The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-21 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, AUG UST 21, 1857.

10OR the SEA SIDE.—TRAVELLING SUITS,
with Cap, complete, Si. 18s. to Three Guineas; the' Beaufort
oat, 2/. 10s. ; the new summer Trousers, One Guinea ; Baden
Waistcoats, Two for One Guinea.
EXCELLENCE WITH ECONOMY.
GEORGE HOBSON, 57, Lombard-street.

CHARGE OF LIBEL ON A DIRECTOR OF THE
SUBMARINE TELEGRAPH COMPANY.

Thomas Diamond Evans, of No. 15, Bush-lane, City, and
Captain Henry Thorn, of No.ll, Pall-mall, were yesterday
brought before Mr. Beadon, at Marlborough-street Police-
court, on a summons obtained by the Hon. Frederick Wil-
liam Cadogan, for " having on the Bth of August last, un-
lawfully published a certain letter addressed to the editor
of the Times newspaper, containing certain libellous and
defamatory words and sentences of and relating to the said
Hon. F. W. Cadogau ; and also for having threatened to
publish' the said libel; also fur havinn offered to prevent
the publication of the said libel containing certain matters
and things touching the said Hon. F. W. Cadogan, with
intent to extort money from him, and also for having there
and then combined and conspired and confederated and
agreed to injure, oppress, and aggrieve the said Hon. F.
W. Cadogan."

Mr. Giffard, instructed by Messrs. Humphreys, Son and
Morgan, appeared for the prosecutoi; Mr. Warrand, of 73
Basinghall-street, attended for Captain Thorn; and Mr.
Robinson for Thomas Diamond Evans.
In order to make the case clear and intelligible it will be
neeessary to refer to complaints which have been recently
made, to the effect that private individuals were enabled to
obtain earlier information than the Government in matters
connected with the East. In the City Article of the Times
of the Ist of August some remarks were made which were
presumed to-reflect on the Submarine Telegraph Company.
On the 3d of Augusta letter from Sir J. Carmichael, the
chairman of the company, was published in the Times,
which letter was prefaced by some observations by the
editor, to the effect that Government had caused inquiries
to be made into the cause of the delay in transmitting the
information in question to the public authorities, twenty-
four hours having been consumed in that which usually
required only four hours, th it the news was in private
hands before it was furnished to the Government, and that
if those private persons received the information by the
same line as that which transmitted the Government news,
then there was a case of gross delinquency on the part of
some one; and the editor added, as the Government had
been unable to get any satisfactory explanation of the mys-
tery, it was hoped that the affair would be thoroughly
sifted. The letter of Sir J. Carmichael appeared, in which
this explanation was given in one of the paragraphs of the
causes of the delay in the messages transmitted to the East
India House and Lord Clarcn lon, "I as yet know nothing,
and consequently, unlike the limes, will not hazard an
opinion, or even a suspicion. But I do know that during
the Crimean war the telegraph wires were not found at
fault in the important duty of conveying messages to the
British Government. And I may state that, since the
establishment of our first telegraphic communication with
France, no person in the service of the company has hitherto
been suspected of betraying the trust reposed in him by
the public, nor has any message been either tampered with
or delayed in any one of our offices, though of course we
have been liable to our fair share of delays from accidental
causes, for which we expected and received blame." Im-
mediately after the appearance of this letter, Captain Thorn
called upon the Hon. F. W. Ca Logan, the deputy-chairman
of the company, with a letter purporting to have been writ-
ten by the defendant Evans, al(' after a long conversation
gave him a copy of it. This letter, which forms the basis of
the charge of libel, was sent to the Times, put into type,
but its further publicrtion withheld on account of contem-
plated police proceedings.
Mr. Giffard then proceeded to address the Court in sup-
port of the sammons. He appeared for 'the Hon. F. W.
Cadogan, deputy-chairman of the Submarine Magnetic
Telegraph Company, and also one of the managing directors.
The defendant Evans, he believed, was a bill broker, and
formerly in the service of the Telegraphic Company as
superintendent. Captain Thorn was not known to the
prosecutor. The defendants were jointly charged with
having published a libel on the Hon. F. W. Cadogan, and
the only conceiveblo motive for the publication was, that
money might be extorted from the prosecutor. The case
was one which involved a great and important public clues:
thine The heel imputed to peisons holding :thigh p sition
in the Submarine Telegraph Company was that they had
dieregarded their duty to the public and to the• world, by
tampering with despatches sent to their office for trans-
mission, by delaying information impropeily, by making
use of information for their private ends, and by favouring
several personal friends in giving their messages nrecedeuce
in transmission over other messages sent earlier to the
office. The learned gentleman then brifly detailed the evi-
dence, and concluaed by stating that Mr. Cadogan had felt
it due to his own character, and to the character of the
company with which he was connected, to give the most
unqualified coutra fiction of every assertion contained in
the letter, which formed the libel in question.
The Hon. F. W. Cadogan sworn : I am deputy-chairman
and ono of the managing directors of the Submarine Tele-
graph Office, Fronch and English. The chief office is in
Cornhill. The defendant Evans was in 185 t in the com-
pany's service as one of the clerks, hut was discharged some
time since. I reside at 133 Piccadilly, and on Saturday,
the Bth of August, about three o'clock in the afternoon, I
received a communication from Mr. Courtney, the secre-
tary of the company, in consequence of which I went to the
office of Mr. Sampson, a gentleman connected with the
Times newspaper, and had some conversation about a letter
sent, or about to be sent, to the Times. The same evening,
about seven o'clock, the defendant Thorn called on me,
ens stated that he was a friend of the defendant Evans,
that Evans was laid up with indisposition at Gravesend,
and had given him a letter to deliver at the office of the
Timor uawspaper, that- haviiii seen the contents of the
libel he suggested that I should real it, at the same time
placing in my hands a letter which I read. From circum-
stances 'that came into my mind, I saw the defendant in
the presence of Lady Cado an. I read the letter out loud,
and then banded it back to Thorn, with a request that be
would let me have a copy. The defendant said I should
have a copy that night, but he must consult some friend
first. During the interview Captain Thorn repeatedly
said that he had been mixed up with Mr. Evans in heavy
pecuniary engagements with gentlemen at this end of Lon-
don, but was not at that time with Evans. I asked him
why he came to me on the subject. His reply was that he
thought it right I should know of the existence of this
letter—that it must be to my interest and the interest of
my company that the letter should not appear in print,
and that he thought Evans had been indiscreet in writing
such a letter. The defendant added that Mr. Evans
had given him the papers to deliver at the Time-8 office,
leaeeeg the matter entirely in his hands. Capt. Thorn
went away, and returned about nine o'clock and asked me
to release him from his promise to give me a copy of the
letter. I told him I would not, and he again spoke of his
pecuniary position with Evans, Capt. Thorn made a copy
of the letter in the presence of Lady Cadogan and myself,
and after signing it with his initials gave the copy to me,
which I afterwards gave to Mr. Dobie, solicitor, of Lan-
caster-place. The former was as follows, and was in reply
to Sir J. Carreichael'e letter to the Times, this letter being
directed to the editor of the Times :
" beg to say I was superintendent of the instru-
ment room of the Submarine Telegraph Company form
November, 1852 to 18.54, when I resigned. That during the
ahove period one of the directors of the company, the Hon.
F. W. Cadogan, was in the habit of visiting the instrument-
word, and waiting in the board-room daily, say from three
to four o'clock, and I had special instructions from him
to send up all messages of importance, and as a consequence
I can instance one particular dispatch from Lord Stratford
de Radcliffe to Lord Clarendon dated Constantinople,
December 3d, received via Brussels, when within half an
hour after the message had been seen by Mr. Cadogan the,
Fends fell per cent. Mr. Cadogan suddenly quitted the
office, and almost immediately afterwards we received a
message from Edersheim, London, to Jacqueman, Paris,
touching the particular fall. There could be no possibility
of these parties having obtained information any way but
through us, and I can say that none of the clerks quitted
the office. Mr. Cadogan frequently looks at the contents
of the forwarded and received continental messages. Mr.
Cadogan gave instructions for news to be sent to his pri-
vate residence, and on one occasion the Indian news for
the Times was forwarded to Mr. Cadogan. Another time
I forwarded a despatch to Mr. Seymour Clark, by order
of Mr. Cadogan. Again, on the arrival of important
continental news there occurred either a fall or rise in the
Funds, and the result was that a rush was made by the
leading stockbrokers to send Messages. Mr. Cadogan be-
ing in the instrument room, said to me one day, ` Are
you busy, and I replied in the affirmative ; whereupon
Mr. Cadogan took up the pack of messages, 25 in number,
which was lying by my side, and taking out from near
the bottom of the parcel a message from RothsChild of
London to Rothschild of Paris, placed it on the top of the
pile, and requested me to give it precedence. I told him
that all the messeges were sent out in the order in which
they were received, and to alter this arrangement was do.
ins the public a gteat injustice. He desired me to do so,
and I obeyed. This can be proved by reference to the file
of messages, as on the original messages will be found a
note of mine of the fact in ink. I have not stated a
single fact which I am not in a position to prove by the
officer or servants who have been in the employ of the
company and by reference to my diary. I will con-
tent *myself with the foregoing statement, which you
will no doubt consider completely answers the paragraph
in Sir J. Carmichael's letter, and will also prove to the
chairman and directors of the company and to the public
that you do not hazard opinions based on rumours.
" T. W, EVANS."
The statements in the letter are false from beginning to
end. Capt. Thorn asked repeatedly to make the interview
a private one. He said, remember this is a private com-
munication. I purposely evaded giving him a reply. After
saying that ho did not think he should send the letter to
the Times, Captain Thorn left. -Captain Thorn said his
residence was at 11, Pall-mall. The envelope of the letter
was directed, " Prince of Wales Club House, Leicester-
square."
Cross-examined by Mr. Beadon-1 did not mention pe-
cuniary matters to Captain Thorn.
Cross-examined by Mr. Warrand—Captain Thorn might
have said that he would give the letter back to Evans, and
have nothing more to do with it.
Samuel Trigg, wine merchant, 47, Mark-lane—About
three weeks after the publication of Sir J. Carmichael's
letter in the Times, Evans asked me if I had seen the cor-
respondence relative to the submarine telegraph in the
Times, and said he was going to answer the letter, and to
see Mr. Sampson of the Times onthe subject. On the 18th
showt pocket, c kot
letterebtte i
, c andon
t mhe to
p wouldanyMr.
August I saw Evans again by accident near the Blackwell
Railway. I said I have not seen your letter in tha Times.
Evans
show it to me. I read the letter, and to the best of my be
lief the letter just read is a coey'of it. Evans knew I
was
was acquainted with the Telegraph Company. Evans
told m said h
hoe h
Sampson of the Times, to see if 13t(yalstiegrnaattiounre I believecouldbe
to hand-
writing had got
.going the letter
toin his ph
suggested.
Jotscham, clerk in the employe
not
Ihbe aveeiso7
the
enedtel
ftehnedalenttteErv.
anTs,hebubtoihye is
h
Marmaduke Sampson, of the Times, examined—l have
the management and conduct of the City news. On Satur-
day, the Bth of August, about two o'clock in the after-
noon, the defendant Evans brought me the letter just pro-
duce I, Captain Thorn was with him.
Cross-examined—l had seen Evans on the Wednesday
previous, and had told him to put his communication in
the form of a letter, and to send it to me. It was in con-
sequence of this suggestion that he came to me with the
letter in the following Saturday.
Mr. Robinson, for the defendant Evans, contended that
there was nothingeo answer, as no case had been made oat.
Mr. Warrand, for Captain Thorn, argued that no one
e oept he was insane would give a copy of a letter in th

presence of a witness, if by that letter he hoped to extort
money. The fact was, that Captain Thorn had only in-
tended to do a service to all parties.
Mr. Beadon gave an elaborate review of the evidence,
and said the only conclusion to which he could arrive was,
that Thorn had taken the letter to Mr. Cadogan's house in
the expectation of obtaining money. That being so, the
case was clearly brought under the clause of the act which
made it an offence to publish a libel for the purpose of ex-
torting money, The publication of the libel hitd been
sufficiently proved, and so had the connection and corre-
spondence of Evans and Thorn in the transaction. He
should send the defendants before a jury on the whole of
the charges contained in the summons, and the prosecutor
might afterwards determine the form in which the indict-
ment should be framed.
Tke defendants were then ordered to find good sureties
to take their trial for libel.