The Sun.
London, England, 1854-12-23 00:00:00

CRIMINAL INFORMATION AGAINST
THE " TIMES" NETVSP IPER.

THE QUEEN V. HARRISON.

This was an information of libel, tried in the Court cf
Queen's Bench yesterday, before Lord Campbell, against
William Harrison, the publisher of the Times newspaper,
for having published an article, in which the characters of
the Hon. Francis Scott, as chairman of the South-Western
Railway, and of his brother directors were aspersed. The
defendant pleaded not guilty.
The Attorney-General, Mr. Bramwell, and Mr. Bovill
appeared in support of the information ; Sir F. Thesiger,
Sir F. Kelly, and Mr. Cowling were counselfor the defend-
dan t.
The article complained of appeared in the Times of the
22d of November, 1853 :
The shareholders of the South-Western Railway have had
the spirit and the prudence to take the management of
their affairs into their own hands. By a small nominal ma-
jority—but, in point of fact, by a very considerable one—
they ,have determined that their directors shall not engage
them any further in the losing adventure of improvident ex-
tension. They have seen their dividends decreasing year by
year contemporaneously with the extension of their Ine' and
year
these facts they have drawn the very obvious and very
legitimate inference, that to foster branches at the expense of
the trunk is a policy which, at least, will not pay.'- The few
figures upon which this calculation is founded are so easily
got together, that it is difficult to suppose much uncertainty
could prevail upon the point. Certainly, if the shareholders
could have been brought to see that their own interests were
largely concerned in the extension of the lino, that their shares
would become 'more valuable, that their dividends would in-
crease, we know of no principle in human nature which should
induce them to fly in the face of S per. cent. as opposed to 2
or 3. The directors were achiressiug themselves to a most will-
ing audience. They need not have been very right, they uced
only have lie,Mtfot vdry wrong, and their arguments would
have obtained implicit credence. Let us take such a point
as the extension —already executed —of the South-Western
line from Southampton to Dorchester. The majority of the
shareholders assert that this extension has been a losing
concern ; the directors, with their packed minority of
bankers, lawyers, engineers, and what not, maintain that it'
has returned good interest on the capital invested. Now,
we should be very sorry to be in the secrets of either party,
but we are bound to say that, if the men who should have
received the splendid dividends stand forivard and say not
only that they have not received them, but violently pro-
test against any further continuance of a policy which
should have filled their pockets with gold, there appears to
be a violent presumption that they are speaking the truth.
Thus far for one point—namely, as to the truth of the
assertion, that one extension has already answered the
views of the company, and therefore another should be
tried. We pass to the next assertion of the' chairman and
directors, which stands thus :—They assert,that they were
empowered by
,a full meeting of the shareholders to conclude
this improvident bargain, and to give a pledge to Parlia-
ment for the formation of the extended line within a given
time. The shareholders say that this assent was unfairly
and improperly obtained from a packed meeting, and was
directly contrary to the wishes of the majority of the share-
holders. What grounds for belief have the public on either
ski() ? We can but see that when the attention of the
shareholders is called to the point, they upset the resolution
of the board; although that resolution is backed by the enor-
mous influence which a railway board can at any time com-
mand. We have surely heard of such a thing as tampering
with some votes, and creating others of a fictitious character,
.for the purpose of carrying out any scheme 'upon which a
body of railway directors may have set their hearts. In the
absence of direct evidence, all we know is, that the directors
of the South Western assert that their shareholders gave
them authority to make a bargain for them, and the share-
holders come forward and say they did nothing of the sort.
It is, of course, competent to the directors to show that the
former meeting was a bona fide one by the publication of the
voting lists. They might so succeed in proving that their in-
constant constituents have changed their mind, and should be
held to their bargain with Parliament as a terror to the neigh-
bourhood. But as to this Parliamentary pledge, of which so
much has been said, it does not appear to us to be worth the
breath with which it was made. If the Hon. F. Scott made
it in defiance of the wishes of his constituents, of course
the transaction is a mere swindle, and there is an end of
it. But, even if this were not so, what reason is there
why a company which has given a pledge to Parliament
should not have recourse again to Parliament, and ask to be
relieved from the consequences of that pledge t We are not
meddling with a point of law, but dealing with a great inte-
rest which involves the welfare and. comfort of many hun-
dred families. Aro we, then, gravely to be told that, in a
case of this kind, no account is to be taken, by men who
make some little pretension to statesmanship, of alteration
in times and in circumstances. If it should be brought home
to the apprehension of the houses, that to persist in en-
forcing this pledge would simply be to complete the ruin of
many hundred individuals who might have been so impru-
dent as to contemplate a speculation ,which they could not
carry out, save to their own destruction, can it be supposed
that Parliament would insist that that speculation should
be carried out at all events. Would there, be anything
in the affair from first to last, even assuming it to
have been conducted with the most perfect good faith
on all sides, which should shut the shareholders out
from Parliamentary relief ? Of course; as we have before
said, if there was bad faith on the part of the chair-
man and directors, the whole proceeding hits been a
mere swindle, and must necessarily drop through. But it has
been said that the Great Western Company are the parties
principally damnified. Had it not been for the opposition of
the South-Western, Parliament would have granted the ap-
plication of the Great Western for leave to run their broad
gauge over this barren tract of country. If this be true, the
utmost amount of loss which. either the Great Western Com-
pany or the inhabitants of the district can possibly have suf-
fered, will be the postponement of the construction of the
line for some 24 months. As the South-Western has made
abnegation of any claim it might have possessed to occupy
the country, all that remains is, that the Great Western Com-
pany, or any persons whom it may concern, should make
application• for the necessary Parliamentary permission at
once ; or, if they are shut out by formal objections this year,
no doubt the district will not perish for want of a railway ,
during the next twelvemonth. The general meaning of this
contest is obvious enough. Here were two great companies
contending for possession of a country which cannot as yet
pay the expenses of a rail ; but which may, according to the
views of the more sanguine among the number, do so at future
day. One company bade against the other, promise followed
promise, and each side had something more to urge in its own
favour m' the other had just uttered. The demon of specula-
tion was aroused, and the chairman and directors of the South-
Western appear to have been infected by the general mania
to a higher degree than the rest of their neighbours—we trust
it was no worse. Under these' circumstances Parliament
granted powers for making the line to the most splendid pro-
misers, and they in this instance were Mr. Scott and his im-
mediate fellows. With this _portion of the story, however,
the public are concerned but in a secondary degree. Wo
chiefly call attention to the contest, because from it two great
advantages would seem to have been gained by the share
holders throughout the kingdom. The first is this—the
South-Western shareholders have proved to the world that
persons in their position can, when they choose, throw off
the tutelage of their directors, and insist upon having a voice
in their own affairs. The second point is, that this victory of
the South-Western shareholders must necessarily administer a
death-blow to the system of improvident extensions—in other
words, of mulcting the passengers along the main lines of the
kingdom for the benefit of the inhabitants of outlying dis-
tricts in which the public can be but remotely concerned. It
is a matier of the gravest public importance that the railway'
interest should be kept in a solvent and prosperous condition.
I If the shareholders of other lines follow the example of their