The Express.
London, England, 1846-12-09 00:00:00

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.
Nun Purs.—Before the Lord Chief Justice and a Special Jury.
HOLDSWOUTH V. GIBBON AND OTHERB.— LIBIL.—EX.
TRAORDINARY CHARGES OE GANIRLING.—Sir F. Thesiger,
Mr. Sorjeant ehannell, and Mr. Montague Smith, for the
plaintiff ; Mr. Cockburn, Mr. noggins, Mr. Greenwood, and
Mr. Collier, for the defendants. This was an action to
. .

recover compensation in damages for a libel published in the
Plymouth and Devotsport Weekly Journal, on the 12th Feb.,
1846. The defendants, who were the proprietors of that
paper, pleaded, first, that they were not guilty ; and,
secondly, that they were justified in publishing the state-
ment complained of.
Sir Frederick Thesiger, in opening the case, stated that
the plaintiff was a physician at Plymouth, and he had been
compelled to bring the present action for the vindication of
his character against a slanderous attack which had appeared
in the journal belonging to the defendants. They had not
been content with denying the publication of the libel, but
they bad put upon the record a justification averring that
the charges against the plaintiff were true. He would here
observe that in reference to the result of this inquiry, the
position of the plaintiff was widely different from that of the
defendants. If the verdict of the jury should be for the
plaintiff, it would not operate in the slightest d'gree to the
prejudice of the defendants. They would probably not sell
one newspaper lets in consequence ; but if, on the contrary,
the result should be in favour of the defendants, it would oe
impossible for the plaintiff to hope to maintain his position
in society, and therefore upon their verdict would depend
almost his very existence. The facts he should lay before
the jury were br;efly these: The plaintiff had, since the
spring of 1845, established himself as a physician at Ply-
mouth. He was a married man, with a family of eight
children, and until the circumstances arose which led to the
publication of this libel, he was generally respected, and his'
connexions were gradually increasing. Very soon after his ar-
rival at Plymouth he was proposed as a member of the Royal
WeaternYaeht Club, and had been duly elected. It appeared
from the statement contained in the libel itself, that there
was a rule in the club that if anything occurred which corn.
premised the reputation of any member a general meeting
was called, in order that he might have an opportunity of
vindicating his character. The course then was to put the
question to the ballot, and upon the result of that ballot de-
pended the continuance of the party as a member of
the club. It happened that in the month of Feb-
ruary, 1846, some communication had been made to
the club, tending to the disparagement of the plaintiff, and
a general meeting of the club was called, a ballot took place,
and the result was unfavourable to the plaintiff. That was
undoubtedly a circumstance which was calculated to create
some suspicion. It was most fatal to the plaintiff, and the
injury he had experienced was increased by the publication
of this libel. He (Sir F. Thesiger) was not aware that the
proprietors of newspapers had any right to interfere in
matters of this kind, but it unfortunately happened that they
were often disposed to encourage what were called "strong
articles;" and it would appear that the defendants, taking
advantage of the affair in quest on, had launched an arrow
at the character of the plaintiff. The libel had destroyed
his reputation at Plymouth, and had compelled him to come
into a court of justice to vindicate his character. It ap-
peared by the pleat.inga that the person alluded to in the
article complained of as ' Mr. M--, ' was a Mr. M`Donald,
and " Dr. 11—" would be proved to be the plaintiff in
this action. The libel was published in the Plymouth Jour-
nal on the 12th February, 1846, and was as follows:

ROYAL WESTERN YACHT CLUB.
Corer Or Scrum.—ESPVISION or TWO BIACILLF.OI4—For tom.
time past circumstances of suspicion had attached to two members
of this club, owing to two gentlemen baring been plucked at the
rrsitience of one of the intapreted members, in a manner that seemed
to indicate foul play. One of the party was fleeced to the amount of
1,0701. in nor evening at cards and the other gentleman lust above
2001. In the Cabe of the first gentleman that we have alluded to, the
parties were betting on the turn-up card, and his opponent
managed to turn up a king nine times running. Al these circum-
stances led to suspicion that suspicion led to inquiry, and the
Inquiry has resulted in the expulsion of the two suspected persons, and
one of them suddenly leaving the town. A short time since, a person
known now to be a confederate of the expelled pertiee, sought ad-
mission into the club. Hie name was O'Brien. lie gave a crack
entertainment a few days before he was to be elected, as he thought,
and bis party was graced by almost all the rank and fashion of the
neighbourhool. Ito was going to make hie entree into the club in
grand stale. Two or three days after, he stood the ballot, and he
was blackballed' The met morning he bulled, and some of the poor
tradesmen had to lament the fashionable character of his entertain-
ment, and the great desire he bud for display. The talk and excite-
ment that this blackballing ocausioned wae very great- Other
gentlemen who stood the ballot about the same time trembled, lest
the same fate might await them, especially no I black ball in 7 excludes
any who seek for admission. Subsequent event prove that the emote
then adopted with regard to Mr. O'Brien was a very judicious and
wise one. The events that we have detaikel led to an inquiry into
the character of a Mr. who lived near the club, and into that
of a Dr. II —. Both these persons were citizens of the amid : we
cannot !earn whence they came, or whither they are going. (in the
29th ult., the secretary of the club, Walter Leiner, Esq., by order of
the committee, Muted *circular, summoning a special general meeting
of the members on Thursday, the sth inst., at noon, "when informa-
tion, forwarded to the committee from Tours, relative to the conduct
of two members of this club, will be Laid before them." The members
of the club generally knew what the object of the meeting was; and,
therefore, on Thursday last, there was an exceedingle large attend-
ance, there being nearly eighty members present. W. It. Hawker,_
req., was voted into the chair. Previously to reading the report of
the committee and the documents mentioned therein, Mr. John Beer,
of Devonport, rose to inform the meeting that he had been consulted
professionally, and that he attended the meeting as the professional
adviser of the two persons implicated. It was then put to the
whether a proferaional man could appear there ° and it was necgeatlithZ
unanimously and decidedly. The history of their morementa, as de-
tailed to the meeting from sources beyond all doubt, was this:
were said to have been connected with a notorious gambling
transaction with Mr Connaty, at Tuuts—that of marking cards—
in which a French offt :cr was made to suffer moot severely. Mr. I
Connaty was tried at Tours; and he then removed the Did to •
higher court at Blois, and again into a higher court at Orleane, and
had decisions against him in all mom and he was for the offence im-
prisoned two years. There wan then a charge against them for mal-
practices in play at Guernsey, where they were ejected from the
Civil and United Service Club, all of which will be more amply de-
tailed in the letter of which we s-tall give a copy presently. Thalia
the circumstances that love occurred, which were not its the dub,
but by melon of their connexion with it, were also stated. Wham
thew circumstances were known, Mr. tosser rent a letter to them,
previous to the general meeting being called by the committee, sug-
gesting the propriety of their withdrawing. They replied to this be
requesting to know what charges there were against them. 'The.
secretary sent a copy of the chargee, to which they made no reply.
On the meeting deciding that they would not bear a profeseional nun,
Mr. Beer and their proposers sent for them. The club Caen waited
one hour and a half, in order that they might make any defence that
they felt necessary. They, however, made no appnnmx, and sent
track no answer, though one of them was seen from the window of
the room walking about.
The letter received by the secretary from Guernsey, in
answer to inquiries, was as follows:—
The affair that took place in this island with reference to there two
Mart-beg was this :—They had gat themselves introduced into a club
lately formed, called the Civil and United Service. Several strange
oecurroicen had taken place in and out of this club, large sums of
money were trot, suspicion was afloat. They quitted anal went to
Baden. Something drove them out of that place, and they returned
here. bi— came back Bret, and wished to re-enter the cub, but he
was black-balled; mad X— out of the occurrence, assaulted at
night, in the public street, • highly-reepectable elderly gentleman, for
which he was sent to gaol for a fortnight. Shortly alter this • person
from Paris came here to arrest him, but he stowed himself away in his
house, which overhung the sea; and while the police were wntching
outside, he let himself into oat •b, and thin is the last we know of lahn.
You are in the right direction—Tours. You may go to Ireland also -
Tipperary, I think. Ile was brought before the court there for swind-
ling. Ile made a bolt, and got out of Ireland in a notnewhat
similar
way that he did out of this place. I hope my friends at Plymouth
have not been fleeced. Mr. homer, you have been asleep at your post.
Had I had the least suspicion that these chaps would have bad the
impudence to introduce themselves at your club, I should have felt it
a duty that I owed, to have gone to Plymouth at my own cost, to have
put you on your rend.
" The letters and evidence having been read, sndthe members
having waited till endurance could wait no longer, the meeting pro-
ceeded to ballot under the 11th rule, which provides that, " its caw
any circumstances should occur injurious to the welfare and character
of the club, the committee shall call a general meeting, giving seven
days notice, and in the event of two-thirds of the members present
voting ;by ballet) that the name of any member shall be removed
from the list the eubscription of that member for the current year
shall be returned, and he shall cease to be a member." The result of
the ballot was a most awful affair. At the time of the vote* being
taken • number of gentlemen had left, the proceedings having lasted
three hours. There then appeared—
For Dr. li. 2 against 50'—Per Mr. M. I against SI!!
Mr. M. has Ante kit the town, but the doctor remains.
We think that the inhabitants are under the greatest obligations
to the members of the committee, and to the club generally, for the
prompt and determined manner in which they obtained evidence
respecting these mast, awl acted upon it. They had introduced them-
selves into the society of every respectable ;drawer who viaited the
town, with what intentions we leave it to our readers to determine.
The club is not 1 hely to be impaired through having bad two or three
black sheep in it; it still maintains Ito high and respectable character;
and the honorable way in which It has vindicated Itself from this possi-
ble stain, will redound to its credit rather than detract from it. The
club is of great paddle utility—it afford, excellent literary gratifica-
tions to those of its members who desire to avail themselves of them
—and it must be a source of "demure to its friends to know that there
arc fifteen new candidates tote ballotted for at the meeting on Friday
next."
It would be idle fir him to waste the time of the jury in
speaking of the character and tendency of this libel. It
charged that the plaintiff and :dr. M'Donald had been
guilty or cheating at cards, and that they were in the habit
of committing acts of the greatest dishonesty. From the
time Dr. Holdsworth took up his residence at Plymouth he
had endeavoured to procure an honorable existence for him-
self and family, and he could not maintain his position
unless he called upon the proprietors of the journal in which
such an attack wee published to justify what they had
stated. The proceedings had been delayed in consequence of
the plantiff's being unable to ascertain who were the parties
liable; and further delays had been occasioned by the neces-
sity there was fur examining witnesses abroad. A commis-
sion had been sued out fur that purpose, and was executed at
Tours and at Guernsey. The result of that commission
would be laid before the court on the part of the defendants.
The question they would be called upoa to decide would be,
not whether certain charges had been made against the
plaintiff as a member of the Royal Western 'Yacht
Club and whether the result was unfavourable to the pl tie-
tiff—that was not the question to be determined—the ques-
tion would be whether those charges against the plaintiff
were or were not true ; and he (Sir F. Thesiger) trusted the
jury would carefully keep in their minds throughout this
inquiry the distinction he had pointed out. The defendants
undertook to establish that those charges were true, and that
therefore they were justified in publishing the libel. The
plaintiff positively denied that he had been guilty of those
charges, and he was confident that the defendants would fail
to prove them. lie was placed in a very painfuiposition,
but he would trust to the discrimination of the jury, and
would, look forward with confidence to their verdict—The
libel was than put in, and evidence was given to prove that
Dr. Holdsworth was the person designated as " Dr. H." It
was also proved that he had been met " in consultation'' as
a physician at Plymouth, and that there was no other gen-
tleman lathe same capacity at Plymouth whose name began
with H.
The plaiatiff's case having closed, Mr. Cockburn addressed
the jury for the defendants, and raid he agreed with his
learned friend, that the result of this action Was a matter of
great importance to the plaintiff. If he could succeed, at
the expense of the defendants, in re-establishing a character
which had been to seriously damaged by reason of his expul-
sion from the: club, it would undoubtedly be most advantageous
to him. Whether that result was likely to be realised he
would leave the jury to judge when they had heard all the
circumstances of the case. 'the defendants knew nothina of
the plaintiff nor his associate, M.. Donald ; but they fend