The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-12-24 00:00:00

IMPORTANT CASE OF LIBEL.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.—SATURDAY, DEC. 21.
(Londoa Sittings, before Lord Chief justice TINDAL and e
-.. Special fury.)
• RAWSON AND OTHERS V. WAY.
This was an action of libel, to which there were pleas of
not guilty and a jtistitreatiOn.
The Solicitor-General, with Mr. Wightman and Mr.—,
appeared for the plaintiffs, and Mr. Kelly; Mr. Shea, and
Mr. Henderson for the defendant.
The Loen.Cfrtee Justroz, Upon perceiving• the nature of
the case as disclosed On the record, suggested that it was one
which it was most particularly desirable should be referred
to some gentleman at the bar, who would say what was just
and proper between Abe parties.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said, he was always most anx-
ious to adopt any suggestion thrown out by his Lordship,
but in the present case the credit and character of the plain-
tiffs as merchants were so deeply concerned. that be could
not enter upon any terms until the defendant had retracted
in the most complete manner every imputation against them.
Mr. KELLY inquired whether the plaintiffs were willing in
turn to acquit the defendant of the charges which they had
brought against him. •
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL declined to enter into any bar-
gain on the subject, and the case proceeded. He said that
his clients, Messrs. Rawson, Norton, and Co. were merchants
in this city, and that the defendant was a member of the
firms of Hay and Jack, in the Mauritius, and of Hay and
Mellis, in Bengal, where he had an indigo -plantation. The
present action was one of the greatest importance to the
plaintiffs, who felt compelled to bring it against the defendant
for a libel, reflecting seriously upon them as -merchants and
as men of honour. Melars. - Rawson and Co. had for some
time acted as agents in:England for the firm of Hay and Co.
of the Mauritius. That agency continued until the month of
November, 1837. About August in the following year, the
defendant prepared a circular letter, and addressed it to va-
rious merchants and others who were in the habit of dealing
with the house of the plaintiffs, or were otherwise acquainted
with them. It was of that circular Messrs. Rawson and Co.
now complained, and its nature was such as to force them
for the defence of their mercantile character and credit, to
adopt the present proceedings. It commenced in the follow-
ing terms :—" Mr. James Hay, finding that Messrs. Rawson,
Norton, and Co. of London and Liverpool, his discharged
agents, have been eirculatiug regarding him certain slander-
ous documents, thinks it necessary to state the plain facts of
the case, and to leave to intelligent merchants to judge be-
tween him and this much boasting firm, whether their con-
duct has not been most improper, and such as to render it ne-
cessary for him to take the. legal steps against them which he
has pursued." The legal steps here alluded to were concern-
ing an ittjvnetion, for which the defendant applied to his honor
the Vice-chancellor,rto prevent the plaintiffs acting any uiore
as his agents ' • but that application was not, ultimately acceded
to. The circularthen went on to state various business trans-
actions between the parties-,at great length, the tendency of all
which, the learned council submitted, no man could doubt, was
highly injurious to the character of the plaintiffs in the iner-
cantile world, and exceedingly calculated materially to affect
their credit and reputation. Iu another part of the same do-
cument, and towards its conclusion, were these strong and
objectionable terms :—" Mr. Hay certainly deemed this to
be abominable conduct,"- alluding to some transactions by
the plaintiffs. He (the Solicitor-General) trusted that, as
the defendant had cast all these imputations upon the course
pursued by the plaintiffs, he would attempt to prove the case ;
but he hoped that if such were not done, the jury would not
be satisfied merely with-at speech from his learned friend,
Mr. Kelly, which, however able it might be, would not dis-
turb the facts that would be proved before them of the pub-
lication of the libel to parties with whom the plaintiffs had
dealings, and to whom they were known. The amount of
damages that the jury-would award to Messrs. Rawson and
Co. would be important, in as far as they would be the esti-
mate of the sense they entertained of the libellous article, and
of the injury it would be calculated to inflict upon the cha-
. racter of mercantile .ineu. He thought they would be of
opinion, upon the. determination of the case, that the
charges had been made by the defendant in the most delibe-
rate manner ; that they had been persisted in until the mo-
ment of trial; and-would, perhaps, be attempted to be made
out and justified now. He trusted that if such were the
course pursued by the defendant, the jury would award such
damages as they themselves would expect if placed in similar-
circumstances, in order to redeem their character from as-
persions such as theft cast by Mr. Hay upon the present
plaintiff's. He had now concluded, and would ,proceed at
oncelo call ~vitesesees before them, who would prove the
facts he had already stated, and, he confidently anticipated,
entitle his clients to a verdict at their hands.
The following witnesses were then called :
Jeremiah Garnett—l am of Clithero, and am a spinner of
cotton, and also export that article to India. I have had
dealings with the plaintiff's house for many years. I have
consigned goods to their houses in Calcutta, and other pla=
ces in India. The paper I have in my hand was received by
me at Clithero. 1 know Mr. Hay the defendant. The
transactions I have had with the plaintiffs have been to a
considerable extent, exceeding £50,000.
Cross-examined-4-l. received the circular myself, and
opened it. I have not directly corresponded with defendant
so often as to know whether that circular bears his hand-
writing. It was sent August 7,1838, and was signed " James
Hay.' . _

The circular was put in and read. At the end of the
printed portion of it were words written, addressed to the
witness, and to the following effect :—" I think it right to
hand you this statement to protect myself from any slan-
derous reports by Messrs. Rawson and Co."
Ellis- Were—l am- brother to Mr. Hay's clerk. The di-
rection on that circular is in my brother's hand-writing. r
gave one of them away to a gentleman. I received it from
the defendant's counting house.
Cross-examined—I have no connection with the -defendant.
My brother gave me the one paper I received at the defend-
ant's. counting-house. That was about a twelvemonth ago.
John -Clifford was called, and about to be examined, when
Mr. KELLY said that he would not trouble his learned
friends to proceed further, and he only felt regret that he
had not the opportunity of performing that, before the learned
solicitor-general's speech, which he now did, with such satis-
faction to himself, of doing all in his power to repair whatever
injury might have been, sustained by the character of the
plaintiff's, or by'thelr frmlings. On the part of Mr. Hay hp
hesitated not one moment to state in the most clear. Plaht,
and unequivocal form in which language' could express it,
that every imputation was withdrawn by the defendant that
had been cast upon the character of Messrs. Rawson and Co.
To whatever length the present proceedings had gone, he
should have felt bound, from the instructions he had received
from his client, to state this. Having made his dis-
claimer, lie (Mr. Kelly) should beg to say a few words with
regard to the real sentiments of the defendant. The paper
upon which this action was founded was undoubtedly written,
and, to a certain extent, published by Mr. flay ; but it had
been so written and published under feelings of strong ex-
citement. In it the jury would see Mr. Hay referred to
some supposed publications that were injurious to his cha-
racter, and which he had imagined were the productions of
the present plaintiffs. In those suppoSitions he now believed
he had been entirely mistaken. lie -acted, however, under
the strong excitement resulting from that imagination, and
without such a strong attention to the real facts as he would
• have given in cooler moments of reflection. Such were the
statements the learned counsel said he had to sulaniit on be-
half of his client, He had been instructed by that gentleman
to do all iri his power to remove every kind of imputation
from the plaintiffs' character. He trusted that both parties
would leave court that day with reputations perfectly clear
and free from any reflections upon them. Ile had now only
to thank the jury for attention, and to rejoice that the
case would have so satisfactory a termination.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL said that after the statement
just made of the defendant, his clients, being indemnified
for costs, were quite willing to allow the action to terminate
here.

Chief Justice TINDAL having remarked that it was the
most satisfactory conclusion for the case.
The jury found &verdict for the plaintiffs.
The court rose at an early hour, the other special jury hav-
ing been dismissed under the expectation that the above
cause would occupy the entire day.