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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 [For Private Circulation.] OUTRAGE UFIN A CANADIAN MERCHANT. Statement of the Case, submitted for the information of the business men of Canada. CANADA PUBLIC ARCHIVES ARCHIVES PUBLIQUES ' b2^y OUTRAGE UPON A CANADIAN MERCHANT. ! f Statement of the Case, submitted for the information of the business men of Canada. On the 29th December, 1868, Mr. James Turner, of the firm of James Turner & Co., of Hamilton, Canada, was arrested in Liverpool, at the instance of Messrs. Robert Crooks & Co., and upon the affi- davit of Mr. Robert Crooks. The following facts and correspondence relating to this arrest are published for the information of Mr. Turner's fellow-merchante in Canada :- - The dispute between Messrs. James Turner & Co., of Hamilton, Ont., and Messrs Robert Crooks & Co., arose out of a contract for liquorice-paste, entered into by the latter on the part of the former with Mr. Anestassi Seferiadl, merchant, of Smyrna, for the delivery of from 1200 to 1500 cases liquorine- paste, to be delivered " during the month of February " next, 100 to 120 cases of liquorice-paste, and then " commence in April to deliver to them 100 to 120 " cases per month, and will finish the entire delivery " by the 31st December, 1868." During the month of July a dispute arose as to the deliveries, which led to a correspondence, several B 2 letters passing between the two firms, and finally an end was put to the correspondence by a private letter from Mr. Robert Crooks, of the 3rd October, suggesting a reference of the matter to Mr. Edward Adams, of London, Ont., and a reply from Mr. James Turner accepting the reference should it be necessary, but suggesting that the dispute would probably be settled by a personal interview, which could be had when he came to England in December, as he pro- posed doing. These letters are more particularly referred to in subsequent papers. "When Mr. Turner arrived in England he called at the office of the Messrs. Crooks & Co., but it being late in the evening the office was closed ; and press- ing business requiring his presence in Glasgow, he proceeded to that city. From this point it is well to let the correspondence speak for itself : — Memorandum. " From RoBT. Crooks & Co., 5, Molyneux Places Liverpool, To Messrs. Turner & Rowatt, 48, St. Etioch's Square, Glasgow. "Dear Sirs, " 19th Decemljer, 1868. " In a note that we have received from Messrs. James Turner & Co., dated Hamilton, C. W., 30th ult., they men- tioned that their senior was to sail on 5th inst. from New York for Glasgow, and purposed seeing us here as soon as possible. Would you kindly tell him, as soon as he arrives, that Mr. Booth, who manages specially our grocery department, is about to start on a business trip for us to Canada, and aims at sailing, if practicable, by steamer of the 31st inst. As it is very important that they go into pending matters together, we write to suggest that it would be well > for Mr. James Turner to come here without delay, and he could easily return to Glasgow, and attend to his duties, &c., then at leisure. Your acknowledgment of this will oblige, " Yours faithfully. (Signed) " ROBT. CROOKS & Co." To this memorandum Mr. James Turner replied as follows : — "iS, St. Knocii's Square, Glasgow, 2 1st December, 1868. " To Messrs. Robt. Crooks & Co., Liverpool. " Gentlemen, "I have been handed your memorandum to Messrs. Turner & Rowatt, of 19th, and will endeavour to make it convenient to visit Liverpool on Monday, 28th inst., although I would very much prefer not doing so till Ist January, 1869. " There is an error still unrectified in invoice : figs, 8th May, 71Z. IBs. Qd., instead of 71/. 8s. Qd., and the 5 drums caustic soda consigned by remained unsold when I left, as all our soap-boilers were so full of stock that I could not persuade them to take even one or two drums for trial. " As to grievances which I claim to be put right, there is the carbonate of soda, per 'Betsy'; loss of liquorice-paste by leakage, as per memorandum rendered ; and charges for insurance and storage on 300 cases from date of arrival in New York until such time as we accept same, should we con- sent to do so. " If it will answer purpose that I should delay luy visit as proposed, let mo know at once ; otherwise there is no use of writing me. « I am, " Yours truly, (Signed) "JAMES TURNER. " P.S. — I did not land from steamer till 6.30 on Saturday, so your office was closed when 1 got up to Water Street." /^v 6 To this Messrs. Crooks & Co. replied as follows : — " To James Turner, Esq., Messrs. Turner & Rowatt, Glasffow. " Dear Sir, " We have your favour of the 21st, and are glad to see you have arrived safely. " The contents of your letter are noted, and we shall have pleasure in referring to them in detail wlien you pay us promised visit. " The writer (G. Booth) purposes leaving by the ' Mora- vian' on Slst inst., so your coming on Monday next will oblige. " Yours faithfully, (Signed) " ROBT. CROOKS & CO." " 48, St. Enoch's Square, Glaboow, 26th December, 1868. •* To Messrs. Robt. Crooks & Co., Liverjpod. " Gentlemen, " I am in receipt of your favour of the 22nd, and intend to leave this for Liverpool on Tuesday morning by 9.45 train, so will arrive in Lime Street at 5.15. So please meet me at Queen's Hotel, or send me word there where I will find you. " I am, yours truly, (Signed) " JAMES TURNER." Telegram. ♦' From RoBT. Crooks & Co., Liverpool, to James Turner, Turner & Rowatt, Glasgow. " Will rely on your coming to our oflBce as soon after your arrival to-morrow as possible. Mr. Booth will wait." to ive us Memorandum. " From KoBT. Ckooks & Co., 5, Mohjneux Place, to Jame8 Turner, Esq., of Hamilton, C. W. " Queen's Hotel, Litebpool, " Dear Sir, 29th December, 1868. " In reply to your favour of 26th inst., we sent you the following telegram : — * Will rely on your coming to our office as soon after your arrival to-morrow as possible. Mr. Booth will wait.' " We had a communication from the telegraph company late yesterday afternoon to the effect that your brother's office was closed, so we send you a copy of the message, waiting your promised visit. " We remain, yours truly, " EOBT. CKOOKS & CO." That was all the correspondence which passed in relation to the visit of Mr. Turner to Liverpool, and it will be seen that it was conceived in an apparently friendly spirit on both sides, and was in strict ac- cordance with the terms of the letters of Mr. Robert Crooks and Mr. James Turner, of the 13th October and the 9th November respectively, already referred to. And yet, on the very day that the last memo- randum printed above was written — possibly before it was written — Mr. Robert Crooks had made the fol- lowing affidavit : — "The Queen's Bench. " I, Kobert Crooks, of 5, Molyneux Place, Liverpool, in the county of Lancaster, Merchant and Commission Agent, make oath and say as follows : — " Ist. James Turner is justly and truly indebted to me in the sum of Three thousand four hundred and ninety-seven 8 pounds one shilling and one penny, for money paid by me for the use of said James Turner at his request, for work done by me as the agent of and for the said James Turner and on his retainer, and for commission and reward due me of right, payable from him to me in respect thereof, and for interest upon and for the forbearance at interest to the said James Turner by me at tlie said James Turner's request, for divers of time, of moneys due and owing to me from the said James Turner, and which interest the said James Turner is liable to pay to me. *' 2nd. The said debt of Three thousand four hundred and ninety-seven pounds one sliilling and one j^enny is owing and now payable to me from the said James Turner. " 3rd. The said James Turner carries on business at Hamilton, Canada West, and has lately arrived on a visit in Glasgow in Scotland. The said James Turner is about to return shortly to Canada West, as I know of my own know- ledge derived from business communications with him. The said James Turner is, however, on his way to Liverpool from Glasgow by rail, and has informed me that he will be in Liverpool this afternoon about five o'clock, on a short and passing visit, and I believe he is about immediately to leave Liverpool for Glasgow. " The said James Turner is, I believe, now, and since about one o'clock this day has been, in England, on his journey to Liverpool. The said James Turner has declined to pay the said debt, and I believe his object in coming to see me late at night (as he has written to say he will do) is to enable him to leave Liverpool before I can take steps to detain him. '* 4th. From the facts and reasons aforesaid, I verily believe that the said James Turner, unless he be forthwith apprehended, is about to quit England with intent to avoid and delay me in the recovery of the said debt, or with intent to remain out of the jurisdiction of the Courts of Law in England, so long that thereby 1 shall or may be delayed in the recovery of the said debt. (Signed) « ROBERT CROOKS." 9 " Sworn at Liverpool aforesaid, this Twenty-ninth day of December, One tliousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, before me (Signed) "James F. Watson, '*A Commissioner for taking Affidavits in the said Cmirt^ When Mr. Trirner reached Liverpool he proceeded at once to tlie office of j\ressrs. Crooks and Co. There he found Mr. Robert Crooks and Mr. Booth. The affidavit, it will be seen, had been made, and the sheriff's officers were in an adjoining; room. Pay- ment in full was demanded; but as Mr. Turner had come up expressly to settle disputes in the accounts, with the understanding that, if not L.ble to come to a satisiacLory arrangement, a reference to I^ir. Adams should be made, he naturally demurred to this. The officers were then summoned, and he was placed under arrest. The further proceedings are sufficiently detailed in the correspondence and reports which follow. But there is one point upon which it is proper that a word should be said. People will naturally inquire why Mr. Turner has not taken proceedings in a court of justice to punish men who placed so great an indignity upon him. To fully explain the reason would involve a reference to private affairs, in which the public can have no interest. But it may be suffi- cient to say that, in view of these, the idea uppermost in Mr. Turner's mind was that concealment of the disgrace which an arrest implies was above all things necessary, and the Messrs. Crooks & Co., taking ad- vantage of this, secured a promise that no proceed- 10 i . i ings would be taken. Mr. Turner was only saved from actiiul incarceration by the interposition of a friend, Mr. Andrews, of the firm of Andrews, Bell, & Co., 7, India Buildings, through Thom an arrange- ment was made for the payment of the money, and the actual payment of it effected. Mr. John Hope, of Montreal, being in Liverpool, and being acquainted with both the parties, was re- quested to examine into all matters of dispute, and into the justification, if any, which existed for the proceedings taken by Messrs. Crooks against Mr. James Turner. The following is his report, being a letter addressed to Mr. Alexander Turner, of Hamilton, Ont. : — (Copy.) "Bbighton Villa, Sidney, Dublin, 19th March, 1869. "To A. Turner, Esq., Hamilton. "My dear Sir, " I promised to ^our brother that I would write you fully in regard to the proceedings taken against him by Mr. Crooks, after I had looked into the papers which Mr. Crooks offered to place at my disposal, with the view of enabling me to form an opinion on the question of your brother's grievance. " It appears that your arrangement with Mr. Crooks was, that his firm should buy for you, insuring the goods from dates of shipment, and drawing on your firm, with interest added, at four months' date, on the first of each month, for shipments that had been made during the previous month. " The shipments of liquorice-paste, regarding which the dispute originated, seem to have fallen under this general arrangement. Under the contract for this paste, made by Messrs. Crooks & Co.,. agents on your behalf, and confirmed 11 \ I 1 by you, there were to be delivered in February, 1868, 120 cases ; and in each month afterwards, beginning with April, 100 to 120 cases, up to and including December, when the contract was to be completed. It appears that the deliveries in February were in accordance with the contract, and that thereafter, beginning in April and continuing up till the middle of August, deliveries were made and accepted by Messrs. Crooks & Co. on your behalf, in irregular quantities, amounting in all to 836 cases, being 236 cases in excess of the largest instalments permitted by the contract during these months. "On the 29th of August, Messrs. C. & Co. seem to have rendered their account to date, showing a balance of 1768?. 9s. lOd., for which they passed two drafts of 884/. 4s. lid. each; one of those drafts you owed on the general account and accepted, but the other, which, with the exception of about lOOl. which belonged to the general account, was made up of invoices of the liquorice-paste, you refused, on the ground that you had in the meantime declined to receive that portion of the paste which had beeiHshipped in excess of the instalments fixed by the contract, and had informed Messrs. Crooks & Co. that you held the same for their account and subject to their order : with this proceeding they were much displeased. They claimed to justify their action as in accordance with the agreement, and an unpleasant and somewhat intemperate correspondence ensued. This correspondence seems rather to have increased the diflSculty than otherwise, and you finally wrote to the effect that further correspondence would do no good ; that you declined to move from your position, but that your senior would be in Liverpool about the end of the year, when he would discuss and endeavour to arrange the matter with Mr. Crooks personally. " In the meantime, during the progress of this correspon- dence, the general account appears to have gone on, and at the end of the year Messrs. '^rooks & Co. showed a balance against you of 3497Z. lis. Id., which, however, included all the hquorice-paste, which represented more than half the n 1 1 ! 1 12 amount. No part of this amount, nnder the arrangement between you, was due in cash until 3rd January (four days after your brother was arrested), " After your brother arrived in this country he seems to have been very busy in Glasgow with his private affairs, and Mr. Crooks urged him to go to Liverpool, as Mr. Booth, who had charge of this matter, was going to Canada, which he could not do until this was arranged ; and after some delay, which your brother claims to have been unavoidable, he at length said he could get up to Liverpool on 30th December. On that or previous day Mr. Crooks made the affidavit under which your brother was arrested. " Up to that point the facts seem to be settled by the papers and correspondence. Mr. Crooks says, however, that he believes Mr. Booth has letters with him in Canada which justified his departure from the terms of the contract in taking the deliveries cf the paste ; but even if he has, I see nothing in all the case so far to justify any opinion of your position in the dispute which was not consistent with that of honourable men of business, and certainly nothing, even if you were wrong on merits of the question, to justify your brother's being regarded as an absconding debtor. But as Mr. Crooks claims to be able to throw new light on the subject after Mr. Booth's return, and has agreed to let Mr. Edward Adams judge of it, it is perhaps unfair that I should at all enter into this part of the subject. " There is one point wliich I must notice in which you have not acted as I think you ought. The first idea that strikes me in looking at the account is that the balance in open account is a very large one to be uncovered in any part by acceptances. Such a state of account (contrary to agree- ment) is apt to inconvenience e\en to rich houses, and I think you should have offered your acceptances for the undis- puted balance. It is true that Messrs. Crooks & Co. do not appear to have asked for them after your refusal of their draft made in August, but it must not be overlooked that a portion of that draft was owing on the general account, and I think you ought to have said to Messrs. Crooks & Co. that i 13 i you were ready to accept for all the invoices excepting those under dispute. " I have no objection that you should show this letter to any of your friends with whom my opinion may carry weight, but I do not wish to prejudge that portion of the case which is to be taken up by Mr. Adams, and on which Mr. Crooks claims that he has been insufficiently heard. " With kindest regards, " I remain, "Yours faithfully, (Signed) "JOHN HOPE." To this letter, and in explanation of the latter part of it, Mr. Alexander Turner returned the fol- lowing reply. It is proper to remark that the finan- cial department of the business of Messrs. J. and A. Turner is managed by Mr. A. Turner : — " Hamilton, 21st April, 1869. " To John Hope, Esq., Montreal. "Dear Sir, "I received your kind favour, dated Dublin, 19th March, to which I delayed replying until I knew of your return to Montreal. I was very much pleased to see you had gone so thoroughly iiu » the matter, and also at your sending me such a full report of your investigation into merits of d:«pute between Messrs. Crooks and the firm of which I am a m: in saw, to e received offensive arresting pay his y in not 5rds, and «r to bp in Mr. financial ake, the acceding English scertain ter. It to be le case, ninutes "Mr. Crooks said he was quite prepared to say that the only motive he had in making the an-est was to bring Mr. Turner under the process of an English court ; that it was a most painful proceeding for him to take, and was not dic- tated by any lack of confidence either in Mr. Turner's inte- grity or ability; but he would like to consider the matter before doing it, and might like to consult his solicitor. " Both Mr. Adams and I expressed our conviction of the propriety of this course. It was quite right to take some little time to consider so grave a matter. " Mr. Crooks said of course it was to be understood that no letter which he sent should be made the ground of any after proceedings. " Mr. Adams and I both assured him that there was no such intention. " Mr. Booth said they had taken care when settling with Mr. Turner to take from him an undertaking that no pro- ceedings should be hereafter instituted. " I pointed put that this was one of the discreditable pro- ceedings connected with this transaction ; that professing to desire simply the examination of the points in dispute by an English court, and to that end arresting a leading Canadian merchant, they had, when that merchant was under the degradation placed upon him, extorted from him such an undertaking as prevented for ever that very examination of the accounts. " Mr. Crooks said what could they under the circum- stances have done, and appealed to me as to what I would have done. " I replied that I certainly would not have entrapped a gentleman by friendly correspondence to enter my oflBce after a long day's journey for the settlement of an account, and have then an affidavit made and the officers in the building ready to arrest him. " Mr. Crooks said they had forborne very long, and had done all they could have done to prevent the resort to this last extremity. He said he supposed we were aware, although he should perhaps not mention it, that there was a serious c 2 20 i ! !:. i . 1 t 1 1 i i' fall in the price of tobaccoes about the time this difficulty occurred. " Mr. Adams had heard this, and attached no importance to it. The interview then closed, with the understanding that Mr. Crooks would consider the propriety of writing the letter already mentioned in the earlier part of this memorandum, and if he did write it, that it should bo addressed to Mr. Adams at Shrewsbury." A copy of this memorandum having been sent to Mr. Adams, he replied in a letter to Mr. White, dated Shrewsbury, lltli June, 1869, in which he says : — " I cannot at the moment recollect anything of importance which you have omitted." On the 25th June, no letter having been received from Messrs. Crooks & Co., Mr. Adams addressed the following letter to Mr. Turner, in relation to the in- terview had with Mr. Crooks and Mr. Booth on the 9 th inst. " Malvern, 23rd June, 1869. " To James Turner, Esq. {of Hamilton, Ont), Glasgow. " Dear Sir, " From a copy of Mr. Hope's report on the matter at issue between you and Messrs. R. Crooks & Co., which was sent to tne before I left Canada, I learned that Mr. Crooks bad named me as the person to whom he would submit the letters which Mr. Hope could not see, as Mr. Booth had taken them with him to America. "When you informed me that you approved of Mr. Crooks's choice, I was anxious that I should see those letters to give you my opinion of them ; I agreed to do so if you would get a friend of your own, acquainted with the trans- actions, to accompany me and act in your behalf. On your selecting Mr. Thomas White, jun., of Hamilton, Ontario, to i !1 21 is difficulty importance andiug that g the letter morandum, ^ed to Mr. ^n sent to r. White, vhich he anything received •essed the ;o the in- th on the me, 1869. hsgow. matter at 'Iiich was f. Crooks tmit the ad taken of Mr. e letters 3 if you B trans- )n your ;ario, to act as your friend, I called at Crooks & Co.'s office, at Liver- pool, on the Oth instant, accompanied by him. After intro- ducing Mr. Wliite to j\rr. Crooks, and explaining the object of our visit, Mr. Crooks at once expressed his willingness to place before us such letters as Mr. Hope had not seen, which Mr. Booth liiid away with him ; and directed Mr. Booth, who he said had a more thorough knowledge of the corre- spondence and details of the business, to furnish them. " Mr. White, j\Ir. Booth, and I then went into a private office, and carefully read the lette: c". I only found one of those lettei-s bearing at all impoi-^Cvntly on the liquorice- paste, or on any matter in dispute between you — indeed, it was the only one urged by My. liooth as doing so — that was a letter written by your firm, in January, 1868, in which you said it was necessary you should have the liquorice-paste at Hamilton not later than August. This letter was crossed at sea by one from Crooks & Co., covering the contract for liquorice-paste which they had made for you, and which spe- cified periods for delivery extending beyond August. This contract you appear to have accepted ; and in so doing, I would say, had cancelled your letter of January referred to. " Mr. Booth submitted that Mr. Hope is correct in saying that the account on which you were arrested was not due according to the arrangement you had made with Messrs. B. Crooks & Co., but says they considered that you had broken the arrangement by not complying with some of the terms ; and that therefore Crooks & Co. were at liberty to assume the account as cash, and consequently due. Crooks & Co. do not appear to have informed you of this, as I think they should have done. " When parting from Mr. Crooks, he assured us that he always had the fullest confidence in your integrity and ability to pay his account, or any obligation you undertook ; and I had hoped that he would have sent me a letter express- ing this feeling, which I might have sent you, and thus have been saved the necessity of giving my opinion on your trans- actions. On reviewing the correspondence whicu I have seen between your firm and Messrs. R. Crooks & Co., together II II 1 1 fi! 22 with the conversation which I have had with Mr. Crooks and Mr. Booth about your business, I fail to see anything in your transactions to warrant Messrs. Crooks & Co. in arresting you as they did. " It is with deep regret that I feel compelled to form this opinion on the conduct of a firm to whom you introduced me, and one with whom the transactions of my house have hitaierto been most satisfactory. " Yours truly, (Signed) EDWARD ADAMS.' And on the 1st July, no letter having even up to that time been received from Messrs. Crooks & Co., Mr. White addressed the following letter to them, intimating his intention to make this publication of the whole case : — " Liverpool, 1st July, 1869. " To Messrs. Egbert Crooks & Co. " Gentlemen, " I have learned from Mr. Edward Adams that up to this time he has received no communication from you in reference to our interview of Tuesday the 8th ult., on the subject of your arrest of Mr. James Turner on the 29th Deceihfcer last. You will remember that the statement, both of yourself and of Mr. Booth, was that you had the most ' perfect CAifldence in the integrity and financial ability of Mr. Turner, and that you were prompted to take the extreme course adopted by you as the only one open to you to compel Mr. Turner to answer your claim against him in an English court of justice ; and the apparent frankness with which you expressed this confidence led me to hope that you would not hesitate to make so slight a reparation for so great an indignity, as was involved in the expression of that confi- dence in writing over your own signature. Your refusal to I li'^^ Jb^: ' Mr. Crooks and mything in your w arresting you ^ed to form this you introduced ^y iiouse have ^ ADAMS." r even up to 3oks (fe Co., -r to them, Wication of J»'j', 1869. that up to >m you in *•> on the the 29th lent, both tie most 'tyofMr. extreme 3 compel English u'ch you ►uld not reat an t confi- fusal to 23 do this leaves to me but one course open, as Mr. Turner's friend, and as being fully authorized by him to act in any manner I may deem just in view of the actual circumstances of this unfileasant business. That course is the publication of all the circumstances of the case, so soon as the papers are prepared, in such form as will best vindicate his character from the odium which your arrest of him unexplained must attach to it, and as will best i)rov^e to you that the feelings and business reputation of Canadian merchants cannot be trifled with with impunity. " Let me. Gentlemen, in view of this determination, recall to your minds the circumstances under which this arrest was made. "I do not propose to discuss here the merits of the dispute be^ v .hi your firm and Messrs. James Turner & Co. in relation tu the liquorice-paste, or other matters of differ- ence, because, as I shall show you presently, the merits of that dispute have really nothing whatever to do with the proceedings taken by you for its adjustment " You may have been justified in shipping the paste in the precise manner in which you did ship it ; and you may have been justified in refusing to accept responsibility for ill-conditioned delivery. So far as the fact has any relation to the present question, I could have no possible objection to admit that you were justified in both cases, and that your claim against James Turner & Co. was one to which you were entitled both at law and in equity. Conceding ap tj^a for the sake of the argument, the point to which I desirtfto draw your attention now is this, was your Mr. Robert .Crooks justified in making the affidavit which he did makQ,.{tnd were you justified in causing the arrest in the manner in which you did cause it ? " The affidavit, as was necessary in order to make it effective, contains certain specific allegations of fact. It recites that : — " * 1. James Turner is justly and truly indebted to me (Robert Crooks) " in the sum of Three thousand four hundred and ninetynseven pounds one shilling and one penny," and . 'r 24 i ■ I ' \ that the said debt " is owing and now payable to me from the said James Turner." " • 2. The said James Turner has lately arrived on a visit in Glasgow, in Scotland, and that he " is about to return shortly to Canada West, as I know of ray own knowledge derived from business commimications with him." " ' 3. The said James Turner is on his way to Liverpool from Glasgow by rail, and has informed me that he will be in sliiverjJGol tliis afternoon about 5 o'clock on a short and passing visit, and I believe he is about immediately to leave Liverpool ibr Glasgow. " '4. The said James Turner has declined to pay the said debt, and I helieve his object in coming to see me late at night (as he has written to say he will do) is to enable him to leave Liverpool before I can take steps to detain him. " ' 5. From the facts and reasons aforesaid, I verily believe that the said James Turner, imless he be forthwith appre- hended, is about to quit England with intent to avoid and delay me in the recovery of the said debt.' " These are the allegations of the affidavit, sworn to, remember, before you had had any inters " with Mr. Turner personally, and therefore without reference to anything which may have occurred at that interview. Let us see how far your Mr. Robert Crooks was justified, either by fact or reason, in solemnly, before God, swearing to the statement contained in this document. The very first allegation is untrue. By the report of Mr. Hope, who made a most exhaustive exami- nation of the whole case, and by the statement of Mr. Booth, your Sku. special referee in this matter, made to Mr. Adams and mys(^f, this debt was not * payable ' to you, as to a j)or- tion of it, for some days, and as to the larger part of it, for some weeks, after the affidavit was sworn to. " As to the second, you had no warrant from any ' business communication ' for saying that Mr. Turner intended shortly to return to Canada West ; for as a matter of fact he had no such intention, and is even yet, six months after the affidavit was sworn to, in this country. " The third allegation taken by itself is of no importance, 25 from the 5n a visit |to return lowledge Liverpool |e will be Jort and I to leave the said fit night to leave believe appre- oid and orn to, Turner r which o\v far reason, tained >. By ixami- ^ooth, danis ])or- t, for iness artly d no !avit nee, as I presume it is no offence to make * a short and passing visit ' to Liverpool ; but taken in connection with what follows, it is important for the suggestion it contains. The aflSdavit states positively that Mr. Turner had declined to pav the debt (which by the way, as I have stated, was not duf; at the lime), and it declares the belief of your Mr. Robert Crooks that his (Mr. Turner's) object in making the short and passing visit was to defraud you of your debt, by escaping back again into Scotland before you could detain him. Let me deal firpt with this belief. Did it never occur to you that if Mr. Turner had had any such intention as that which you, upon a solemn oath, attribute to him, his visit to Liverpool at all was a most unnecessary proceeding ? He went there, as you knew at the time, 'from business communications,' at very great personal inconvenience, at your special request, in order that he might meet you with a view to a settlement of differences before Mr. Booth left for Canada. He went there witli no other object, and having no other business, than the settlement of this account ; and yet from the fact of his thus going, you inferred, and you put the inference into the form of an affidavit, that he had predetermined not to pay you, and actually made the visit at the hour he did, the better to carry out this predetermination ! I venture to say that the records of commercial cases will not produce a parallel to this, where a visit, undertaken at personal inconvenience at the request of the creditor and with a special view to settle- ment of pending accounts, was, before the debtor could reach his destination, distorted into a deliberate intention on his part not to settle, but on the contrary to avoid payment. " So much for your belief of the object of Mr. Turner's visit to Liverpool, at the particular hour at whicli in the ordinary course of travel he arrived there , but there is a more serious statement in this part of the aflSdavit. Your Mr. Robert Crooks swore positively that ]\[r. Turner had ' declined to pay the said debt.' Permit me to say that at the time the affidavit was sworn to, you had not a particle of warrant for that statement. Mr. Turner had not only not declined to pay the debt, but there is in the correspondence. r 26 ii I. all of which I have carefully examined, the greatest willing- ness exhibited to have a fair settlement of it effected. It is not worth while to recapitulate all the correspondence : quotations from a couple of late letters will answer. I take first a private one of your Mr. Eobert Crooks, dated 3rd October, 1868, in which he urges upon the Messrs. Turner to * try calmly and with a Christian spirit ' carefully to review the whole case, and then goes on to say, ' if after mature re- consideration you still cannot take our view of it, I beg to suggest that we place the entire correspondence before our worthy mutual friend, Mr. Edward Adams, of London, C.W., and take his opinion on it, rather than rush at once into lawyers' hands.' What was the answer to that private letter ? It was written by Mr. James Turner himself, dated 9th No- vember, and in it he said : * Provided a reference is necessary, we willingly accept of Mr. Adams as a referee ; but i-s it is the writer's intention to leave for England early next month, a personal interview will no doubt enable us to come to a satisfactory solution of difficulties.' Wherein was this a refusal to pay the amount of the debt ? Was it not, on the contrary, a most friendly communication, exhibiting aa anxiety to avoid the delay even of a reference, yet at the same time accepting, should such reference be necessary, the referee named by yourselves ; and yet up to the 29th De- cember, when your Mr. Robert Crooks swore positively that • the said James Turner has declined to pay the said debt,' nothing different from" this had been written, and Mr. Turner was actually on his way to Liverpool to have the personal interview which he had expressed the hope would lead to so satisfactory « solution of differences as to render a reference unnecessary. Perjury is an ugly word, and I prefer not to use it, if you will supply me with another which fitly charac- terizes the fourth allegation of the affidavit upon which Mr. Turner was arrested, when read in the light of your letter of the 3i*d October, and his reply of the 9th November. It is a pity that Mr. Crooks's * Christian spirit ' did not make him pause before rushing, not simply * into lawyers' hands,' but into the presence of his God, calling upon Him to witness to i 27 It IS the truth of an allegation, which, in fact, contained not even the semblance of truth. In Mr. Hope's report on this case, he states that you informed him there were other letters in the possession of Mr. Booth in Canada which would justify the allegations of this extraordinary affidavit ; and he suspended judgment on the whole matter until Mr. Adams should have the opportunity of seeing this additional correspondence on Mr. Booth's return. At our interview on the 8th uli, Mr. Booth informed ,us that there was no additional correspond- ence bearing upon the affidavit. The only letter produced by him, which Mr. Hope appears not to have seep was one written by Messrs. Turner & Co. on the 13th January, 1868, several days before the contract, which was the subject of dispute, was even entered into. It will hardly be claimed that that letter justified in any way the arrest, whatever influence it may have in interpreting the contract itself. I trust you perceive the full significance of your failure to produce that additional correspondence. You will see that with all tne letters, as it now appears, in your possession, and within a few weeks of the occurrence, when all its circum- stances must have been fresh in your memory, you were con- fessedly unable to justify by the production of letters the terms and allegations of an affidavit whose terms and allegations were professedly based upon letters. That was a confession which a man who can afford to enjoin a Christian spirit upon others, ought not to have found himself compelled to make. " You may probably object to the terms of this letter, and may even question my right to interfere in a dispute to which originally I was not a party. Let me say that the terms are the only ones in which I could discuss this matter, and that I have been compelled to put myself under con- siderable restraint in order that those terms might not exceed the bounds of gentlemanly courtesy ; and my right to interfere is that of a friend of a deeply injured man, who ought not to be further annoyed by being compelled to become his own defender. Your Mr. Booth, at our interview, seemed to con- sider it rather a clever thing to have bound Mr. Turner not 28 to take any proceedings in this case. Perhaps it was clever, though it would have been more admirable had it had less of the cowardly element about it. I propose to show you, Gentlemen, that there are other means of punishing men who commit such an outrage as that of which you have been guilty, than by an action at law. I propose that the business men of Canada at any rate shall know that there is at least one firm in Liverpool which has a rather peculiar way of adjusting disputed accounts; whose members can write letters remarkable for aD almost Uriah Heep meekness, enjoining a CJiristian spirit, deprecating all resort to law, suggesting friendly references, and begging for personal interviews ; and when these latter are granted, meeting their client with the silken gloves discarded, an affidavit without any regard to the tntli of its allegations prepared, the sheriffs officers in an adjoining room, and the highwayman's demand of a full liquidation without reference to disputes, or the Lancashire jail. That Mr. Turner was able, in a strange city, upon a moment's notice to provide for and actually pay so large a sum of money, and that he was thus saved the in- dignity of actual incarceration, was a circumstance which you could hardly have foreseen ; and it is as well, therefore, that others should be warned to avoid connections which may terminate so unpleasantly. ' " I enclose my card and London address, and " Have the honour to remain, (xentlemen, , *' Your obedient Servant, ,-- ,. (Signed) " THOS. WHITE, JuN." To which the following reply was sent : — •'5, MoLYNEUx Place, Water Street, ** Liverpool, 2iKlJuly, 1809, " To Thomas White, jun., Esq., of Hamilton, Ontario, London. " Sir, -^ " We have to a<»knowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday, and beg to say in reply, that we consider it a 29 distortion of facts and coloured entirely by a one-sided view. " After careful reflection we decided we could not send Mr. Adams such a letter as would be deemed of any service to your friend. " Your intended publication of the correspondence is of very little concern to us, as we are persuaded that our friends in Canada will have no difficulty in seeing the merits of the case, in spite of any gloss that may be put upon it. " We are, your obedient servants, (Signed) " ROBT. CROOKS & CO." To this, Mr. White sent the following : — " WiTERFOED, 12th July, 1869. « To Messrs. Robt. Ckooks & Co. " Gentlemen, " Yours of the 2nd instant I received here. You say, in reference to my letter of the 1st instant, that you * con- sider it a distortion of facts and coloured by a one-sided view.' I cannot but regret that you did not state what * fact ' was distorted, and what * view * was presented par- tially. I can assure you that I have no desire improperly or unfairly to state the case ; and if you will furnish me with your full reply to my letter, setting forth wherein you con- sider it unfair, I shall have groat pleasure in giving the same publicity to it as I propose to give to my own statement of the case. * "Both Mr. Robt. Crooks and Mr. Booth apparently attach a good deal of importance; td the conversation had with Mr. Turner when he came up from Glasgow to meet you, and Mr. Booth read to Mr. Adams and myself a state- ment of that conversation, as written QUt by him immediately after it occurred. If you will furnish me with a copy of that paper, I shall be glad to embody it also in the proposed publi- cation, as I am most anxious to avoid any act of unfairness towards you. f 30 i f ii "Hoping you will comply with my request in these respects, " I remain, your obedient servant, (Signed) "THOS. WHITE, JuN." To that letter no reply has been received. Mr. Adams's report having been submitted to Mr. John Hope, of Montreal, that gentleman has finally disposed of the case in the following letter : — " Toronto, 8th July, 1869. " To James Turner, Esq. "My Dear Sir, "I have duly received your favour of 24th ult., enclosing letter from Mr. Edward Adams, which I return. I have carefully perused this letter, and have given proper consideration to the letter which Mr. Booth had with him in Canada, and regarding which I quite agree in Mr. Adams* opinion that as the contract which was sent to you, and which you confirmed, was dated subsequently to that letter, the CO" tract and not the letter must be taken as the rule of delivery. I have therefore now no hesitation in saying finally that I can see nothing in the case to warrant the extreme proceedings which Messrs. Crooks & Co. resorted to. Nay, more,' ev«!a if Messrs. Crooks & Co. were right on the merits Qf the questions between you, there was, even in his own opinion, two sidles to ^tbe matter, and it was a fair one for discussion'^- and while in that position the affidavit and arrangements ' for your atfest were in the highest sense improper, and if fi^staip^as correct would render it impos- sible for any. ene*who hadLan honest dispute or difference of opinion mth. an Englisli;Jc()rrespondent, to visit Europe with- uut being liable to an Indignity which was never contem- ^ atcd as applicable tolltmourable and responsible men. *♦! remain, "^' "Yours faithfully. (Signed) "JOHN HOPE." 31 The whole case is therefore submitted for the consideration of the business men of Canada, as an act of justice to one of their own number who has been the victim of a very cruel outrage, and as a means of enabling them to avoid connections which may terminate so unpleasantly. It is only necessary to point out in conclusion that Messrs. Crooks & Co. have had the opportunity of placing their own view of the case before the public in this paper, and have neglected to avail themselves of it, and that upon a thorough investigation of the whole case, with the assistance of such explanations as Mr. Crooks and Mr. Booth could offer, two Canadian merchants, both correspondents of Messrs. Crooks & Co., have been unable to see the slightest justification for the extra- ordinary proceedings resorted to in this case. Si '%,■