The Portland daily press., 1863-01-06
william schaw Lindsay, M. p.


sation Kenge regarded the little girl who had
never heard of Jarndyce and Jarndyce.-
"Not of Jarndyce and Jarndyce," asked Mr.
Kenge, 'the-a-in itself a monument of
Chancery practice? In which II would sayl
every difficulty, every contingency, every
mastery fiction, every form of procedure
known in that court, is represented over and
over again. We desire to do some tardy
justice to a suit which rivals the object of Mr..
Kenges enthusiastic admiration, suit in
which American ship owners have found, and
still find much matter for profitable contem-
plation, suit which has fingered in the Court
of Chancery since 1856, and now seems far
ther than ever from final decision, and in
which the avowed purpose of the defendants,
w. S. Lindsay & Co.. of London, is "to kill
with COSTS" Our authority is a pamphlet pub
lished by Samuel Pearce, Jr, of the firm of
Samuel & VIM. Pearce & Co., Liverpool,
plaintiffs, and entitled "a Statement of Facts
arising out of the Chancery Suit of Pearce
versus Lindsay" This is er parte evidence,
but single fact confirms its substantial truth
fulness. The pamphlet was ready for publica-
tion last May, when Messrs. Lindsay & Co.,
to whom a copy had been sent for any expla-
nations they might choose to Offer, hastily APP
piled for and obtained from the Court of Chan
cery an injunction prohibiting its appearance.
The injunction is now dissolved, and the pam
phlet has been widely circulated. The writer
affirms that he desires, but does not anticipate,
such Investigation as would attend an action
for libel. The heavy charges which he brings
against Mr.. Lindsay and his partner, Mr.. Ed
gar Pinchback Stringer, are too sadly true to
admit OF this remedy. These charges are fur
ther supported by the upright and honorable
character of the Messrs. Pearce, well known,
and attested by ship owners and masters in
this and other American cities.
Mr.. Stringer appears to be a small villain,
who talks incoherently in the postscript of a
business letter about "mutual feelings too
deeply rooted to want repetition but is never
theless capable of false swearing against the
sharer of his 'mutual feelings" and has in
his day been guilty of altering for his own
advantage shipmaster's account, after the
shipmasters signature had been attached to IL
BILE ofexecuting these crimes, but lacks audac-
ity,to originate them. He is only pinchbeck
villain, if we may be permitted to change a
single letter of his expressive name, while Mr..
Lindsay is the genuine article, unadulterated
by so much as grain of common honesty, to
say nothing of the rarer quality called honor.
1t becomes worth while to trace in outline his
remarkable career.
Mr. Lindsay was born in Scotland. in 1877,
and possesses in large excess the shrewd self
ishness popularity attributed to his country
men. His sagacity and practical ability are as
marvellous as his astonishing success in life
Left an orphan at the tender age OF six, he
worked his passage at fourteen by trimming
coal in the coal hole of the steamer from Glas
gov to Liverpool, his whole fortune then con-
sisting Of his active brain and four shllings
sixpence On this paltry sum he subsisted for
seven weeks in Liverpool, sleeping in sheds
and out houses, and finally shipped as cabin
boy board of a West Indiaman. Five years
later he was master of ship, and in 1S40 at
twenty-three, having inherited some property
by the death of relatives who had never
helped him previously, he retired from the sea.
He had been shipwrecked; had broken both
legs and one arm; had been assailcd only the
year before in the Persian Gulf and cut down
with saber, and had killed his assalant with
pistol shot These accounts of his youth
are perhaps to be taken with grain of salt,
for they are drawn from his speech to the elec
tors of Weymouth, while candidate for elec-
tion to the House of Commons. Enough, that
with admirable courage and tact he faced and
overcame obstacles that would have crushed a
dozen ordinary men. In the speech referred
to, he attributes his prosperity to 'close indus
try, constant work, and keeping in view the
great principle of doisg to others as you would
be done by" This must be taken with very
large pinch of salt. On shore, he seems to
have acted at first as agent for coal compa-
ny; but in lSi5 he removed to London, and
soon began TO figure as a politician. Men
who remember his visit to this country two
years ago, the views he advocated before the
Board of Trade in this city in September,
1860, may be surprised TO learn that in 1S49
he was Jealous supporter of protection to
ouipPthS, anu III icbbSis duuItsSeu 10 Or hOD-
ert Peel denounced the encroachments of free
trade. Such, however, is tile case. Mr.. Lind
say has written several pamphlets on subjects
connected with the shipping interest, and an
elaborate volume entitled "Our Navigation and
Mercantile Marine Laws" To friends who
feared he might devote too much time to poll
tics he was accustomed to make the oracular
response, my business is politics, not politics
my business. The meaning of this Delphic
utterance must as usual be drawn from subse-
quent events, and it is not far to seek.
In 1852, Mr., Lindsay is said tprobably on
his own authority to have owned twenty-five
first class ships, and to have insured risks to
the amount of Sl4,0o000o as underwater. II
is undeniable that his house in London char
tered nearly seven hundred vessels, chiefly to
the Mediterranean and to India This large
accession to their business is due to their part
nership formed that year with S. & w Pearce
d Co., OF Liverpool. The conditions of this
partnership, by which one third of the commits
sions received on American or other vessels
chartered by Messrs. Lindsay & Co. through
the influence of the Liverpool house. became
due to the Messrs Pearce & Co. were written
down and assented to by the respective firms
but toittout the sanction Of signatures-M
Lindsay stating by letter that such sanction
g. IN.