Osage Valley banner. (Tuscumbia, Miller County, Mo.) 1879-1881, 1880-06-17
n. r., NO. 1893.

\ Rsmnnre Of the Private Caiendar-A
BH that Has Been Before Congress foe
'rAsrty-sae Years-'The Legislative Life
and Adventures % the Bark Mary Teresa.
Or the 18th Of December, 1879, the
House of Representatives passed the
following private bill;
Re q enacted, s,c., That tho sum Of $4,000 be,
and the same is hereby, appropriated. out OF
any moneys ia tho Treasury not otherwise APP
pruprla,cd, for indemnity and compensation
90 Juliet Leef, widow, and the heirs OF Henry
Lecf dcceaSed, TO be prid 10 them or To their
legal representative, IN fu for losses aud
dnmagtA sustained by the sad Henry Leef In
his lifeiimc W conseQuenoeof the Illegal ses-
urc OF the bark Mary Teresa by Alexander II.
Tyler, Consul Of the United States ot Bahia,
Brazil.
This bill has strange history and
points q useful moral. Let us, for
convenience and greater clearness,
consider it by divisions,
First, the nature of the claim. In
lS47, or thirty-two years ago, MIR.
Henry Leef, shipping merchant OF
Baltimore, bought the wreck Of n
French bark, the Mary Teresa. which
had been lost on the coasts Of Chesa-
peake Bay. Under our Navigation
laws, prohibiting the giving of an
American registry to foreign built ships.
the hulk was of no use 70 anybody. save
for tirewood or for sale In foreign mar
kets. Mr. Leef, himself shipbuilder
had the wreck repaired and refitted,
and then, after complying with what
legal formalities were necessary, loaded
her with of flour and dispatched
her 10 Brazil under care OF super
cargo, who had authority TO dispose OF
the vessel and freight TO the best adj
vantage. This was q very common
practice in those days. Merchants
would buy foreign wreck, patch it
up, load Il with ballast or with cargo
and send II TO the coasts of South
America or Africa as q speculation.
Here they were not vexed by prohibit
tory Navigation laws, especially If, as
WAS often the case, they drifted into
the slave trade--a department of mari
tune industry in which ships papers OF
any sort were not insisted upon rs in
dispensably necessary.
Prosperous gales waited the Mary
Teresa to Pernambuco, whore she dis
charged part of her cargo, and thence
TO Bahia, where her troubles began
again. 1t has been said of some men
that il had been better they had never
been born, and similarly we may say OF
the Mary Teresa; il would have been an
advantage TO all concerned had she
been quietly allowed to rot on the
beaches of the Chesapeake. At Bahia
the United States Consul, either through
stupidity or rascality. made what was
clearly, as is admitted, an illegal seiz'
ure of the vessel. shall not dwell foI
the legal aspects of the case, because Il
is unnecessary As Representative
Beale, Of Virginia, remarked TO me II
conversation about the claim, any jury
anywhere, and at any time during tbs
last thirty years, would have given The
plaintiff damages. We win admit then
il the reader pleases, that the seizure
was illegal and unwarranted. | shall
simply say that both the United Statel
Minister to Brazil aud the Secretary o
the Treasury so understood it, and tha
consequently in due time the vessel wa
returned to Mr., Leef.
This being so, the reader may b.
prompted to ask, as RepresentatiV,
Price did at this point in the debate
What, then. constitutes the damageP'
This consisted in the loss consequent Il
forced sale of ship and cargo al. N
out-of-the-way port, the wages Of th,
crew due to detentions, etc, and IN
according to the original statements o
the claimant, to $3S,000,
To speak in legal terms the Govern
ment is not legally responsible for, tn
torts Of its officers. 1.-The law allow
it and the court awards it,v as Mi
Smith, of Pennsylvania, was exceedingl
anxious that the House Of Represents
tives should be instructed. Strictly
therefore, the damaged man shoul
have pursued the Consul OF the Unite
States. Perhaps he did, and there
no telling how far the pursuit has gone
for both are dead long ago but that
anticipating another chapter How
ever for good and sufficient reason
Mr.. Isbef did not, legally, pursue Nj
1ylei. tile Consul, b'It applied, wit
due regard 10 time and form, 10 Cor
grcss tor relief lie appealed 20 th
grace, as Il is called. or ia other wore
3 tothe homer oi she Goyernmentr