The Sun.
London, England, 1856-09-22 00:00:00

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.—Sept. 20.

MANSION-HOUSE.—On Saturday John Pringle, a
well-dressed, gentlemanly-looking man, a native of Glas-
gow, was placed at the bar before the Lord Mayor, in
custody of Russell, a city detective officer, upon a warrant
charging him with having, "in the city of London, on
the 13th day of September inst., unlawfully written and
sent to one Benjamin Scott a certain letter directly
offering to prevent the publication of a certain matter
touching divers persons, traders in the city, under the
firm and title of the Bank of London, with the intent
to extort from them certain of their moneys."
Mr. B3dkin, instructed by Mr. Tyrrel, solicitor to the
Bank of London, appeared for the prosecution.
The Lord Mayor inquired of the prisoner whether he
had legal assistance.

Prisoner—No, my lord. I regret that owing to the
hurried manner in which I have been brought from
Glasgow to London I have not been able to avail myself
of legal assistance. The moment the warrant arrived in
Scotland and I heard of the fact I was most anxious to
have an opportunity of explaining the whole thing to
your lordship, and I came at once without hesitation.
Mr. Bodkin then opened the case as follows—My Lord
Mayor, I regret in one sense that the prisoner has not a
legal adviser here, for he may be one of those persons
who may experience that " a little learning is a dan-
gerous thing ;" but, however, as he is in some degree
acquainted with the law, I think that he can hardly
doubt that this is a case in which no extent of legal
assistance could prevent him from suffering the con-
sequences of what he has done. I appear here on be-
half of the Bank of London, who really might have
treated this matter, if they had consulted their own
convenience and position, merely with the contempt
that, perhaps, a great many people may be disposed
to show towards it, but they feel that commercial
establishments, especially those of a monetary descrip-
tion, depend so much upon their credit with the public,
and it is of such importance that that credit should be
maintained, that they have been advised to bring !this
matter forward ; and I am sure you will see that the
document which I shall trace to be in the prisoner's
handwriting, and to have been sent by him to the secre-
tary of the bank, abundantly justifies the present pro-
ceeding. With respect to the statement of the prisoner,
that he could not do better than come up here, he must
be perfectly well aware that ho had no alternative but to
do that, when the warrant issued for his apprehension,
and that it was his duty to come, and that if he had not
yielded to that duty whatever force which might have
been necessary to carry out your direction would have
been used for the purpose of bringing him here. The
prisoner appears to have an acquaintance of the name of
Lawson, who, I understand, tried a considerable time
ago to establish or to form some banking company in
London, and I believe he contemplated calling that bank-
ing company " The Bank of London." He entirely
failed in getting that degree of support which was neces-
nary to carry his object into execution, and I believe his
position in life would make it not remarkable that he
should so have failed. Now, however, that a bank has
been formed, and is in most successful operation, called
the Bank of London, Mr. Lawson imagines that he has
been injured, and that ho has a light to interfere with
and to annoy the directors of that bank, because they
call it that which he says he intended to call his, if be
ad been successful in establishing it, and to such a pitch
was this carried that an action was actually brought
against the directors of the Bank of London for having
appropriated or stolen the title which this man contem-
plated giving to a bank that never was formed. The
action was immediately scouted out of court, and I can-
not help thinking that that ought to have been a stiff
cient intimation to these parties that their proceedings
wee realty futile and absurd. As far as I can judge from
the knowledge we have of the matter, the prisoner ap-
pears to have been the active person, urging and provok-
ing 11r. Lawson to continue his course of annoyance. I
shall show the prisoner to he the writer of the letter
upon which these proceedings were grounded, and of its
libellous character not the slightest doubt, I apprehend,
can be entertained. It is addressed to Mr. Scott, the
secretary of the bank, and is as follows :
" 220, Hope-street, Glasgow, Sept. 12.
" Sir,—Referring to my former letters (for the bank have
been pestered with several letters, which they have put
aside as being unworthy of notice), I think it right to in-
form you T have this morning received an advertisement
or small poster from Mr. Lawson, which is as follows :
Shortly will be published a Warning to the Promoters of
Joint-Stock Companies, particuiarly Banks, being an ac-
count of some extraordinary antecedents of the lank of
London. By William John Lawson.' As neither Mr.
Lawson nor I have yet been remunerated in any shape or
form for our labours and outlays in connection with the
Batik of London ; and, as the publication of his thoughts
and views On the subject may have the effect of making
your bank, like the Royal British, prematurely shut up,
I request you will, as soon as possible, consult with the
manager and directors of the Bank of London on the sub-
ject; and if you and they choose to make some reasonable
proposal, and, as earnest money, to remit me now some-
thing liberal, I will use my influence to prevent anything
damnatory from appearing. I consider you have acted
neither wisely nor well in not long ere this admitting the
facts (which cannot bo disproved) as to your taking from
us the title of the Bank of London,' and availing your-
selves of our labours and outlays in the getting-up thereof,
and cimprising matters; and if you do not forthwith do
this, you will regret it, as Mr. Lawson and others, pro-
ceedings or his writings will, I fear, soon blast your bank.
—I am, sir, your most obedient servant,
__ _ _

" S. PRINGLE.

" Benjamin Scott, Esq., secretary, Bank of lOndon:4
It is utterly impossible to doubt that this is a letter of a
libellous character, and that it offers to suppress the
publication of certain matters upon having what he calls
something liberal sent to him as " earnest." and being
afterwards remunerated for that which he professes to
have the power of preventing from appearing. When
I have proved the letter to be in the handwriting of the
prisoner I apprehend you will call upon him to find bail
for his appearance at the next session of the Central
Criminal Court, when he will be indicted under the act
of Parliament.

Mr. Benjamin Scott was then sworn and said—l am
secretary to the Bank of London, which was first an-
nounced by prospmus in February, 1855, and which
opened for business in the following August. I had re-
ceived several letters from the prisoner previous to the
one which relates to the present charge. I received the
letter in question by post on the 13th inst., at the
bank in Threadneedle.street. I believe the letter to be
in the handwriting of the prisoner.
The Lord Mayor (to the prisoner)—Do you wish to
put any questions to the witness?

Prisoner-1 wish to ask you, my lord, whether that
letter should not be read in connection with the corres-
pondence to which the witness has alluded 1
The Lord Mayor (to the witness)—You have received
other letters from him

Witness—Many letters. There can be no objection to
the reading of any letters I have received from him.
Prisoner—Did not those letters import that Mr. Law-
son and I had a claim upon the Bank of London for the
title ?

Witness—Yes, that was the import of the letters.
The Lord Mayor—The letters imported a claim of Mr.
Lawson and the prisoner for some remuneration for the
title of the bank

Witness—Yes' they were with reference to an alleged
claim for the title?

Prisoner—ls it not perfectly impossible calmly to con-
sider the letter which forms the ground of this com-
plaint otherwise than merely as urging the settlement of
that claim ?

The Lord Mayor—That will be a matter to be deter-
mined by another court. (To the witness) —ln any cor-
respondence that you have had with either Mr. Lawson
or with the prisoner, did you in any way agree or nego-
tiate for the purpose of admitting any claim for the title
of the bank which you have founded, calling it the Bank
of London I
Witness—Not in any way. I have never admitted any
such claim, nor do the directors of the bank admit it.
Mr. Bodkin—Are you aware that there is any foun-
dation for any such claim ?
Witness—There is no foundation for such a claim. It
has boon decided by the Court of Common Pleas that no
such claim existed. I may add that lam instructed by
the directors to appear simply upon public grounds.
Prisoner—You know that the prospectus of the Bank
of London was brought out by Mr. Lawson and myself ;
that it was lodged at the Board of Trade, and that every
possible means were used to prevent the title from being
adopted by ally other company, and that a large sum of
money was paid by me in the matter.
Wituess—l know nothing of it.
The Lord Mayor—Are you aware that the prisoner
and Mr. Lawson have deposited the title of a bank of
that kind at the Board of Trade ?
Witness—l am only aware of it from what I have
heard from the prisoner himself.
The Lord Mayor—When did you learn that I
Witness - I heard it some six weeks perhaps after the
Bank of London had been projected by myself and others,
in consequence of a communication from Mr. Lawson
that he had a claim for having established a bank of the
same name.
The Lord Mayor---Do you mean after the advertise-
s:tient of the Bank of London had appeared.
Witness.—yes, after the proper pre4irainary steps had