came to the point, gave in. The witness was here about to retire, when he was prevented by Mr. Thesiger, who asked, Did not Mr. Young at the meeting you had with him at your office, offer to insert an apology in his news paper?—He said he would insert anything I pleased, but I said that would not suit our purpose. Lord DENMAN.— You wished to be supplied with information ?—Yes. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL—TO supply you with means of proving it against the proper parties ?—Our object was to make the parties prove what they had as serted. That ho should give you the means of proving ? Certainly. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL.—And as the negotiation was without prejudice I can't go into that. This closed the case for the plaintiff. Mr. THESIGER, then addressed the Jury for the de fendant. May it please your Lordship—Gentlemen of the Jury.-1 think the last answer, or nearly so, will satisfy you that this action ought never to have been commenced against Mr. Young, the proprietor of The Sun newspaper, because it has now been proved, that it i 3 not in the slightest degree necessary for the vindi cation of the character of Mr. Richards, the plaintiff. Every atonement that could possibly be made was of fered by my client, but yet it appears, that the plaintiff chooses to persevere in these proceedings against him, when it was perfectiy clear that he will have an oppor tunity of having the whole matter fairly contested in the action which he has brought against Mr. Liggins, the Chairman of the Southampton Dock Company, which is now pending is this Court. lam anxious to show you, gentlemen, that in the whole of this transaction there has been nothing to reflect upon the character or conduct of Mr. Young, the respectable proprietor of The Sun newspaper. My ',carried Friend, the Attorney-General, in his ad dress to you, would not cast any blame upon The Sun, but he did not dare to praise it. He would not dare to give it that character for respect- ability which he knows it deserves, because he well knows it would not tend to make out the case he wishes to make before you. I Lelieve it has very rarely happened indeed that Mr. Young has been guilty of any conduct, or put under such circumstances as to ccmpel him to appear before a Jury—very rarely indeed. FL is extremely anxious to avoid, in his newspaper, all matter at all reflecting upon individuals. He beliores that his duty as a Journalist, confines him to matters of public importance ; and in the diligent discharge of that duty, he has unfortunately fallen into the error which compels him to appear before you to-day. With respect to the claim for damages, my Learned Friend the Attorney-General has endavoured to show a mercenary motive on the part of Mr. Young. Now, gentlemen, what does the whole of that amount to ? 1 was indeed surprised to hear what fell from my Learned Friend—l was surprised to hear the observa tions he was instructed to make in regard to that most mportant national undertaking, the establishment of large and commodious docks at the port of South ampton. He has endeavoured to make you believe that it has been undertaken for the mere purpose of speculation, that it has been undertaken by persons of no character, and, in fact, to use a term of my Learned Friend's, that it is a bubble Company from beginning to end. Now let me observe to you that my Learned Friend merely insinuated all that, and that he offered mo• proof of it whatever, and I defy him to do so. He says so, he is so instructed, but I am bold enough to say that it is a most important undertaking, ene which will be attended with the greatest national advantages, and it is one which I hope will soon be carried out to its fulfilment, and that the adventurers who have joined it, I have no hesitation in saying, with a view to their own interest, but I will also say with a view to the public advantage, or they would never have obtained the sanction of the Legis lature to their Bill, will,be rewarded. Well, this being a great national undertaking, everything connected with it, of course, was of great public importance, and as there was to be a meeting of the Proprietors f shares, at which the Report of the engineer was to be read, and as it was expected, to be post numerously attended, and it being thou; ht to be for the advantage of the undertaking that the public in general should under stand how the affairs of a work of such public importance were going on, a request was sent to my respectable client, Mr. Young ; of course that request being made by the Directors, that he would send a reporter to the meeting. Now, gentlemen, could it possibly have been anticipated that at that meeting there would have been any charge made against Mr. Richards, the plaintiff, by Mr. Liggins ; that there would have been any attempt at disorder made by him, such as to make it the duty of the Chairman to call him to order ? Does anything ap pear but a fair and honest desire that all the matters and concerns of the Company—the more especially as. the Report of the engineer was to be considered— should be laid before the public, in order that they should form their own idea of what prospect there was of the ultimate success of the vast undertaking ? Ac cordingly the Directors make the request, and a re p orter is sent to the meeting by Mr. Young. Now, gentlemen, look at the way in which the proceedings of this meeting are sent forth to the world. It begins— "SOUTHAMPTON DOCKS. " The seventh half-yearly meeting of the Directors and Proprietors of the Southampton Dock Company took place yesterday at the Company's offices, Bishops gate-street. " The SECRETARY having read the requisition conven ing the meeting. " The CHAIRMAN (Joseph Liggins, Egq.) said it was often the practice on such occasions to commence by reading the minutes of the last meeting, but as there happened to be a great deal of business before them, it might be as well, perhaps, if that were now dis penved with. " The resolutions of the last meeting were, however, ultimately read." After some preliminary observations from the Chair man, with which it Is unnecessary for me to trouble you, the Report of the Directors was read, along with that of the engineers, as follows REPORT. "'The Directors have the pleasure of preenting to the Proprietors a Report, no longer confined to ti:e announce ment of what they would wish to effect, or have hopes of effecting, but of what has already been done, and is actually now doing, in prosecution of the important unde.ttaking in which they are engaged. " From the period of the last half-yearly GeneralMeeing, the works have been steadily advancing; and although the unusually tempestuous and trying weather during the autumn and winter has necessarily retarded the Contrac tors' operations, the result of their labours is decidedly en couraging, whilst the present condition of the works affords satisfactory evidence of their solidity. of the ent rance , an d on s h e vaEan Engineer, tihnee cemen t , er to Directors aok have " The work s are , i n fact, already in such a state of ad enabled Mr. Giles, the Company's pr a es s e u n b t sta it nt t iv o e t ß he ep p or r t op o r n iet t o h r e s, su a b ss j u ec re t d ; that they will find i t acceptable. " Mr. GILES'S R eport i s as follows Beaufort B u ildi ngs, 20th February, 1840. " TO THE DIRECTO RS OF THE SOUTH AMPTON DOCKS. " Gentlemen,-._l beg t o report to you that the dock works have been carried on b y the Contractors through the last autumn, and up to this ti me , w i th great energy. .g It having been deemed a d v i sa bl e to complete and open one portion of those docks at a s ear l y a period as possible for the recept i o n of the lar gest class of steam-vess e l s , a nd sailing vessels up to 600 or 700 tons burthen, my atten tion has been particu l arl y directed to this object, and to make the Tidal Dock in the first in s t ance ; lam accord ingly construct in g the pile foundati ons necessary f or the quay walla on beth si des ness. sou thern (or sea-ward) side of this d ock. This piling is in great forward ast e " I am also forming the embankments for inclosing the ground of the Close Dock from the tideway, the western side of which is compl eted. Its southern and eastern alsoern in full progress , and likely to be finished in the course of th e ensuing spring; and the bankments are con struction of the remainder o f the Tidal Dock and of the Close Dock will be carried on in due p ro g ress. " The number of men hithert o em p lo y ed on t he works has averaged 250; but there are now about 300 on the ground. " The extent of work performed to this time consists of about 1,000 feet length of pile-driving for the foundations of the quay-walls, upon which upwards of twenty engines are at this moment in full operation; and of excavations amounting to nearly 70,000 cubic yards. The soil pro duced by the latter is advantageously applied to the forma tion of the embankment for the Close Dock ; it is very adhesive and impervious, qualities particularly favourable for sea embankments, and for making and maintaining the Docks ; and this the late storms have sufficiently tested, no damage having been done thereby to the embankment eor to the piling. " The Osborne Quarry, the property of the Company, has also been opened by the contractors, and preparations are made for conveying its stone to the docks. The con tractors 'have also made .arrangements for obtaining other stone from Gurnet Bay, Portland, and Swanage ; and have deposited a large quantity of blue Has limestone, and of timber in store upon the Company's grou n d. .‘ Means are likewise in preparation for conveying thither the soil purchased from Mr. Buchan at Wolston Cliff. " Considerable preparation of machinery for carrying on these works has likewise been made by the contrac tors. Independently of the pile engines, already at work, a powerful dredging engine, lighters, waggons, dec., are also making, and near completion. I have therefore, reason to expect that the entrance and southern side of the Tidal Dock will be ready for the reception of trade by the end of the present year. I rema i n , Gentlemen, your very obedient, faithful servant, " FRANCIS GILES." Now there could be no doubt of the truth and accuracy of the statements made by the engineer, because they were made in the presence of many persons who were deeply interested in them, and hundreds present at the meeting might have contradicted them had they been incorrect. Now was it not important that the public should know all these facts, and if so, what better plan could be devised for such a purpose than publishing them to all the world in the columns of a newspaper ? Now, gentlemen, after the proceedings of the meeting appear to have gone on a considerable way, Mr. Ri chards, the plaintiff, is represented to have risen and made a speech reflecting very strongly upon the concern altogether, upon the conduct of the Directors, of the en gineer, and in fact of all connected with it ; and in an swer to this, Mr. Liggins, the Chairman upon the occasion, is represented to have made the observations which are now complained off. But, gentlemen, ob serve, if there had been any intention to calumniate Mr. Richards, the offensive remarks would have been put in large characters, or in some singular type, or by directions in another part of the paper the attention of the public would have been directed to the part con taining the libel in a long and voluminous report, so long that, with all due deference to my client, I think that long before the public could come to the paragraph complained of; they would be heartily tired of the whole subject, unless, indeed the reader was one of those persons who speech was reported, or one of those very deeply interested in the undertaking. Can you, gentlemen, believe for one moment that Mr. Young, or the Directors, for although I am not here for one individual of the Directorship, I may be per mitted to say, was it possible thet the Directors, in employing a reporter to attend the meeting, could have the slightest intention of reflecting upon the cha rac t er of Mr. Richards, who, th e y cou ld not be sure, would attend the meeting ? Was it not rather that the public should have some idea of what was going on with re spect to a great national undertaking, and how far they had reason to expect a beneficial result ? Now, gentle men, I will call upon you to look to the report, and you will find that Mr. Richards has his fair share of the columns. If you were to find that this was a gar bled report—if there was given merely those speeches conveying a strong censure upon the plaintiff, you might have said it was an unfair and partial report ; but when you find that everything that Mr. Richards said was at the same time communicated to the public, with what was said against him—that Mr. Richards's answer to the charge was inserted, as well as the charge—when you find that, as you will do on looking to the report, I am sure that I am only wasting my bie ale as well as your time, in saying aga'n that there was no intention to offer offence, or any design that something should be inserted, calculated to reflect in the slightest degree upon the character of the plairit l ff. For, gentlemen, at the repot t says in Mr. Liggin's speech, Mr. Richards was a party to the application to Parliament for the Act of Incorporation, and it was to be presumed that he was well acquain:el with all that hal taken place. And give me leave to ray, gentlemen, that the Attorney-General admitted that he was one of the ori ginal undertakers, and that his name was inserted in the Act of Parliament, and, therefore, gentlemen, it was impossible but that Mr. Richards, if his name was inserted in the Act of Parliament, must have been one of the original promoters of the concern ; • and we find that Mr. Richards has actually had actions brought against him for calls which his discreet attorney of the present day has thought proper to settle, although lie made some show of resistance, getting costs to a certain extent, and then (bopping the actions. More over, gentlemen, if this had been a " bubble" Company ; it it had been established in fraud, as is now insinuated by the Attorney-General, so instructed by Mr. Ri chards, I am quite sure his Lordship will tell you that Mr. Richards might have successfully defended himself against any claim for calls, because when a Company is fraudulently constituted the Directors can make no claim for calls upon the shareholders, and therefore five actions, at least, in the time of Mr. Lowless, having been commenced against Mr. Richards, and he having paid those calls, it is quite evident' he must have known that it was a mere pretence to say that it was not a real bona fide Company, established for a beneficial public purpose,; because if Mr. Richards was convinced that he was right in the in structions he has given to his counsel, he might have resisted the payment of those calls, and resisted suc cessfully. Then here is a gentleman who was an ori ginal undertaker, paying those calls,accordiug to the state ment made by the Chairman (which statement, of course, was made, for it cannot be denied, and Mr. !Richards has not attempted to deny that a faithful report is given of what passed,) and Mr. Richards, not very deeply of fected by the charge made against him, applies to my Learned Friend to create a mock interest in his favour, and to suggest that it operated so much upon his mind, that he was so affected, so overwhelmed by it, as to be compelled to come into a Court of Justice to vindicate his character, and that it might not be left under such a stigma.—(The Hon. Gentleman then read the al leged libel.) That is what the Chairman says—Mr. Richards cannot deny that it is a faithful report—and what does Mr. Richards say? Why, deeply affected at this charge against him, Mr. Richards said that "if he had made any statement of that sort the Chairman would have been the first to stop him." There is indignation fbr you! The Chairman says, " You, who knew every thing, who was a party to the Act of Parliament—who was perfectly acquainted with the whole concern—you stated that it was a bubble Company, whilst you must have known that it was not a bubble . Company. You have, therefore, stated what you know cannot be true." This, says my Learned Friend, is a de liberate charge of perjury. Then Mr. Richards says— " If I made any statement of that sort the Chairman would have been the first to stop me." Now I would rather that Mr. Richards should state his feelings on this subject than have them stated by the Attorney- General, and here we have his feelings exhibited by Mr. Richards, or rather we have no feeling, a perfect indifference to the charges, or at all events we have the statement of Mr. Richards, and what does he say ? That "if he had made any statement of that sort the Chairman would have been the first to stop him. It was stated there that he believed there was fraud— that he admitted to be a strong term, but he did not wish to be personal in the slightest degree." That was rather an odd mode of procedure in Mr. Richards. He says, " I charge you, the Directors and original under takers of this undertaking, with being a fraudulent and deceitful set of persons, who have established a bubbl e Company to delude the public, and I, a poor innocent, attracted by your prospectus and brilliant prospects, have been induced to join it, have been entrapped into a concern of no value and have lost my money. I don't mean anything personal. You are all a fraudulent set of me n, but I don't mean it personally but generally." Now, as a Company consists of individuals , as a Com pany itself cannot be fraudulent ; and as a Comp any i s a number of individuals associated, it is the individuals who are fraudulent ; and when Mr.. Richards says " I don't mean anything personal when I charge fraud," it is sufficiently clear that Mr. Richards must have in tended to impute fraud personally to the Directors, or his words will be altogether without meaning. Then, e I etys "It was stated that he was privy to all the in troductory arrangements, but that he must beg leave to eny." Now, Ge ntlemen, observe the f a ir ness here— the original undert a k er , Chairman states that he was a n that lae must have known all that h ad ta ken place, an d A ontrary. Now, sup that he had stated that it was a bubble Company, r n a h c ei r of Mr ; 4ich.ards— hat th.e newspaper re portpi whereas e isthehu h ai : dl they would not nb i l n el lu nt re lt7: t ve l e i e intentionkn c o h w a ? They would have the statements what would have been the C.f)urs e but unanswered, would suppressed a t e h d e tahn:twae at all, w al l; ch he ,;ap e ; they made by the Chairman, which, unan wei .ed the statement of In stead of this they have introduc , " It was stated that he was privy Mr. Richards, that but that he have been taken to be admitted by Mr. r lame. to all the introductory arrangem ents, must beg leave to deny ; he was merely asked in I have endeavoured to show you t hat m y Learned Friend h as really, I think unfairly—l don't wish to the street to become a subscriber." Now, Gentlemen, Drake strong observations—but I think unfair l y and ' im properly represented this case to you , because I kiend opened this be lieve that at the time my Learned r case, you were o f o pi n i on that nothing mor e was w M Lig gin's intro duced into the newspaper than the repor t speech against the plaintiff, and that Mr. Young_ had lent himself t o th e intentional malignity of th e Directors, by publishing that and that onl y to the world. Of course it this were proved it would be a strong case against Mr. Young. that he had desired to contribute 1 to the malignity of the Directors against Mr. Richards, 1 the plaintiff. But you must take the newspaper into i I your hands, and though I have not troubled you by having the whole Report read, yet you must consider it as read. I might have troubled you by causing the officer of the Court to read from beginning to end the whole of these five columns and a half, in one portion of which, the middle of the third column, is found this objectionable passage ; not, as I have already shown, printed in any particular way, not marked in italics, or in larger characters, or distinguished from the rest in the slightest degree ; and not charge able as a misrepresentation of what had taken place, or as not giving insertion to the answer of Mr. Richards. Notwithstanding these circumstances, Mr. Richards has thought proper, or his attorney, to commence two actions. Now, gentlemen, I should like to know what possible advantage is to be gained by Mr. Richards by instituting these proceedings against Mr. Young, the proprietor of The Sun newspaper. Mr. Richards was present at that meeting ; he probably knew most of the persons there present ; he had the means in his power of proving the language used by Mr. Liggins, and which language would most unquestionably be slanderous, and on which he would be entitled to maintain an action. If his object, therefore, had been the vindication of his character, he would have had no thing to do but to proceed against Mr. Liggins. Mr. Liggins might then have put any justification on the re cord, and the real parties in dispute would have been at issue with each other. Mr. Richards might have justi fied his character by falsifying the declaration, or Mr. Liggins might have been able to satisfy the Jury that he was correct in the statement he had made. What possible object then could there be in commencing this action against Mr. Young but to harrass and oppress him, and to put costs into the pocket of Mr. Lowless the attorney ? My Learned Friend says the letter written by Mr. Lowless to Mr. Young was not answered. Why should it? What was that letter? A letter informing Mr. Young that it had been determined upon to com mence proceedings against him, and requesting to know the name of his attorney, that the writ might be sent to him. That is the whole let ter ; a word and a blow. It is not, gentlemen, a letter written to invite any compromise or arrangement. It does not say, we shall be obliged to institute proceed. ings against you, unless you make a suitable apology, or do certain things satisfactory to Mr. Richards ; but we are instructed to commence an action against you, and we wish to know the name of your solicitor, in order that we may send the process to, him. The ac tion had been resolved upon, and was not to be pre vented by anything Mr. Young might be able to do. Was he then to call on them, that they might serve him with the writ, or to assist them otherwise in bring ing their action ? He could not. It is difficult to know what answer could be given. Well, a writ is issued out, and then Mr. Young goes, and what does he do Gentlemen, I ask you, and I am entitled to your fa vourable answer—what more could Mr. Young do than he offered to di) for the vindication of Mr. Richards's character ? Gentlemen, he went for the pur pose of making every reparation in his power, but what did they ask him to do ? To assist them in proving their case against the Directors, and then the action should be discontinued against him. Gentlemen, you may take it for granted that the application made to send a reporter was an application made by Mr. Liggins, the Chairman of the Company. What possible object, then, can be gained by Mr. Richards, by bringing this action ? He knew that the Chairman authorised the reporter, and there fore that it was an authorised report. An action has been already commenced against Mr. Liggins. All in formation fixes Mr. Liggins with the slander. He is not prevented from commencing proceedings against Mr. Liggins for want of proof, with which Mr. Young could furnish him, because he has the means in his power of proving the slander, and of establishing his case against him. Now, what does Mr. Young offer to do ? Mr. Young does not offer to do that which is impossible or unnecessary. Mr. Young did not say, I will give you the name of Mr. Liggins, which would have been a mockery, because they have his name al ready, but Mr. Young said this, " I will publish any thing you think proper." Mr. Richards might, if he had pleased, have insisted that Mr. Young should have inserted an apology in his newspaper for the report, and no doubt Mr. Young would' have done so. He would have expressed his sorrow, as he does upon this occasion, that the report had found its way int') the eclumns of his newspaper. It has, I can assure you, gentlemen, been a subject of g reat(T uneasiness, an d anxiety, and expense to him. Mr. Young does not know whether the report is true or not, and he gave a carte blanche to the opposite party to insert any thing they thought proper, and they might have had, if they !leased, a complete vindica tion of the character of Mr. Richards as far as the editor of this newspaper was concerned. Gentlemen, hear this in mind, I beg of you, that there is a great difference between the action between Mr. Liggins and the plaintiff and that between Mr. Young and the plaintiff. Mr. Liggins stands in a very differ ent situation to Mr. Young ; the latter is a stranger to all the parties ; he bed no to gratify ; he has expressed his sorrow for what has been done, but this don't seem to satisfy the parties, and they are deter mined to go on against Mr. Young, and then it is made a charge against that gentleman that he has put in a plea justifying the libel in the terms in which it ap peared in his newspaper. Now that plea, but for my Learned Friend the Attorney-General, would have been utterly unknown to you, Gentlemen, or to any person in Court ; but my Learned Friend thinks it proper to drag it before you, in order to show you what his instructions were. Now, he intended to have met it by proving as true the stigmatising of this Company, a Company which, I firmly believe, has the most beneficial objects in view. Mr. Young, finding that he was the party to be assailed, had no doubt, the assertion having been made at a public meeting, that it was true, and such being his opinion he thought it right, and those who advised Mr Young, that it was proper to place the plea upon the record. I am here expressing those senti ments which Mr. Young has invariably felt on this sub ject. Mr. Young knows nothing of Mr. Richards, and he therefore can bear him no Mr. Young will have had to bear the whole penalty of his misfortune in inserting this report, for he has had to bear all the costs of this unnecessary proceeding. Oa the part of Mr. Young, I have nothing more to do than to explain the circumstances under which this publication was inserted in order to satisfy you, Gentlemen, that there was no intentional malignity on his part, or any desire to injure Mr. Richards. The whole was done for the purpose of giving information to the public. Mr. Young, I think, ' has a right to complain of being ill-treated, for even to the last—even at this the twelfth hour—when your verdict must be pronounced against him, be is ready to give every reparation to Mr. Richards ; he had never any des'ire to injure that gentleman ; his only desire was to keep up the respectability of his own paper, and he does submit to you through me that Mr. Richards has an ample opportunity of vindicating his character in his action against Mr. Liggins, because in that action lie will be entitled to show his connection with the Company, and to establish his position, if it be a true one, that this is a bubble Company, and not as I maintain a fair and honest Company established for a most beneficial and legitimate object. It does appear to me that Mr. Richards is acting, to say the least of it, a most vindictive part, when he proceeds against the proprietor of a newspaper who could have no wish to uphold a fraud, when he has the means, through another action which he has brought, of preserving himself from the imputations which he says have been cast upon him. Under these circumstances, Ido trust, when you recollect the consequences it must entail of heavy costs on Mr. Young, and when they might have stopped at an earlier period—namely, when the writ issued, I do trust that you will not sanction such proceedings, by any thing more than nominal damages. I must again say, that there has been no attempt to impeach the character of Mr. Richards, and as Mr. Richards might have got all he wished to get, if he is a reasona ble man, as I suppose he is, at small expense, it does appear to me, that you will beat discharge your duties by doing for Mr. Richards that which he ought to have done for himself originally—namely, putting a stop to these proceedings against Mr. Young, by giving Mr. Richards only a small measure of damages. Lord DENMAN shortly summed up, and The Jury after a short consultation, returned a ver dict for the plaintiff—Damages 501. POLICE INTELLIGENCE. MANSION-HO USE. THE INDEPENDENT AND WEST MIDDLESEX LIFE AND FIRE ASSURANCE COMPANY.--Sit P. LAURIE sat on Saturday in the Justice-room, and stated that the cases of distress, arising from the fraud of the " West Middlesex Company," crowded in upon him daily. Ho had not, he said, heard of the report given from a country paper, stating that the Marquis of Wellesley had purchased an annuity of the Company for 30,000/., voted to him by the East India Company. He was happy to state, from what Mr. Farquhar had mentioned to him about the principal annuitants, tha the Mar quis of Wellesley bad not placed a farthing in the hands of the schemers. Indeed, he did not know how any one who thought for a moment of the nature of the terms on which the Association professed to grant an nuities could be prevailed upon to give credit to its solvency, Sir Peter Laurie then mentioned that the Lord Mayor had recieved the following melancholy epistle from a poor invalid in Ireland : " 32, Lower Ormond-quay, Dublin, Feb. 12, 1841. My Lord,—Events occasionally occur in society which compel the most timid persons to appear before the public ; if not to defend themselves against unjust imputations, at least to claim their sympathy for un foreseen misfortunes. This latter is unfortunately my pi esent fate. An all-wise Providence has been pleased, now upwards of five years, to visit me with a disease called chronic gastritis, or chronic inflammation 'of the stomach, which is one of the most distressing to which humanity is heir. This unhappy malady is supposed to be occasioned in part by the translation of rheumatic inflammation to that vital organ. This rheumatic affec- tion, in an aggravated form, I had previously laboured under for a lengthened period. About. four years back I was compell e d t o d ec li ne b us i ness from t h ese compl i cate d evils, not however without having submitted to the most harassing trials of such remedial measures as are at present known to th e h ea li ng art f or re li e f , b ut i n va i n. My savings, amounting to the sum of 6001., I, at an unlucky hour, deposited with the West Middlesex Asso ciation, who held an office here, for the purchase of an an nuity during my wife's life and my own, first making known to them the state of my present health. This annually being our principal support, and unable, from the continuance of disease, to take any further exer tions for our maintenance, I leave you, my Lord Mayor, to judge what our present feelings are. Pre viously to handing over this, my all, and for which I received the Company's bond on a 61. stamp, registered in the Court of Chancery, I consulted some friends conversant in commercial affairs, whose sanction I then obtained for so doing. I further took advice as to the future solvency of the Company. My friends observed that their prospectus and advertisements gave reference to several Acts of Parliament extend ing over a period of upwards of forty years, which should be looked upon as a sufficient guarantee. It is here needless to observe that these references to the said several Acts were all fraudulent fabrications, in tended the more fully to deceive, as appeared by the recent exposures ; their continuance in business not having exceeded a period of four years. From these fear ful and notorious facts, it is not, on my part going too far to express a sanguine hope that Government will immedi ately pass an Act to protect the aged, helpless, and infirm, who are confessedly that section of the public most entitled, under such trying circumstances as the present, to sym pathy and commiseration—against the plundering de signs of such men as composed the " West Middlesex" Company, and that Government will further, by the agency of an envoy throughout Europe and America, make every exertion to have these men detected and held amenable to justice. Up to this your Lordship's exertions, Sir Peter Laurie's, and the other benevolent gentlemen who have felt so lively an interest in the cause of suffering innocence, is above all praise. We fondly hope these exertions will ultimately bring to light any concealed property of the Company's, and in devising such other means as will rescue the helpless annuitants from ultimate ruin. " I remain, my Lord, your Lordship's very obedient servant, " M. L. LARKIN, Apothecary, &c." Sir P. LAURIE observed that he had, while in the Chair, received the following communication : " Brentford, Feb. 19, 1841. " Sir,—ln the capacity of agent in the town to an old established fire-office, I received with a prospectus the enclosed tempting offer from the worthy Secretary of the Independent and West Middlesex Insurance Com pany. The bait did not take with me, but lam sorry to find that in some other quarter it proved too power ful to be resisted. " Your obedient servant, S. " To Sir Peter Laurie." "Independent and West Middlesex Fire and Life As surance Company. " Sir,—l am directed to inform you that the Inde pendent and West Middlesex Fire and Life Insurance Company will make the following allowances. For all transfers of fire insurances, .50 per cent. on the first year's premium. On life insurances 20 per cent. on the first year's premium, and five per cent. on annuities or the gross payments. " S I am your obedient servant, " Oct. 1, 1836. WILLIAM HOLE, Secretary. " 27, Baker-street, Portman-square," Just as Sir P. LAURIE had concluded the reading of the last letter, be received another from a poor fel low at Edinburgh, which stated as follows " Our case is probably one of the worst amongst the many sufferers. I gave up business in the druggist line on account of increase of years and infirmities, pur chased an annnity of 301. during my wife's and my own lifetime, from the Company, two years ago, and, by frugality, we made a scanty livelihood of it with 201. more that we drew of rent from a house in Coldstream. Since losing the above 301., all we have to look to is the 201., so that you may form some opinion of our de plorable condition from this simple statement of facts." Sir P. LAURIE added, that he should have further disclosures to make in the course of the week. GUILDHALL. William Hawley (the elder), John Hawley (his son), George Wooldridge, William LandrifJ and William Hickling, appeared on summons before Sir J. Cowan, under the Act Gth George IV., cap. 129, sec. 3, for un lawfully, and by force and menace causing divers per sons in the said summons named to depart from their hiring as workmen. Mr. Clarkson appeared for the prosecution, and Mr. Philips for the defence. John Buchan, of Marsham-street, Westminster, stated that on the 16th of January, he went to Mr. Barney Barrett, with three other men, named Baxter, Dawson, and Thomson, for the purpose of getting work at the Temple Church. Mr. Barrett hired them all, and a person of the name of Kay, who was not present ; and they were ordered to go to work at the church on the following Monday, and they went accordingly. Mr. Barrett is the clerk to Mr. Burnell, and had their names put down, and they were called over in the church by Mr. Sergeant, the foreman, on the Monday morning. We went to work at six in the morning ; and after the names had been called over, all the men at the bar, ex cept the elder Hawley, consulted together ; after which Landriff told the foreman (Sergeant). that if witness and his friends were employed, they (the defendants) would all leave. Woolridge said to them, " You must have b —y good cheek to come here to look for work." The men stood about the door as if about to quit the church, when young Hawley said, " Why the do you linger ? why don't you come along ?" When they went to the church candles were lighted, but they were put out when the names had been called over. Sergeant said that he could not employ witness and his companions, but at their request they were allowed to wait the arrival of Mr. Barratt, whom they finally saw ; and he expressed his regret that he could not suffer them to work if the old men were unwilling to work with them. The defendants demanded that they should pay 10s. and become members of their club ; but as they belonged to one already, they refused. Witness belongs to a club, but they allow non-naem hers to work with them. There would be no objection against the defendants working with their society. Mr. Philips—How many members does your society consist of ? Witness—Between 300 and 400. The witness proceeded to state that he engaged with Mr. Barratt at a public-house in Chancery-lane. Had not seen Mr. Barratt here to day. The entrance money to witness's union is 3s. It is called " The Operative Masons' Trade of London." One object they had in view was to protect themselves from coer cion, exercised by the society to which the defendants belong. Mt:. Phillips said he should rest his defence on the fact that there had been no hiring ; and if that was proved, there would be an end to the charge. Or if there bad been an engagement all, it was only a condi tional one, which hinged upon the approval or othe:,._ wise of the old workmen, of whom his clients framed a part. When the application was made, . 1 .2 r. Bar rett (he believed. he should prove it from his own lips) told the prosecutors, " If the ',nen object to you, I cannot employ you as they , : fou ld a ll l eave. " And he (Mr. Phillip s ) believed orrc of the party said, " Don't be uneasy about that, for if they leave you we can find you 100 or 150 more," Before Mr. Phillips proceeded to call evidence, Mr. Clarkson said that if the defendants would allow the prosecutors to go to work unmolested, he would abandon the summons ; those societies were the bane and destruction, instead of the protection of the work ing classes, when they were used as an engine of op pression. Mr. Phillips concurred in that remark, and then called Mr. Barney Barratt. Mr. Barratt sworn and examined by Mr. Phillips— I am foreman to Mr. Burnell, the clerk of the works at the Temple Church. Mr. Phillips—l believe, Sir, your name is Barney Barratt—it's rather a queer name ? Witness—No, my name is Barnabas. Mr. Phillips—Stop —stop ; then your name is not Barney ? Witness—No. Mr. Clarkson—He is known and called by that name—how can it matter ? Mr. Phillips—Then, Mr. Barratt, Barney is a nick name. Witness--Yes.—(Laughter.) ' Mr. Phillips—Then, there's an end of the case : the witness says you have nicknamed him in the summons. The summons states that my clients are to appear to answer the complaint of one " Barney Barratt and others," and he says his name is not Barney at all. A long desultory discussion ensued, which resulted in the Magistrates dismissing the summons, on the ground of informality, without prejudicing the merits of the case, which stood over for further discussion. Mr. Clarkson said he should now apply for sum monses upon two distinct charges under the same clauses ; first, for preventing the hiring ; and, F.econdly, for unlawfully demanding money, in order to 'oe enrolled into a combined society. THE COURTS OF EUROPE.— -Few persons who visited the principal Courts of Eur ope at the close of the last century, possessed such fr cilities for procuring accurate information respecting every person, and every thing worthy observation, as the late Mr. Swinburne, the well-known author of " Travels, in Spain," &c. On his arrival at the various seats of government every one thronged to pay him every attention in their power; and the consequence is, that P. uch interesting details of what.. ever he became acquainted with, worth recording, in his travels through Franc', Spain, Italy, Germany, &c., as we find in this post:numous publication, " The Courts of Europe," have never, perhaps, appeared. Not only does ; it introduce to us, with an abundance of most interesting anecdote, each member of the foreign royal families, all t' e principal nobility, and the most distinguished persom ages in Church and State, in art, literature, and scieace r but Mr. Swinburne being employed in an official capacity , by his own government, has contrived to enrich his vo— lumes with similar pleasant notices of the family and Court of George 111., and of every celebrated character them; existing in England, EVENING EDITION• NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. (From the _Hampshire Telegraph.) PORTSMOUTH, FEB. 22.—Her Majesty's brig Rac er arrived at Halifax on the 7th from Tampico , 100,000 dollars for the use of the Commissariat De' partment at that place. She sailed in a few days after' wards for Bermuda. The Sattellite, 18, Commodore Robb, came into Her bour on Monday, to be put out of commission. --ger crew will be paid part of their wages, and sent on leave to return for general service on Tuesday. fat he APPOINTMENTS.—Surgeons--James Salmon , -- Persian ; James Low, to the Rodney. Assistant-Surgeon—Dr. Archibald Little, to the Caledonia. Mates—Thomas Davies, from the Ganges, to the Excellent ; Thomas Anson, to the Indus ; e• 11. Young, to th e M onarc h ; E. Fuge, to the Ca ledonia. Midshipman—C. W. Elton,to the Cambridge. Volunteers Ist Class—Mr. John Miller and Mr.We l • Brace Mason, to the Inconstant. Gunner—R. Lennon. to the Pluto. Lieut. PLYMOUTH, FEB. 10.—The Raven cutter, Mapleton, commander, sailed for Portsmouth last Fri . ' da).—The Avon steamer, Leutenant Pritchard, cow mender, sailed f or F a l mo uth, on Monday.—On gpe. day, the Volcano steamer, Lieut. C. Smith, co mmander' arrived from Barbadoes and Antigua ; the former plac otb she quitt e d th e 14th J anuar y, and the latter this 2. to Eng lnd ' She encountered a heavy gale on her passage in which she received considerable damage, and arrived, here a complete wreck her paddle wheels are eerie!. away, sails blown to pieces, boilers burst, and he r boats washed overboard ; she must undergo in,26 repairs before she can proceed to Woolwich. Ple Lord Chief-Justice of Barbadoes and suite came Pa s ; sengers in her. The Iris, 26, Captain H. Nurse, ca! n , into harbour on Monday, and is to be docked , 13 1%. touched in passing through St. Helens. The packet, Lieutenant C. Smith, commander, arrived frnal. Falmouth, on Tuesday, with the crew of the SP/ packet, wrecked in the W es t Indies, a short time since' The Lizard, steamer, Lieutenant Estcourt, conn o '1 8 .% . der, sailed for th e Mediter ran ean on Wednesday, it despatches for Si r R. St o ford. The Snipe, enttnri St o p ford. Baldock, In commander, ander, ar rived from Ireland on Wednesday. Harnoaze—Cal e d on i a , San Josef, Iris, S tar ' all Volcano, Pluto, and Carron, steamers. In Sound—lmpregnable, Beliesle, and Star, Pee k°. (From the Hampshire Independent.) fr i ga te, YORTMOUTH, FEB. 20.—The Southampton —L ai at bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Sir D. King' g Rio on the 13th December. The Russian surv e r ,/ °-; ship Nasladner Alexandre, left Rio for round 01)1; Horn on the 4th December. The Danish frigate,,tets, lone, sailed on the following day for the River I et ; and round the Cape. The American sc h o oner gai t!) , prise, left Rio Dec. 13, for the purpose of consulttgoiF Commodore relative to the taking of the brig "` Abdel, lately engaged in pi ra ti ca l exploits. AS s o' dent had happened to the American corvette lua,r i in the River Plate, whi c h o n go i n g up to Rio V s i r :e i os down, in doing whi c h s h e fill e d an d sunk. I's ° were lost, and the vessel was likely to be r aised. t oo The Star packet arriv e d a t F a l m outh on Sot°. the last,h av i ng from the We s t I n di es , left TamP ie° ° oh 13th, Vera Cruz o n the 23d December, and klar a il s rs, on the sth Jul., bringing a freight of 800,00 0 :T4A on merchants' acc o unt. Sh e a l so had on bouraLotlf James and crew o f th e Sp e y packet, r`--- lb of wrecked in the W es t I n di es . On the ° a the December, th e Ri ng d ove , w h en t we lve toile s al f eish north-west coast of St. Croix, captured ther.,rd dlooner Jesus Maria, of 45 tons, with 2 52 s ' a— , Lo.,rd, viz. t o u r wome n, 100 g i r l s , a nd 148 WI: ' i jil o of whom had died on the passage. She was a the from the River Sebo, West Coast of Africa , a ll , ge of Ringdove sent her on to the Havannab , in ni t." 71.1 of Tarleton. Jamaica, Barbadoes, and It Y— The the smaller islands were suffering from droug ht ' boa Swift and Ringer packets al io arr ived at Fal mout e Friday from the West Indi es , b o th vessels . bi‘ riPg ae t Sly" perienced tremendous weather. The Sly" 00° about 100,000 dollars, and th e Ranger about B°' dollars. GLAST WSEIC- THE MARKETS. COUNTRY CORN 111ARKETS DURING LAS"i Pe_,.. ° Wheat. Barley. Oats. Beans. ~....- l'er Quarter. s. to s. s. to s. s. to s. i• t 9 I ' . 4 6 ...! Carlisle - ; .... sb Hexham 52 18 32 38 21 23 31 , Morpeth 5O 60 25 28 20 ti 4 3:1 ~1 .... 45 Benrith 65 32 23 -- 4 0 3 5 .... 55 Sheffield 63 I :i3 21 --- 1,3 , i Winchester 56 10 '27 C 2 20 06 40 ''",„ s d. ii l Per Bushel. s.d. s.il. s.d. s.d . s. (1, s.d. s. d. BA'A a Q of Carmarthen 6 6 7 0 0 0 3 8 0 0 2 1 5 6 " a ol' • • Cowbridge lO 5 6 Swansea 7 4 80 40 44 24 '6 56 60 . if: Per 8011. ,i, fi 19 ' ill Barnardcastl 16 0 18 9 8 0 9 3 7 4 8611 I .' -8 0 09 Durham 1136 166 80 90' 56 66' 8- O P, il 9 ,O, O. Richmond, 111 6 IS 0 70 99 1 56 80 9 0 7, gi O. Stockton 114 6 1;6 90 90 7 0 86 76 ' - . . A. WAKEFIELD CORN MARKET . Mt; Nl'neat, Red, Norfolk sad Su f folk ...... ... ....S. 6 05 . 1° .-- ° De i; ......-..-....... Lin ! and Cam. 160 18 9 8 0 93 111 90 11 - ° 1 10 a " 136 16 6 9 0 90 80 116 ISO 70 9b 6 i 7 6 S 66‘ WAKEFIELD C. _ft WE'D,. 11 . , 0 0., 'neat, Red, Norfolk and Suffolk ...... .....-s. o% l° . ii: . . o w- tti• ---- Lin. and Cam. —.— Yorkshire s . .....s. to 66 , doe l o v. — 'White Foreign, tted _ s. ___,,. to „„.. • A ns White ... .5. _ s , to 0w',.,,, one 3 74 Barley, Norfolk and Suffolk __;,, to r.' 00 , Lincolnshire Yorkshire Wold 26s. ta One,o. Foreign Js. to 4... 00" Beans, New -- Old to 2 9 ' . 60 '- Oats, Potato .'" s • oex eO O --- Poland .... .5 ...... to r o. siL. a „ --- Vriezland and Small s .__,,, to -• .. 4 onp, "". 13d.r 10 n..,:..aling .. ..... 12. d. t„° od . per , n „d, Shelling Malt . •..4 40e. foe . • _. r p p, gni OS. P" Rapeseed ..., —L. Os, 261. Os. —• NEWCASTLE CORN EXCHANGE Whit e. . 67 .. . 695. Wheat, Northumberland 54.Re d __-s ....... , 70. - Norfolk and Suffolk ---- Berwick and Scotch - Foreign Rye, Norfolk and Suffolk - Foreign Barley, Malting, Norfolk and S u ffo 1 k ...4 1 . - Grinding and Feeding 2Bs. 305..•••• ....s. Malt, Norfolk and Suffolk 56s 6l) ...... • .... 11 .. ...ar• Beans, Small Small 4os. 461 ..... •• _.....-- - Tick Pease, White q, ....s. - Gray Oats, Northumberland, Pota.toe .......... 436' 25 23. 0.. 39482;5L. .............. ::::: -.J.' : - Feed ,s • - Foreign --s• --s..••••• ....,...„„, Flour (per sack) 45& OIL ...••• SCOTCH MARKETS. ... 0- , - ,l' • Wheat. Barley. Oats. dea ns . oss ----.------- -----____ 4bcrdeen... 50 to 60 25 t o 26 18 to 2'2 -, t° ~-. 2 5 '''. Berwick 35 43 19 24 16 18 3. ' 30 0- 0 . Coldstream 49fi .... Cupar (Fife) 48 65 26 31 16, 22 V sv •••• Dunbar 4B 68 26 49 26 27 142 Inverness 53 48 54 26 27 20 2s 69 27 0,0 21 30 32 4 r. ~.,30,4 g : Ke150...--- 36 47 18 22 16 28,121 A s - - Kirkaldy - 36 _ '. 1 3 145 i 4 Id. Perth 6O "4 3(1 40 25 25 141 010 re The size of the measly:, varies througho ut the HAD ucT e . g, s F e ir c s o t rid n r 4 .1. 3: CON CORN MAR. -- ee ;se. 4.... WAG Barley. Oats. , 27 , oil 26; Ad 6;7 .1 34s Od 503 Od .. sOd 36 5 ' . Od 303 6d 25s Od -- od Third. . 56s Od 20s Od 235 Od I 0. .Average 3l. Os. 101 0 • 12 t 00 0 , ' DALKEITH CORN DtAßKET i .,• eas e. 411: 4 1 Wheat. Barley. I Oats. ii s Od I 9 11 0 d First 63s to 33s 0,1 1 293 4d „,., s 0d 904 Second 6ls Od 30s Od 1 u4s 441 g,! ) , od 4 Third 4Bs 61.1 25s Od 14a 8d K T. 5. s/ tIOI GLASGOW CORN MI R-- 2641 b. 0 0 g1 0 Oats, P er .. 19 0 Wheat, per 2401 b. s. d. s. d. rtritish, old 32 6t035 6 Iriab, ...... ....we' ~.4 4 ----new 24 0 31 0 British ..... . .... ...: ....... 0 54 ii Canada, free 0 - 0 Beans. P`' ...... I'4 . 140 Irish Barley, per 3201 b Scottish ...... !.. 7 r ,,, It. English 26 0 23 6 Pease, Scott l if o gr ... 44 ; 5P' Scottish I ri sh SCOTCH MARKETS. ..- - ------------ P L A ra l lb .ill ' VICTORIA PATTERN . 7 .- 14, ‘ylAi l A. B. SAVORY and SONS,. Goldsmiths, 1 7 ° , * the SO" London (opposite the Bank of England), i! ° ' io d sk e ' a i efl that, in addition to their many patterns of plain h ot tO - Nll / ' VER SPOONS and FORKS, they have 6°ls f Louis i. elegant new pattern, after the admired style • e 's r The following are the usual weights : 5 d. ..0 0 or. / 6 ••0 ? 0 12 Victoria Pattern Silver Table Spoons ......... 40 ar . 7 6 ... 9 1 6 I`2 ditto Table Forks .. ....... 40 •• • 7 i 6 ... y./ 0 12 ditto Dessert Spoons ..... . .. 7 6 •" 4 ' 1 i 12 ditto Dessert Forks ...... 2f, • ••• 7 6'•• 4 6 0 2 ditto Gravy Spoons . ..... if •• 76•' 4 1 0 1 ditto Soup Ladle ......... 1. ••• 8 0 ••• / , 4 ditto Sauce Ladles ..- ..... 12 .• ........ 5 lv . # 4 ditto Salt Ladles (gilt bowls) .. 4.0'n9).•• ) Ir, 3 1 ditto Fish Slice (pierced oncl,' i . # 0 ." 1 j 12 ditto Tea Spoons ....• •••• 1 " .. . ...... ;:‘(;S• 1 ditto Sugar Tong ... ......... •• fib P e os• lif Fiddle Pattern Silver Spoons and Forks, s . 4 d. per ste el a 4 K sse i: n ig atn 's idn i t ' e a .o tt „n e ,ta r ia l e i:ilver Spoons, and Forks, 7s. i. • i nus. ebe p...; chase of silver or. S i lie ffi eld late N.B. A price current, stamyed as a newsPaP e :4s to 's, willdra wbi he P free of postage, 1 '' c n o g un e t v r e y, y paid lettr - ,inmfoarymbagt i ohaa d r e o l lieg e" 11:11ron o er to , ..er. me cha' ------------- 1 , 0 .-- ser Al USIC,AL BOXES of high quality, t" Cone nism beau ' f 0 0 sa j with sure • • . ifully finished, conveying the idea 0. A , I . ' rising perfection and accuracy.ate•' "if ''' '-'"' alogue of the various Airs, Overtures, Sol o '4 the .mar t pa' PO ces - of the Boxes is now published, an r to 8 P °9 gratis, or will be forwarded, post free, in os vve 8 1)Plie: Ition. T. COX SA::: ,y CAold smith and Silversmith, 47, Cornhili (Sec° dire 6§. the ;1 0 P APIER i‘GirAaccecllTErchT-sEtr.iteet), London. ,Wr of F ULL SIZED GOTHIC SHAPE. Tab] Le Knives, with ivory handles, 14s. Per doy en p er W .. . " P_ ()le s for WinClow Curtains, 1} inch diameter, I ,,at-i , ,ogues gratis, containing the prices of stoves, i .s ' i l ling Jr `! , inehes, Is. Bd. per foot ; bronzed fendes, 41;;e_elfileg;:fiso're_: iron s, kitchen utensils, and every article in f ull" mougery. o rd-st reet. RIPPON and BURTON, Wells-street, 00 Established IVO. superioern :„.13101411 r elsrogeoresod." l " . pc ' widos :6 o nfe°sfiittioeit:Pt:l:lie e v °; : . W. Cn.thLcovleBltehss,inosftiieant:lltbnaißoyn,RtothStarly, Verne -Wl' late ,1. ,AJer Gleed, Esq., barrister-at -law. On the 18th inst., at the British Erubassv' ander, third son of R. Ilepburne, Esq., of Clar an, North Britain to Jane Seymer, daughtcrofinpi, Pe W. Chester, M.A., 'Chaplain Hon. East India Bras Establishment. WED. the B " iilble On the 15th inst. at Billericay, Essex, Mall , _ st dsught.ef and beloved wife of 'Denzil Ede, Esq., and younonenbsto, i' of the late Rev. Wasey Stony;, formerly ica r , . 0 . 0 1 62. _ bit the same county, deeply and sincerely lainenteo,,n7iirig, Jo On the 16th inst., at Melville Terrace, D" Tovey, Esq., axed 88. ---- rrRPO YO UNG, Sued, IA London: Printed and Published by A' i v No. 112, Strand, at The Sue Office, No• „ 0 1841. the county of Middlesex. —Monday, February A.', 1 - i ; L , sr ' .0 ~ d ---~+'~ ~,