The Sun.
London, England, 1852-02-09 00:00:00

LEEDS AND BRADFORD.

The half-yearly meeting of this company Was held at
Leeds on Friday. Mr. J. Waddinghani presided.
Mr. BEST, the secretary, read the statem-nt of capital
account up t December 36, 1851, from which it ap
geared that the expendi!ure had been 1,481 4731.; and
The CHAIRMAN explained that only 24,00 U/. had been
expended between June and -December last.
The accounts were pissed. Mr. George Goodmcn
was re
-elected a director ; Mr. William Waiumsn ap-
p dtoirv,idinentdheotr2oln.mioos.f
peilirra.blalsleit:glewsosritnh(,,omdies:
qus:? was dc c)
declared f,r the halt-year; d the
usual power
given
to the directors to oppose any Bills, &c., in Par-
liament.
A vote of thanks to the chairman closed the business.

212,20 a, and v.-ith 2/:2204 paid up, was a copy o the

EXORBITANT SALVAGE CLAI,IIS.

"Lord Fraccia Russell
, I The Lets of the case Of
I Dillon and others," decirled in the Judicial Committee of
the Privy Council on I': illy lest, afford a very timely
illuitration of the notion the royal navy entertains of its
duty to our merchant service, under pretence of protect-
ing, and aiding which such ptioons Lord Francis
kussell are appointed to command the Tweed, and Lord
Edward Busse.. the veng a,acc.
The Jane, of Liverpool, three years ago ran aground
on the English bank, a very dangerous spot, where many
vessels are lost, at the mouth of the Plate. Her Ma-
jesty's ship Tweed being in the river, for that and other
such purposes, was dispatched by the British Commo-
dore to the Jane's assistance. Before, however, the
Tweed reached the merchantman, all the crew (except
the captain)
steamer, the skipper remaining—half chunk, as is said
and passengers were got away by the Harpy
by the salvors, hat more likely to brae his ship and cargo
from the law of derelict Without any peronal risk, or
much trouble, the Tweed shipped part of the Jsns's cargo,
and carried it to MouteVideo,where it was sold for 1,805/.
16s. Id. For this service Lord Francis Russell claimed
by way of salvage, two thirds of the precteds sah.s, or
1,2001. Alter two
Francis dissatisfied,
L iissoartidssfibeis c
dp:a3p
yours' Idit,toiagnoandt ico-nifil,fi
one-fifth,
o thep Apde
3501.;1aitrea t
Lord
y -
e Court
on Friday affilm,«l Dr. Lushingtoa's judgment, but re-
fused to hive costs to the respondents, in wNuse favour
they decided. So that the chances ore, the underwriters
will lose money by the assistance Lord Francis .Rusaen
and the Tweed rendered them. They will, however, have
the satisfaction of having .checked the rapacity of the
Royal Navy in this matter of salvage;—a rapacity
which now constitutes one of the grievances of oar mer-
chant service. •
We say the rapacity, because there is really no more
correct term for the txactions the Queen's ships have
been levying on mereatitmc,n for such assistance. Let
us repeat a few apt cimens.
The Sappho, of Liverpool, was stranded on the same
bank as the Jane a few months previously. The mer-
chant brig Atli., with two laurches, and her lalsje,ty's
steamer L'zard came off to tier. By the aid of the mer-
chantman the tatpho was light, fled, and had then
towed off the bank by the L'zird, a ta,k which alto-
gether occupied five days. For this service Lieutenant
Psarse gravely stated he was entitled by law to one-
half of the value of the ship and cargo, but would take
one-third; and he was actually paid 15 per cent. of the
value, or 2,5001, besides 651. for fuel.
On the same bank, the William Peel subsequently
got ashore in fine weather. The consignees at Monte
Video sent a schooner. the Pio Nono, and a launch to
her aid; into them part of her cargo had been tran-
shipped, when MM. steam-tender Harpy arrived; and
in threesquarters of an hour gut the William Peel into
deep water, thence towirg her to Monte Video. For
this service the emit mous sum of 3,1461. was claimed by,
and, on the precedent of the Sappho, paid to the Com-
mander of the Harpy,
Three years before, the John Dalton, bound for
Sydney, was wrecked if Rio. The Queen's ship Alfred
came to her aid, but the Brazilian authorities interfering,
she withdrew, having done nothing. The Alfred, how-
ever, claimed of the John Dalton 4001., and compromised
the claim for 100/.
The case of the Anna Robertson is still worse. That
ship, being in China, was there deprived of half her
crew by H.M.S. Royalist, and being incompetently
manned, encountered a severe gale off the Cspe
of Good Hope. Atter the storn was over, H.M.
steamer Hermes volunteered assistance, and towed the
merchantman into Algoa Bay, being occupied twenty
hours in doing so. For this assistance the skipper
off-red 500/. The captain of the Hermes chimed
3,0001., arrested the Anna, Robertson, and prosecuted
her in the Vice Adtairall Court. That tribunal
awarded the Hi rmes 1,5002; but, as the rsaater had no
cr. dit in Algoa flay, be was (ate great loss) obliged to
8111 part of his cargo, and, being detained four months,
had to draw for 500/. on his owners for current expenses.
So that altogether the twenty hours' assistance of the
Hermes in getting the Anna Robertson into Algoa Bay
cost not less than 3,000/.

In the case of the Charles Forbes, which struck on
the pyramid shoal in the Straits of liaison, H.M.S.
Amszm and Pluto got two-fitths of her cargo, or 5,100
dollars, for their salvage services; and in that of the
Anne, which got on the reef at the eastern entrance of
the same straits, the East India Company's steamer
Semiramis received one-eighth, with costs of the suit at
Singapore. _ _

This, we repeat—without any desire to undervalue
the services performed—is mere rsincity. By no other
country in the world, save by England, is salvage al-
lowed the royal or national nsvy. In other states such
services are considered part of their public duty; and it
is no uncommon thing for British merchantmen to receive
assistance in distress from foreign ships of war, for
which no claim or puyment is ever made. And even
amongst us the grievance is of modern growth; for-
merly no such claims were made; the evil lass grown out
4. salvage paid to merchantmen. But now u Queen's
ship cannot throw a tow line or a haw,er to a outman.-

til© vessel without making it the groundwork of an ex-
orbitant demard for salvagt ; and, it resisted, they throw
the owners or undtrwrilcrs into mat den of iniquity, the
Admiralty Court; .or, if abroad, into what is even Horse,
one of the Vice-Admiralty Comm, presided over pro-
bably by a colonici secretary, surgeon. or 'Wortley acing
as judge for the nonce, by whom the most extravagant
sums are awarded.

Yet when any Member complains of these extortions
in the Howie >t Commons, up jump., a Lord of the Ad-
miralty to bully Hnd to bluMi4.— Daffy- Prews.

DISMISSAL OF LORD PALMERSTON.

Looking with perfect impartiality at the transaction,
as explained in the House of Commons', we are bound to
confess that we do think Lord John has made out a
clear case ogling his colleague, and that, ij he were so
inded, be was perfectly
justified in diAnissing him.
m
When we say this, we wish our readtrs well to mark our
qualification, if he were so minded, because if he were not
so minded, there certainly was no obligation, either of
duty or necessity, at once to take irrevocable and no
very courteous reemaires for the removal of an old col-
league, who had held the seals of the F,reign Depart-
ment some years before Lord John himself had attained
to a seat in the Cabinet.
I Lord Palmerston, doubtless, acted a great deal too
cavalierly to his Sovereign, and too independently to-
wards his colleagues; but some little allowance surely
ought to have been made in the one ease for " the pres-
sure of business" in so laborious an (Ace; and some
ought to have been shown in the other case for
agleneoatctnoefss
insuburdination, much more for one of what
and courtesy was to him one of customary independence. Fairness
required that before any decisive steps
were taken the offence should have been made known to
him, and an opportunity given bim to explain his con-
duct. The offence was certainly a venial one; by an
Litad w not e uldbe havee minded been
to folly
hims expiated.
If of
,
acknowledgment of error, and a promise to be more
careful
if ful
his colleague foe other. causes than those which he has
on this occasion prroclaimed to the world, assuredly Lord
Li no: du eft riorhl'
n
Palmerston would never have been dismissed, and this
little episode would 7ae2er have been magnified into its
present dimensions. The public may
depend upon it that
they only know half the story • Lord Jobn wanted to get
rid of his colleague; he caught him tripping, and
him
greedily he seized the opportunity to throw
In what this desire has originated
sooner or later become 'band," vc may, perhaps,
not, because Lord John dOprov 5
isa ofe know that it is
ehis foreign policy
or the principles ou which it wa
that Lord Palmerston's antipathys conducted.. It may be
preten-
sions in this country was the to the Papal
Premier, who .deeply committedreal inconvenience to the
wads, indicates by his against them by his
their fulfilment. Lord actions his desire to escape from
is evidently Granville, with his Popish be-
longings,Lord John Russell a more convenient coadjutor to
would be,and - - •
than Lord Palmerston ever c.,uld or
•nell we see what we see. Herald.
S