The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-06 00:00:00

TUE CASE OF THE BARON DE BODE.

Public attention having again been directed to
the claims of the Baron de Bode against the British
Government, by the re-publication, by order of the
House of Commons, of the report thereon of a
select committee of the House of Lords in 1852, a
brief statement of them may not be uninteresting.
At the conclusion of the war with France, in 1814,
commissioners were appointed to examine the claims
of British subjects against the French Government
in respect of property unduly confiscated during the
Revolution ; and, by a convention concluded in
1815, it was declared that, in order to determine
the capital due on immovable property, the claim-
ants should be required to produce the deed of pur-
chase, and proofs of the confiscation against them-
selves, their ancestors or assigners, and that, in de-
fault of written proof, the commissioners should
admit each other as they might deem sufficient.
Clement de Bode was the son of Charles de Bode, a
German by birth, and commander of a German regi-
ment in the French service, who married a daugh-
ter of Mr. Kynnersley, of Loxley Park, in Staf-
fordshire, in 1775. Clement was born there in
1777, was baptised at Uttoxeter, and was a Bri-
tish subject within the meaning of the treaty, and
entitled to claim compensation for the confisca-
tion of his property. Although this point seems
to have been at first disputed it was afterwards
admitted, and no further objection was made on
that ground. In 1788 Charles de Bode obtained
from the Archbishop 'and Chapter of Cologne a
grant of the lordship and lands of Sultz, in Lower
Alsace, the investiture giving him the usufruct for
life, and absolute remainder to his son. In 1791
he made a legal and valid cession of his interest to
Clement, and the property was administered in the
latter's name until 1793, when father and son left
France, and the property was confiscated by the
National Convention. Charles de Bode died in
1797. The son made his claim in due form, under
the Convention of 1815, but before it had been
heard another Convention was entered into, by
which France was released from all claims on pay-
ment of 60,000,000 of francs, besides 70,000,000
already paid. In 1819 an act of Parliament was
passed for carrying this arrangement into effect,
and in 1821 the Baron was informed, for the first
time, that he would be required to prove that the
estates were confiscated by virtue of the decree of
1793 against British subjects. This he was unable
to do, and in 1822 his claim was rejected ; although
it has been repeatedly decided that such proof was
unnecessary, and in almost every instance in which
compensation was granted the confiscation had been
on account of emigration, and not under the dc:.:ree
against British subjects. The Baron appealed to
the Privy Council who affirmed the award of the com-
missioners, on the sole ground of there not being
sufficient proof of the cession of the interest of the
claimant's father, which proof the Baron was on
the Continent endeavouring to obtain when the com-
missioners rejected his claim. Various applications
to the House of Commons were made by the Baron,
at different times, but • without any result, until
1834, when Mr. Hill, then member for Hull, ob-
tained a select committee to inquire into the Baron's
claims ; but Parliament was prorogued before the
inquiry was concluded, a dissolution followed, and
Mr. Hill was not re-elected. Mr. Warbltrton sub-
sequently took up the case, but his motion for in-
quiry was opposed and defeated by the Govern-
ment. The Baron then applied for a mandamus,
to be directed to the Lords of the Treasury ; but
this was refused on the ground that their lordships
held the money merely as the servants of the
Crown. He then petitioned the Queen, and a
royal commission was apipinted to investigate his
claims, which were pronounced good, and taken
into the Queen's Bench, where a jury returned a
verdict confirming the decision of the commission.
Ultimately the case came before the House of Lords,
who decided that, as the act passed in 1819 di-
rected that the money should be applied in dis-
charge of the claims of those persons in whose
favour adjudications should have been made by the
commissioners, and that the balance should be ap-
plied to suet' purpose as the Lords of the Trease-
should direct; and as so such adjudication had been
made in favour of the claimant, he had no power
to obtain redress from any legal tribunal, however
clear his case might be upon its merits. In 1852
a select committee was appointed of the House of
Lords to investigate the matter, and it reported
that it had been fully established that the Baron
was a British subject within the meaning of the
Treaty of 1814, that he was the bona fide owner of
property unduly confiscated by the French Go-
vernment, and that the rejection of the claims was
owing principally to a mistake of the commis-
sioners, which caused them prematurely to close
the inquiry, upon a ground altogether invalid,
whereby they excluded the full proof of the
claimant's case, the subsequent production of which
proof before the Royal Commission and the Court
of Queen's Bench led to the verdict in the claimant's
favour. The committee reported also that the
balance handed by the commissioners to the Trea-
sury amounted to £482,752, and that the value of
the property lost by the Baron, with interest there-
on to 1819, according to the provisions of the Con-
vention, was £364,266. They added that the case
was one of great hardship and injustice, and con-
cluded by recommending it to the favourable con-
sideration of the house. There, however, the
matter has rested until the recut
motionot in the
House of Commons for the publication e Lords'
report.

SURREY GARDENS.--A concert is to be given in
these attractive gardens this evening, when the principal
feature will be a selection of popular Irish melodies. In
order to give full effect to this novel idea, there will be a
chorus of 200 voices, in addition to the following vocalists :
Miss Parepa, Miss Poole, Mr. Wilbye Cooper, Mr. Santley,
and Mr. Sims Reeves—it being the last appearance of the
latter gentleman at these gardens.

by the prisoner to the unfortunate young woman,
and which are now forthcoming, it appeared that
Youngman had made use of unfounded representa-
tions to induce her to marry him, and to obtain the
consent of her friends to the union. In the first
place he represented that he had an independent
income of nearly £2OO a year—that he intended
taking a house for her at Brighton. It further ap-
peared, from his correspondence, that for some
weeks previous be had been strongly urging her
to allow him to insure her life for £lOO,
and on mentioning the fact to her father
and friends they so strongly advised her
not to do so, that she assured them she should
do no such thing, and they were in hopes that she
did not. In the last letter addressed by the prisoner
to Miss Streeter, he urged her to come to town, to
bring all the money she could with her, and to bon-
row from her friends ; and particularly stated that
there was no necessity for her getting the wedding
things made up, as these could be had in town. lie
also had the banns published at St. Martin-in-the-
Fields. On returning to town, Inspector Dunn, on
searching amongst the prisoner's papers, found the
policy of an insurance effected by him on the life of
Miss Mary Wells Streeter for £lOO, payable to him
on her death. The insurance was effected at the
Argus-office, Throgmorton-street, and the policy
was dated July 25th, just%ix days before the mur-
der. From subsequent inquiries it has been found
that at the General Quarter Sessions, held at Staf-
ford on March 8, 1859, the prisoner, \Vm. Godfrey
Youngman, had been tried and convicted of stealing
a quantity of plate belonging to his master, a Staf-
fordshire gentleman, and sentenced to 12 months'
hard labour. This imprisonment he served in the
county gaol, and was discharged in March last. He
then came to town, and procured a situation at Dr.
Duncan's, Henrietta-street, Covent-garden, by a
false character, or rather false representations, and
was discharged from there in the beginning of the
last month, whenhe renewed his acquaintance with
Miss Streeter. On Friday the body of the goor girl
was removed from Newington workhouse to Wad-
hurst, to be interred alongside the remains of her
sister, who died but a few weeks since of consump-
tion. The bodies of Mrs. Youngman and her two
sons are still at the workhouse in coffins, and will
be interred on Wednesday next. The prisoner, whe
is at Herscmonger-lane Gaol, persists in his former
statement, and that he had only killed his mother
in self-defence. He eats and drinks well, and does
_ I not exhibit the slightest aberration of intellect.
,ury

THE MAILS.

MAILS DUE.

Australia, Ceylon, and Mauritius (via South-
ampton) . • .. .. • . • • • • Aug. 10.
Do. (via Marseilles) Aug. 4.
Bahamas and Havana (via New York) .. :: Aug. r.
Canada, &c. (via Londonderry) .. • •
.. Aug.-ep. 1.
Cape o Good Hope, &c... .. • •
(via Marseilles) Overdue.
China, Penang, and Singapore (via S'ampto Overdue.
Do.
Gibraltar (via Southampton) Southampton).. • .. Overdue
Overdue.
India (Calcutta), Ceylon,
&e. (tea
Do. (via Marseilles) Overdue.
India (Bombay), (via Southampton) .. .. Aug. 10.
Do. (via Marseilles) .. .. Aug. 4.
Lisbon, Brazils, Buenos Ayres, &c. .. .. Aug. 5.
k andan Oporto t o • • .. .. Aug. 11.
(via Southampton) .. Overdue.
iiasibtoan, ,EVgligot:d A
o. (via Marseilles) .. Overdue.
United States, California, &c. .. .. .. Aug. 8.
Western Coast of Atrica, Madeira, Toneriffe .. Aug. 10.
Westradies and Pacific, Carthagena, Cuba, &c. Aug.lll3.

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_..,.

The following new class Acrew steam gunvessels,
to carry five Armstrong guns, have arrived at
Woolwich from the building-yard at Millwall, and
satisfactorily tested their machinery of 80 horse-
power each, on Saturday, at the measured mile, in
Long-reach—namely the Dart, the Mullet, the Lee,
and the Snipe.
The Government having decided on having the
whole the iron-plated steam floating batteries, now
in harbour at Chatham and elsewhere, put in a
state of thorough repair, and ready for immediate
service, operations have commenced on several of
that class of vessels at Chatham dockyard. The
laege floating battery Etna, 16 guns and 200-horse
power, has been taken into the second dock in order
to undergo a thorough repair, and to have any de-
fects made good. The floating battery Thunder,
14, 150-horse power, has undergone very extensive
repairs, and some of her timbers, which were found
to be rotten, made good. Her hull has also been
painted, and her • bottom coated with Peacock's
composition to prevent corrosion. This floating
battery having been completed, was undocked at
Chatham a few days since. The Thunderbolt, 16,
200 horse power, another of the floating batteries
at Chatham, will likewise be taken into dock, when
she will be thoroughly surveyed by the officers of
the dockyard, and any repairs required will be at
once effected. The Trusty, 14, 150-horse power,
one of the floating batteries experimented upon
with the Armstrong guns, is also to undergo any
repairs that may be required; and the floating bat-
teries Erebus, 16, 200-horse power, and Meteor, 14,
150-horse power, and the screw mortar-vessel Sea-
horse, 12, 200-horse power, will likewise be docked
and surveyed, in order to discover any defects in
them, with the view of their being made good. The
floating batteries will be fitted for service and
attached to the steam reserve in the Medway, in
readiness for immediate service upon any puts of
the coast.
The experimental practice from the Stork gun-
boat upon Jones's angular target, representing his
system of angulated ships' sides plated with iron
or steel, commenced at Portsmouth on Saturday,
under the superintendence of Capt. R. S. Hewlett,
C. 8., commanding her Majesty's ship Excellent,
the gunnery ship at the port. No person was
allowed to witness the practice unless in the pos-
session
of an Admiralty order to that effect,
and the only persons who were really
on board the Stork, with the exception
of those officially engaged, were the patentee,
Mr. Josiah Jones, of Liverpool, aad Capt. Cow-
per Coles, R.N., the inventor of the shot-proof
shield. The experiments on Mr. Jones's angulated
system are preliminary to others which will be
carried out to test Capt. Cowper Cole's system. Mr.
Jones is a practical iron and steel plate shipbuilder
in Liverpool, and in his yard here the target which
represents his system has been constructed at his
own expense, a very considerable sum, and under
his immediate supervision. It is stated that in
Capt, Cowper Cole's case the Government bear the
expense. Mr. Jones's. invention has for its object
the construction of ships of war which are required
to be shot-proof. To attain this object he proposes
the sides of ships should incline outwards from
below the water line until they rise to the water
line, and that from thence they should incline in-
wards at an angle of about 45 deg. This angle may
be altered as experience may suggest. It will be
seen that a vessel constructed on this plan will be
of considerably greater beam at the water line than
on the upper deck, and will be nearer in form to the
Spartiate and other ships of her class built by the
French many years back, than any modern crea-
tions. The target experimented upon on Saturday
represented the section of a ship's side constructed
on this principle. Its face measured 13 feet by
nearly 9 feet, and was covered with four armour
plates, placed side by side. No. 1 plate was of
41-inch soft steel ; No. 2 was of the same material,
but of 31-inch ; No. 3 and No, 4 plates were of
41-inch iron of two different manufactures. The
sectional portion of the target which supported the
plates in their position was of great strength, but
is stated to be of only half the actual strength
which would be given in constructing a vessel on
this plan, or as compared with the support given to
her plates by the teak sides of the Warrior. The
target was finally put together in Portsmouth
dockyard by Mr. Jones's workmen, and weighs
altogether nearly twenty tons. The old Arctic brig
Griper, which was ordered to be broken up,
was cut down to her main deck, and on it the
target was secured. On Saturday morning it was
taken up the harbour and moored alongside the
Sirius target ship, the Stork gunboat being also
moored head and stern at 200 yards' distance. Capt.
Hewlett arrived on board the Stork shortly before
high water, and the experimental firing soon
after commenced. The target had been painted
white, and each plate divided into eight equal com-
partments, making 32 in the whole, and numbered
round the margin. The Stork's aftermost 8-inch
smooth-bore gun webs the one used with solid 68-
pound shot and a charge of 161 b. of powder, calcu-
lated to penetrate uneer the same circumstances of
range, 8.7. c., 12ft. of ov,k. The first shot fired struck
the midship iron plats; abopt two thirds of the•way
doWn. The second, struck the same plate near its
centre., ,The third truck the junction of the two
iron plates in aline with the first shot. The fourth
was a miss-, as•faras. -the iron plates were concerned,
• itstrikiii:the'heavy balks of timber at the foot crf_
the target, and sending up a shower of -splinters..,
The fifth shot struck the upper portion" of the mid-
ship iron plate, th(s shot being shattered and por-
tions of its fragmuu is carrying away the frigate's
rail immeliately oN-er it. Nos. 6,7, S, and 9 all
struck parts of the, same plate, which had been hit
by former shots. 'There was an evident intention
to test the principle of the target to the very utmost,
seven out of the nine shots fired having been directed
upon one plate, at id four out of the seven being a
repetition of bloiffs on the same spot. The result
of this severe test, as far as the iron plates are con-
cerned, must be of the most satisfactory nature to
the patentee as proving the soundness of the prin-
cipleof his invention. The plates have been indented
to a certain extent, but in no place have they been
pierced or fractured by the shot. This is the true
principle of the target, and what is professed by the
patentee—to cauF,e the shot to glance off without
piercing or fracturing seriously the protecting plate.
The experiments upon that portion of the target
upon which are fixed the steel plates will commence
at 1 p.m. to-day. Saturday's trial is as yet the most
successful instance of the resistance of iron plates
to solid 68. pound shot at so short a range, and
affords a remarkalele contrast to the other trials
during the past woek on the targets affixed to the
broadside of the Sirius, which were easily pierced
from the same gun that has been used on this tar-
get, and at the same range.

The Supply screw storeship arrived at Spithead
on Saturday from the Miditerranean with returned
stores, and sailed again yesterday morning for
Woolwich.

The Pelican, new three-masted screw schooner,
arrived at Spithead y este•rday, under canvass, from
Pembroke. She will go into Portsmouth harbour
this morning, and be t akin into the basin to be fitted
with he machery, &e.
Mr. Cunningham's 'br ig yacht Alfred was placed
in the dockyard Camber • at Portsmouth on Satur-
day, to give the offices, 3 of the dockyard and the
ships in harbour an o
v pv ortunity of making them-
thseles Practically acquainted with the working of
e Cueniugha
The Excel't tin system of reefing from the deck.
three-d ecker, Capt. It. S. Hewlett,
C. 8., has conitan
enced rt acting alongside the dock-
yard at Portsmostsitthl,int .d will be ready in a short
time to be placed
ship at the.
wporet.
moorings in the harbour r
the gunnery
..si The Tribune, 31, sert.,
stripping alongside porils Capt. G. P. IT-
mouth dockyr Jrn bis
tory to paying of her eve w
and be- .rd y ,
, prepara-
commission. 4.
The Hornet, 17, serevr„ Come,4g put out of
is receiving her guns, &c.;., Lc
of the steam basin in Poi.*
The Plover, .5, ser

,ander Elphinstone,
.ongside the north wall
.smonth yard.

completed at Ctmtl" gun-vessel' havil4g be®n
am Dockyard, has been undoeked
and attached 'to
serve at th'
the seconti division of the steam re.
'
The r,dd, port,
" owbeel steamer ..dder, Mr. ;T. Minchin
•

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