The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-11-20 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

SlR,—With reference to a statement in the Northern
Daily Times of this morning, that Mr. Sudlow is a relative
of mine, I beg to say that I am not in the remotest degree
related to or connected with Mr. Sudlow,
I would feel obliged by your being good enough to insert this
note in your publication to-morrow.—l am, Sir, yours,
Liverpool, Xov. 19, 1955. CHARLES TURNER.

PRESENTATION TO CAPTAIN DEVEY,

OF THE SHIP MERMAID.

Acconntiva to previous arrangements, a meeting was held
yesterday morning, at eleven o'clock, in the Underwriters'
Rooms, for the purpose of presenting Captain Devey, of the
" White Star" line of Royal Mail clipper ships, between
Liverpool and Australia, with a testimonial. The object of
the presentation was to signify public approbation of Captain
Devey's conduct in respect to his having prosecuted his voyage
homeward from Pernambuco, in the ship_ Mermaid, in oppo-
sition to the injunctions of Mr. H. Augustus Cowper, Her
Majesty's Consul at the above-named port.
The meeting was numerously attended by the principal
merchants and ship-owners of Liverpool ; and among those
present we observed the following gentlemen, viz.:—
Charles Turner, J. P. Palmer, P. Rawson, James Beasley, H.
Halhead, Thomas Robinson, Hun., Thomas Robinson, J.
Pilkington, H. T. Wilson, Robert Dirom, B. Darbyshire, T.
M. Blythe,—Black, William Moon, Thomas Morris, A. E. Byrne,
T. D. Anderson, Martin, Sutton, Kirkby, J. K
Rounthwaite, and P. Maxwell, Esqrs.

The testimonial, which was a very elegant set of breakfast
silver-plate, consisted of two massive salvers, a superb and
beautiful tea-kettle and stand, a coffee-pot, a sugar basin, and
a cream ewer, of the Watteau pattern, all elaborately chased
and engraved. [An elegant silver teapot, of a somewhat
similar pattern, had been previously presented to Captain
Devey by the Right Rev. the Lord Bishdp of Sidney, and the
other cabin passengers, who were conveyed to Melbourne by
the Mermaid on her last voyage outward.] Each of these
pieces of plate bore the following inscription :—" Presented
to Captain Edward Devey, of the ship Mermaid, by the ship-
owners and merchants of Liverpool, in testimony of their
approval of the course he pursued in prosecuting his voyage,
under the trying circumstances in which he was placed at
Pernambuco. Liverpool, 1855."

The plate, which had been manufactured by Mr. Mayer, of
Lord-street, in this town, was displayed on a table in the
centre of the room, and at a few minutes past eleven Captain
Devey was introduced by Charles Turner, Esq., chairman of
the Dock Committee.

Mr. TURNER then proceeded to address the meeting. He
said that, in the absence of Mr. Mann, whoee health, they were
all aware, was in too delicate a state to permit him to be
present, and whose absence he extremely regretted, he had
been requested, as occupying the chair of the Dock Committee
to say, on behalf of the ship-owners of this port, a few words
to Captain Devey on this occasion. In doing so, (continued
he), I must say that I never appeared before the public with
more pleasure to myself than now, when about to present, in'
the names of the subscribers, to Captain Devey, a memorials
accompanied by this handsome present, from the shipowner
of Liverpool, as a mark of their high appreciation of the
ability, judgment, and firmness displayed by him in prosecu-
ting his voyage from Pernambuco to this port, under the
very trying circumstances in which he was placed. Those
circumstances have been lately so fully displayed in the form
of a judicial investigation that I need not go into details. It is
not for me to make any remark on the conduct of Her Ma-
.jesty's Consul in the Brazils ; but this much I may be al-
lowed to observe, that this case affords ample proof that it is
most desirable that the question of remuneration to be de- •
rived from the misfortunes of shipowners should be in-'
quired into, and the custom abolished, in reference to Her
Majesty's representative at that port ( Pernambuco). Ido not
say that the consul, in this•matter, has been actuated by im-
proper motives, or that so large a sum as .£lO,OOO, ( and from
that to £12,000 or £14,000, which might have devolved upon
him,) had any influence upon him on that occasion, (A laugh.)
It must, however, have been observed from the investigation
that the remarks addressed by the consul to Captain Devey
were calculated to have a great effect upon a man of less firm-
ness and judgment than Captain Devey has proved himself to
be. ( Hear, hear.) Had he yielded to those representations,
the loss to the shipowners and underwriters would have been
extremely heavy.: indeed, there is good reason to fear that if
the vessel had once gone into port there, she would never have
left it again. ( Hear, hear.) With these few remarks, and
heartily concurring, as I do, in the universal testimony borne
by every mercantile man and shipowner to the integrity of
Captain Devey's conduct, I feel great pleasure in reading a
testimonial which has been very numerously signed by ship-
owners and members of the Underwriters' Association. It is
as follows :

Liverpool, sth Nov., 1855.
To Captain Edward Devey, Master of the Clipper Ship
" Mermaid."
SIR,—We the undersigned merchants, shipowners, and
others, of the port of Liverpool, desire to convey to you our
hearty concurrence and congratulations on the decision which-
has been come to by Captain Robertson, R.N., the Inspector-
General of the Board of Trade, and Mr. Mansfield, the
stipendiary. magistrate, after the full and lengthy investigation
which has just taken place into your conduct, in consequence
of the charges brought against you by Mr. H. Augustus
Cowper, Her Majesty's Consul at Pernambuco, and now proved
to be unfounded.—Jas. J. Bibby, Chas. Turner, Cunard, Brett'
and Austin, P. Magee, John M. Walthew, G. H. Fletcher and
Co. John S. De Wolf, John Lockett, Thomas C. Wilson, N.
Waterhouse and Sons, W. P. Fernie, Samuel Bright, Thos.
Sands, James Aiken, James Beazley, J. R. Groves, W. J.
Lamport, T. M. Blythe, Thomas Harrison, Benj. Chisholm,
Henry Ferule, John Jardine, James Alexander, James John-
son, J. Longton and Co., Joseph Robinson, Holderness and
Chilton, Rankin, Gilmour, and Co., David Jardine, Hilton
Ha!head, Owen Jones, Henry-Sharpies, W. H. Anthony,
Thos. Robinson, jun., John Farnwortb, Miller, Houghton, and
Co., L. H. Macintyre and Co., Benjamin Darbyshire, Brice,
Friend, and Co., W. Sinclair and Co., Charles Moore and Co.,
Willis and Co., David Cannon, Sons, and Co., Andrew Byrne
and Co., Geo. P. Oxley and Co., Charles Wigg, Edw. Higgin
and Co., Edw. Thompson, Dirom, Davidson and Co.
Having presented the elegant and valuable coffee service to
Capt. Devey,
Mr. TURNER continued trust, sir, you will long enjoy
the approbation of your fellow-townsmen, as it has been thus
expressed, and that you will long continue in command of the
vessel in the navigation of which you have proved that you
are capable of attending to the interests of the mercantile
community. (Cheers.)
Captain DEVET, in acknowledging this handsome recogni-
tion of his services, said he humbly thanked the merchants
and shipowners for their kindness, and the owners of the
Mermaid for their approbation of his conduct, which in them-
selves would have been ample reward for the anxiety and
misery he had endured on the passage from Pernambuco to
this port. He did not, he confessed, anticipate so valuable a
testimonial in addition to their approval. It was quite un-
looked for. In the course he had adopted, he had nothing
more in view than the proper discharge of his duty, and be-
cause it was incumbent upon him to pursue that course. The
knowledge that he was discharging a duty had been the means
of carrying him through. (Hear, hear.) As the case had
already had so much publicity, he need not refer to the facts
as they had transpired ; but he would point to them as proof
that it was the duty of shipmasters generally to use their own
discretion and judgment, and to do all in their power to attend
to the interests of the shipowner. (Cheers.)
Mr. TURNER requested to read the annexed letter which
had been received that morning from the manager of the
Western Insurance Clubs :

Topsham Nov 17th, 1855.

SlRC,—apAtlatihnoEug.
levveeyh,aSvehinp:lliseuiramaniede,'osnofyLouivresrhp
it a duty to acknowledge your praiseworthy conduct in oppos-
i7l.
,we feel
oppos-
ing the authority of the British Consul at Pernambuco (a
place known to all underwriters notorioult for impositions)
ba3nd bringing,sahgalayrgoeur shipsu to
sum which
the
port
must o f her
destination,
otherwise
have b
e te hn er eex-
pended. As a testimony of the estimation in Which we hold
your conduct, I enclose a cheque for £lO, which please accept.
I am, sir, yours, very respectfully,
Joint HOLMAN,
Manager, Western Clubs.
Mr. TURNER, in conclusion, stated that the underwriters with
whom the ship was insured had determined to present Captain
Devey with £l,OOO. This might seem a very large sum, but
when they reflected that the Underwriters had been saved
ten, perhaps more than twenty times that sum, by his conduct
on this occasion, he was sure they would feel that it was not
undeserved by Captain Devey.— (Cheers).
This terminated the interesting proceedings here; but
we learn that the Society of Underwriters in Glasgow, to
mark their approbation of Captain Devey's conduct, have
voted a gold medal to him.