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arising from the said office, that defendant Chamber of Commerce) "about the friend- did, to wit on the 29th day of March A.D. ship with which His Excellency the Go- 1880, unlawfully, wickedly and maliciously vernor has honoured me for the last fifteen write and publish and cause and procure to years" (meaning that His Excellency Sir be written and published in the form of a John Pope Hennessy has honoured the said letter to the said William Jackson, a certain John Pitman with his friendship for the last fifteen years).
libel of and concerning the said Horace Further I would suggest that, having Harrington Nelson and of and concerning regard to Mr Nelson's public position as him in his said office and of his conduct one of your staff, some enquiry should be and character in relation thereto according to the tenor and effect following, that is to say:
"18, Peddar's Hill, "Hongkong, Mar. 28, 1880. "William Jackson, Esq.,
Assistant Chief Manager, "Secretary, &c., &c., &c.,
made into the circumstances under which he became possessed of a transfer of certain shares from the late Mr Heaton on the eve of his (Mr Heaton's) embarrassments about a year ago (thereby meaning that the said Horace Harrington Nelson had corruptly, dishonestly or otherwise improperly obtained a transfer of certain shares from one Alexander M'Glasban Heaton, who had formerly carried on business as a share broker in Hongkong, had become embarrassed in his affairs about a year before the said letter was written and had died before the date of the said letter, that his public position as such manager as aforesaid had been injuriously affected.)
Chartered Mercantile Bank of India, &c., &c., ***FI8,---I have awaited your arrival to bring to your notice, for the information of the board of Directors in London, the conduct of your manager here, Mr Nelson," (meaning the said Horace Harrington Nelson) "who, without any provocation or
"It may indeed be doubted whether Mr reason, thought proper, at a meeting of the Hongkong Chamber of Commerce, on the Nelson as a regular trafficker in shares and 23rd ultimo, to indulge in a false and other concerns is able to devote that un-slanderous attack upon me, coupled with divided attention to the interests of the Bank which its shareholders expect, and whether such occupation is within the (meaning His Excellency Sir John Pope legitimate sphere of action of a Manager of Hennessy, K.C.M.G., &c., the present Governor of Hongkong).
Not only do the expressions that he made use of warrant the above description of them," (meaning thereby that they were false, slanderous and impertinent) "but they were uttered with an evident animus, to which friends of mine who were present are ready to testify.
the said Horace Harrington Nelson traded Chartered Bank" (thereby meaning that or trafficked so largely and regularly in shares or other concerns as to cause him to neglect the interests of the said Banking Company confided to his care as such Manager as aforesaid and that the same were and had been injuriously affected.)
"I should not have been disposed to Mr Nelson is a member of the Chamber of Commerce in virtue only of his office as local Manager of the Chartered Mercantile Bank. Consequently, any unworthy public act of his in the Chamber reflects directly upon the Bank; and it is thus the clear right and duty of the Directors to protect themselves against the discredit resulting from such conduct as that of Mr Nelson.
I think it right also that you should be made aware that Mr Nelson, (again in virtue of his office as your representative) has long carried on a bitter, active, and ceaseless opposition to the Governor of the Colony," (meaning His Excellency the said Sir John Pope Hennessy). "I cannot believe that such a policy is in keeping with
"Under the circumstances I have no
alternative but to lay this complaint before you.
"I trust you will at once give it the attention it demands and spare me the necessity of taking other means for bringing it to the notice of your directors.
I remain, Sir, your obedient servant,
JOHN PITMAN."
"To the great scandal and infamy of the said Horace Harrington Nelson, to the evil example of all others in like cases offending, and against the peace of our Sovereign Lady the Queen, her Crown and Dignity."
COUNSEL FOR THE PROSECUTION OPENS THE CASE.
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Mr Hayllar, in opening, said the jury had heard from the Chief Justice in the same case what had taken place in the preliminary proceedings. There had not been what might be called a preliminary skirmish that had created a very considerable amount of interest and possibly some excitement. But in this Court, they had nothing to do with that; all that they asked in this Court was a fair, calm and impartial and patient hearing. In this Court, all desired to have no prejudice or passion introduced; it would not be introduced by him and he was sure it would not be introduced by his learned friend. The matter was one of great public interest, but the public interest it raised was to be found within the four corners of the document he had now to lay before the jury. With these preliminary remarks, he came now to another aspect of the case.
There were two ways in which a man who believed himself to be libelled, that is who had injurious aspersions cast upon his character in writing, might vindicate it and seek a remedy against the writer of the libel who had injured him. He might come before a jury claiming damages for the injuries sustained or he might seek to vindicate his character by the more public proceeding of a criminal prosecution under a certain Ordinance of this Colony: these two courses had been open to Mr Nelson as to every gentleman against another. He has chosen the latter.
The present was one of a libel upon a man in his trade, employment or profession, a libel aimed at the business by which that man earned his livelihood. It was, he thought, a very grave kind of libel that might be committed by one man against another. Everything aimed at the source of a man's living was peculiarly obnoxious to the law; the law would be laid down more fully by his Lordship, who he believed would instruct them, as he now suggested to them, that such a libel as this against a man's business and profession was one of the very gravest offences one man could commit against another either publicly or privately.
The inducement or colloquium to this information just read was that Mr Nelson was the manager of a bank; he was in a position of responsibility and trust; he was in a position of sole responsibility and trust; the sole and responsible agent out here in the East, answerable only to the Inspector who comes round, and finally to his Board of Directors in London. Mr Nelson therefore occupied a position which one might call peculiarly sensitive, because it was natural persons at home, or far away, not being able to know exactly all the particular colouring which might be given to the man's actions. Libel was, the learned counsel went on to say, a written slander. The difference between libel and slander in its effect was great. Slanderous words were generally spoken in haste and heat, and the law, in its somewhat tenderness of spoken words, had laid it down that slanderous words, except of a certain very malignant kind, were not actionable, still less open to prosecution by private individuals at any rate, unless they were followed by some special damage, that was pecuniary damage. Libel stood on a different footing. Libel was, as defined over and over again in the books, written, printed, or painted or otherwise engraved or delineated matter calculated to bring any one into hatred, contempt, or ridicule.
There were, they might imagine, a great many forms of libel; there was the blasphemous libel, or those against the throne, and a dozen others which the learned Counsel enumerated. The reason, he thought, might be found, in the document which they alleged to be a libel, because therein, several times, Mr Nelson's unworthy public acts were referred to, his bitter, active and ceaseless hostility to the Governor of the Colony; he was referred to as having committed unworthy public acts; and it seemed to him (Mr Hayllar) to be an excessively grave question which he now laid before them, and one of very great importance in a Colony like this, whether any man was to take part in public life according to his solemn convictions, whatever they might be, at the risk of his public character being assailed. But the risk Mr Nelson, as appeared in what was called the inducement or colloquium to this information just read, was the manager of a bank; he was in a position of responsibility and trust; he was the sole and responsible agent out here in the East. It was a very solemn question and one that came home to all of them: they had their public proceedings canvassed, their private life assailed, their private actions dealt with, and if the innuendoes they had inserted in the letter were correct, the innuendoes they were asked by the prosecution to accept as the reasonable reading of the words in the letter themselves, then they were charged with having done something very serious indeed.