New-York tribune., 1905-04-24
"THE TINES NEVER RETRAcTs

Sir John Lawrence, in presiding judge of the
Kings Rench Division Of the High Court of Jus
1ice. in The trial Of the suit brought by Colonel
Morgan director of supplies at Woolwich Arsenal
for libel against THE London Times" managed to
from the assistant business manager of that
paper the revelation of cardinal principle Of its
conduct, which, though familiar a very few has
hitherto been unknown to the public at large 1t Is
this, namely. that The London Tines never IN
der any circumstances whatsoever. makes retrac-
ton or a correction. 1t abdes by what il has
printed. whether right wrong and is prepared TO
take the consequences.
Thus, in the case Of Colonel Morgan though it
was made absolutely clear that lie was innocent of
the charges unjustly brought against him by The
Times it declined TO make any correction. 1t was
up 10 him, THE Times declared to disprove these
charges by means Of a libel suit and if he won his
case The Times" would pay whatever damages
might be awarded That has always been the
policy Of The Times during the hundred years or
more Of its existence and cannot be denied that
IL has contributed TO its prestige and authority II
has paid hundreds OF thousands of dollars possibly
millions, IN damages and legal costs, rather than
retract statements made editorialIy or by CORE
spondents in its columns. No will ever indeed
e-actly know how colossal was the sum of money
which il spent in connection with the great libel
suit known the Parnell Commission where its
principal witness was shown TO have perjured and
forged the evidence upon which the paper believing
il 10 be authentic, had based its charges against
Charles Stewart ParnelI
In the trial the other day the libel complained
Of by Colonel Morgan was contained in a cable
dispatch from South Africa. It was not even an
editorial assertion. On learning of the dispatch
the colonel had At once insisted upon court of
inquiry AT Pretoria which acquitted him with flying
colors. The colonel thereupon returned to Eng
land. and called upon Moberly Bell the assistant
manager Of The Times" and asked for a few
lines Of retraction. IN the witness box Moberly
Bel admitted that Colonel Morgan had satisfied
him that he was entirely innocent. But he never
thcless refused the retraction on the ground that
il was contrary TO the traditions and principles OF
The Times" which led the presiding judge Sir
John Lawrence. TO refer TO the paper from the
bench as a sort Of Grand Lama Of Tibet"
OF course this policy unique among the news
papers OF the world. has this inestimabe advan-
tage-that the writers for the paper knowing that
it can not and viii not retract anything, are ex-
ceedingy cautious and conservative IN all their
statements which endows the paper with degree
Of reliability IN the eyes OF the public only at
home. but also abroad. which probably other
paper English foreign, enjoys. For this reason
French, well German statesmen have on
several notable occasions made The Times the
means Of communication 10 the public of things
which they wished be known and OF opinions
which they desired proclaim, rather than the
newspapers OF their own country.