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

212,2001., and with 21,220/. paid up, wa3 .a copy o th•

EYORBITANT SALVAGE CLAIMS.
The :acts of the case of "Lord Francis Russell v.
Dillon and others," decided in the Judicial Committee of
the Privy Council on Friday last, afford a very timely
illustration of the notion the royal navy entertains of its
duty to our merchant service, nuder pretence of protect-
ing and aiding which such persons as Lord Francis
Russell are appointed to command the Tweed, and Lord
Edward Russell the Vengeance.
The Jane, of Liverpool, three years ago ran aground
.dangerous spot, where many
Francis
onur nac
dcrthe
Friday
asylo.
sr
ag,,, loffai
rti Beira} isosu
3sfisobi
it,beasididt:k.Dostan,l
rpicao.htpl very
vessels are lost, at the mou.th of the Plate. Her Ma
t
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) and passengers were got amt.' by the Harpy
steamer, the skipper remaining—half drunk, as is said
by the salvors, but more likely
from the law of derelict Without 2.71 y pereenal risk, or
to save his ship nod cargo
I
much trouble, the Tweed shipped pert of the Jane's cargo,
and carried it to MonteVideo,where it was sold lot 1,805/.
165. N. For this service Lord Francis Russell claimed
by ;say of salvage, twu-thirds of the proceeds sales, cr
1,2001. After two years' litigation, ,he Admiralty re-
haae,
eizamst
chances
sshaht
respondentsta,orane
gee eetdr ioseLn itfr:hfei
judgment,
tdA,
Inoeprrl
ap:3
,a3eenobniscideOati
es:/t.eer;Rw
rof
Courta:Ll
iTtstoosereruredlra
ftuheseyd
dteoeika;ievde.
will lose money
end the Tweed rendered them. They will, however, have
the satisfaction of buying checked the ranaciey of the
Royal Navy in this matter of salvage;—a rapacity
which now constitutes ono of the grievaeces of our mar-
chant
ervice.
We say the
rapacity, because thereisr really no morehave
correct term for the exactions the Queen's
been levying en merchantmen for such assistance. Let
us repeat a few specimens.
The Sappho, of Liverpool, was stranded on the same
bank as the Jane a few months previously. The mu_
chant brig Arno, with two launches, and her Atei„ty,s
steamer Lizard came off to her. By the aid of the mer-
chantman the Sappho was lightened, and was thee
towed off the bank by the Lizard, a task which alto-
gether occupied five days. Fur this service Lieutenant
Pearse 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 tho 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 H.M. steam-tender Harpy arrived; and
in three-quarters of an hour got the William Peel into
deep water, thence towing her to Monte Video. For
this service the enormous 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 off 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.6. Royalist, and being incompetently
manned, encountered a severe gale off the Cape
of Good Hope. After the stern 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
offered 500/. The captain of the Hermes claimed
3,0001., arrested the Anna Robertson, and prosecuted
her in the Vice-Admiralty Court. That tribunal
awarded the Hermes 1,5001.; but, as the master had no
credit in Algoa Bay, he was (at a great loss) obliged to
ssll part of his cargo, and, being detained four months,
had to draw fur 5004 on hie 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 3,0001.
In the case of the Charles Forbes, which struck on
the pyramid shoal in the Straits of Malacca, H.M.S.
Amazon and Pluto got two-fifths 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 rapacity. By no other
country in the world, save by England, is salvage al-
lowed the royal or national navy. 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 payment is ever made. And even
amongst us the grievance is of modern growth; for-
merly no such claims were made; the evil has grown out
of salvage paid to merchantmen. But now a Queen's
ship cannot throw a tow line or a hawser to a mercan-
tile vessel without making it the groundwork of au ex-
orbitant demand for salvage; and, if resisted, they throw
the owners or underwriters into that den of iniquity, the
Admiralty Court; or, if abroad, into what is even worse,
one of the Vice-Admiralty Courts, presided over pro-
bably by a coloniel secretary, surgeon, or attorney acting
es judge for the nouce, by whom the most extravagant
sums are awarded.

Yet when any Member complains of these extortions
in the HOLI6O of Commons, up jump 4 a Lord of the Ad-
miralty to bully 'it'd to ►bluster.—Daily News.

DISMISSAL OF LORD PALMERSTON.
Looking with perfect impartiality at the transaction,
as exphined in the House of Commons, we are bound to
confess that we Co think Lord John has made out a
clear case against his colleague, and that, if he were so
minded, be was perfectly justified in dismissing him.
When we say this, we wish our readers 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 measures for the removal of an old col-
league, who had held the seals of the Foreign Depart-
ment some years before Lord John himself had attained
to a seat in the Cabinet.
Lord Palmerston, doubtless, acted a great deal too
cat:die/1y to his Sovereign, and too independently to-
wards his colleagues; but some little allowance surely
ought to have been made in the one case for
" the pres-
hi s
knownco to
n.
duct. The offence was certainly a venial one; by an
acknowledgment of error, sad a promise to be 'more
pres-
sure of business" in so laborious an office; and some
gentleness ought to have been shown in the other case for
an act of insubordination, much more for one of what
was to him one of customary independence. Fairness
and courtesy required that before any decisive steps
him,were taankdenant the
opportunity istyhegailvdenhahviembteoenexlampadien
careful in future, it would bav e been fully expiated.
And if Lord John had not been minded to rid himself of
his colleague for other causes than those Which he has
on this occasion proclaimed to the world, assuredly Lord
Palmerston would never have been dismissed, and this
little episode would never have been magnified into its
present dimensions. The public may depend upon it that
no, half the story. Lord
they only kJohn wanted to get
rid of his colleague; he caught him tripping, .and
greedily he seized the opportunity to throw him
over.
In what this desire has originated
later become manifest.•,-... may, perhaps,
sooner or
not because Lord John disapproves of h.
or the principles on which it was d is foreign policy
that Lord Palmerston's Con
acted. It may be
sions in this country was antipathy to the Papal preten-
Premier, who .deeplthe real inconvenience to the
y committed against them by his
their
words, indicates -
their fulfilment. by his actions his desire to escape from
longings, is evidently
Lord Granville, with his Popish be-
Lord John Russell tha
n Lord Palmerston ever could or
accordingly we see what we see.—Herald.
s'

CICIDE
Saturday Mr.BYW
Hotel, Fleet-street, onaytnhee
E.
Payne
OIL OF ...A," - AIONDS.—On
India Company hbeolddyanofinzaqurse.stAnaatstasthiear Mayor,unch's
aged 39, who destroyed herself under the following circum-
stances :—The deceased was the wife of an officer in the Last
action • s service, who some time ago had brought an
against a brother officer for criminal conversation with
his wife, and had recovered 7501. damages. The husband
had at one time allowed the deceased 11. per week, which
was paid by Mr. Peachy, his solicitor. The allowance, how-
ever, after the first payment, was refused by the deceased,
who wrote an insulting letter to her husband, and went to
reside with her paramour, until he went to India, when she
was left in great distress, and was again forced to apply to
Mr. Peachy to obtain some allowance for her from her hus-
band. On Friday last she called at Mr. Peachy's office, but
not finding him at home, she asked leave to write a letter to
him, and was shown into a room by herself. When the clerk
afterwards went into the room, he found her lying upon the
floor. A medical gentleman was called in, but life was ex-
tinct. In her pocket was found a small bottle which had
contained the essential oil of bitter almonds, with which it is
supposed she must have poisoned herself, but there was no The jury
smell of the poison• expressed a wish that a post
mortal: examination should take place, and the inquest was
consequently adjourned.
Tux ARCTIC SEARCHING EIPEDITION.--A C113(3i•
sive step towards the renewed search for Sir John Franklin
and his companions has at length been taken, by the ap-
pointment of Sir Edward Belcher to the command of the
Arctic expadition. It is understood that the nominations
have included Captain Kellett as the second in command,
and Captain M'Clintock, and Lieut. Sherard Osborn, late of
the Pioneer, to one of the steam-tenders. There has been
already sufficient proof of the ability,
intrepidity, and perse-
verance of all these gallant officers, and w 0 have, therefore,
every reason to regard their appointment with satisfaction.
It is to be hoped also that Captain Penny, to whom it is
owing that the course Sir John Franklin must have taken is
1 at last discovered, will also have his allotted portion of the
great work to be done; since it will appear a lamentable
omission, as regards the object in view, it experience such as
his be dispensed with, and the exclusion would be most un-
just to a man whose service 3 can receive no other reward.
h.aosu
rsenonif no
His two vessels, unfit for any other serviiccelf,,arse
AnTouwßDlyAinirg.
Useless.—Chronicle.
CON VICT.—WOOLW
-I-
AE
convict,
C A
sniff
escaped,
at Hackney, Gr
'A
d William Fox,
reet Police-office to the Central
Worship-s
he was in Criminalni committed
t eaCdno
and
fromrf ti n
' October, 130, where_
of
gm ty
of housebraking and larceny,
bar-
ber, who as bc?rn, _
and sentenced to seven years'
transportation,
on Friday
o'clock, r.m.,
The convict had
clothes he
were found the
same afternoon
cnunder a coal sack in ono
of the coal cellars near the blacksmith's •
d some at his former shop, and it is sup-
, p ?se . . . London associates have supplied
1 bun with their clothing, which they might easily carry in
I with them by wearing them
A over their other clothes when
they visited the dockyard.
sentry, consisting of one ser-
geant, two corporals, and thirty one privates, were put on
duty on Friday and Sat -•-
light the next', morni urday nig ,
,hts from dark until day_
that
morning, under the supposition
.. the con-
, vict may be still hiding
in the yard. The general impression,
I however, is that he has
gone out amongst the workmen in
i the afternoon without being recegnited under the disguise he
1 lad aniunod.