The papers of last Saturday published a letter from Sir
Charles Hobhouse in which he gave Mr. Godfrey Isaacs, the managing director of the Marconi Company, the pretext which Mr. Isaacs sought for bringing an action for libel. Sir Charles Hobhouse wrote as follows :-
" In order to give you every opportunity of testing the accuracy of our respective statements, if you so desire, I hereby state :-
(a) That the allegations contained in the letter which you say you received from the Telefunken Company, so far as they concern myself, are false. (5) That the account which you gave in a letter to Lord Gainford of June 29, 1916, of a private interview between as on February 6, 1915, is in many respects wholly untrue, and in others misleading. For instance :-
(1) Your statement that I made an offer to the Telefunken Company is untrue.
(2) Your statement that I recognized that as a Minister of the Crown I should not have made this offer is untrue.
(3) Your statement that I asked you' What it was your intention to do,' and that I said You had your foot on my neck ; - did you intend to crush me, which would mean my leaving the Government, or were you disposed to help me ? ' is untrue. (4) Tho whole of the following statement :— I told him that I had no desire to make use of the letter unless I was compelled to do so, and that if any settlement of the Imperial Contract matter could be arrived at, which I would do everything in my power to assist, there would he no reason whatsoever for the letter ever being disclosed. He thanked me sincerely for this assurance,' is untrue."
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