An Outrageous Slander Sir John Simon's slander action against a
Free Church minister, who accused him of being influenced in his foreign policy by the dividends he drew from investments in armament firms, is a salutary lesson to enthusiasts for any cause who recklessly fling about accusations resting on empty hearsay which they can have made no attempt to verify. Sir John, who stated on oath that he held no share in any armament firm at all, acted with great gener- osity in making no claim for either damages or costs. He had no alternative but to bring the action, and it is to be hoped that it will serve its purpose in silencing baseless and malignant rumour in other countries than Great Britain. The fact that the fundamental aim of the defendant, the abolition of the private manufacture of arms, may have been perfectly good, cannot in the smallest degree palliate the method of his advocacy. No end could justify such means.
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