.\'icuor.as Coxnpv, ., Plainti], vs. Jon.\' J. Pfrfl, .

(Reported for IIaaxard's Gaaette.)

SUPREME COURT. Saisr I-Iu'..ii~'oii‘s, Ocroasii 'l‘s.nii, I853.

scenic non i.m-..

Hon. Edward Palmer opened the case on the part of the Fhintil, which be suited to be for a libel ebntnlhed ilp-so pers of the Weekly

, ' Co ' _, irnes,efihs10ihand

ith o ebruar , in this present year. The l’laintifi' is a gen eman of good connexions and moving in a respectable circle of society. had served in General Assembly as a Represen- t.itiv_e of the people among whom he resided, u the an ' ..af. . held

c aracter amen those b whom he was Isitown, for uprj hens an integrity. The ‘Defend was a inter, residing in Charlotte- town was thepre andpublisher of a weekly ppper called the Weekly Adi-ertizer Colonic mes. The setion which the jury were em iielled 'to‘ try. was not, said the learned nnsel, one of frequent oecurenoc, be yes happy to say. In the early stage, of sociqty injuries to chsracbr were not frequent oo- eureuees. _It had, however now oecu , and it was fortunate for the Plaiutiffand for all, that the law of the land rescribed remedies for all injuries, civil or c minal, among the rest, for Ill_jll‘!;iel such as that new complained o .

e libel was conhined in two letters pur- rting to be from one James Fitzgibbon, to the ' itor of the VV Aduertseer, and char the Plai,ntifi' with having acted, in his capacity of aBroker. in the most illegal manner, and was‘ couched in Ian cage, and contained ac- cusations, which, i otrue, would render the Blaintifiinfamous, and unfit societ

The lettnrs-in question, after some preliminary remarks on the loss of the Ship 'a'y, at the l\'ort.b Cape in.the mouth of October, 1846, stutin that the writer ‘had learned from one

‘oghlin, the particulars of the manner how the ship Recovery was condemned, and that he had been one of the surveyors, contained the fol- lowing pasniges. .

“ Mr. Coghlm produced the copy ofthe survey bill furnished by Conroy in condemning the Ilecovc as a proof of his staieme to me, and it appears by the copy, that Mr. Conroy liiid caused ii vessel to be coiiileriinud on a former occriseion in the some fr:ulu- Iell manner as the Recovery.--as one ofihe purtir-in called upon to hold the survey was a Butcher, and this \\'url.l|_V Ion oftho knife waedubbed “hlercliani." as such in the survey Bill ; the other I am informed, virus a Gespe fisherman, who was dubbed ship master and inserted as such, and the third person was the aforesaid 'l'lionins 0‘Brisn, who was inserted as ship Builder. and from lhis niau I learned that what Coghlin told me was correct respecting the cori- deuination oftlie ship Recov'ery,and further, that lie, ()‘Brian, had been called upon to act as a surveyor on other ships, which had been conducted in a similar niiinner, that he had never been sworn, that for his part, he did not care, that if Conroy as a Magisutile. ll-uuglit proper to pursue such a line of conduct it was nothing to him, so long as he received his Guinea for his services, but at the same time he. (0 Brian) had often told Conroy by way of gibeing him when receiving his Guinea, that sooner or later he would he caught, and what. would the not give in I-Znglaind for him as a Witness, did they at know the rmicully tiuiriiier in which these ships were condciniied. From their statement effects, with my own observation, I concluded, ihst.Mr. Conroy was a W“""r in every sense of the word. and had caused those ships to be condemned for his own benefit, as a Broker and

what spoil he could get from the wreck."

“ U*Brian'knew that Mr. Conroy was doing wrong and told-him xi plsut did not care so long .-is he got his Guinea ;bu:l the case was quite ditfsrerit with Cluzllllll. for when I pointed out to him the duty of I-'urvr-ycrs in cases ofsliipwrecli, be at once saw the .eir_or.lie Iiad committed, by lending his name to an Illfldmus insn to carry out n fradulent design by llflligltig I ship to the hziniriicr for the sake of his corti- Hussienmand acknowledged, that it was a disgrace to I'll". and declared, that he done it through ignorance, that his iinpcssiou was, at the time of signing the surveyors Bill that it was a iiiuller offorni, by Conroy M a magistrate going after him, and that he would go before a_ Justice of the Peace and make oath to l e lame, which he accordingly had done.

[There were other passages in both papers set out, but a.s.they merely went to the same tendency. vis.,. that of imputing the same disgraceful and illegal condct to Mr. Conroy as Justice of the Peace and Broker, and as the lible was not justified, it would be superfluous to insert them

These, continued the learned gentleman, 'are the libele complained of, and could there be it more gross, wanton and malicious attack on the character of a respectable man? The learned gentleman thep went on to shew that the law made a great difierence between verbal and written or printed scandal, and quoted various authorities to show that the latter was considered ofa ore henious nature than the former. He, at considerable length, anticipated the nature of the defence that would set up. The liberty of the Press,that great Indium of‘ civil and reli ious freedom, woul , no doudt, he gredtly en r u‘ ‘n b the learned Coun- sel,vfho had come rom ova otia to give the benefit of his talents to the Defendant. ‘No man respected more than he (Mr. Palmer) did the liberty of the Press, and u as more 0 posed to its licentieusness than he was. uch wouldbe argued in favour of the licence to be given to a ublic printer; but. in this case, he contends that the Defendeut ' ad forfeited all claim to indulgence. He had attacked the private character ofa gentleman

with a recklessness and want of common cau- tion .and common prudence, that argued a concurrence with the libeller. Re rd for his own character on ht to have withheld the defendant from pu Iishing a libel like the present. They might be told that this was to extract money from the pocket of the defendant, but he would shew then: that the plaiutifi‘ acted with a due regard to hisown character in bring- ing the action in its present form. He might have chosen another. with perfect saftoy to himself and without risk of expence. , It was in his power to ave no are the Grand Jury, and had t e de endent indicted : or he might have inoved'foi' leave to file a criminal in- formation :and, hi eltheiloftltese inises,the truth of the libel; event!‘ that were the case, could not he pleaded. ..1V_'ol heprsfered to bring the ' ' ,an._opportsnity mightube

e

H 0

civil ICuqnp_ lglelllt

lfdedto, i‘anif‘sufi ;.u(liiic-.stio'ii', by ovibllri, If. ll'?°,9'J1“y. tllggrlltll of it. ' Wh'y'th s was not done, ould be for

the defendant's codnselte inform them. The learned gentleman of whose gpeeeh the above is but. a, inesge ouIi_ne eontinued to address the juryin an euerptie, but, at the seine time umpergb manner on the sub t of the ama- s the pit tto spa ; and cone uded fie in %t‘ on d be such, as should a ew tbii ‘hi pprilbstren of the conduct of_ the dttbndenti welt nl‘to eolinpeneste t laiutil for the trouble, expenee and anoysnee hndbee utto.""" _ ‘The Iran:-liiisss ssardnvlr was the Plsintiflr Nicholas Conroy. F-I9-. "50 Pl’°'."*‘h' I” I“

Assembl . Cross examined by WiIkiiis—-never

licard o suspicious or rumours with res ct to his character as Justice of the Peace or roki-r. Knows Fitzgililmn ; he is it Justice of the l’c;i«~c: does not know his occupation ; has heard lie is a shipwright.

as. B. Sciitmiii.~x--was a subscriber to the Weekly Adasrlieer, but ordered it to be stripped: there were several in the Ollioe; Dr. Conroy wanted them and undertook to the amount due to Pi y ; it was paid throug i Mr. l"i-seer, the Post ster: gave Dr. Conroy an order to

receive the .

Niciious Bii::r—takes the W'eckIy Advertiser; suflered his name to be put in as a slit.- shewn the Adi-er-!i'ser of the 10th an 17th of I-‘ebrua , and the 3d of blarch and after a deal ofgifficulty, admitted that he had res the libel complained of, in papers published by the defendant, and similar to those produced. lie was a ver unwilling witness. aim IAlIl.—keepI the Post Ofiies in St. Eleanor‘s. Letters and pa rs came from Charlottetown to his care. I eutifies the three

pers shown to Brown, as having been sent to E? B. Schui-man. The defendant, Pippy; was in the Ofiice when Schuraian paid me for the papers. Knows of no other paper of the same tit e. A great any came; some of the same date as those oduced were taken out by the persons they were addressed to. They all came

rent the General Post Ofiice in Charlottetown ; they must have been mailed there. Cross examined by Wilkins-—will undertake to swear that those papers were the same that came from Charlottetown ; knows them well ; marked them, and gave them to Dr. Conroy; can't fix the date of delivering them; put his name at re nest of Dr. Conroy. . II. CONIIOY, Esq.—resides at Charlottetown; identifies the pa re as those received from the ’ost master at t Eleanor's; caused a paper of the 10th of February to be urchased at Pippy‘s Office; it is similar tot e one in his hand; knows the defendant to be the printer of the Advertiser; was a slubzcriber tofthe r; has a or of the 7t : got it l‘0Ill Kliriiedolin CollpifcDonaId a few days after it was published. Files of the Colonial pppers are kept in the Legislative Library; the_ 'erkly Arli-ermer among the rest. Cross examined by \\'ilkiiis—— The papers reduced were taken out of the Post Office, for he purpose of being rcud in cvirlcnce upon this trial. The were sealed or painted up in his presence and ockcd up by Mr. I-‘ruser. There was a great deal of exami- nation and cross examination as to the papers purchased in Charlottetown, which is omitted, as the learned Judge was of opinion it could not go to the Jury.

(iilLBIi‘.R'I‘ Bior. Rcaided in Charlottetown, on

3d March last, got it pa her of that date from Mr. Pippy at his own (fiice; bought it and lllld for it; it is similar to the one produced; no saw papers of the 10th and 17th February with the publication complained of in them. Cross cxnmined—made the memorandum upon the paper at. Dr. (‘onroy’s request, and put his name on it.

J. J. Piri-v is a printer in Charlottetown, Publishes the Advertizer Newspaper, ‘cannot say whether the upers produced are his, any printer in Clinr ottetown might have printed them, they look like his paper. las no doubt but that they came from his ofiice. as subscribers. Sends them to the difi'erent Coun- ties. Mails tlii-iii to go to the Post Ofiiee, kc t by Fraser in St. Eleonora. Bi-lic\‘cs_thut _t ie papers protluccil were sent from his other. Cross examined. will not swear, but believes that they came from his 0 co.

'1‘. J. KAIE—-I‘let!I(Iud at 'I‘ignisIi,_ has known the Plaintiff upwards of 10 years in the Com-_ mission of the Peace. Reeollet-ts the Don ol Waterford being ivreckcd about 18-13. Plaintifi acting as rokcr. Master was resent. . ;\Iicimn. GAVIN and Con.\‘i:i.ii's A c.»\iirnr testi- iicd to the some cfii.-ct, and with rcs at to the Rtcmv 111/ being wrecked, und Pluinti acting as Broker, the iiiuster of the vessel being present. En\i'is PAIiKh'.R—It§ a subscriber to the \\ eekl y Advcrtizcr. It comes to him ever week. through the Post Ofiice. The copies produced are co ice of those he received: got them every week; news they were from defendant's office, for he has paid him for them. Cross examined —Does not know whether he them out with his own hand or not, but iegcertain that they are the same papers received through the Post Ofiice.

lllsitrrx Wiir.sn—Is keeper of the Post Office, ignisb. Identifies the papers roduced,as similar to others of the same tit e, date and par rt, which passed through the Post Olhce I i .

Plaintifi rests his case. _

Marti-in J Winains Esq. moves for a noueuit on the ground that there had not been sufiieient evidence of ublication adduced to have the lible read. e only proof is that two papers were received at the Post Ofice in St. Eleunprs, marked, sealed u and then ut on one side, and all this after the action roulght. _Court,

hink so too,I think that the Iaintifi has one too far. He has roved that the pa rs were duly marked and i he had gone no furt er, ‘I should have left it to thejury to presume that they had reached their destination, but be has ne tived that himself. for he has proved that be ore they reached the person to whom they were addressed, Dr. Conroy had them scaled up and the have so remained, (To Mr. Palmer whop ad quoted some authorities and was about to quote more. But I will allow the cause to go to the jury, and give the defend- ant leave, to move, to set aside the verdict and enter a nousuit. Wilkins then adressed the jury on the part of the defendant. He did not conceive that there was any necessity for him to make an elaborate defence. The action was between ahighly res ctable man, a ma istrate, and one who they ul knew, the defen cut was a printer in Charlottetown. For the purpose of economising time, and savin trouble he will make one or two admissions. n the first place he will admit that under the direction ofthe learned -ju that the publication of the libel is l'ully{prove . and that when this is once made inani eat to a jar it is the duty of the defen- dcnt to prove to trut of it, this however had its modification as he would show them. The publication in question he also admitted was a very serious attenit to outrag ethe cha- racter of the Plaintlfi‘, he agreed with the

learned Council for the Plainttfi' that if it were true that no ntleinan could or on ht to associate with im. It h.id been prove that I’laintifi' was a man of excellent character and it was proved also that the publication of this libel lied notlnjured it these were circumstan- ces entirely favourable to the defendant. There could he in this case has nominal danis . While he admitted that the libel had been proved, he did not concede that on the part of the Defendant had how on the contrar the letters from Fitsgibbon had been ished in its usual course of business. no of the ’ t benefits ofa free and uushackied press, was that It was a terror unto evil dsers, vrliile he would support the

—s I

9 co |-‘.‘

9 cv-

anv- E9

Hr}_§_ZARD'S GAZETTE,

pose of branding the Plantifl n itlo thouharacter ofa vrr er, the on contrary he bi'Iie\'cd the lh.-l'cndisnt to be all that was said of him, t -ere was not a word to the prejudice of his charac- ter. But he would ask, was it rudent in the Plsintifi to bring this action? ad be shown that be had sustained any damage! Ilas any ntlernan been broliglit here to show t " iscontiuued his acquaintance! If he had suf- fered any injury he would have had no difl-. culty in proving it, but it was in uiblefi prove what did not exist. In his 0 nion Dr. ‘onroy the I’laintifi“s brother was t obi at, at all events the heaviest libeller, (it augh through the Court) be it was. that hunted up the newepe rs but. for him they would ve Iain in t e at olice, he it was deter- mined that they should be ublislied. It was no easy matter to wound’ the character of a really honest man. It was like chemo- mile, the more it was trampled upon, the more v‘ roual it w. It had been that Mr. Conroy had lost no friend, had made no enemy by the publication. In fact the very virulence of his enemies had been his pro- tection. The atrocity of the libel was such thatit carried its own antidote along with it. lie would ask then whethe; taking £100 out of Pi py'e cket would beof any service to the p ainti , would £50 taken from Pippy add

5' 6

one shilling to the value of Conroy's character! The libel had been published in a publicjour- nal. Had it been under an anonymous s gna- ture. Had the Defendant when applied to refused to give up the author, then indeed he would have iudorsed the scandal, would have made it his own, but what was the case! There was no doubt as to who composed the libel, and there it was where the Plaintifi' had bcenwroug. he should have prosecuted Fitz- gibbou who wrote the letters and sent them to the defendant. He the counsel inust notbe told that Fitsgibhon was not a respectable man, he was a brother magistrate of the I’laint.ifi', their names stood side by side, upon the Com- mission of the Peace that had this day been read in court. Ilc should have been the Defendant then if a justification had been put in and had failed there would have been scarc- I an imit to the amount of damages. The I efendsnt, had published the letter in the or- dinary line of his duty. Ilad thou ht it would tend to the public good. lle di not know whether they were true or false. Ilc might have been in error, but will you, said the lent- ncd counsel, will you because he had committed sii error ruin him. (live the Plaintifia shilling and let him sue Fitsgibbon.

'I'he fact was that all this had arisen out of

frivolous party politics, responsible goveriiuient and all that kind of liuinbug, about which he dilfcri.-dtoially from hi.-client Mr. Pippy in opinion. 'I‘ln-,_v must give the lowest amount of daniargee there was a total absence of malice on the part ofthe rlefeudant, as a proof of it, he had offered

the defendant a place ill hie columns, ifhe chose to rebut the accusatioiis. They would recollect that the lowest damages they could give, would carry costs and these would lie immense (alas no witnesses). The learned judge Peters told the jury that there was no dillicully in the case it was a mere question of damages no doubt as to its being a lible. He could mil. suffer the remarks made by the couneil for the defendant to pass uiimritradieted. In these cases (said the learned judge) the law makes no dillereiioe between the writer and Ilie priiilcr and publisher, both are equally guilty and the plaintiff had it right to sue eithsr—after ii variety of extremely pertinent remarks ivtcli we rvgrel we have no room for, the judge changed the jury lo find such reasonable dsmaiiee as under all the eircumiuaiices ih-- case required. After four or five hours eorisiileration the jury returned with a verdict. of '15. At this term (Micliulinas ) D. ()‘l\I. Ra-ddin, Esq. moved for a rule, to show cause why the verdict should not be set aside, and a nonsuit entered, and adduced some cases in support of his motion. Court took time to look into the autlioritiee, and on Thursday last, the Chief Justice, gave it as the opinion oftho Court, that the publication had been sufiicicntly proved, delare the objection taken at the trial. Rule refused.

lion. E. Palmer and Lawson, for Plaintifi'. Wilkins, Bracken and Reddiu for Defendant.

coaaiisroiinsiica ,_

o the Inhabitants of Prince Edward Island.

Mv Finance;

A Letter bearing the signature of " Gnoiios Cons," having appeared in }Iaezard‘s Gazette yesterday, in which, in common with some hun- dreds of our fellow Colonists, Iain stiumatised a “senseless unfscling dernagogux as destitute of this feeling as of principle," I deem it my duty to address a few words to you, my friends and coun-

tr men.

I have never ceased for many years to entertain a firm belief that the wisest plan for an honest man to pursue when assailed by uniruih or mslignitv, in a newspaper, is to leave to his fellow country- men to decide between the relative chersciers and reputation of the assailed and his assailant: and in now submitting to your calm and diepessionsic judgment to say how far Mr. (Juice is warranted in using this language, I would impress upon your minds that “ I do care more than ‘ a fig‘ for your opinion.

During much travel in many lands I have lived under Absolute, Democratic and Monareliial Gov- ernments: and I had not supposed, on my return to my native land, I would find an "immaculate" government. in fact " a Monsde," having for its feet, body and head, a fellow iownsatnn—-but this I will say, I was well pleased on my arrival some fifieen months ago to find a fellow townsrnsn eleva- ted by on to a position entitling himtc my res- pect an deference; and thus I frankly expressed myself to many friends of my bovli , resolving at the same time not to allow any “ reports" to prejudice me either for or against Mr. Coles, but to reserve to myself the right of seeing and beam‘ only with my own eyes and care. As I believe we poor Colonists are far better judges of our re- quirements than fine gentlemen sense thousands of miles ofi', I have always been an ardent admirer of Responsible Governinenl, but administered by re- sponsible men, not by those who has our cash Ifllllll themselves, and turn the wor logs of re- sponsibility into “a painful farce.” I therefore fill if I had any leaning to one party more than to the other, it would be to the present Executive, whom I had hoped would shew themselves what they lied always pp-feseed themselves to be " the friends of r 5 lily." arrival lists I have travelled inucli among the hoineeieads of my countrymen. and I have witnessed tech a patient endurance of gaunt poverty. hard strunling apd'ailqn_tsu r'_ since many of you, so diluent from the condition in which after twenty-five years absence I had hoped to have Iband you, that I confess I felt, hovvevtr determlned I was ioavoll tailing myself up in politics, I was‘ bound to watch the eerenigsef this M and eedesvesr tearrlve at the cause arise sentie-