The Express.
London, England, 1853-12-05 00:00:00

the Chid Justice thought that the matter must go to the
jury. If it was meant 'hat minute parrs of the contract
wire not prus..d, le str.uld set that right; but he thought
the su..stan.e was proved. The sialis!snce was that that Jr.
li.ndant. were to Awl the plaistifr with proper accomistutle-
tion as • soesnd•rlass passi tiger ; to give hies proper prss.
1111 ins aceir.llllll is thu scale, of reasonably good quasi', ;
sad also had proper eabins. All that was (or the jar, •
and lie thought that they right fairly lad for the plaiadit
ars that.
Mr. rjeant Biles submitted that his learned hired
should nuw elect, either to stand upon the contract r
proved, or up nt the contract as stattd in the ilccleretioe.
The Chief Jug:ice—Yee we,. to supply provisions IC-
4:althea to the scale; he thought that was mute nut; roper
provisions according to the scale; and cuddy acconissoda-
ti.in.

Alt. -
t. 'Out Biles—Whet was ruddy screamed diem
The ebirl Justieit—As he moderato:id it it wmi that the
loud should be reeked ter the passengers and put ea the
table ; it We sat Ler, reasusabl.., and clrealy acc•namo-
dation.

Se rjeas t Byline—Then the declaration contained
&bee t 'Ohs% the law would imply under ordinary Mecum.
stances.

The Chief Justice—There wa. a scs:e, and that might
either enlarge or contract the liability.
Mr. flerjeaat 1171. s would make • proposition to his
learned (mad. Nobody c..uld ray, whichever party suc-
ceeded, that the ease had sot been fairly and patiently
tried. Ile submitted t►at it was not desirable that there
should he ten more of these trials, and he therefore offered,
before boil al Sneed west to the jury, that this case
should settle the others. It there were a verdict 'pilot
him here, he off.rtal to give the mate damages in each case
as the jury should rye in this.
Mr. Chamber.—Mr. Berjeant Bytes ha. not acted fairly
I. me in making this proposal publicly. This public pro-
pesal ought sot to have been :aside; that is my mower
ti it.
Mr. tterjeant Bytes—This is sot the fint.publie proposal
that has been made, foe an application has bees made in
full court to conaolidate the actions. if they are all tried,
nothing can come of it but cams.
Mr. Cisambers thought if his I d friend had eonsi•
dried for ► moment, that he would have seen it woo best
not to mike ► public proposal. Publicly he stated that be
could not at once answer it, (or he had not had time for
consideratina. There were reason, his lordship could well
under•taad why t►is proposal should not have been made
publicly. He was acting for only one client here. He
bad not had time to deliberate, sad he could not at this
moment Mad himself as to his future conduct. Whilst
he was addre.sing the jury, however, proposals could be
made to battiest.

Mr. Chambers then addressed the jury in reply, and
again complained of the predicament in which he had heen
placed by the proposal just made. 110 repeated that
that peopmal ought not to have been made in:
public, and withoui any communication to him, fur he had
not had the sligh teat reason to believe that such a proposal
would be ensue until they heard it. Without exaggera-
tion, or "inflammatory language," with using which he
had been charged, hi• would now direct their attention'
strictly and fairly to the in in which the plaintiff had
been treated in this melancholy affair; sod he called it ine-
laaeholy from the tone and spirit which had been exhi-
bited on the other side. The directors might be, as bad
been said, some of the " hut gentlemen in England," but
in this cue he did not know them—no, not even by name.
The I d counsel then went at length into the state-
ments which had been made by the plaintiff and his wits
snug, and the answers which the defendants had at.
tempted to give to them. lie believed that the case is u
an entirely nailefended one, and especia ly considering the
nature el the defence. Why, none but interested witnesses
had been called to make out the defendants' case, and as to
what occurred on board, the servants of the company alone
had spoken. It was said that neither the first nor
the third class passengers had complained at all;
then, why were not some of these first and
third elan passengers called to tell the jury so
Ile claimed fur the plaintiff compensition for the difference
between the second Maurice and the third class price, and
damages for the inconvenience and annoyance which he
had sustained in consequence of the bad arrangements and
filthy state of the vessel, and also .from the pain which he
had suffered alter the voyage, for he said that he had bad
the tic•doloureux ever since, in consequence of being
obliged to sleep on deck. The learned counsel concluded
by demanding from the jury fair and ample compensation,
but not more than in fainted' and in justice the plaintiff
was entitled to.

The Chief Justice summed up, and he commenced by
observing that it would be necessu their
lfor him to rec II
minds to the real points in the cue. and to request them,
as lie was sure they would, to consider calmly and dis-
paasioutely the matter submitted to them. It was satis-
factory to all parties, and most satisfactory to the adminis-
tration of justice, that juries should bring their minds to
bear on the question submitted to them, without prejudice,
and without giving an nudge weight to what was said by
enuosel on one side or on the other. They would forgive
him for what he said, (or he heard some of them say hear,
hear," to some observations made by Mr. Chambers, and
although such an expression might he very natu:al to •
bystander, for men acting on their oaths, they must forgive
him for saying, that ie was highly improper. They mat
sot act on any notion they might have formed, or on any-
thing that they had heard previous to this cause, and he
should not have mentioned this had he not overheard one of
the geaUemen of the jury talk of the Melbourne as "going
round like a top." They must disregard anything that they
might have seen in the newspapers, or say popular opinion
on the subject of this company. Such things ought to be
disregarded, sr great evil would arise, for instance, in a case
of popular eacitemeat against any religious body, if such
things were regarded no justice c.iuld be done. It had been
the boast, and be hoped it would long be, that juries in a
court of justice disregarded all matters not proper to be
taken into consideration, and acted according to their oaths,
on the facts before them. They would do ham the favour
to take the law from him, for if he were wrong he should
be set right, and then applying their minds to the matters
of fact, say whether the plaintiff or the defendants should
noosed, and if the plaintiff what should be the amount
of damages, estimating those damages temperately and
impartially. The first question was, was the contract
made, and upon that be should leave it to them to say whe-
ther the contract was proved in substance. The plaintiff
said that "in consideration of the sum of 421.105. you
undertook to carry me in the Melbourne from Melbourne to
London, and to provide me with • proper second-clam cabin
passage, with a proper berth and second-elass cabin requi-
sites, and to supply me with meat, drink, and provisions.
according to the scale ; and these were to be provided
according to ruddy arrangements." They could not doubt
that the contract was to supply the plaintiff with meat,
drink, and provisions, according to the scale, and of the be t
quality, and according to caddy arrangements, and there
was no doubt that the company were bound so to provide
for the plaintiff. And now Par the principal point—had
there been • breach of the contract ? First of all it was said,
0 Yon &treed to provide me with • second-clam
cabin. and • proper berth, and woad-class cabin regal.
sites ." and to this two breaches were alleged—that the
defendants had not provided • second-class cabin and
berth, and also woad-class cabin requisites. Beyond this
it was said, thirdly, that " even if you did put me is •
proper place, you did not feed nee properly." The plaintiff
said that they dad not supply proper stores at starting, and
that what they did supply was bad in quality and short is
quantity ; and further, that they kept their deck sad their
ship in • filthy and unwholesome state. Mr. Chambers had
put forward as one of his leading points, that the defend-
ante had Dot supplied the plaintiff with a proper berth, and
he urged that they did sot do so because they bad shifted
the berths, the second-class saloon having been filled up
with coal oe the voyage back. Now if that were trzisly
complaint, that they had pat him with the other -
class pusengen into a plate that the third-tilers
had occupied going out; if nothing else had heionS=.l::
should have mounded the plaintiff, and should we told
his learned friend that there was ao complaint
whatever against the defendants. He did not, however,
go to tie same length that his brother Byles
had gone to, that a man had a right to do what he liked
with his own, and might pat passengers where he pleased.
What the defendants bad to do was to provide passengers
with • fitting and proper berth, and if in going out they
had put the third class passengers in • plate good enough
for second class passengers, they had • right to pot the
second class passengers is that plate coming back. The
question was not who had used that place before, but the
question was, was that • fitting place for the second class
passengers. Mr. Chambers raid it was not, and he said that
in this ease they had sosecond or third class accommoda-
tics, fur they had put the seconi and third classes to-
gether, and that they had no right to put the plaintiff
along with the third clam passengers. Mr. Chambers was
amiss in baying that the plaintiff had • right to have
what the second class passengers had going out; but he
was right in saying that the defendants had no right to put
the plaintiff in the same plate as the third class passengers.
All the witnesses for the plaintiff said that there was not
proper accommodation. lie thought Mr. Smith, the
plaintiff, was mistaken when he said ~that he ought to have
had a cabin for himself, for that was not ordinary second
clam accommodation. AU the gentlemen on the other side
said the passengers were well off, and they said (which Mr.
Chambers laughed at) that the fore part of the ship was the
beet. New the habits of people as to travelling by ship
were acquired before there were any screws to cause vibra-
tion and smell in the afterpart of the vessel ; and it was
very povish.e that the fore part of the vessel might be
the best, althoagri they could not get people to think so.
If the third class passengers were not there, it might be said
that the cabin was a proper second class place. The second
complaint was that there were not proper second class cabin
requisites, and he had been considering that matter, and he
could not see the evidence which referred to it, for there
were proper tables, bunks, Ac.
Mr. Chambers suggested that proper water-closets might
be • sound class cabin requisite.
The Chief Justice—Water-closets on board ship were the
meet difficult things to keep in order; and in travelling
tiny would see posted up in French and German an injunc
lion on persons to we the machine; but it was written
in English, for it was taken for granted that an English-
man would use it. (A laugh.) These closets were con-
structed upon a combined system of forcing and pumping,
and were very likely to get out of order, and it was quite
probe's:* that in the present case they had not been pro-
perly used. In fact a ship was better without than with
them, and if the captain took his advice he would in future
lock them up. or knock them down. (A laugh.) The females
might have required • place of the kind, but the men had
better have gone to the head of the vessel. The plaintiff then
said, " You bete not fed me as you ought to have fed me."
There um no doubt the company had been very unfortu-
nate with the Melbourne. As to the provisions, they went
ti ]germ. Linklater, • firm of the highest character, and
ono of the pertain said he supplied goods of tin wary bet