The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-05-09 00:00:00

FRIDAY

THE QUEEN V. T. COOPER AND G. RICHARDS

These two defendants appeared on the floor of the Court
to receive judgment on a conviction for having been guilty of
conspiracy and seditious practices. Both defended in per-
son, and tendered affidavits in mitigation of punishment, and
addressed the Court at great length.
The sentence was, that Cooper should be imprisoned in the
gaol of Stafford for the term of two years ; and Richards to
be imprisoned in the same gaol for the term of one year; the
difference made being on account of the advanced age of
Richards, and the imprisonment be had already undergone.

ADMIRALTY COURT-FRIDAY, MAY 5

THE ST. PETERSBURGH.-SALVAGE

The vessel in this case was an American ship of 814 tons,
with a cargo of cotton, from New Orleans to Liverpool,
which, on the 13th of January, during very violent weather,
off the mouth of the Mersey, in the neighbourhood of the
Mad-wharf (a dangerous bank,) and the Formby-bank, in
the passage of the Crosby-channel, got into a very perilous
position. She had lost all her masts and her rudder; she
had six feet water in her hold, the leak was gaining, and the
vessel was filling fast; and the master was meditating run-
ning her upon the beach, to save the cargo and their lives.
In expectation of some accident occurring through the state
of the weather, the Liverpool Steam-Tug Company had
despatched one of their steamers (the Albert) and a life-boat,
which, upon receiving intelligence of the distress of the St.
Petersburgh, proceeded to her assistance. In towing her
into Crosby-channel, the steamer's power could not prevent
the water-logged vessel from getting upon the Jordan flats.
The Albert proceeded to Liverpool and procured the co-ope-
ration of another of the company's steamers (the Victoria,)
and by their joint assistance the American ship was brought
into the port of Liverpool. The value of the ship and cargo
was about £20,000. A tender of £lOOO had been made and
refused.

The Queen's Advocate and Dr. Addams, for the salvors,
argued that the sum offered was inadequate; that the ♦essel
was almost a derelect, and that life as well as property had
been saved by the steam-vessels and life-boat.

Dr. Haggard and Dr. Curteis, for the owners, admitted
that the vessel was in want of assistance, for which the owners
were ready to pay, and they had offered a 20th part of the

property.
Dr. Lushington, in delivering judgment, said—The main
facts set forth in the act on petition on behalf of the salvers,
and amply supported by their affidavits, have scarcely any
one been denied in the answer made on the part of the
owners. The facts being admitted, the defence resorted to
by the owners is, that if the assistance had never been ren-
dered at all, but the vessel had been allowed to follow her
own course, she would have come into a place of safety—a
place of so great safety, that she might have been brought
up to Liverpool, together with the cargo, at comparatively a
trifling expense. I must first briefly consider the facts upon
which the claim of salvage is founded, and afterwards whe-
ther the defence, as set up on the part of the owners, is so
well founded as to take from the merits of the salvors, and
to cause me to pronounce for the tender in question. It will
not be necessary, in this investigation, to enter minutely into
all the circumstances so amply detailed in these proceedings,
for the reasons to which I have already adverted, viz., that
the main and most material facts are not contradicted on the
part of the owners. It is sufficient, then, to say, that in
consequence of a storm which took place on the night of the
13th January, this vessel was reduced to a situation of very
great distress, and no doubt, at one period during that night,
was in the most imminent danger; because, in the protest
itself, it is admitted that the vessel struck about half-past
three, a.m., in about five or six fathom of water, and conti-
nued to strike very hard. Fearing she would go to pieces,
they cleared away their longboat to try to save their lives,
and to lighten her they stove their water-casks and so forth.
They found, at five in the morning, that the vessel had then
7 feet water in the hold. She had previously lost all her
masts, her rudder was gone, and she had lost two anchors
and cables, though she had a kedge anchor and a cable still
left. At five they hoisted signals of distress, the life-boat
being in sight; and finding the ship filling fast, and the life-
boat not approaching them at that period, they fitted up a
jury foremast, got a hawser from the starboard quarter to
the starboard chain cable to pay her off, slipped the chains,
hoisted a sail on jury mast, and, when she fell before the
wind, they cut the hawser with the intention of running her
on the beach, to save the cargo and their lives. Now this,
according to the description given by the master and crew,
was the state and condition of this vessel during the morning
of the 14th, and up to the period which I must now more
particularly notice, when the salvors came to their assistance.
I cannot help here referring with great admiration to the
regulations which seem to have been prescribed for the ma-
nagement of these steam-vessels, together with the life-boat.
For it is exceedingly praiseworthy that orders should have
been issued by the company, that, in all cases whatever, so
great a preference should be given to the saving of life over
the preservation of property ; and furthermore, that where
assistance could be rendered to vessels of another descrip-
tion,they were to proceed to the cases most difficult, and in
their great power and efficiency might effect the pre-
waehrvicahtion of life and property. The storm having been ex-
pected on the night of the 13th, preparations were made
for a steamer to proceed to sea, in the expectation or
conviction that the assistance of such vessel would be
rendered necessary. The Albert accordingly, accompanied
by the life-boat, proceeded on the morning of the 14th, and
after the occurrence of certain circumstances, which it is not
necessary to particularise ; with respect to the other vessel
she went on till she discovered this vessel, the St. Petersburgh,
in the condition already described. Now, it is not an unim-
portant circumstance that the signal of distress was flying at
this very time; it is distinctly so sworn in the affidavit of the
salvors, and it is not alleged on the part of the owners that
it was at any time taken down. The Albert having approached
the vessel without any hesitation whatever, as it would appear,
the assistance which was proferred was accepted ; she took
the vessel in tow and proceeded with her towards Liverpool,
but owing to the very great weight of the vessel—she at that
time had many feet of water in her, though the precise
quantity does not very distinctly appear, furthermore than as
1 have already stated ; she had seven feet in her at five o'clock,
and that the master and crew state that the vessel was fast
filling, and consequently there must have been much more
water at nine or ten o'clock in the morning. At half-past
eleven she struck heavily on Jordan's Flat, and the tide then
ebbing it was impossible she could be got off. It is said this
arose from a deficiency of strength on the part of the Albert.
In one sense it may be true. The Albert might not have
been of sufficient power alone to have effected the salvage of
this vessel; but it is also to be taken into consideration that
such was the size of the vessel—such was her disabled con-
dition--such was the quantity of water in her—that it was
not reasonable, I think, to be expected that any one vessel
could have been perfectly competent to the task. The only
possible effect such a circumstance would have upon my mind
would be, that I should not give precisely the same rate of
salvage to salvors, however deserving, who are not perfectly
capable at once to effect the object they have in view. She
remained upon this sand till the afternoon. With regard to the
circumstances that occurred as to the crew quitting the ship,
as to their getting on board the life-boat and being conveyed
o the port of Liverpool, I am of opinion that they have
important bearing on the case ; because, assuming
nit the vessel for fear of their lives—assuming that

tolea true representation of the state of the case,' that
leaving the vessel did not arise from any thing that occurred
to the persons on board the life-boat—it never can be sup-
posed that there was an intention of utterly abandoning the
ship and cargo. It is only Upon the ground of an utter
abandonment of a ship and cargo that a derelict should be
said perfectly to take place. The Albert proceeds to Liver-

pool, and In the afternoon the Victoria came to the assistance
of the St. Petersburg, and it is represented—and really for

anything that I see-to the contrary in the proceedings, I
think truly represented—that with great energy and with
great exertion, with considerable risk to the damage of the
steamers themselves, the vessel was piloted into a port of
safety in the neighbourhood of Liverpool. Looking at the
value of the ship and cargo, and looking at the exertions
made, I should have in the first instance to determine, if the
case rested here, whether the tender of £l,OOO was a sufficient
tender with reference, as I have said, to the degree of dis-
tress, the merit of the assistance, and the value of the pro-
perty saved. If the case rested here, I should have very
little or no hesitation in saying that the tender was insuf-
ficient; because I think the property was in the greatest
possible peril—because I think the assistance afforded was
most meritorious—because I am of opinion, that when such
a pbwer as that possessed by steamers is called into exer-
tion, to render services which no other vessel could ren-
der, they are entitled to very high salvage reward. But
it now becomes my duty to pronounce my opinion upon
the defence set up ; and with regard to that defence,
I must confess, I think the court has been left in
more difficulty than it ought to have been ; because, it
having been distincly affirmed in the defence, that if this
vessel had been permitted to be beached, she would have
been in a state of safety, both as to the lives of those on
board and the cargo. Issue having been directly taken on
that point, on the part of the salvors, there is not one atom
of evidence to support the statement. I am, therefore, left
in a painful situation in considering the effect of the evidence ;
upon the other side that evidence is equally unsatisfactory to
my mind, for what is the nature of the evidence to support
the averment? Beyond all question, those who admit ser-
vices, and set up a defence of this description, are bound by
the strongest and clearest affirmative evidence to satisfy my
mind that that defence is founded in fact. Now, the evi-
dence that I have consists in certain persons swearing, with-
out assigning any reason or cause whatever, that this vessel,
if beached, would have been in a situation of comparative
safety. But how could she have been so beached,—what
would
tphaer t ot
state
t tehaeucoastcondition would
ohfave that b been
beachs on which
e lec te d A
come, and what were the circumstances that would have
shset o wuldathwas
worked this miraculous preservation, the court is left totally
in the dark. The court is not satisfied with any part of this
case ; in the first place that this vessel could have been
beached in one particular direction ; for, looking to the cir-
cumstances in which she was placed, having nothing but a
jurymast, almost waterlogged, without rudder, anchor, or
cable, the wind, although moderate, yet the weather not
altogether moderated, any change of wind, any unfore-
seen circumstances which arose would, in my opinion, in all
human probability have prevented her being beached
in a convenient situation. It might have utterly pre-
vented the vessel being beached at all, and I am not
satisfied that she could have been beached in the most con-
venient situation—nay, there is not one fact or circumstance
set forth in any one of the affidavits to satisfy my mind that,
if beached, she would have been in a state of safety. It will
not do in this or other courts for parties to produce positive
affidavits swearing the things will be so, without stating the
circumstances rendering it probable. The court must have
the means of judging for itself, and cannot take it for granted
merely upon the strength of the asseverations with which it
may be affirmed. I feel, therefore, in much uncertainty as
to both ; but, then, there comes another consideration into
this part of the case. If all this is, as now stated, on the part
of the owners, I am utterly at a loss to understand how it
comes to pass that the assistance of the steamers was so
readily accepted, and that the signal for assistance still con-
tinued to fly. I have been told that there was no danger to
the lives of the parties, because if the vessel had got on the
Formby Bank, the life-boat might have gone out with perfect
facility, and have rendered any assistance that was necesssary.
But it so happens that not only is that not stated on the part
of the owners, but the negative is stated by Eccles himself ;
for, he says, that at the time he approached her no life-boat,
from Formby Point or elsewhere, could have come out
to her assistance. But I must again ask the question, if
there was this entire confidence reasonably to be enter-
tained that by prosecuting their original intention of
beaching the vessel. at some expense, the lives of the crew
might have been saved? Why was it no mention was made
of it at the time ? At any rate this is abundantly clear, that
compared with the safety which beaching the vessel would
have procured, according to the statement on the part of the
owners, they consider the acceptance of the steamer infi-
nitely the preferable course, therefore according to the cir-
cumstances under which they formed a judgment at that
time, they could not by possibility have entertained that con-
fidence of prosecuting their course, and beaching the vessel,
which they now state they verily do believe to have been the
case. Then, looking at all these circumstances with regard
to this defence, I feel myself bound to come to this conclu-
sion, though I have arrived at it with more difficulties to en-
counter than ought to have been experienced, that the affir-
mative is not made out. Whether she could have been
beached or no is a matter of extreme uncertainty ; and whe-
ther the ship and cargo could have been preserved is involved
in contingencies, the probability of which it is impossible for
the court to estimate. I am, therefore, of opinion that the
defence fails ; I think the tender insufficient, and I shall add
another £l,OOO.

It is said that his Excellency the Earl de Grey, Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland, has directed a supersedeas to issue
against eleven magistrates in Ireland who have taken part in
the repeal agitation.

YORK CASTLE,—Within less than six weeks from the
termination of the late Yorkshire assizes there were no
fewer than 46 prisoners in custody for trial at the ensuing

assizes

JOSHUA JACOB.—A communication has, we understand,
been addressed to the Lord Chancellor, signed by five female
White Quakers, calling for the liberation from imprisonment
of " the Lord's annointed," Joshua Jacob. His lordship,
of course, declined to accede to the application.—Dublin
Paper-

LINCOLN'S INN, MAY 4.—The following gentlemen were
this day called to the degree of Barrister-at-Law by the Ho-
nourable Society of Lincoln's-inn, viz. :—John Thos. Betts,
jun., Esq., John Edmund Birmingham Curtis, Esq., Geo.
Miller, Esq., Pierre Laterriere, Esq., Leofric Temple, Esq.,
Charles Price Green, Esq., Louis Petit, Esq., and Walter
Grant James M`Grigor, Esq.
THE TAXES.—It is now pretty well ascertained that an
alteration in the assessed taxes is contemplated. The window
duty, it is expected, will undergo alteration. Lay hold of
those gentlemen who have set up " Tom and Jerry " gigs,
with their names, &c., upon them. As returns are already
making of assed taxes for the- present, year, . any alteration
which may be made will not, we expect, take effect until next
April..—London paper. . .
The Liverpool Times has put into circulation a very foolish
statement, to the effect that it is doubtful whether Sir
Augustus D'Este is not the next lawful heir to the throne of
Ireland after the descendants of the late Duke of Kent and
the present King of Hanover. The writer seems not to have
been aware, that by the act of union the English and Irish
crowns are indissolubly united, and that they cannot be
separately enjoyed by two distinct persons. That being so,
unless Sir A. D'Este has some claim to the soverignty of
England, he can have none to that of Ireland.—Leeds paper.
QUESTIONING PRISONERS.—Mr. Justice Coleridge last
week made the following remarks in reference to the conduct
of a policeman who had put some questions to a person in
his custody :—" An officer ought not to presume to question
any party in custody, even though, as in that case, he first
told him he need not answer unless he choose, and that if he
did should use his answer in evidence against him. Neither
a juror, nor even a judge, had a ►ight to put a single question
to any accused person, as to a portion or circumstance of his
life; and most undoubtedly a prisoner ought not to be ques-
tioned by the constable who had him in charge. If the pri-
soner chose voluntarily to make a statement, it was the duty of
the officer to listen to it ; if the prisoner began a conversa-
tion, he did, to a certain degree, invite questions, and could
not perhaps complain if they were put, but they ought never
to be originated by any officer of justice to any accused per-
son whatever."

PROPERTY TAX DEDUCTIONS.-Th.ose persons who have
proved their exemptions from property tax for the past year,
on account of their income not amounting to £l5O per
annum, will, by direction of the Lords of the Treasury, be
allowed to receive their dividends for the present year free of
any deduction, provided the stock belonging to them remains
in every respect the same as when the deduction for the tax
was made for the last year. When any alteration has been
made in the amount since the former deduction the parties
entitled thereto will be paid their dividends, in full, provided
their income has not increased to £l5O per annum, if,on or
before the 27th of May they send to the office of Stamps and
Taxes a statement of the amount and description of the
stock in respect of which the exemption was allowed to them
last year, and also a statement of the amount and description
of the stock now held by them ; all such particulars to be
stated on a form which may be obtained from the surveyor of
the district in whi,ch they reside.
COMMISSION OF LUNACY; SINGULAR EFFECT OF TRUN-
DER.-A commission of lunacy was opened on Tuesday, at
the Bridge-house Hotel, London-bridge, before Mr. Com-
missioner Winslow and a jury of sixteen gentlemen, to in-
quire into the state of mind of Mrs. Sarah Bird, a widow,
aged 76, formerly of Lincoln's-inn, but now residing in
George-street, Blackfriars-road, and possessed of consider-
able property. Mr. Dean, of the Chancery bar, appeared
in support of the commission. It appeared that Mrs. Bird
was the widow of a person who formerly carried on business
as tavern-keeper in the neighbourhood of Lincoln's-Inn.
Since her husband's death, and for the last nine years, she
had been living on the interest of her property in the funds
and residing in George-street, Blackfriars-road. For six
or seven years, although her mind was not strong, she had
been perfectly able to manage herself and property; but a
dreadful thunderstorm, which occurred on Christmas-day,
1840, had so affected her mind as to render her perfectly
imbecile. She was introduced. She entered the room with
a light and active step. In answer to the learned Commis-
sioner's question, she said (clapping her hands) " I know the
object of this inquiry : I am quite able to take care of myself
and my property. lam not advanced in life. Some black.
guards have been talking about me, and I should like to
catch them. This year is 1839, and the month is August."
She then rose and addressed some rambling observations to
the jury. In answer to further questions, she replied, " I
won't tell you (the Commissioner) nor the jury how much
money I have got, and I shall not say where it is. I worked
hard for it, and (striking the table vehemently) no one has
any business to ask me such questions. As for the Lord
Chancellor, only let him come arid see me cook a dinner.
Good God what a fool he must be to allow himself to be
imposed upon. (To the Commissioner.)-I do wash, dress
and undress myself, and I don't sleep in my clothes-and if
you will call upon me I will show you. 1 only wish I knew
the blackguards who have been talking about me." The
jury immediately returned a verdict, dating the unsoundness
of mind from March 1, 1841.
SHEFFIELD OLD BANK.-At the' Leeds District Court of
Bankruptcy, on the 3rd instant, a meeting of the creditors of
Parker, Shore, and Co. was held. The balance sheet, which
amounted to upwards of 150 folios, was produced, and the
following is a summary. On the debtor side :-January 16,
1843,1 edger accounts, £324,806 18s. Bd. ; deposit accounts-
principal, £155,465 15s. 9d. ; interest, £3,993 2s. 6d.-making
the total due on deposit accounts, £159,458 IBs. 3d. Notes
in circulation, £46,581. To Rogers and Co., London bankers,
£9,881 3s. ; making the total of debts owing amount to
£540,727 178.2 d. The liabilities are stated at £151,810 9s. 9d.
on each side of the account. The profits of the business in
each year are stated to have been as follows :-1835,
£5.020 4s. 10d.; 1836, £6,964 15s 10d • 1837, £8,765 14s lid;
1838, £4,841 2s. 4d. ; 1839, £6,461 ss. dd. ; 1840, £6,552 5s 8d ;
1841, £6,739 Bs. Bd.; 1842, £4,704195. Bd.; 1843, £795 6s 10;
total profits £50,809 4s. 3d. Capital on the Ist of January,
1835, being the balance of assets and liabilities appearing in
the private ledger to be in favour of the bank at that date,
bring the commencement of the partnership of the bankrupts,
£76,338 16s. Id. Balance unaccounted for, £2.601 13s. 10d.
The total on the debit side of the balance sheet amounts to
£822,288 Is. Id. Besides the abovementioned sum set down
as capital, there is a memorandum at the foot of the balance
sheet stating that the bank had the use of the following
sums :-Brought into account of Samuel Shore, £84,809 15s. ;
to account of Hugh Parker, £16,294 4s. 7d. ; to account of
Offley Shore, £18,2:0: total, £119,803 19s. 7d. On the
credit side of the balance sheet we find-" Interest on de-
posit accounts, debtor side added to principal upon the
amount proved, and which interest appears under liabilities,"
£3,993 2s. 6d. The debts due to the bankrupts are stated to
be-good, £290,705 is. 4d. ; bad, £165,889 15s. 4d. ; doubt-
ful, t,oatrael
areas before
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