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

I _N

for the use nf the/. ti,.-,:ll, . h House
only hear what was $i ,•:I‘.t'-. a ten-
gun brig, let them 111fik 'of ItiaN of the
. .
Adu-iirsl7 Om to charge feg Ilse -qr i , a ten
* 1-
gun brig 1,4631., whibl,9s" 41.1:t4 ez4.l
iY times
more than she was WW.th—s vilz:---jal . was a
-disgrace. to the servia - had elve :: - e ployea ;
2,543/. was charged ~tol---Ske excemyfa*tualling.
Why should these officers ire.etiargetfror their mainte-
nance during their.expedition. If Captain Dickenson
had not been successful, av,i.ill,they have charged him
this 13,000/. Certainly ' Such a proceeding would,
induceLhne°,,pa.rtie.s to keep the money in
in tuturo ease,-4,
their own hands, instezd)
,c of risking it on tiny Admiralty
that reduction 01"ilide3:00„,4,,),1e:itiel:L.e.
Court or prveedingi
entuvt e face of these bills he could
s.e that 6,861/. le.ol b..
be ta.rn- cdharged, and, at, any rate,
luilbeutihi:onpLfivi
htilichat
stts:
s.,Notlieit',liert.s(d.,,f, !illou lit
Lad been tak,,n out
s,
of the Admiralty C urr toss, fairli,;)?
e erie!. It wa at least,
but right that they sh old k. Jos ii
spplied, and au endeavour ina.d,,
the inowy, who had i.:01 aso unjustly. whett;ge he
r. -A culprits wore eptint.eted with the Admiralty or t.
C.t.mv . the
to -,,wkenThneyn had been
Treasury, he cotild not sny, hot at least the
should hw anfv,iuted to learn where the money hrid orn,,Tit,.7
Mr. PARKER said the case cautc-linplfoB3roi:qaunirdy,
tlwre:.ore, a long time had transpired since then and the
present pert-d The case, when it artist
before the ordinary tribunals, and was adjudicated. on
by those of the highest eminence in the country. IL oc.
cupied at di- time about sixteen or eighteen na..nths at
least, and the r,-sult was sue', as the Admiralty thought
jui..a and tair. Before the ,leAsion, the Admiralty made
every nect-siary inquiry. and tie believed the conclusion
they had corn, to was a right one. The question had,
th. r.dore, been settle,i in the due coarse of the law. The
adjud'eaticns were made its 1833. and it was decided
that 17,000/. should be given to the captain and stamen;
13.000 t to the Admiralty ; and 12.0001. for incidental
expences. Atter what had been done, tie was b and to
,ay that it watt too late to bring f award the motion now.
It turned out that the parties were dissatisfied with the
decisions of the Admiralty. and an appeal was made to
the highs! court in the country, the Privy Celina It
was thus, then, that the matter now stood. It had been
novel in 1842, hut the then Chancelh,r 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.

eiir C. NAPIER said that it appeared to him, if he
understood the case rightly, that a certain sum of money
was given to the captans,- but he never beard of such a
thing as salvage being to be deducted from such a source
as the wear and tear of a ship; and he must say that be
thought is was a most shabby proceeding.
Sir J. GRAHAM sail he was bound to state that, for
the-desisi.,m, of which. complaint was made, he was offi-
cially respansib-e. That decision was come to in 1832,
and that the Hon. G,.othanan oppisite, the Member for
Dorset, and the Seanaary for Leland were at quan•ed
with the particulars ot the case. The deciidon at which
the Board of Adatirsity had at that time arrived had
not been come 'to without the utmost deliberation. The
Board had at that time, in addition to the parties whom
he had already named, Ihe ast6itAnce of two most distin-
itished naval officers—Sir Thomas Hardy and Admiral
Dundas. New, what v.-ere the circumstances ? A large
quantity of treasure had b. en slipped in a single vessel,
from some place in the Pacific, and had been, unfore
orderst un a t elhy aad Tbeeckene dsesnomt
oe;le hi r- onthythe tAhde Brazil,comireaslttyofto the
naval
officer on the station to send same one .to recover,
if possible, the large
Rahei,e. who w
r treasure
as which
andd Admiralthe in command been lost',commando
the station, dispatched Captain Dickenson on that
duty. Captain Dickenson, he must say, had per-
formed the duty in a very efficient manner.
It occupied, he believed, somewhere about fourteen
mouths, and no fault could certainly be found with the
admirable way in which Captain Dickenson had dis-
charged that service, and when the treasure was really
recovered, the Government had awarded to the crew,of
the vessel en ample salvage for that service. The deci-
sion of the Board of Admiralty had not given satisfaction
to the salvers, and they appealed to the Cruet of Privy
Council, by whom an additional sum of 12,000/. kad been
awarded to them. Oa ascertaicing this award, the Board
of Admiralty deemed it but right that th, re should he
some compensation for the exeenditure of the public
stores, which had been used in the service. In the
exercise of the discretion with which they were in-
vested, they had deducted a sum of 1,400/. for wages,
besides an additional amount for the victuals of
the men while occupied in this duty. This they thought
they were called upon to do for the protection of the public
service. The matter had first came under the consider.
ation of the Board of Admiralty in 1832. It was again
brought under the notice of the New Administration in
1834. L. was again considered in 1836. It was after-
wards brenght under the consideration of the Treasury
in 1839, and it. was subsequently decided upon by Sir It.
Peel's Goveremetit in 1h42 ; and all these several par-
ties haa confirmed the decision that had been come to in
the first instance. For the original decision. he re-
peated, he was reapensib`e. In the first instance the
salvage had amt anted to 17,0001., - and the Court of
Privy Council had subsequently given an additional sum
of 12,000/. ; and, he rnu-t say, without wishing in the
smallesi, degree to detract from the merit of Capt. Dick •
enson, or those cennaited with him, or without wishing
to throw the smallest imputation on the way in which
they had performed the service, that they had received a
sufficient rewo,ril.
Mr. W ARLEY sail that it was unfortunate that until
:he Right lion. Baronet elle had just sat down had
risen to address the House, scarcely to n sentence. had
hen heard during the w...01e of th- drbate. The Noble
Ltard a h.) ietroduced the measure hal not been heard.
the Hon. limber who followed him had n•it been heard,
and th- Gallant. (thee- opposite hail not heen heard ;
but the it ght lion. Gentl. man h el such a quiet, bland,
imooth, gentlemanly mede of speaking, that he invari ,
*hie h ,d gr. at weight with thw llouee, and very often
carried the Mernhers with aim on questions when they
;fist not. agree wt:h riim.—(llenr, hear, zed a laugh.) But
it), It ght Hon. Bar:rnet had not stated the case quite
fairly, and he b.1i,,e1 t .at the M tubers of .hat House
It iii no more important ti,oty to 'ln than to investiga!e
ih.. c mduct of any pittolte .I,p ortment. at d to inquire into
.li. proceedings of the ex.,•trive, 'or the bunelit of the
pubic service. The 11-ght lion. Baronet load stated the
~,,se, but he had be, n a emaa ; but instead of sti•know-
lodging the wrong, he hat ,tirn;•lv re,.l. (1 hi.. d fence
upon the fart that vo s , w h , ha I f011,..ed him had jos-
tided his procee.lint. Th , lt•el t lion. Bironet had
0.-en in offi:e, and it w.t.- astonishing how amazingly
thole who were in effice aseerttel to the deci-
sams of those who had he, n in office.—(Hear, hear.)
There was alwaa s, in • truth, a wrinderfal agreement
between the. ies and the outs --(Lauehter.) The
Right Honourable Barn- et had stated the decision
which he ha.l giveto;for he was ut the head of the Board
of Admiralty at the *dude but he had been wrong—_
egregiously wrong ; and, for his own part, he thought
it was al says the beat plan, when such wae-the case, fcr
a man to come ferward manfully and say that he was
wrong, rather than to persist in it ; and it would have been
far letter for the Right lion. Baronet to have said so on
the present occasion, than to persist in a decish-n for
which na tedress had been obtained for the Repli -ants,
for it ha i received emit, but official answers. Now there
was a rem irkaale Mail elite in all official nrewers ; and,
t'or his own t art, lie thought ite.t t'ai beaer phn would
be to etere -Ay pe th,-.-ni at (Klee, to cast them in metal, and
to say in reply to an application that this was an official
answer.—(Laughter.) The whole case lay i', a nutshell,
but the R:ght lion. Baronet had not fairly state d it. Be
represented it as if Capt. I)'ckenson bed happened to be on
the South Ani..±rican station. and that he hid been sent by
Admiral Baker, who was in the command of the squa-
dron to recover the treasure which had been lost - in the
Thetis, and as if this was a common official duty in the
course of the service.—(Hear, hear, from Capt. Ptchell.)
Why, C,iptain Dickenson was the whole author of the
plan ; it was his capacious and scientific mind by which
it was all planned. Nobody had ever thought of it be-
fore. When he had first named it to Admiral Baker
.that officer had considered it as only a wild scheme,
which was never likely to be brought into any practical
effect, or likely to be of the slightest use to the country
at large, and it was entirely through Captain Dickenson
that the immense amount of treasure had been recovered
from the wreck, and that, too, front a depth under water
varying from 35 to 79 feet—(Hear)—and that, too, at the
distance of many thousand miles from England, with no
appliances but those furnished by his own ingenuity,
without any assistance from the Government but the use,
as the Gallant Manber for Brighton (Capt. Pechell) had
properly c-Iled it,*this " horrible brig." Yt t with these
means on'y Captain Dickenson hail personally recovered
124.,000/. out of the 164,0001.. which had been lost, and
had in fact recovered 157,0001.; fur the gentleman who
had succeeded him in the service had entirely followed
the plans laid down by Captain Diekemon, and it was
owning to his plans al:me that it was ever recovered.
The Government had but rendered the smallest assis-
tance beyond thi ieit;'-ict4s of this horrible brig; all the
even fire engine he
rest had been elfeJed through the energy and
ability of Captain Dickenson. his
into
A that the Right Honourable Baronet had
had been compelled to convert an earthwork.
He said
case fairly; for instead of supporting the
Gallant Officer, the Admiralty of that day had thrown
the whole of the re=p 'risibility on his shoulders, and
notstate d the c
when at length success had crowned his efforts, they had
come in with a huxtering, mean, contemptible, and Shy-
lock kind of prosecution, zo rob him of his reward. He
could not say how, but he deeply regretted that the Noble
Lord who introduced this question had not been heard
by the House, and especially that the House had not
heard the two letters which be read—a letter applying
for a hawser to help Capt. Dickenson in his labours,- sad
the reply th-t was made to that application. The Thetis
was lost in December, 1830; the captain commenced his
labours at the close of December, 1841; and the appli-
cation for the haws-r was made in the June following.
The letter wits sighed by 1,-.-rd John Townsend, ani it
stated—
" Sir,—l am directed by my Lords Commissioners of
the kimirelty [the Right Hon. Baronet was First Lord
at that time] that no expense can be starred whatever
by the public in the endeavour to recover the treasure
from the Thetis. The request was for a 6iaireh hawser,
and cannat be complied with.
"Signed, .1 JOHN TOWNSEND."
The second letter was dated August 11, and after
noticing the application of the 11th ot Jane, again
declined the request for this 61 inch hawser. The
second lotter wa- signed by Sir Jahn Barrow, so that it
was plainly evident that the Board of Admiralty repu-
diated the whole concorn—(Cheers)-e-and yet, when the
treasure had been reeovereri—when the money was
.safrly lodged in the Bank of Eagland, then they brought
'in this clean of the new sillier ;and at the eleventh hour,
sal tit?. fir y-ninth minute of the eleventh hour, they
came forwarl w;th their nasty bill of costs.—(Ch -era
rs
and laugh'er.) Ard this. he it remembered. was under
.the garret .n af th.• Right Hon. Bea,net . It they had
and had
searched ail their iiiryia. .
/wild one, thorn Lei 44 41Te •
eu V sozo o4cae, Bat
~. na:s for a precedent.