The Sun.
London, England, 1863-03-04 00:00:00

Mr. Sergeant Glover v. Count de Persigny

and M. Billault.

JUDGES' CHAMBERS, MARCH 3.
(Before Mr. Justice Blackburn.)
This afternoon the adjourned hearing of the sum-
mons taken out by Mr. Sergeant Glover, for rescind-
ing the order of Mr. Justice Crompton extending
the commission for examining witnesses in the above
case in Paris until the 30th of April, was taken at
Chambers, before Mr. Justice Blackburn.
Mr. Sergeant Glover conducted his own case.
The defendants were represented by Mr. Hodgson,
the barrister, instructed by Mr. Cotterill, of Throg-
morton -street, defendants' solicitor.
Mr. Serg. Glover strongly objected to any further
delay, which, he contended, was only sought from
motives of oppression and vindictiveness towards
himself. The French Ministers against whom he
was proceeding first deluded him, he said, into spend-
ing many thousand pounds on their behalf, and he
had not received even a farthing from them, while
they had paid as much as £26,000 to some of his
successors in the It.; orning Chronicle. At the trial
he should be able to prove, by incontestable evidence,
that in June, 1856, two gentlemen came to him at
the Morning Chronicle office, and then and there
offered to purchase and to pay him immediately in
cash the sum of £lO,OOO sterling for the copyright
and plant of that journal. He refused the offer,
considering the property to be of much higher value
—whereas, after he had been associated with the
French Government in having leading articles
written, and inserting them on behalf arid to the
profit of that Government, the Morning Chronicle
became so much injured and depreciated in value as
to have been sold in October, 1858, for the sum of
£3,000, thus showing a pecuniary loss in the com-
mercial value of the Morning Chronicle property of
£7,000 sterling. After negotiations had been com-
menced in November, 1856, by M. Bonard, the
avocat to the French Embassy in London, at the
instigation, as he (Mr. Sergeant Glover) understood
of Count de Persigny, then French Ambassador in
London, and M. Billault, then Minister of the In-
terior of France, several leaders and articles were
inserted at the suggestion of M. Bonard. A leading
article against the Times newspaper, written in
French, was given in Paris to him by M. Ballard,
who said it had been transmitted to him by the
Chief of the French Embassy in London. The article
was amended by the foreign editor of the Morning
Chronicle in London, whence it was transmitted to
Paris, and the amendments made were shown to M.
Bonard, who, having submitted the article in another
quarter, returned it with the approval of M. Bil-
lault. This article, he repeated, inserted in the
Morning Chronicle in December, 1856, was a
vindication of M. Billault against the limes news-
paper. After the negotiation between the French
Government and himself, a leading article writer
was employed and paid by him (Sergt. Glover) to
call frequently at the French Embassy in London,
and to communicate, personally or otherwise, with
the Count de Persigny, then French ambassador in
England. That gentleman frequently called upon
Count de Persigny, and received from him advice
(or what Frenchmen call " inspirations") for the
purpose of writing suitable leaders, which were
afterwards inserted in the Morning Chronicle, not
only for the purpose of influencing public opinion
in England for the advantage of the French Go-
vernment, but likewise that such leading articles
might be translated into French, and reinserted in
the Moniteur, Constitutionnel, Pays, and other
French journals. After the arrangement had been
concluded between M. Billault and himself, he (Mr.
Sergeant Glover) was requested by M. BOnard, jun ,
on the part of M. Billault, to whom he was private
secretary, to name and introduce at the Ministry of
the interior the Paris correspondent of the Morning
Chronicle. That gentleman was accordingly intro-
duced, and M. Billault frequently gave instructions
on which articles were founded. He might par-
ticularly mention a letter which was written
at the inspiration of M. Bonard, jun., the private
, secretary of M. Billault, and inserted in April, 1857,
in reference to the Minister of the Interior opening
la Laval and Rennes Railway, and he alluded also
to a letter he had received from M. Bonard, jun.,
attacking the Morning Advertiser. Upon that letter
a leading article was written and published. Another
person connected with those transactions, and who
acted on behalf of th© French Government was M.
Chevalier St. Andre, who was appointed by M. Bil-
lault as Chef de Division de la Presse, in the bureau
66, Rue Belle-Chasse, Paris, when and where M.
Collet Meygret was Directeur-General de la Surete
Publique et de la Presse, the latter office being after-
wards filled by M. Laguerorniere. M. St. Andre had
lately been pensioned off by the French Government,
but previously to that he mentioned to him (Mr.
Sergt. Glover) that M. Billault, then Minister of the
Interior, and he (M. St. Andre) had had what
Frenchmen call a very serious conversation and con-
sultation in Paris about the London daily journals,
one of which, he said, M. Billault was desirous to
obtain in support of the French Government ; that
he (M. St. Andre) observed that the Morning
Chronicle was the only daily London newspaper
likely to answer the French Government's purposes,
as the others were generally held by several pro-
prietors, who, as bodies, it would be difficult to ar-
range with, except the Morning Post, which was
Lord Palmerston's journal and organ ; whereas the
Morning Chronicle was held by a single proprietor
(Mr. Sergeant Glover). M. St. Andre added that
tie was then authorised by M. Billault to call upon
him (Mr. Sergeant Glover) in London, in order to
secure the support and co-operation of the Morning
Chronicle on behalf of the French Government, he
himself having been some years previously connected
with the French department of the Morning Chro-
nicle before the proprietorship of Mr. Sergeant
Glover. M. St. Andre, in pursuance of M. Bil-
lault's instructions, accordingly called on him at the
Morning Chronicle office in January, 1857, stating
that he had been a college associate, besides having
been very many years intimately and then officially
connected with M. Billault—that he was authorised
by M. Billault and M. Collet Meygret, he also fill-
ing the next highest official position (Directeur
General de la Surete Pubiique de la Presse) to make
relations with him that the Morning Chronicle
might become the partisan and English official
journal of the French Government, and immediately
to commence such operations on behalf of and in
conjunction with a daily Parisian newspaper, La
Verite, of which M. Collet Meygret had then be-
come proprietor on behalf of the French Govern-
ment. Accordingly he (Mr. Sergeant Glover) went
to Paris at the commencement of February, 1857,
and made arrangements with regard to the Morn.
ing Chronicle's support of the French Government.
Afterwards the subjects of editorial leaders were
suggested by different members and associates of the
French Government, besides the arrangements which
he had previously alluded to.
Mr. Justice Blackburn (interposing) said that, as
far as he at present understood the matter, the ob-
ject of the motion before him was simply a legal
matter—namely, to rescind an order of Mr. Justice
Crompton for an extension of the commission.
Mr. Hodgson, for the defendants, said that was
really the point at issue.
Mr. Justice Blackburn asked for the original affi-
davit filed by Mr. Sergeant Glover, which was pub-
lished in extenso in this journal on Friday last.
Mr. Sergeant Glover said he was totally unaware
of any affidavit being filed, or any grounds being
laid before Mr. Justice Crompton for making that
order.
Mr. Justice Blackburn said it was a common
practice for things of that sort to be done without
affidavits, or even the merits gone into.
Mr. Hodgson said that Mr. Cotterill, the solicitor
for the defendants, had filed an affidavit with regard
to the order of Mr. Justice Crompton, extending the
time for the commission.
This affidavit, which was read by direction of the
learned judge, stated that issue to this action was
joined on Dec. 23, and that on the 23d of that month
an order, in the usual extended form, for a commis-
sion, at the instance of defendants, was settled by
Mr. Justice Wightman. By that order Thos. Pick-
ford, Esq., her Majesty's Consul at Paris, was nomi-
nated the defendant's commissioner, and M. Delau-
nay, of Paris, as the plaintiff's commissioner, and
the commission was made returnable on January,
31,1863. On the sth Jan. the draft of the commis-
sion Was sent by his firm to the then attorney for
the plaintiff (Mr. Rose) for perusal. On the 9th of
January he (Mr. Cotterill) caused a summons to be
taken out to add Mr. John Diston Powles as joint
commissioner with Mr. Pickford ; and on the 12th
Jan. an order was made by Mr. Justice Blackburn
to substitute Mr. Powles for Mr. Pickford. On the
27th January, the draft of the commission not
having been returned by Mr. Rose, the plaintiff's
attorney, a summons was taken out for the purpose
of extending the time of the commission. After
several adjournments, made in order to enable Mr.
Rose to communicate with Mr. Sergeant Glover, Mr.
Justice Crompton made the order. The draft was not
returned until the 20th Feb. last. Shortly afterwards
a letter was received from Mr. Sergeant Glover,stating
he had been in Paris awaiting the opening of the
commission, and Mr. Rose considered, that the
learned sergeant's proceedings were irregular, and
without his sanction, so that he should retire from
the case. The statement by the plaintiff that the
commission was retained by the delendantslattornies
for the purpose of delay, was altogether and en-
tirely untrue; on the contrary the delay in the com-
pletion of the commission had been caused solely by
the default of the plaintiff, and the irregular course
to which he had resorted. Some reflections on the
plaintiff's conduct in Paris were added.
Mr. Sergeant Glover said that having obtained a
copy of that affidavit yesterday, he was now pre-