The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-16 00:00:00

for the use of the ships, and let the House -
only hear what was charged for the use of a ten-
gun brig, let them think of the conscience of the
Admiralty to charge for the use of the Algerine, a ten
gun• brig 1,4634, which was fourteen hundred times
more than she was worth—a vessel which it was
disgrace to the service had ever been emploYyd
2,5431 was ehvreed for the excess of victualling.
Why should these officers be charred for their mainte-
nance during their expedition. If Captain Dickenson
had nor heel' successful, would they have charged him
this 13,0001. C, rtainly not. Such a proceeding would,
in future cases, induce the parties to keep the money in
their oen hands, ins!ead of risking it on any Admiraltr
Court or proceedings. On the face of these bilis he eoull
see that, 6,8611. had b en over-charged, and, at any rate,
that reduction should be :hale. Ile hoped that the
Noble Lord would concede the motion w hich wee
sought, to see if the 13.000/. which had been taken out
of the Admiralty Curt was fairly spent. It was, at least,
but right that they should know how the money had been
applied, and an endeavour made to make them disgorge
the money, who had got it so unjustly. Whether the
real culprits were connected with the Admiralty or the
Treasury, he could not say, but at least the Committee
should be appointed to leant where the money had got to.
Mr. PARKER said the case came on in 1830, and,
theretore, a long time had transpired since then and the
present peri,,d. The case, when it arose, came for inquiti
before the ordinary tribunals, and was adjudicated ea
by those of the highest, eminence in the country. It 00°
cupied at the tithe about sixteen or eighteen months et.
least, and the te•sult was such as the Admiralty thought
just and fair. Before the derision, the Admiralty made
every necessary inquiry, and he believed the conclusion
they had come to was a right one. The question had,
therefore, been settled in the due course of the law. The
adjudications were made its 1833, and it was decided
that 17,000 L shcAild be given to the captain and seamen:
13,000/. to the Admiralty ; and 12,000/. for incidental
expences. After what had been done, he was bound to
say that it was too late to bring f Tvvard the motion nosy.
It turned out that the parties were dissatisfied with the
decisions of the Admiralty, and an appeal was made to
the highest court in the country, the Privy Council. It
was thus, then, that the matter now stood. It had been
moved in 1842, hut the then Chancellor of the Ex
.;
chequer, in answer, just cited again the answer that had
been given in a court of law. Such a decision the Go"
vernment -was not of course, inclined to overturn or

review.
Sir C. NAPIER said that it appeared to him, if 13.,0
understood the case rightly, that a certain sum of n:101:1°7
was given to the captain, but he never heard of such*
thing as salvage being to be deducted from such a soured'
as the wear and tear of a ship; and he must say that be
thought it was a most shabby proceeding.
Sir J. GRAHAM said he was bound to state that, for
off"
cially decision, of which complaint was made, he was ow'
cially responsible. That decision was come to in 1832'
and that the Hon. Gentleman opp .site, the Member for
Dorset, and the Secretary for Ireland were acquainteic!•
with the particulars of the case. The decision at whit
the Board of Admiralty had at that time arrived b*".
not been come to without the utmost deliberation. The
Board had at that time, in addition to the parties whom
he had already named, the assistance of two most distin:
guished naval officers—Sir Thomas Hardy and Atli:obi"
Dundas. New, what were the circumstances ? A boge
quantity of treasure had been shipped. in a single vessel'
from some place in the Pacific, and had been, unfcri
tunately wrecked somewhere on the coast of Brazil, asli
orders had been sent out by the Admiralty to the naval
officer on the station to send same one to recele''
if possible, the large treasure which had been loetv
and Admiral Baker, who was then in command on
the station, dispatched Captain Dickenson on h
duty. Captain Dickenson, he must say, had per:
formed the duty in a very efficient manna..
It occupied, he believed, somewhere about fourteen
months, and no fault could certainly be found with the
admirable way in which Captain Dickenson had ",7,;
charged that service, and when the treasure was 'vs' ef
recovered, the Government had awarded to the crew °
the vessel an ample salvage for that service. The de?1;
sion of the Board of Admiralty had not given satisfactl°.,
to the salvers, and they appealed to the Court of Privio,
Council, by whom an additional sum of 12,0001. had bees
awarded to them. On ascertaining this award, the Bober"
of Admiralty deemed it but right that there shoulto
some compensation for the exfenditure of the puu.be
stores, which had been used in the service. In In
exercise of the discretion with which they were `-fi,
vested, they had deducted a sum of 1,4001. for wage 4
besides an additional amount for the victuals
the men while occupied in this duty. This they thoug°:
they were called upon to do for the protection of the pu.1011:
service. The matter had first come under the consider
a
ation of the Board of Admiralty in 1832. It was agtqa.;
brought under the notice of the New Administrate) 10
1834. It was again considered in 1836. It wLer.
wards brought under the consideration of the Treasury
in 1839, and it was subsequently decided upon by Sir
Peel's Government in 1e42 ; and all the"
several p
ties him confirmed the decision that had been come to s
re-
peated, i _
the first instance. For the original decision, he
peated, he was responsible. In the first instance tof
salvage had amounted to 17,0001., and the Courto_!
Privy Council had subsequently given an additional s
of 12,0001. ; and he must say, without wishing in
.r•
smallest degree to detract from the merit of Capt. D_
enson, or those connected with him, or without wishing
to throw the smallest imputation on the way in which
they had performed the service, that they had received
sufficient reward.
Mr. WAKLEY said that it was unfortunate that unto
,
the Right Hon. Baronet who had just sat down had
risen to address the House, scarcely ten sentences had
been heard during the whole of the debate. The Noble
Lord who introduced the measure had not been heard.
the Hon. Member who followed him had not been beard,
4,nd the Gallant Officer opposite had not been heard
but the Right Hon. Gentleman had such a quiet, blantit
smooth, gentlemanly mode of speaking, that he ine,ll2;
ably had great weight with the House, and very 01.1!:
carried the Members with him on questions when t.f,',74
did not agree with him.—(Hear, hear, and a laugh.) 1
the Right Hon. Baronet had not stated the case f1a..1,01'
fairly, and he believed that the Members of thatil°!to
had no more important duty to do than to investilsf.„
the conduct of any public department, arid to inquire
the proceedings of the executive, for the benefit C.ll .J.,0
public service. The Right Hon. Baronet had stat,_e".„4.
case, but he had been wrong ; but instead of acsrenca
ledging the wrong, he had simply rested his de.; ;01.
upon the fact that those who had followed him bat 101
titled his proceeding. The Right Hon. Baronet.ow
been in office, and it was astonishing how atcasta,"ers
those who were in office assented to the
sions of those who had been in office.—(Hear, b",O
There was always, in truih, a wonderful agree The
between the ins and the outs.—(Laughter.) icas
Right Honourable Baronet had stated the decisara
which be had given, for he was at the head of the 13°
of Admiralty at the time, but he had been wrovgghe
egregiously wrong ; and, fur his own part, he tb°.° for
it was al nays the best plan, when such was the cas'teli
a man to come forward manfully and say that 11been
wrong, rather than to persist in it; and it would have
far better for the Right Hon. Baronet to have said so,,eor
the present occasion, than to persist in a decision !,
which no redress had been obtained for the applicsb"e;
for it had received none but official answers. Ncw4 nJ,
was a remarkable similarity in all official answers ; 11„id
for his own part, he thought that the better plan "'tut
be to stereotype them at once, to cast them in met
to say in reply to an application that this was an onitive'o.
answer.—(Laughter.) The whole case lay in a nut's Be
but the Right lion. Baronet had nut fairlstated it- 00
represented it as if Capt. Dickenson had happened toliebi
the South American station. and that he had been 36150,
Admiral Baker, who was in the command of the -
eta
'iron to recover the treasure which had been lost !II the
Thetis, and as if this was a common official duty `12,,„11.)
course of the service.—(Hear, hear, from Capt.reen-tee
Why, Captain Dickenson was the whole author of
plan ; it was his capacious and scientific mind by ne,
it was all planned. Nobody had ever thought nt..„4 key
fore. When he had first named it to Admiral I'l4
that officer had considered it as only a Wild schereal
which was never likely to be brought into any Pr_a_cnigri
t ffect, or likely to be of the slightest use to the coo ,s
,„ ens.-
at large, and it was entirely through Caetain 'lcco-yered
that the immense amount of treasure had been recovered
at
from the wreck, and that, too, from a depth
lintoo, at the
varying from 35 to 79 feet—(Hear)—and that, d. with vo
distance of many thousand miles from Beg's" • owitit
appliances hui, those furnished by
without any assistance from the Government but theil,blad
as the Gallant Member for Brighton (Capt. Peclr. /these
propetly called it, this " horrible brig." Yet "1"I recovered
his own ing
means only Captain Dickenson had personally a
124,000/. out of the 164,0001., which had been Jost,
had in fact recovered 157,000/.; for the gentleman
ad
had succeeded him in the service had entirely follow
%
the pions laid down by Captain Dickenson, and it VI
owning to his plans alone that it was ever recovered
The Government had but rendered the smallest age•
tance beyond the services of this horrible brig; all the
rest had been effected through the energy 413-
ability of Captain Dickenson, even his fire engine be
had been compelled to convert into an earthwork,'
lie said that the Right Honourable Baronet he
not stated the case fairly; for instead of supporting IbB
Gallant Officer, the Admiralty of that day had thrown
the whole of the responsibility on his shoulders, 01
when at length success had crowned his efforts, they b*
come in with a huxtering, mean, contemptible, and Sbil;
lock kind of prosecution, to rob him of his reward. Lie
could not say how, but he deeply regretted that the Nou'd
Lord who introduced this question had not been bear
by the House, and especially that the House had not
heard the two letters which he read—a letter applYing
for a hawser to help Capt. Dickenson in his labours, allit
the reply that was made to that application. The Trbi,
was lost in December, 1830; the captain commence"
labours at the close of December, 1841,• and the aP.P
cation for the hawser was made in the June followlifi
The letter was signed by Lord John Townsend, an
stated—
" Sir,—l am directed by my Lords Commission
the Admiralty [the Right Hon. Baronet was First /Art,
hatere
at that time] that no expense can be suffered w--
by the public in the endeavour to recover
from the Thetis. The request was for a 6i-inch haws
and cannot be complied with. N,D.,,
" Signed, " JOHN TOWNSE for
I A
The second letter was dated August 11, an' sc,siti
noticing the application of the 11th of Juue• Abe
the trees
et,
declined the request for this 6}j inch hawser. hat it
second letter was signed by Sir John Barrow, tu
was plainly evident that the Board of AdwiraltY_rnelhe
dieted the whole concern—(Cheers)—and yet, whe wits
treasure had been recovered—when the moneyou_4
safely lodged in the Bank of England, then they brought
in this claim of the new salvers., and at the eleventh
i nsvhiley
and the fifty-ninth minute of the eleventh I:loc,,:ivera
came forward with their nasty bill of costs.—(C
and laughter.) And this, be it remembered, W" had
the sanction of the Right Hon. Baronet. It alq, bad
searched all their dirty journals for a precedent,2o" pas
found - one; -there might hue been Some Wag%