Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-04-02 00:00:00

'HE NORTHERN TIMES, SATURDAY, APRIL 2, 1859
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ma . is, known not to be a stoker or a.seaman, and who had
given evidence of his intention of not. working at all; and the
evidence is that he offers a portion of his means to another man
'to do-his work for him. Then the superior officer goes to the
captain and tells him that the man wants to become a pas-
senger, and the captain says he is glad that he should,
because he had perceived that he was unable to do his
work. The man gets the opinion of the surgeon, and he is
told that he is in good health, and he endeavours still to.
work and so carry out his first intention of carrying home
his earnings to his wife and family. He tries to work but
is unable, and you tie him down —not with the intention of
making him work, but with the purpose of inflicting
punishment which you nor no one else had a right to
inflict. , I think this is a case approaching so closely to
murder as to be almost murder, but it is not quite. Taking
into consideration the enormity of the offence, the sentence
of the court that you be sent to penal servitude for
fifteen years.

The court then rose.
NISI PRIUS COURT—YESTERDAY.
Mr. Justice Willes entered Court at nine o'clock, and
proceeded with the Special Jury causes.
LINDSAY v. JANSEN. —This case was proceeded with, and
the jury found a verdict for the plaintiff.
THE HABANA CIGAR COMPANY Y. COPE.—MT. Quaine
opened the pleadings. The declaration stated that there
was an agreement made between Messrs. Cope, Brothers,
and the Company, by which Messrs. Cope -were appointed
agents for the sale of the plaintiff's cigars in Liverpool and
other towns in the north of England, and that it was agreed
among other thing that the Messrs. Cope should not sell
any cigars but those of the company, as their cigars.; and
the declaration declared a breach of that agreement. The
defendants denied the breach and denied the agreement:
Mr. Monk, Q.C., stated the case. The plaintiffs in the
action were a company of persons formed under the
act called, in popular language, the Limited Liability
Act, and their object was, to introduce into Eng-
land, by means of a company of persons, who did not
deal in British made cigars, genuine Havannah cigars
only. The defendants, Messrs. Thomas and George
Cope, were very largely engaged in the business of manu-
facturing British tobacco and cigars. The action was
brought upon an agreement, entered into between the com-
pany and the Messrs. Cope, for the purpose of consigning
the business of the company through a very large district
in the north of England to the agency of Messrs. Cope.
The agreement bore date of the 24th of June, 1858, and
contained a number of stipulations. The first was, that
Messrs. Cope should be the :sole agents for the sale of the
company's goods in the north of England, with power to
appoint their own sub-agents. Another stipulation was, that
Messrs. Cope should set- apart and arrange a complete and
separate department, with book-keeper and books, distinctive
invoices, and other things, needful for the conducting of
the company's business. It contained, in the
third place, a stipulation that Messrs. Cope should,
under a penalty of £5O for every default, sell
no other foreign cigars than those supplied by the com-
pany ; and under a like penalty that they should not pack
or make up for sale any other goods than the company's
own goods in the company's boxes, or any colourable imi-
tation thereof, or sell any other goods not the goods of the
company, as the company's goods. The company were
also to have access to the establishment for the purpose of
examining the stock, inspecting the books, &c. The mean-
ing ,of this agreement was clear and distinct. On the one
hand it constituted the Messrs. Cope sole agents for a very
large district, including Liverpool, Birkenhead, Chester,
Macclesfield, Preston, Rochdale, Glasgow, Perth, and many
other places, being a considerable portion of the. Midland
and Northern districts of England---Manchester, however,
being accepted, and a portion of Scotland. On the
other hand it contained penalties to prevent cigars from being
sold as the company's, which were really not theirs, and
by which the name, of the value of their cigars might be
deteriorated in the market. The agreement was completed
in June, 1858, and then Messrs. Cope were furnished with
a supply of cigars. Some sub-agents were appointed in
pursuance of the agreement. One of them was a person
named Robinson. He (Mr. Monk) believed the sub-
agency of this man was a mere form which Messrs. Cope
used for the purpose of preventing the giving of agencies to
persons in this town or neighbourhood, who were purchasers
from them of their own goods. It 'would appear that Mr.
Cope told Mr. Silberberg, the manager of the company,
that the shop which bore Mr. Robinson's name did, in
point of fact, belong to Mr. Cope himself, and by letter he
applied for a certificate of appointment for Robinson. The
certificate, which he should lay before the jury, contained
the names of the directors, who were gentlemen of respec-
tability. It bore a motto which was applicable to many
other earthly things, as well as to the objects for which the
company had been formed " Ornnis exit in fume."
(Laughter,) (His Lordship : Ido not know whether that
applies to the cause list.) (Laughter.) Mr. Monk con-
tinued to say that the defendants, by their pleas, alleged
that they did not appoint a sub-agent, and that Robinson
was not their sub-agent, and probably they would contend
that he was appointed by the company, and not by them.
He would show, however, that the company were requested.
by Mr. Cope to send down the document for the appoint-
ment of this man as sub-agent. In this case, however, that
question would be of less importance, because he should
be able to satisfy the jury that the name of Robinson
was a mere nom de guerre, and that in point of fact the place
belonged to the Messrs. Cope themselves. The cigars then
were furnished to Messrs. Cope, and continued to be sup-
plied until late in last year. Complaints began to reach
the ears of the company and the manager, that the cigars
furnished in their name through Messrs. Cope were not fit
to smoke. It was necessary that some steps should be
taken to ascertain whether there were any truth in these
reports or not. He should mention, perhaps, at this stage,
that this was not an action brought for the purpose of
putting money into the pockets of the company, but it was
brought to set right with the public • the character of
their goods and of their dealings with their agents.
It was necessary that some steps should be taken to discover
the truth, and that this should be unknown to Messrs.
Cope, for of course if a party wanted to know whether there
were smuggled goods in a place, he must not give the
smuggler notice that he was going to institute a search.
Mr. Silberberg, the company's manager, therefore, employed
a person ;to go to Mr. Robinson's and make a purchase,
which he did. The first purchase was on the Bth or 9th of
December, when he bought a pound of cigars expressly
stated to be the cigars of the Habana Company, and.
which were put into a box branded with the
company's brand. Upon examination they were found
to be English-made cigars of an inferior character.
He believed pie should be able to prove that this person
made two or three purchases of cigars which were stated to
be the company's cigars, but which turned out to be British
made cigars. Mr. Silberberg himself came to Liverpool
soon after, and paid a visit to Messrs. Cope's place, but the
goods shown to Mr. Silberberg were really the company's
cigars. He went into the company's department and asked
some questions
.there, and before he went away he an-
nounced who he was, and had some conversation with one
of the Messrs.. Cope, to whom he intimated that complaints
had been made of the nature which had been alluded to.
Mr. Monk read the following passages fromdetters addressed
by Mr.. Thomas Cope to Mr. Silberberg, and to Mr. Phillips,
the solicitor for the company :

Sir,—Referring to your letter of 23rd instant, you state that in
several instances it has been clearly ascertained that we have been
selling articles as the goods of the Habana Company, when in fact
they were not so, and the company are in possession of the strictest
proof of this, and you say that you will be glad to receive any ex-
planation of .this, to which we can only reply, that if the company
are in possession of such facts, they must of necessity be founded
on falsehood or error, and as either equally reflects on our character,
we have instructed our solicitor to write upou the subject.
Alluding to your inquiry about H. Smith and Co., in ➢larket-
street, we beg without any disrespect to you, sir, to mention, that
it is no business of the Habana Company's to whom it belongs.
Had, however, any inquiries been .thought needful in the first
instance, and had they been put in a plain, straightforward,
business manner, every inf ormation would have been readily given,
but as instead of this a crooked, and, if we may be permitted to say,
contemptible course, was pursued by the representative of the
company, we cannot lend him any assistance in changing it.

A day or two afterwards, Mr. Thomas Cope wrote to Mr.
Silberberg, stating that he would submit his statement to
the directors. Then came the letter to the directors :
Sir,---I enclose you a copy of a letter written to Mr. Silberberg,
on the 21st instant, and as I have not received the required expla-
nation, I have no other alternative than to submit the circumstance
of which I complain, to you and the other directors of the Habana
Company, feeling sure that, when I explain its great importance,
you will give the matter your most earnest attention.
First, then, I complain that Mr. Silberberg has not kept faith
with us in the working of our account,' in the quality of the goods
supplied, or in any way up to the spirit of the agreement.
Second,---That Mr. Silberberg has not shown us that courtesy
which we invariably receive from gentlemen, and which a house
occupying our position has a right to expect, even from Mr. Silber-
berg.
The circumstance upon which the latter complaint is founded
stands simply thus :---Mr. Silberberg, for what reason we know not,
sent on to our warehouse last week a spy to purchase some of the
company's tobacco and cigars, and afterwards entered the ware-
house himself, and, taking advantage of his not being known, he
played the past of a mock customer, asked this thing and that,
examined the company's goods, and then ventured to remark that
we sometimes sold British cigars for foreign, which assertion our
salesman of course mildly contradicted, and in return *as, by Mr.
Silberberg, your honorary director, called a liar iand this, not be-
cause anyihmg had been shown him which justified such a remark,
but simply, we presume, because it is Mr. Silberberg's usual mode
of carrying on a conversation. He then did what he ought to have
done at first, but not in the same Bombastes Furioso manner, said
my name is Silberberg, and I am going to do, &c., &c.
I also find that the same party has been to several of our small
sub-agents, and has behaved in some such other, what we would
term disgraceful, unbusinesslike, and unworthy manner. In
accepting your agency, it was never contemplated that we gave Mr.
Silberberg the privilege of insulting our customers ; and if our sub-
agents are not quite up to what would be desirable, Mr. Silberberg
well knows to what unfortunate circumstance this is to be attri-
buted. . .

I would wish, sir, to lay these complaints, together with some
others, before your board, and if you will appoint some day later
than the 10th January, I will attend, and will be prepared to sup-
port the same with proper evidence. In the meanwhile, sir, permit
me to request that any intended visits to our establishment. on the
part of your officer, may be notified to us in writing, as, until this
matter is fairly, and to us satisfactorily, explained, we shall deem
it needful, for the maintenance of a proper understanding between