The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-03-29 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

proprietor of the Waterloo Hotel, in Liverpool, and he had
brought this action •to vindicate his character from slanderous
reports which had got into circulation concerning him. He
(Mr. Pollock) did not mean to say, that the Waterloo was the
first hotel in this country, or even in this county, but every one
who knew anything of Liverpool, would know that it was fre-
quented by persons of the most respectable situation in life, and
it was, therefore, highly essential that it should be well under-
stood that he was not a fit and proper object of those slanderous
expressions which had been used concerning his credit and his
circumstances, and that they were utterly destitute of any
foundation. In this country, where credit is wealth, it was of
the highest importance that such slander should be cleared up,
and with that view—of clearing his character—alone, it was
that Mr. Lynn had brought the present action: It was to set
himself right with the public, that he came before a jury. Mr.
Lynn, who is one of the proprietors of the new race course
near Liverpool, had embarked thousands and thousands of
pounds in that speculation, which was likely to prove of great
benefit to the town and ultimately no doubt would be produc-
tive of great profit and advantage to himself. In the autumn
of last year, a report was spread, which obtained very general
currency in Liverpool, not merely that the plaintiff was in in-
solvent circumstances, but that he had actually compromised
with his creditors, au& some persons there were who had even
had the hardihood to mention the precise sum which be had
agreed to pay in the pound. It, therefore, became absolutely
necessary,'when these rumours reached his ears, that Mr. Lynn
should take some measures for the clearing of his character.
He accordingly traced back a report of this description from •
one to another of several person's until, at length, he reached
an indiVidnal who having merely heard the circumstance casu-
ally mentioned, had embodied and given it substance. The
defendant was the Librarian at the Lyceum, and there could
nOt be found a more dangeroui person in the -dissemination of
an injurious statement of the nature of .that of which Mr.
Lynn had to complain, than him who sits, as it were, "at the
receipt of custom," to deliver out books to those who were en-
titled to apply for them, and with whom almost every respecta-
ble person in Liverpool was acquainted. This was the injury
of which. Mr. Lynn had to complain and for Which he came
to ask reparation; and, even at that moment, if the defendant
would, through his counsel, make a proper apology, he would
be quite willing to take barely such damages as Mr. Lynn
ought to have; but, if this offer were not accepted, he must go
on with his case, and leave it with the jury to award such da-
mages as a contumacious slanderer ought to pay.
Mr. James Radley, the proprietor of the Adeiphi Hotel, was
then called, and he deposed that he called one day at the Li-
brary, and saw the defendant, who asked him if he bad heard
anything of Lynn's affair? Witness laughed and said " oh,
yes, it has all blown over; it has been a nine days' talk." The
defendant said "but it is so." Witness was' very much con-
fused, as the plaintiff was one of the most intimate friends he
had; and the defendant told him to walk round to his office
and he would there tell him further. The defendant then said,
it is not publicly known ; but. I know it; and it is so." This
being asserted in very strong terms, witness cautioned him about
what he was saving, upon which the defendant again repeated
—" it is not not publicly known; but I know it ; the articles
are drawn•up, and the creditors wanted 15s. in the pound, but
Lynn quarrelled with the creditors,-because he would only pay
10s. in the pound." Witness again cautioned the defendant
against repeating that statement, and pledged himself only to
mention it to one person.
By the JUDGE :—"Witness told the defendant he did not be-
lieve it; and afterwards, on the same day, told it to Mr. Stew-
art.

By Mr. ADDISON,- in continuation:—There had.been a great
many reports of the same tendency about for some time before;
but perhaps witness, from being in the same line of business,
might have heard more of them than other persons. He should
'think that it must have been known to almost every tradesman
in Liverpool.
Cross-examined by the Attorney-General (Mr. WILLIAMS) :
—Witness has heard the matter in question spoken of by per-
sons higher in authority than tradesmen. He heard the Re-
corder of Liverpool mention it.
➢lr. Hadley's examination being concluded, after some con-
sultation between the counsel on both sides, it was agreed that a
verdict should be taken for the plaintiff, with 40s. damages.
The Attorney-General (Mr. WILLIAms), as counsel fur the
defendant said he had no hesitation in stating that there was not
the slightest foundation for the rumour respecting the plaintiff,
the repeating of which had led to the present action; the de-
fendant wished as well to Mr. Lynn as any man could, and was
perfectly ready to repeat what. lie (the :earned counsel) hau
just now said.
The learned JUDGE observed that the plaintiff had done him-
self good credit by the moderation with which he had. acted in
the present instance.
'The verdict was then recorded in the terms agreed upon.

MoottE v. WILKINSON.-The plaintiff in this action was the
owner of a flat on the river , Mersey called the Hibernia, and
the defendant 'was the Master of an American vessel trading to
Liverpool called the Grecian; and the action was brought to
recover the sum of £lO2 12s. for work and labour done. The
Grecian was wrecked and sunk in Bootle Bay, in the month of
October List; .and thirteen of the river flats were engaged for
the purpose of raising her so that she might be removed into the
docks. The Hibernia, belonging to the plaintiff, was one of the
fiats so engaged, and the charge which he made for her hire was
two guineas a day while actually employed, and one guinea a
day while waiting in attendance upon the orders in charge of
the Grecian. '1 his charge the defendant resisted on the ground
that it was immoderate, and had paid into court the sum of EA
17s. in addition to a sum of £l6 previously paid to the plaintiff.
on account, the receipt of which was admitted.
Mr. COWLING, as counsel for the defendant, examined seve-
ral witnesses for the purpose of showing that the charge made
by the plaintiff was excessive, and that the sum paid into court
together with the amount previously paid was sufficient to cover
any reasonable demand for the service rendered. The jury,
aftera short consultation found for the defendant.

stance of the objections, for, the most part, not being made until'
some time after the juryman had taken his seat in the box, drew
from the Judge a remark that this mode of objecting to indivi-
duals ldoked like an attempt to pack a jury, and that the more
proper course would have been to have stated at once all theob-
j ections against the pannel.
The defendant, who was in court, declared his perfect willing-
ness to have his case submitted to the decision of any jury.
A jury having at length been sworn,
Mr. SOHN ADDISON, in the absence of Mr. PoLLocx, who was
engaged in the other court, stated the case for the prosecution.
He said that thiS.prosecution had been instituted at the instance
of the Vestry of the township of Mellor, whose characters, as
well-as that of Mr. Brindle, the Governor of the Workhouse,
at Mellor, had been attacked in the libel for the publication of
which the defendant was now put upon his trial. There was no
part of the publication complained of at all touching the conduct
or character of the parties libelled, which was not utterly untrue,
but they had been most anxious to afford the defendant an op-
portunity of proving the truth of the charges which he had ad-
vanced.ugainst them, if he could; and with that view the indict-
ment Itatbeen so framed as, iu one of its counts, to admit of
evidence of that sort, whi!st, on the other hand, evidence could
be produced to show that the woman who was stated, in the arti-
cle in question, to have experienced the grossest inhumanity,
had been treated with the greatest cart and kindness, and in a
manner every way suited to her condition at the time.
Mr. Justice ALDERSON here interposed, for the purpose of re-
minding the learned counsel that, on an indictment for libel,
howsoever framed, he could not admit any evidence as to either
the truth or the fa:sehood of the alleged libel.

Mr. ADDISON, in continuation, stated that the libel was in the
form of a communication to the Editor of the Blackburn Gazette,
dated April 24th, 1832. He then read the letter, not as pub-
lished, but in its original form. It commenced by assuming
from the public character of the Editor, that he would insert au
account of a case of cruelty committed against " a yoor pauper
in the work-house, at Mellor, by .the Governor; anu stating that
her complaints had been treated with contempt by the Over-
seers and the Vestry, whose hearts, as well as that of the Go-
vernor, appeared to him to be as hard.as iron. The writer then
went on to state that a poor woman, named Ann Broughton,
had been delivered of a child in the work-house at Mellor, and
afterwards treated, by the Governor, with great inhumanity,
the particulars of which the writer proposed to detail very cir-
cumstantially. It was signed "Argus." The Editor of the
Blackburn Gazette, who knew the hand-writing to be that of the
defendant, saw him on the subject, and after some communica-
don with him, and striking out the most offensive expressions,
published his letter. •
Mr. John Burrell, the proprietor and editor of the Blackburk
Gazette, was then examined. He stated that on his asking the de-
fondant on what authority the charges contained in his lettter
rested, the defendant told him. that the father of the woman had
repeatedly applied to him to draw up a statement for publi-
cation in the newspapers; that he at first refused to do so, but
afterwards finding that the statements were corroborated by
other inmates of the work-house at the time, and that they were
,the subjdel of general conversation in Mellor, to which place he
went for the purpose of making inquiry into the matter, defend-
ant said he considered it a duty which he owed to humanity and
justice to make a public statement of what he belieVed to be the
truth. Witness subsequently published the letter, after making
certain alterations and corrections.

• Mr. ALEXANDER was proceeding in a cross-examination of
the witness for. the purpose of showing the grounds on which
the defendant had written the letter charged as libellous, when
he was stopped by
His Lordship, who said that he could only receive evidence to
show that the defendant, however mistaken, had acted with a
real and bona fide good intention.
Mr.
,ALEXANDER admitted that, in the existing state of the
law, there could be no doubt that the publication in question
must be pronounced a libel.
Mr. Justice ALDERSON remarked, •to the jury, that it had
been, very properly, conceded, in the reading of this paper,
that it must be a libel, because it imputed crime to an inuiv-
dual, and the publication of an imputation of that nature was
a libel in the eye of the law. The law declared that the publica-
tion of anything contumelious of a man's character was a libel.
In the letter complained of, the defendant called this person
a monster; and as there could be no doubt that the calling of a
man a monster was contumelious of his character, this was cer•
tainly a libel. His lordship concluded his observations, by di-
recting a verdict of guilty, which was accordingly acqui, seed
in by the jury.
Mr. ALEXANDER then proceeded to address the court, in mi-
tigation. Ile put in an affidavit sworn by the defendant, dated,
Lancaster, March 26th, 1833, in which the deponent stated that
he had written this letter, under the circumstances already men-
tioned, on the information of the woman herself, of her father,
and of three paupers who were inmates of the workhouse at the
time, and that, in so doing, he had acted solely from a sense of
public duty, justice, and humanity. Certain parts of the affi-
davit, tending to show the defendant's conviction of the truth of
thethe alleged libel, were struck out by the direction of the Judge.
alleged
also declared other affidavits which were tendered,
from the lather of the woman, from the woman herself, and
from three of the paupers, to be inadmissible, inasmuch as they
spoke to alleged facts and were not confine d to the purpose of
showing a real and bone fide good intention on the part of the
defendant.

His LORDSHIP then proceeded to.deliver his judgment, ob-
serving that the defendant had been, very properly, found
guilty of having' published a criminal statement against a per-
son holding a situation in which the publication of such instate-
ment was calculated to bring hint into considerable hatred and.
contempt, and to produce a very considerable effect in destroy-
ing the estimation which his .respectability and previous. good
character might have obtained for his services, both with tlse
persons who placed him -in that situation, and with those of
whom he had the charge. There was little. doubt that the de-
fendant had been acting in the bone fide discharge of what he
conceived to be his duty; but he should have been very careful
lest, from. what he called humanity, in which he might be
wholly. mistaken, he'took away the character of another person,
without making proper investigation previously to sending forth
such statements to the world. No man ought to be condemned
before he' Had been heard. " The fault which you have com-
mitted," said his lordship, "was in making inquiries into the
character of Mr. Brindle behind his back. You ought to have
made hiimacquainted With the charge before you published it;
you should have gone to Mr. Brindle, told him the circum-
stances, and investigated the matter, instead of taking the ac-
cusations of persons who might be interested in misrepresent-
ing it. It is essential to the purposes of justice that no man
should be allowed to commit with impunity the fault which you
have committed. You have been heard before you were con,
demned,'aud you ought to have treated Mr. Brindle as I have
been endeavouring to treat you. Persons in your situation of
life often run away with a vague and wild idea of what they call
humanity and justice, and rashly resort to publications in news-
papers, without considering that, by so doing, they destroy the
characters of others. lam inclined to hope and. believe, that
you were inclined to do what you did from honest though ini-
laken motives. Nevertheless you must be sensible that you
have acted very wrong, and that you have not done that justice
to your neighliour which you have yourself received. His lord-
ship concluded sentencing the defendant to pay a fine of
£lO to the King; to be imprisoned until the fine should be
paid; and to enter into security, himself in £5O, and two secu-
rities in £25 each, to keep the peace for twelve months.

It is understood that Prince Lieven, the Russian ambassador,
along with theYrincess and family, may shortly be expected
to leave this country for St. Petersburgh, whither the Prince
has been recalled by the Emperor Nicholas The Princess
Lieven is appointed to the high and honourable office of prin-
cipal governess of the children of the imperial family. It is not
believed -that the Prince will accept any other diplomatic ser-
vice.

Disrritur PaoviDENT SACIETY.—We have great pleasure in
calling the attention of our readers to the proceedings of the
meeting held.on 'Wednesday, to establish a District Provident
Society. Of;the merits of institutions of this kind, since, by the
reports of that in Liverpool, they have been brought under our
notice, we have always had the very highest opinion. They
tend to improve the circumstances of the poor in the best way—
by amending their habits; to increase their comforts by teach-
ing ;them virtues; and to soften their feelings by the kind and
friendly intercourse of their superiors in worldly station. These
are objects of pure benevolence. In our rich and flourishing
community, there will not, we feel assured; be wanting the
pecuniary means of forwarding them. Bttt the services of zea-
lous, persevering, judicious, and kind-hearted visitors, are to
be appreciated more highly than pecuniary contributions; and
we earnestly intreat those of our young friends, especially, who
are sincerely desirous to do what in them lies, towards raising
the general level of the social condition of the people, to unite
themselves with this society, and to labour under its auspices.
They may rely upon it that on time so spent they will be able,-
under the most trying circumstances that can attend their after
lives, to look back with well-founded satisfaction.—Manchester
Guardian.

OLD TimEs.—On the 4th of May, 1763, Mr. John Rice was
executed at Tyburn for forgery, mid his effects being put up to
auction in London, amongst them was publicly sold "one
negro boy." Such was then the state of opinion respecting
slavery,