The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-21 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER, 21, 1838.

attempted to abuse me there, but that on his doing
ao, he was put down by cries of " No, no, Mr
O'Connor h the man who opened the County of
Cork, and we are thankful to him."—( Great cheering.)
Now the papers have told you nothing of that, and is it won-
derful, therefore, that I should be grateful to every paper that
does justice to our proceedings ? The Sun has done so nobly.
—( Great cheering.) And I ask of you, my Friends, to sup-
port that paper, and that alone. —( Immense cheering, and loud
cries of "We will, we will !”) Since the rent has been
under collection I have been the theme of abuse by Mr.

O'Connell—(Hear, have been denounced as an
associate with Mr. Oastler, and the partisan of the Rev.
Mr. Stephens. Words have been put into the latter
gentleman's mouth which he never uttered, and upon those
worts Mr. O'Connell endeavours to convict me. I say IN ith-
out the least hesitation, that a more wicked fabrication, or a
more abominable lie, never was perpetrated against any person
as against Mr. Stephens. That gentleman has been repre-
sented as stating that 100,000 men were ready to march to
battle in the cause of the people. He never said any such
thing, or anything approaching to it.—( Cheers.) Mr.
O'Connell said that I was an associate with Mr. Stephens,

and that as a man was to be judged by the company he kept,
be would leave it to the world to form its own opinion of me.
Now, my friends, it is said that I am in opposition to Mr.
O'Connell—true, I am so ; but bear in mind that my opposi-
tion to Mr. O'Connell is not a factious opposition. You
must recollect that I opposed him the first Session I got into
Parliament. I opposed him on the question of repeal, because
I wished it, and was convinced that Mr. O'Connell only de-

sired to make it a stalking horse.—( Cheers.) Mr. O'Con-
nell was for keeping up tithes. I was for destroying them or
giving them to the people to whom they belonged.
Upon these questions Mr. O'Connell and myself were
daily, hourly, and nightly, fighting ; and when he
got me out of the House of Commons he began to attack
me again, and of course his tail followed in the same wake—
every joint in that tail are falling, one after another, into the
lop pan of the Whigs.—(Cheers.) Now, I find that Mr.
Daniel Whittle Harvey, in 1835, voted against the principles
introduced by Mr. O'Connell, and that gentleman, in order,
I suppose, to have an Er glish tail, as well as en Irish one,
tried his power in Southwark, to make Mr. Daniel Whittle
Harvey resign. Upon his attempting to do so I got up a
meeting in Southwark, in which resolutions were
passed, requesting Mr. Harvey to hold his seat at any rate,
and for that O'Connell denounced me as a man that was back-

ing Daniel Whittle Harvey.— (Cheers.) I have no doubt,
my friends, that when Universal Suffrage is established, as I
feel not the least doubt that it will be ere long—when Uni.
versal Suffrage is established, I shall receive the thanks of the
whole community.—( Cheers.) I believe that if the Whigs
had allowed O'Connell to have gone on as he at first set out,
he would have obtained a power beyond all controul, and he
would then have set at defiance Whigs, Tories, and Radicals.
Now, with respect to the present meeting-, what said the Morn.
ing Advertiser? It is au old saying, " out of the fashion out
of the world." Now, the Adertiser says, that it knew nothing
about—that it had never heard of such a thing as the National
Convention, and the Editor of that Paper asks when it was
formed, if formed at all. There is an Editor of a Newspaper
for you! Why, the Convention had existed long enough—
forty-nine Delegates have been appointed, and yet this booby—
this Christmas prize ox—this licensed victualler—( Laughter)
bad never heard of it forsooth ! There's an editor of a news-

paper for you l—( Great laughter.) No doubt, if a sham
Radical meeting was to take place to-morrow, there would be
plenty of reporters from the Morning Advertiser to blazon
forth its proceedings to the world. Notwithstanding all that
the Advertiser has said against me I shall pursue my own
straightforward cause—l know my own game—l know
that, with the working classes, I shall beat the whole
world before me. I don't care if I and denounced
in every place ; it only teaches me that my grand
point is Universal Suffrage.—( Great cheering.) At
Edinburgh they have denounced me, and what has been the
result ? Why, I have received a letter this morning, more
like a tradesman's bill than a letter, asking me to come to
Edinburgh, where they say they will fill three houses in
honour of my arrival there.—( Cheers.) My friends, it is my
intention to go to Edinburgh—it is my intention, by the bless-
ing of God, to be there on the 7th of next month, and then I
shall see whether the men of Edinburgh are ashamed of what I
have said. Guird yourselves, my friends, against all men
who would attempt to throw dissension among you. I com-
mence this battle with the fustian coats, unshorn chins, and
blistered bands—( Cheers) —and, with the blessing of God, I
will fight with them to the close.----( Great cheering.) For
two successive winters I have agitated this metropolis, and
during the whole of that agitation I defy any man to say that I
recommended physical force. What was it that accomplished
the discharge of the Dorchester labourers? Moral force. And
by moral force, and moral force alone, I hope to succeed in the
great undertaking we have in view. Muster, my friends,
in your thousands, and your hundreds and tens of thousands,
when the National Petition is presented to the House of Com-
mons, and if you wish that your representatives in Parliament
should do their duty, send word that you wait for the answer
to that petition. If you do not wish them to do their duty,
send up the petition, and leave them to deal with it as they
think best. I think now, my friends, that if ever the
Editor of the Radical Advertiser had a pickling, I
have given him one to-night. I will give him an
opportunity in London, till the Ist of January,
of rebutting the statements that I have made, and after that
time I will give him a similar opportunity at Edinburgh, Pais-
ley, Newcastle, and Carlisle.—(Cheers.) I am determined,
my friends, that I will not he goosed out of this question of
Universal Suffrage—get Universal Suffrage, honestly if you
can, but get it at any rate.—( Cheers.) I shall not content
myself, my friends, by visiting the towns I have mentioned.
We are about to form a union in Ireland, and notwithstanding
the threats of assassination that have been made against me, [ am
determined to visit Dublin, and face the lion in his den.—
( Great cheer ing.) I shall then see whether the danger that
is threatened is real, and whether or not the intelligent people
of Ireland will sanction the honest principles I have always
advocated. I forgive every man who has denounced me. I
am not going to try a man upon every excited word he may
have spoken.—( Cheers.) I dare the Government, as long as
I am under the pale of the Constitution, to touch me within
these walls.—(Great cheering.) The Hon. Gentleman con-
cluded a most eloquent speech by proposing the first resolu-
tion, which was to the effect that the people were at present
unrepresented, and that it required the National Convention
to effect the great object they had in view. The Hon. Gen-
tleman then sat down, amid tremendous bursts of applause.
Mr. WHITTLE, the Liverpool delegate to the Convention,
then came forward to move a resolution, declaring that all the
manifold evils now existing were attributable to exclusive
Legislation—that it could only be cured by Universal Suffrage
—and pledging the meeting to support the Convention. By
the general rights of man—by the recorded rights of the
people in the great chart of liberty Magna Charta—the people
were entitled to Universal Suffrage—it was there stated that
no man was to be amerced ; that was, to be taxed, unless he
was represented in Parliament. There was no man, not even
a pauper, who did not, either directly or indirectly, contribute
to the support of Government. Then all who do, ought
to have a voice in the election of those who ought
to "controul the Government.—( Hear, and cheers.) They
bad now tried two forms of Government, the rotten system
had been tried-150 despots had ruled and had ruined the
nation by running her so deeply in debt—then by a partial
opening of the Suffrage, they had tried another plan, but they
bad not added to the public advantage, but to the monopoly.
The first fruit of the Reform Bill was that accursed law which
reduced the working man to the level of the brutes—the first
working of the 101 Franchise, was to reduce the state of the
poor man lower than it was before. They pissed the accursed
Poor-law Bill—by the great extension of paper-money they
they had raised the price of provisions to an extent
that was very alarming to the working classes. The working
of the 101. franchise had brought the nation to the very eve
of a convulsion. Some change was absolutely necessary ;
they would not go back to the rotten Parliaments, but they
would go back to the original law of the land, and give to every
man who paid taxes a right to have a voice in the election of
those who laid on those taxes. They were now called upon
by the Whigs themselves at Birmingham to support them ;
but the working men were bound to take the admi-
nistration of affairs into their own hands, to preserve
the wreck of the State—to save it from Russian intrigue, and
to make England respected abroad and happy at home. The
base Mr. O'Connell was himself the drawer of the Charter,
and at the first meeting held in Birmingham be stated that he
would stand by it so lone as he lived. At that same meeting the
Morning A dertiser had placards posted throughout the town,
stating that they intended to devote themselves to the popular
cause. That was the beginning, but it was the end. The Govern-
ment had found it equally necessary to get both of them over to
their side, and now O'Connell denounces the Rev. Mr. Ste-
phens, who is as good a man as ever lived ; they employed
a man who called them the base, brutal, and bloody Whigs,
to denounce as humane a man as the world ever saw. This
was the man whom they selected to lecture the people of
England upon moral force, and to denounce the shedding of
blood. It merely showed that he was at once hypocrite, bully,
and coward. He was informed that the petition had been
signed by two and a half millions of people, they would be
swelled to three millions very shortly, and then including the
women and children dependant upon those, they would be the
representatives of upwards of nine millions of the people of
this country. London had yet to do its duty. They
bad a right to expect at least two hundred thousand
signatures from its districts. As much was now said ofthe Earl of Durham, and recollecting something of him who
now called himself a Radical, he would at once tell the meet-
ing that he was an empty, arrogant personage. In 1819 he
(Mr. Whittle) attended a Whig dinner soon after the suspen-
sion of the Habeas Corpus Act, and that empty personage said
that that suspension was not the act of the Tories, but nei7
. a-
sarily arose out of the violence of the Reformers. The working
classes were now denounced in the same termsiisthe Reformersorign
of those days, and they might look for something like another
Manchester massacre if the slightest excess was committed. He
trusted that the:people of London would show their moral force.
in the same way as they did upon the memorable occasion of
Queen Caroline's funeral. Let them show the same deter-
mined front as they did upon that occasion, and the result
would be the same—they would have their enemies under their
feet. The Tories at Birmingham lately stated that they
Were willing to give the Whigs their support, but they
Must throw O'Connell overboard. The Whigs could not stand;
the Tories were not yet prepared to take office, as they bad it
from their mouthpieces, old Burdett and Lord Sandon. Then
the working classes must show that they are prepared to step
in and save the State.—(Loud cheers.) If they did their
duty and supported a Convention, with them would rest the
success of all their measures. Ile had much pleasure in
moving the resolution.
Mr. IRELAN/D-seconded the motion.
FEARGUs O'CONNOR said as he Was suaering from a

severe cold, he trusted that they would allow Mr. Whittle to
ake the chair, and let him husband his strength, so that he
might be better prepared for the great fight that was to come.
Mr. Moaa said before Mr. O'Connor went away, he wished
to say one or two words of a personal nature. Mr. O'Connor
had lately had a friend in Dublin to defend him from the attacks
A* a man of whom it was enough for him (Mr. M.) to say
that he despised him. Now he had heard Mr. O'Connor
make attacks upon some friends of his belonging to Edin-
burgh. Now be knew that Frazer and Duncan were as con-
icientious, well-meaning, honest, and determined friends to
the cause as any person could be, and he could not see that their
conduct ought to be impugned because they reprobated some
language which they thought marred the object they had in view.
He protested against the attack upon those men made by
Mr. O'Connor. _ _ _

Mr. LovETT—They had been called upon by Mr. O'Connor
to put down any one who came there to produce dissension—
they might think that he had come there for that purpose, he
assured them that he had not, but he was one who believed
that the sentiments sent forth through the columns of the
Northern Star and the Champion had been very prejudicial
to the interests of those who were earnest in their wish for
Universal Suffrage.—( Cries of " No, no.") He expressed
merely his own opinion, and wished to force it upon no per-
son, but he trusted, though he differed from them, they would
hear what he had to say. Mr. Stephens might be a very good
man, and might be a very humane man, but he had used language
to the injury of their cause, and therefore, they deprecated him.
The language of Mr. Stephens had kept away many from
joining their ranks.—( Disorder). He had an experience of ten
years in Radicalism, and he could say it was because of the
language—the violent language—used in 1830 and 1831 that
prevented the working classes from then obtaining many of
their objects.—( Uproar.) He could assure them it was true,
and he could mention names. One he would give them.
Benbow, at the Rotunda, said it made his heart glad to
hear of the burning of Bristol. Such expressions were ex-
tended by means of the Press, and a meeting which was to have
been presided over by Mr. Wakley was obliged to be given
up in consequence. It would not hare been allowed for fear
of consequences, when such language was allowed to be
spoken, and even applauded. The language of Mr. Stephens
has operated in the same manner. Many who would have
joined us have kept back, because they saw language used
calling upon the people to use the torch and the dagger, to
bite with their teeth, and to tear with their nails.—( Uproar,
applause, and hissing.) If it was doubted, he would read
the very passages from the Northern Star and the Chant
pion. As Feargus O'Connor found fault with the friends
of the cause in Edinburgh, he at once denounced their
as enemies, and that merely because they deprecated language
such as he had read.--( Hissing.) He ( Mr. L.) thought

they were deeply injuring their cause by using or approving
such language; indeed he thought they ought to deprecate it.
They were doing much harm to the cause by condemning all
classes. There was not a class in which they had not
thousands of friends; then why try to allieniate them bp de-
nouncing them wholesale;—( Hissing and applause.) It could
only do harm by driving away many of their friends, then only
those would be left who by using violen language will hurry
them into some premature outbreak, and the moment they had
done so they would leave them and become their bitterest cue-
mies.—(Disorder. He did not think their cause would be pro-
moted by abusing in coarse language the New Poor-law' or
any ether partial grievance.—( Hissing.) In America, after
fifty years of freedom, the people are still slaving for others—
the money-mongers if you please—and that merely because of
the want of knowledge. —(Hissing.) He would like to see
the people educated—( Hissing)—he would like to see noble
powers and resplendent talent engaged in calling up the moral
and mental energies of the people.—(Cheers ) Instead o
spending a pound to buy a useless musket, he would like
to see it spent in sending out delegates among the
people.—(Loud cheering and hissing.) He was anxious
to be understood clearly. If the people were to be called
upon to arm—if they were to go on using:violent expressions
which must lead to mischief, he would have nothing to do
with them—( Uproar)—but if they were disposed to go on
agitating as they had done for two years, he would do all in
his power to forward the cause.—(Laughter and cries of
"No waiting.") If they were willing to push onward in a
reasonable endeavour to arouse the moral and mental ener-
gies of the people, he would be one of them ; he was one
of them in heart; but if there was to be any arming any
fighting:, he was not one of them.—( Cheers and hisses.)
Mr, O'CoNNort was received with tremendous cheering.
" Words are but wind, actions speak the mind." When he
arrived that evening, four resolutions were put into his hand,
one of them strongly reprobating the Edinburgh Delegates,
but he at once said, " No ; don't move it, for it can do no
good, and can only cause dissension;" and on his advice it
had been withdrawn.—(Cheers.) Not a word had fallen
from his lips to cause dissension among the Radicals. Mr.
Lovett had asked who had done most for the cause. He
( Mr. O'Connor) could only say that he had spent sea en
thousand pounds in it.—(Cheers.) He had nover tra-
velled a mile, or eat a meal, but at his own expense.
(Loud cheers.) He had formed upwards of 200 Associations
and had created a feeling in the country that no man on earth
could allay. He did not agree in every word that fell from
Mr. Stephens, but he was the friend of every man who had
humanity at his heart, and that man was Mr. Stephens. He
for one would not be content to wait for two years—( Cheers)
—it might do very well for those who made a profit of it:
but he thought they were now ready, and ought to proceed at
once.—( Cheers.) They might fight their open enemies, but
oh save us from our pretended friends. A Gentleman in the
midst of the meeting wished to ask a question.—(Loud cries
of " Name him.")
The Gentleman said his name was Maberley, and he was a
clergyman of the Church of England. !
Mr. O'CONNOR said he had been very neglectful of a Gen-
tleman who deserved much of the friends of humanity. Mr.
Maberley had suffered much. He had been punished by Lord
John Russell, and persecuted by his Bishop, for the part he
bad taken in opposition to the Poor-law.--(Loud cheers.)
Mr. MABERLEY then ascended the platform, and was received
with immense applause. He said—My friend, I thank
you. I know that I am not entitled to such a
reception as you have given me, for in all that I have done I
have done nothing but my duty. However, I thank you for
}our kindness. Mr. Stephens has certainly made use of
strong language, but there was cause for it ; and though I am
a minister of the Church of England, I must say that Mr.
Stephens has been perfectly justified. I, who got up upon a
balcony in defence of a persecuted Queen, and said, " Be a
man a king, or be he a peasant, he has no manly feelings in
his breast if he can ill use a woman." lam a man of peace,
but rather than see a man and his wife separated in their old
age, or a young one locked up in an infamous bastile,
I would change my coat for a red one and fight the
good fight in the good cause.—(lmmense cheering.) I
have no hesitaticn in declaring that I was at one
time an ultra Tory, but seeing the support given to the most
infamous of all lawless Tories, Whigs and even Radicals, I
am now verging upon republicanism.—( Loud cheers.)
The resolution was then put and carried unanimously.
Mr. O'Connor then retired. The chair was taken by Mr.
Whittle ; a Committee of agitation was appointed. The
meeting then separated.

QUEEN'S BENCH.-(THURSDAY.)

(Before Lord DEAN and a Special Jury.)
GEARY V. HARVEY, ESQ., M.P.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL (with whom were Mr. THE-
SIGER and Mr. CHANNELL) stated the case. It was an
action brought against Daniel Whittle Harvey, Esq., the
gentleman sitting behind him, who, he believed, was well
known to the political world for his great renown and
talents. He was in the year 1837 proprietor of the True
Sun newspaper, and in respect of an engagement then
made with the plaintiff the present action was brought.
Mr. Harvey appeared Lhere as his own Counsel, as he had
an undoubted right to do, and no doubt he would conduct
his case with great address and cleverness. But notwith-
standing all the address and ability he might display, he
trusted it was beyond his power to prove that the plaintiff
was not entitled to their verdict. The True Sun news-

paper, of which Mr. Harvey became the proprietor in
1836, had not the success he had anticipated, and in the
autumn of 1837 he devised a new plan by which it might
acquire fresh celebrity and increased circulation. That
plan was, when the next Session of Parliament began, that
his p-per, although an evening one, should contain a full
account of the debates in both Houses of Parliament down
to a late hour of the evening, and that then the news-
papers should be sent by express to the remotest provinces
in the island. The regular mails might be overtaken ;
and if not, by expresses employed for the purpose,
they might be forwarded to Lancashire, to Glasgow,
Edinburgh, and other places, and thus anticipate
the Morning Papers, and acquire a very great circulation.
They were perhaps aware that the Evening Papers only con-
tained the debates of the previous day's proceedings in
Parliament copied from the Morning Papers, or con-
densed. There was a rival Newspaper called The Sun,
which, to a certain degree, had adopted this new plan of
giving the debates on the same evening, but it was done by
that Paper only to a small extent, and Mr. Harvey's new
plan was to do it to a much greater extent, and thereby
acquire a greater portion of celebrity. For that purpose
it was necessary to have a considerable number of Parlia-
mentary reporters, and Mr. Harvey gave authority for re-
taining the requisite number. He at first threw out a sug-
gestion that they might be retained from the commence-

ment of the Session, which was to begin in November,
until the Christmas recess, but he was expressly told that

according to the usage which prevailed, these gentlemen
were always retained for all the Session, and that no res-
pectable reporter would accept an engagement on any other
terms. Upon that he gave an express authority, which
was not now denied, to retain the requisite number for the
whole of the ensuing Session of Parliament, from its meet-
ing till its prorogation, at a salary of three guineas a-week.
He believed six gentlemen were retained, and amongst the
number Mr. Geary, the plaintiff in the present action, a
gentleman of considerable literary acquirements, and skill
and experience in that department. The Session began on
the 15th November, and the scheme was put into execu-
tion. .Mr. Harvey had arranged that there should be men
on horseback, who were to bring the manuscript to the
office, where it was to be printed with the greatest rapidity,
and expressed all over the kingdom. The most entire satis-
faction was given by his client Mr. Geary and the other gen-
tlemen, they devoted themselves to the service of Mr. Harvey,
and it was admitted that their reports were exceedingly full
and accurate, and given with very great rapidity. Things pro-

ceeded in that manner, and it was expected tiat theiwOuld
go on in the same manner, during the whole Session, and
instead of any complaint being made, it was admitted that
they gave perfect satisfaction. The I6th December ar-
rived, and on that day the Sub-Editor of .the Paper, in
the employment of Mr. Harvey, by Mr. Harvey's direc-
tions, wrote 9. letter to Mr. Knox, who had engaged the
other reporters, and who was himself one of them. The
letter was as follows :
" True Sun Office, Saturday, Dec. 16, 1837.
" Dear Sir,—l am directed by Mr. Harvey to write word
to you, that after Saturday next he will not require the services
either of yourself or of your corps of reporters, but will con-
sider the engagement with you as terminated."
Now the engagement was for the entire of the Session,
which, it was computed, would last till the end of July,
August, or perhaps September, and Mr. Harvey had no
right to say that he considered the engagement terminated,
because he could not break the contract without the con-
sent of those who had entered into it.

" Lie further told me to say, that he waited here in expec-
tation of seeing you, that he might tell you this personally,
but as he was unable to remain any longer, ha desired me to
give you this information in writing.
Yours truly, " JOHN DAVIS."
Now that notice was given on the 16th December, and it
informed Mr. Knox that he and the other gentlemen en-
gaged were to be discharged on Saturday the 23d Decem-
ber. Mr. Knox wrote back, expressing his great surprise
at such an attempt, and the following was his letter :

Monday, Dec. 18, 1837.
" Dear Sir,—l have received your note of Saturday even-
ing in which you state, • I am directed by Mr. Harvey to
write word to you, that after Saturday noxt he will not require
the services of yourself or of your corps of reporters.'
" I must confess that I am not a little astonished at this,
aware as lam that Mr. Harvey knows it, rfectly well that at
his instance I engaged the gentlemen referred to for the en-
tire Session, according to the invariable practice of the Press.
a' You will, therefore, be good enough to inform Mr. Har-
vey, that I shall neither take nor give the intimation he has
directed you to convey to me.
I am, dear Sir, faithfully yours,
" J. Davis, Esq. " ROBERT KNOX."
It turned out that Mr. Harvey had sold the True Sun
—to get rid of the contract altogether—he had sold it to
Mr. Murdo Young, who conducted the rival journal, and sold
it for a very considerable sum of mOney,and therefore the two
newspapers being united there was no occasion at all for the
service of the corps of reporters retained on the True Sun, and
therefore they were all peremptorily dismissed. His client,
Mr. Geary, who had been engaged in the Morning Herald
the Session before, had accepted the engagement from Mr.
Harvey at three guineas a week. He had no other em-
ployment ; it was his sole dependence ; and he was not
ashamed to confess that he had to maintain himself and his
family by his industry. He concluded himself secure of
receiving three guineas a week during the whole of the
Session—that being likely to last, as for many years pre-
viously, till the commencement of Autumn. Mr. Geary
was thus thrown out of employment, and he remained out
of employment, having no engagement whatever until the
conclusion of the Session, which terminated on the 16th
of August. It was for the breach of that engagement
that Mr. Geary brought the present action ; and it was
now admitted by Mr. Harvey that he had entered
into the engagement and had broken it. He admitted
upon the record both the promise and the breach
of the promise, and the only question the Jury had to de-
termine, under his Lordship's direction, was the amount of
damages Mr. Geary was entitled to recover. He would
tell them how Mr. Geary calculated his damages, and it
was merely a question of arithmetic. Perhaps he wasjus-
tified in going beyond the mere amount of salary he would
have received, for it was not a pleasant thing to be dis-
charged in that abrupt manner, and thrown out of the re-
gular routine of his profession, for it might afterwards be
alleged that he would not have been discharged in that
manner if he had conducted himself properly ; but no da-
mages were claimed upon that score ; Mr. Geary merely
asked, as an indemnity, the pecuniary loss he had suffered,
and it might be asked how was that loss to be ascertained?
It was admitted by Mr. Harvey that he was retained
for the whole of the Session, from Nov. 15, at three
guineas a week. It was admitted that he had been
wrongfully discharged on the 23d of December,
and the question was, to what sum he was entitled
for the loss sustained by him between the 23d December
and the 16th August. He (the Attorney-General) con-
tended that he was entitled to be paid three guineas a week
for that time, because if the contract had not been broken
he would have gone on performing it, and that sum he
would have received. From the 23d December to the 16th
August was a period of thirty-four weeks, which, at three
guineas a week, came to 107/. 2s. ; and why should not
Mr. Geary receive that sum, which he would have been
untitled to if Mr. Harvey had not broken the engagement ?
He would tell them what he was informed Mr. Harvey
would say, and at first there might be some plausibility
in it, and if the proper difference and distinction was not
pointed out, it might mislead the Jury, from the manner
in which it would be stated. As he (the Attorney-
General) was informed Mr. Harvey intended to re-
fer to what he had opened in two similar trials,
when actions were brought against him by two
others of his corps of reporters. The first was tried in
that place before Lord Denman, when he (the Attorney-
General) had the honour to be Counsel for the plaintiff,
against his Learned Friend Mr. Platt—that was tried in
February, 1838. At that time, there was some difficulty
in estimating the amount of the damages,because the session
had not then terminated, and, of course, its duration was
uncertain. He (the Attorney-General) had on that occa-
ion, suggested that the session would last till the. usual
period, while on the other side it bad been suggested, that
as the session had commenced early, it would probably be
a short one, and end about the middle of June, when the
prorogation would take place. It was proved in the case
of Byrne, that the plaintiff had an engagement on a Morn-
ing Paper, which endured during the whole of the session,
and, under these circumstanc?s, the Jury said---(for it would
ba necessary to observe, that in that case, the contract
was denied, but the contract having been proved, an assess-
ment of damages took place)—the jury calculated that
the Session would last twenty weeks longer, and allowed
two guineas a week for that period. Now under the cir-
cumstances ha (the Attorney-General) did not complain of
that verdict. His Lordship (Lord Denman) had thought
it right to give leave, if he (the Attorney-General) thought
fit, to move the Court upon a point of law as to whether
the plaintiff was not, de jure, entitled to be paid for the
6 whole of the Session at the rate of three guineas a week.

There was a late case in which another Learned Judge had

decided similarly—he meant the ease of " Vandenhoff v.
Bunn," in which Lord Abinger laid down similar law. He
(the Attorney-General) old not, however, think it worth
while to do so—he was contented to take the 40 guineas,

Mr. Byrne having an engagement on a Morning Paper,
and it being quite uncertain at the time how long the Ses-
sion of Parliament would last. Therefore he did not com-

plain of the verdict the Jury gave in that case. Another
case was tried before Chief Justice Tyndall at the last Spring

Assizes for Surrey—that was the case of "Knox v. Harvey:'
and the question there was what should be the amount of
damages. On that occasion Mr. Harvey, as to-day,
pleaded his own cause, as they all knew, with great ability ;
and he not only appeared before them as an orator, but he
also pretended to be a prophet. He was sorry to say he
was not a true one, because in that case he undertook to
assure the Jury that the Session could not, by any possibi-
lity last beyond the middle of June ; and cited various in-
stances from the " Annual Register," and " Hansard's Par-
liamentary Debates," for the purpose of proving that he
was right. He relied upon the fact that the Coronation of
her Majesty would take place in the middle of June, and,
according to all previous practice, the Parliament would
certainly be prorogued before the Coronation took place ;
and that it was, therefore, impossible the Session of Par-
liament could be extended beyond the beginning of June.
Mr. Harvey, on that occasion, compared himself to
Murphy the great weather-cock (Great laughter)
but neither Murphy, nor Mr. Harvey, were always
right in their predictions ; and on that occasion Mr.
Harvey's prophecy turned out to be wrong, for the
Sessicn lasted long after the Coronation had taken place,
and kept the House of Commons sitting, as he (the At-
torney General) knew, till the 16th of August—when her
Majesty was pleased to prorogue the Parliament. In
that case the Jury might, very well believe that the Ses-
sion would be of short duration. The case was tried in
March, and they might very well believe that it could not
extend much beyond the middle of June ; in that case of
Knox, ps' in the case of Byrne, the plaintiff had an en-
gagement on a Morning Paper, to which he devoted him•

self during the whole of the Session, and on these grounds

the Jury gave fifty guineas damages, and no more. He
did not complain of the verdict in that case, because each
of the cases depended upon its own merits. But he would
now cali their attention to the present case, the action of
Mr. Geary ; and in his case it was no longer matter of
prophecy or conjecture how long the Session of
Parliament would last. It was now a matter of
history and of fact. The Jury were probably aware, but
if not, he should prove it to them, that the Session lasted
until the 16th of August, 1838. It lasted thirty-four
weeks beyond the 23d of December—it lasted fourteen
weeks longer than the gentleman who tried the case of
Byrne and Harvey contemplated—and it lasted longer,
considerably, than the Jury conjectured who had tried the
case of Knox v. Harvey, and who no doubt had given
credit to the very confident prophecy of a gentleman of
great talent and Parliamentary experience, who had as-
sured them that the Session would not be prolonged beyond
the beginning of June. Whereas it was now a matter of
truth before them, that the Session had lasted till the 16th

of August. What reason was there for saying that the
present Jury was to follow the rule adopted by the other
Juries under totally different circumstances. He would
show them that thirty-four weeks had elapsed from the time
that Mr. Geary had been wrongfully dismissed from his
employment till the termination of the Session. lie
would show them that he had no engagement whatso-
ever since. He should prove that, according to usage,
the Parliamentary reporters were always engaged for the
Session. He would show them that, at the beginning of
November, both the morning and evening papers filled up
their lists of reporters, and when December came round
there was no vacancy, and Mr. Geary had consequently
no means of obtaining employment during the remainder of
the Session. Why, then, he would ask, should not Mr.
Geary', in the present case, have the compensation for which

he insisted ? These were the circumstances of the case,
and that was the evidence he would have to lay before

them. The contract was admitted—its breach was ad-
mitted, and he (theAttorney-General) had only to slim
the amount of damage that had been sustained by the
plaintiff in consequence of that breach of contract. He
would show them that Mr. Geary had no other employ-
ment and could procure no other employment du-
ring the rest of the Session, and therefore whether

there was any rule of law for their guidance, or indepen-
dently of any rule of law the Jury, he was satisfied would
look to what was fair, just, and equitable ; and
that they would award, by way of damages, to
the party to whom the wrong had been done,
the sum which was indebted to him, and place him
in the same situation as he would have stood in if the con-
tract had been performed. No doubt they would have a
very eloquent, ingenious, and forcible speech from Mr.
Harvey. He (the Attorney-General) well knew his great
powers of oratory, and although he had never heard him
in a Court of Justice, he had frequently heard him else-
where, and no one spoke with more talent or effect. He
hoped, however, the Jury would not he guided or mislead
by the arguments of Mr. Harvey, unless he supported them
by evidence. He (the Attorney-General) challenged him
to give any evidence, or to lay any written documents be.
fore the Jury. Let him contradict the evidence which he I
would lay before them—let him show that the Session did
not last till the 16th August—let him show that his pro-
phecy was true, and that the Session terminated before
the Coronation. Let him call witnesses to show
that Mr. Geary had, or might have had, any other
engagement, and that might go to a certain extent
in the mitigation of damages. Unless he could shorten the
Session, or show that Mr. Geary from some other source
was indemnified for the loss he sustained by reason of Mr.
Harvey's breach of contract, then he would say that it
would be the grossest injustice to Mr. Geary not to give
him the full amount of his demand, which, after deducting
the 521. 10s. paid into Court, amounted to 541. 125.,
and that sum he (the Attorney-General) confidently an-
anticipated would be the amount of their verdict.
Mr. G.H. Francis examined by Mr. THESIGER.—In Oct.
last year Mr. Harvey asked him to make up a corps of re-
porters. He mentioned the name of Mr. Geary among
others, and afterwards Mr. Harvey told him that he had
employed him. He had seen Mr. Geary engaged for the
True Sun both in Parliament and in the Courts. Mr.
Geary had no other regular business. All engagements
for reporting are either sessional or annual. If any one
has not an engagement before the beginning of the Session,
it is almost impossible for him to get one.
Cross-examined by Mr. HARVEY—Witness had two
guineas when he formerly conducted the corps of reporters
for defendant. His brother was one of the corps, and had
brought an action for salary. Mr. Geary had only occa-
sional employraent ; he ser.t in reports occcasionally—some
of the reporters painted political portraits, but that was
very slight employment. He had himself done so, and fur-
nished one of Sir R. Peel for the True Sun, and charged
a guinea for it, on the understanding, that from
three to four a week were to be supplied. When he was
at 2/. 2s. a-week upon the True Sun, his engagement
might have been put an end to at a fortnight's notice.
Mr. Robt. Knox examined by Mr. CHANNELL—He had
been on the London Press as a Reporter, about four years.
In October, 1837, he called upon Mr. Harvey by appoint-
ment, and during the conversation suggested that the best
Reporters he could get, were those who were also engaged
upon the Morning Papers. Mr. Harvey wished to get
gentleman for a short time only. Witness said it was im-
possible to get such gentlemen as he wished, without a ses-
sional engagement. He waited again upon Mr. Harvey, in
two days after, along with Mr. Geary. Mr. Harvey
then wished witness to take the conduct of the corps,
and, after being pressed, Mr. Geary having also re-
fused, witness undertook the arrangement and engaged
seven reporters at a salary of 31. 3s. a week, and for the
Session. Mr. Geary was one of them, and was engaged in
Mr. Harvey's presence. Mr. Harvey had pressed upon
Mr. Geary to take the management of the corps, but he
refused. He received Davis's letter about the time it was
dated.—(The letter was read, as was also the reply of Mr.
Knox.) Mr. Geary was not employed after the 23d of
December, and the True Sun was incorporated with The
Sun on the very same day. Witness and Byrne bad both
engagements on a Morning Paper. Mr. Geary had no
other engagement whatever. All engagements are either
sessional or annual.
Cross-examined by Mr. HARVEY—You say you engaged
the corps of reporters ?—All but Mr. Geary, whom you
engaged yourself, and a gentleman who was on the Paper
whom you said you wished to remain. Know-
gentleman, and knowing his abilities, I was per-
fectly satisfied that he should. With those exceptions, I
aiengagedthe time,
all the others.
And you say the engagements were all Sessional ?—Yes.
Give me the names of the corps of the gentlemen you
engaged ?—There were Mr. Francis, Mr. Byrne, and Mr.
Griffin.
Mr. Ross, was there not ?—Yes.
Was he engaged for the Session ?—Yes ; no, there were
peculiar circumstances in his engagement. I knew that
he was going to leave town for Carlisle, but 1 considered
it would be very beneficial to the interests of the defen-
dant—to your interest—to get Mr. Ross on any terms,
even for however short a time.
I think, upon a former occasion, you said he was
A. l." ?—Yes, and he deserved to be.so classed.
And was Mr. Barrow, who replaced him, "B. 2."?
—No, certainly not. He was a gentleman of very long
experience upon the Mirror of Parliament, and the Morn-
ing Papers.
And so you gave Mr. Ross a peculiar engagement—you
say the engagements were all sessional—would that not be
as binding upon one party as the other ?—Certainly.
Did Mr. Ross stay with the Paper until the 23d of De-