The Express.
London, England, 1867-11-16 00:00:00

CHARGE OP LIBEL.

At the Btansinn-house, yesterday, Mr. Thomas
George Taylor, stock and aharebroker, carrying on business
in Tokenhouse-yard, appeared before the Lord Mayor to
answer a summons, obtained against him at the instance
of Mr. Henry Heyman, the chairman of the Don Pedro
North del Hey Cold Mining Company (Limited), which
charged him with haring, in the month of September last,
unlawfully and maliciously published a certain defamatory
libel of and concerning the said complainant and other
direetors of the said company, contrary to the statute 6 and
7 Victoria, cap. 96, sec. 5.
Mr. Sleigh, the barrister, appeared in support of the
complaint ; and Mr. Begley, barrister, attended on behalf
of the defendant.

Mr. Sleigh said this was a prosecution instituted against
the defendant under Lord Campbell's Libel Act, and the
charge substantially was that he did publish • false and'
defamatory libel concerning Mr. Heyman, Mr. Foster, and
other gentlemen, who were directors of the Don Pedro
North del Rey Gold Mining Company (Limited). ltappeared
that the company of which these gentlemen were directors,'
and of which Mr. Heyman was the chairman, was formed
in 1842, the capital paid up being 53,000/., and the nomi-
nal capital, 100,0001. It had progressed from that time to
the present, and in to-day's paper the shares were quoted at
21 premium. The learned gentleman here read the names
of the directors and officer, of the company in proof of its
respectability, and proceeded to refer to a circular issued
by Mr. Taylor, in which was contained the alleged libel.
It was dated September 14th 1867. and the paragraph of
complainedwhich lie imputed to the complainant and the
other directors of this company nothing short of grossly
fraudulent conduct. It was headed ' No. (iii -For private
circulation only," but as regarded the copy which he held
in his hand he might state that it was procured by calling
at Mr. Taylor's office and asking for information
respecting Australian wines ; so that, in fact, anybody
could get • copy who applied for one. It commenced by
making observations on the Oriental Steam Company, and
also with respect to the Abyssinian expedition. With
respect to mines it said, " I cannot recommend Chontales
or Don Pedro North del Heys. Of course, like Wailers,
Dolgellys, Chancelloevilles, Aqua Friars, Ave Marisa,
Montes Aureos, Fort Bowen*, Santa Barbara', Nova
Scotia*, and other heartless swindles, they will be kept be-
fore the public, advertised, praised, puffed, and assayed
till the inevitable collapse comes. An officer of these com-
panies recently picked down with his nail, as it were blind-
folded, specimens of quartz which, on assay, produced
174 ounces per ton. Why this is child's play ; in the Monte,
Aureos Mines we had samples which were said to have
yielded near 2,000 ounces per ton, and yet the company,
after the capital was called up, came to an utter smash,
and there is no gold there worth working for." That
paragraph wis one which imputed to these directors of a
company not merely in a solvent but in a flourishing con-
dition, one which had been established several years, and
whose accounts were audited by gentlemen of the emi-
nence of Quilter, Ball, and Co., that they were the pro-
moters of a company which was nothing less than a heart-
less swindle, or, in other words, that they were the eon-
cocton and promoters of a company which was obtaining
the monies of the public by fraud and false pretences. He
hardly thought it was worth while to refer to the law of
the matter, for his friend Mr. Beale y knew as well as he
did that in ruche case as this the libel applied toeachof the
directors individually as much as if their names
had been placed before the public, bemuse it was only
necessary to turn to the prospectus to find out who they
were, and the public, finding there the names of Mr.
Heyman and the other directors, would take care that they
should have no business relations with them, because,
according to this circular, they were the promoters of a
" heartless swindle " Having stated these facts, he should
now ask his lordship to hear the evidence with respect to
the publication of this circular, and it would then be for
his lordship, with the assistance of the law officer of the
court. to say whether this was • libel. Mr. Taylor had
not made the ameade honnraide, and ho did not know
whether it was his intention to do so, but if be at-
tempted to justify the imputation he must do so elsewhere,
by a plea alleging it was true, and had been published for
the public benefit.

Mr. Bexley said he was far from stating that Mr. Taylor
was not prepared to take the consequences of what he
stated in his private circular, but he was bound to say
that Mr. Taylor read the paragraph as referring to other
companies as heartless swindles which were now in course
of liquidation. All after "of course" down to "swin-
dles" was a parenthesis, and the only words that referred
to the Chastities and Don Pedro North del Rey were that
" they would be kept before the public, advertised, praised,
puffed, and assayed, till the inevitable collapse comes."
Previously to this there was • report from one of
their own officers that there was no more gold,
the shares fell from 4 to 1, and rumours had been circu-
lated that persons calculated to know what was going on
had been selling out large sums before the general public
became aware of the actual state of the company. The
proper thing for the prosecutors to do, if they wished to
press the charge, was to take proceedings against Mr.
Taylor in a superior court, and he did not see that there
was any personal imputation likely to lead to • breach of
the peace, or likely to disturb the equanimit) of these
gentlemen.

Mr. Sleigh regretted that Mr. Begley had not met the
charge in a frank spirit, and asserted that no information
bad been kept back. The shares no doubt fell to 1, but
they were now at 21 premium. If his friend had said
that, upon hearing what had been stated, he withdrew all
imputation from these gentlemen, he (Mr. Sleigh) would
have taken upon himself, without consulting his clients,
that there would have been no further proceedings, but
unless a public apology was made in • frank and unre-
served manner, so that these gentlemen could feel that
all imputation had been withdrawn from them, the ease
must go on.
Mr. Begley remarked that Mr. Taylor had never been
asked to apologise or withdraw the imputation, and the
first thing he heard was that
.yesterday criminal proceed-
ings had been taken against him.

The Lord Mayor observed that there was no doubt this
paragraph was calculated to do serious injury to the com-
pany in question.
Mr. Sleigh then called the person who received a copy
of the circular at Mr. Taylor's office, and was proceeding
with his examination, when a consultation took place
between the learned counsel engaged in the case, at the
close of which Mr. Sleigh announced that his friend and
himself had agreed that the summons should be with-
drawn. His friend withdrew all imputation upon the
directors of the Don Pedro North del Rey Gold Mining
Company, and upon the company itself, it never having
bean the intention of Mr. Taylor to reflect upon them at
all, and he undertook to Mate this in his next circular.
Mr. Healey was glad that this case had not gone further.
lie was bound to say that Mr. Taylor never intended to
reflect on a single gentleman, or to say that this company
was a heartless swindle, and he not only withdrew that
imputation upon the Don Pedro North del He Company,
hot also so far as it concerned the directors of the Chou-
tales. To that extent, and to that extent only, he with-
drew.
The parties then retired from the court.