New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-05-01
DAMAGES TEN GUINE1S.


If we are to estimate demands by resources,
it may not seem q startling circumstance that
The London Times is the poorer by Ten
Guineas. How this interesting loss of money
occurred may be briefly explained. Our read
ers will remember that we have before men,
toned the Temperance Meeting in Exeter
how there vas disgraceful riot; how bag
of flour was thrown at a Bishop; and how tho
benevolent prelate was otherwise shame
fully insulted. A correspondent of The
Times stated, in his account of the
scandal furnished to that journal,
what was undeniably true, that the
r,ngleaders of the riot were Wofnden, con-
faential clerk of the spirit-selling Mayor of
Exeter, and Snale. his travelling agent. This
Mayor, Harding, is not only large liquor
merchant but the head of the Licensed
Victualing interest of the city. His Worship
was pleased to consider these statements as
lbelOus. There was an additional averment
by the correspondent, that when one OF the
rioters charged with assault was brought be-
fore the magistrates, the case was dismissed,
while a person who merely assisted to remove
the rioters from the platform was fined twenty
shillings and costs. The innuendO was that the
Mayor had instigated the disturbance of the
meeting, and had influenced the magistrates.
There was some evidence to show that the
plaintiffs clerks had been engaged in breaking
up several Temperance meetings on other
occasions, had still been kept in his employ
ment, and had not even been censured by
him. The plaintiff swOre that he did not know
that his clerks were going to the meeting at
all, but that he took care to have no COM
"municatiOn with them on the subject"
Baron Bramwell, in charging the jury, OBJ
served that "there was vast deal of intoxi-
"catng liquor drunk in the country" that
the members of the United Kingdom Alliance
were, no doubt, sincere and earnest in their
efforts to meet what they thought crying
evil; that they had right to hold public
meetings for the propagation of their opinions;
and that the plaintiff s clerks misbehaved
themselves very much on this occasion-there
could be no doubt about that. But the Mayor
had sworn that he did not know that there
was to be a disturbance; if he had known it,
it would have been his duty to advise his
servants to keep away from the assembly
And so the jury gave the suffering and much
maligned Mayor ten guineas-too little II
lie had really been libeled and too much
il he had not The absurdity of an
action like this whatever may be its technical
merits, needs no demonstration. Nobody be-
lieves that this Mayor did not wish the meet
ing to be disturbed; that he was at all sorry
for the ASSAULT upon the Bishop, or that he
was in the least angry with his retainers on
account of their violent and illegal conduct
These persons were merely his creatures, and
well enough they knew what his Worship
wanted. They fully comprehended, with the
instincts which such instruments rarely lack,
if they broke the peace, embarrassed the
meeting, and assaulted the Bishop, that,
so far from being angry with them, the
Mayor, their master, would, in his business
bosom $50 to speak,, consider their actions
highly meritorious They were toadies, and
toadies usually know what they are about,
and rarely make mistakes which are damaging
to their personal interest.
The TmeS's correspondent wrote the truth,
and The Times itself, for indulging in the luxury
of printing what the correspondent wrote, is
obliged to pay ten guineas. The cost of the
privilege, however, does not appear to be ex-
orbitant. BY and by, in this country as well as
in England, it will begin to be understood that
no newspaper of honesty enough to make what
it prints of Importance, will be frightened out
of saying what it believes it right to say, by
any fear of actiOns-at-law. These are the
ready resource of rOgues who have been exposed
and of knayes at the end of all other expedients.
We believe in libel suits. We should be
glad to see them multiplied, provided there is
good ground for them; for one of the things
that American journalism lacks is an adequate
sense of responsibility; and when a great
newspaper feels that it is held to strict ac-
count. for its statements, its words become
more weighty and its influence by so much
the greater. On the other hand, no sol
vent and respectable journal will be deferred
from exposing fraud and outrage by any fear
of consequent law proceedings. Their trouble
and loss are accepted as part of the service
which an honest newspaper owes to the public.
More suits for libel are talked of than are
brought but the duty of meeting them man.
fully would not be less if every swinder, be-
reaved of what he calls his "gOod character"
were able to make it worth his attorneys |
while to institute proceedings or to 90 on with
those already begun. A journal old enough
and well-known enough to influence public
opinion has itself character which it cannot
afford to compromise by an unmanly timidity.