The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-06 00:00:00

Zantstions. In the middling and inferior kinds ex-
cl:cglY little business ii doing. New Mid and East
'en oekets, 61 10s to 101 8s ; new Weald of
61t ditto, 61 to 8/ ; new Sussex ditto, 51 5s to
31 1°;
snew Farnharns, 121 to 131; yearling Kent,,
to ;arli
lit° 314
p yearling Sussex, 21
8s to 31
2s; old Hops,
Os er ew.
It

OLLS' COURT.—('PHIS DAY.)
(Before the MASTER of the ROLLS.)
The OWEN V. HOMAN.
Niue .graent in this case was, that the plaintiff was
leee,.," to a receiver, unless the dt gave proper
t4e "It 3! for the amount, which might be recovered by
ttstiftakillt„iff in the suit. The motion was adjourned
to nr„",e, oust day of next term, to enable the defendant
,q'oe such security, she undertaking that nothing
the" be done to alter the conditions of the property in
rassotime.
QUEEN'S BENCH. (THIS DAY.)
(Sitttin .
-4-g
Justices
Ranco,before Lord Chief Justice CAMPBELL,
11111; PATTESON, WIGHTMAN, and ERLE.)
Sir p RETHE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH COMPANY.
I roe ; IHESIGER said he had to show cause against
f
the El ootaiued by the Attorney-Gereral, on be alt o
reatie„ecttie.Telegraph Company, for a criminalQinfor-
b aganist M E. Wilmer and David smith,
-beets . Messrs.
{ind correspondents, at Liverpool, for varioua
PtibliOrs In Liverpool, and alto for a newspaper
which e' in America, in consequence of a letter
thew wss published in the Morning Herald by
hie!a on the 11 th October last. This queltion was one
h4ot undoubttiily would, be found to be one of great
betaltanee not only to the public press of this country,
Instances to the public at large; and considering the
Int‘,e which would appear in the affidavits filed in
ttic r to th;
bold?, application, he was di posed to admire
''")to --esa alid prudence of the Electric Telegraph
P"Y tsetroo,calling the attention of the public to the
tile s powers with which they were entrusted, and
Phirseat danger which arose from the abuse of those
Ptipei,;l and if he understood anything at all of the
thigires on which the Court interposed in cases
had
liode-seriPtion. to grant criminal informations, he
.
tete doubt
theled.wiouid result of this inquiry would be that this
th,t° a I two, private
discharged. They might not only super-
private news-agents, but they might have
cop publ press- of this country completely under their
totteic'e end it was impossible to imagine any power more
thuei 4ble than that which was entrusted to the company
tide. aeorporated for those purposes, when the Court con-
NV that the power which was invested in them would
toy them to influence the springs of commerce, and even
itapo'cralicl the sources of intelligence which might be of
vhieiiln°o to the tranquillity of the kingdom. Letters
keret were sent through the Post-office were kept
Coter,' "tit messages sent by the Electric Telegraph
ternY were necessarily sont open. There might be.
velltill'ins devised of a cypher, for the purpose of pre-
'the 'the eig the Communications which were made throng
'the i eetric telegraph transpiring to the company, but
li:ohnygertilhitY of people might and would be excited to
--e secret of that cypher, so that secresy could
Ptehe °:bserved. The Court would find that those ap•
Itiet;k°,llß were not without foundation, and that in a
of instances, which he was about to detail, the
tad i le Telegraph Company bad made a most unfair
wed IttPr°Per use of the power which the Legislature
eelle,;etlardedly entrusted to it, and that in those parti-
the cases a variety of instances would be found in which
Ntis:,P; anY had misconducted itself with regard to those
to ""clls in such a way as wholly to disentitle them
tt4teonsideration of the Court. Messrs. Willmer and
ttLi„,°sd been established for a great number of years
ttata'erPool as news-agents, and were in the habit. of
stctlitting intelligence which arrived by the American
te4iler foreign packets for insertion in the London
skaillrhaPers, and they were also in the habit of receiving
%%IN-4Y of the Loudon news to send to America by
Th,rvlkets Which started periodically from Liverpool.
tx4, tenets
also entered into a contract to supply the
tesee/?ges at Manchester and Liverpool with intern-
,eeto,(); an annual payment. They had ba I occasion to
kgrit,lll,of various blunders made by the Electric Te-
-1,,k1 `,.;; kdornpany in the transmission of their messages,
Ei:roost unwarrantable delays with regard to
ttitetel',°,erY of them. They had also telt sa-
Part r coat there was an intention on the
tsetit°` the Company to drive them out of the field by
(.14 o°l, various contrivances. At last, on the 11 th
of th r, 1849, they found it necessary, for the protection
thttlietr interests and the vindication of their character, to
Lak th the following letter in the Morning Herald, which
-41.1 labJeCt of the present inquiry:—
G~D
riIIanONDUCT OF THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH

COMPANY.
Sir««T
T
OF THE MORNING HERALD.
-Perceivinghate addressed
that the Eloctric Telegraph Com-
-11,3„;ale addressed uon the subject of their late in-
perbs'un to the transmission of our dispatches for your
Itie:7,ll We beg the favour of your inserting the fol-
r Ikaternent:-
,tht :The Matter is one in which not only ourselves but
gee ...ells of Great Britain and the public generally are
4Ply
wrested.
tOss4 It behoves the coun'ry to know if this company
tip Re their affairs as they are bound to do by an Act
anent, and
"li.
21, Whether the whole is not a monopoly.
et Favouritism the most glaring.
e 5. Blunders the most monstrous and unpardonable.
e.
or Delays the most monstrous and unpardonable.
'Si' And charges the most exorbitant ever heard of in
" oflanY other country.
aineCieach of these points we hope to establish a case
e7.lge most sceptical cannot deny.
tarn
~"encing first with Mr. Fourdrinier's letter.
eelstp,,,yerter, who took the message in question to the
;111 dice in Liverpool, has at our request drawn
eCtatatetaent of the real facts. He says :
little:;tntsred the Telegraph office with your message,
f ,;'gned and ready for transmission, about midnight.e1X there the correspondent of the Times end
aeee, Air. France. The latter told me that I
Itikt munt be in any hurry, as the wires were
aPs ""eti out of order. At this time the correaf
taPedsenat of the Times had nut received his files o
nuts from the stesmer. instaetly handed in tie
aste• l'e I had brought from her. The message was
'sse,reure in the hands ofeand counted by, the clerk be-
t() the Correspondent of the Times had any materials
ops,7 hie message. It would not have occupied
`uloi ten minutes in transmission. Mr. France, the
the • rid it could be sent in five. Thus you will see
re% nordrineir's statement is not borne out by the facts..
teettsP.B, it may be well to add that in leaving the office
telerrea when the message could be forwarded., I was
Wks 7, another clerk, who had just then entered the
as• that the correspondent of the Times had prepared
esiset:edi_netion of some four or five lines before he re-
title nis papers from the steamer, which were then
kettle; but that after that I was the first in, and my
to stige should be then sent. This you will observe is
hill'asion that the message which I took to the Tak-
e P -ani
04 Ce had, according to the company's regula-
„l,o• B,',";"e Piority, and should have been, were there no
u 4 sent on to London without the least delay.
itteioae return to Church-street I overtook two of our
that rf clerks and suspecting, from previous experience,
bask '1,7" Orly might be practised,' I sent one of them
'errsT"li instructions to remain there until he was in-
s% `" that the message which I had left was in Lon-
tessett,,cl
1:1 on no account to allow any other party to get
-8 10 of the wires before us, as we were first in.
Th " C. J. Ross.'
after
clerk so left remained at the Telegraph-office
Se 'Veer one o'clock, when he was informed the mes-
neiciu, not then commenced, but that its transmission
'IN guaranteed before half-past two, fully two
‘erii,;a:no a half after it was handed in. On bearing this,
got 'Hiner went to the Telegraphic-office, taking Mr.
to eswlth him. Mr. Willmer demanded why the mes-
etn ,T-aa not sent, and urged its instant transmission,
t;irees told it could not go until what was then on the
bilge (a dispatch for the Company's news-rooms at
/eryleator) had been completed. He remonstrated in
char tr
eona
s`'lltr language with Mr. Ansell, the clerk in
hest, against the injustice which was then practised
ageous attempt which had been made to injure
tetanal in their business as correspondents for the
paid ken, Press. Mr. Ansell replied that as the Times
D;:lye large sum for their intelligence, they were to have
`der
that when in Newcastle he bad received
atte from the company's office in London to that
eslal us'nd that it never was rescinded. Mr. Ross theta
het Ansell's attention to the 51st section of the
hemp
ttap-,„eatituting and forming the Electric Telegraph
agetis'n43', Which attaches a penalty of 201. on the con
el any officer who shall wilfully or negligently
l"yes;Y ?latter or thing whereby the transmission or de-
ll:Ali any message or signal shall not take place, or
pan uedelayed or prevented, or shall wilfully or negli-
by Y °alit to do or perform any act, matter, or thing,
be tsesten. Whereof any message or signal shall not
Lneastilenntted or delivered, or shall be delayed in its
Ir, alseion or delivery. On reading this section,
l'igtit'ensell admitted that in point of law he bad no
atitlit° delay our message, but took his stand on the
WeialtY of the company's orders, remarking that he
Coe ehserve their instruclions, regardless of the provi-
Ofe,Z of the Act. Mr. Willmer waited at the telegraph-
It Wasull,ktil he ascertained the message was in London.
Proba-b,Ten half-past two. Had he not remained, the
at all tY is that the message might have been tanked;
the p eveeta kept back until it was too late to answer
tie. res,ll,4Tnse for which it was sent. Mr. Fourdrinier's
time respecting the messuge being in London in
thina-,(21r the first edition of the morning papers, has no-
tl'estl,l do with the charge e€ wilful delay, and is at
Leregoi-a- 11,Pliny effort Sc boater up an illegal act.. The
,`"reea,,,-"F being the facts of this case, we refrain from
maaeitleViug on the impropriety of such conduct.. Its
illegality, and the great inconvenience which the
rated, must suffer if such a system be any long« r tole-
hnthitr 8° Plain, that they suggest themselves even to
eB. ng Minds.
to Tin Another case, equally glaring, we now proceed
Europa -ce' On the' 20th March last,' the steam ship
turaltiacirrived here, bringing President Taylor's inuu-
!Poise% cress, We had a message, containing that do-
aispatehuanded in to the telegraph-office the instant our
With ea were landed. It was taken and proceeded
half- by the clerk at the instrument.' When about
toe d",113' through the message, an order came from the
tea ;' °tee to step message, and send Mr.
sdean 8 (the correspondent r 5 •
our of the I imes). This was
e' 4114 foiltes.message wilfully kept back from 30 to 40
by (luvac'te:Ysere:are prepared to prove this delay, not only
porter, but also by some of the company's
tSeers
110 have since left the service in complete dis-
this -1- at rest any cavil that may be mad% to
which wen:ent, we append the following communication
in chit. nave received from Mr. Spalding, late clerk
''Re of th
e Liverpool station :
" 'Liverpool, 10th Octsber, 1849.
doelethat:a2nltiset men,—ln reference to inquiry respecting the
Corsiwp;tally the transmission by the Electric Telegraph
your summary of the President's Message
of March last, I beg to state that during its
7'!"1.911 frerA L $ L 91490, Xecithed
Frew 9