The Red Cloud chief., 1880-07-01

~ q snGc'of. o'c, That the sun Of s9lOD be.
ahn m san" - hcIcHy. appropriated, out Of
ANY money ~ ID" Treasury not otherwise sp-
prrprHaf'i. tor indemnity and rpmreusa,I.n
~i"Juiicl Lcci, widow. and the hcirso of Urury
49, Hc'"a~''i. =" tee paid t. them, or 20 their
fghi representative. i'm full for losses and
damage sustained hy The "a q Uenry + e.f In
bl@ Ii'flWE- ia C-su--surncp of the Illegal s.iZ-
nrs ~ u" tark Mary Teresa by Alexander N.
Bli,Zai.
This bin has a strange history and
points a useful moral. Let Us, for
convenience and greater clearness.
consider it 10y divisions.
first, the nature of the claim. In
1Si7, or t~hirty-two wears ago. Mr..
Henry Lccf. a shipping merchant Of
Haltimorr, bought the wreck Of a
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 forcign-built ships,
the hulk was of no Use IL any body. save
for tirewood or for sale i'm foreign mar
ketS. Mr.. Lcef. himself a Shipbuilder.
had the wreck repaired and retitted.
and then, after complying with what
legal formalilics were necessary, loaded
her with a cargoof flour and dispatched
her To Brazil under care If a super
cargo. who had authority 10 dispose of
the vessel and freight 10 the best adj
vantage. This was a very common
practice in those DAVIS. Merchants
would buy a foreign wreck, patch it
up, load it with ballast or with a cargo
and send il to the coasts OF South
America or Africa ~ a speculation.
Here they were not vcNcd by prohibit
tory Navigation laws. especially if. rs
was often the case. they drifted into
the slave tradc-a department of mari
time industry in which ships papers of
any sort were not insisted upon rs in
diSpcnSahly necessary.
Prosperous ~alcs waited the Mary
Teresa 10 ~Pcrnambuco. where she dis
charged a part of her cargo. and thence
10 Bahia. whore her troubles began
again. Ii has been said of some men
that it had been better they had never
been born. and similarly We may say of
the Mary Teresa; il would have been IN
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 raScaliiv, made what was
clearly. a. i admitted. an Illegal seiz-
IRE of the vessel. | shall not dwell on
the LEGAL aspects OF the ease, because ii
i unnecessary As Representative
Bealc. Of Virginia, remarked 10 me in
conversation about the claim. N jury
anywhere. and al any time during the
last thirty wears, would have given the
plaintiff damages. We will admit then,
If the reader plcascs. that the seizure
was Illegal and unwarranted. | shall
simply say that both the United States
Minister to Brazil and the Secretary of
the Treasury so understood il, and that
consequently in due time the vessel was
returned 10 Mr.. Leef.
This being So. the reader NAV bee
prompted 10 ask, a. Representative
Price did at this point in the debate.
What. then. constituteSlhe DAMAGE
This consisted in the loss consequent 10
"a forced sale of ship and cargo at an
out-of-jhe-way port, the wages of the
crew due To d~ctentions, etc, and he
LEGAL eNuenses-the whole amounting.
according To the original Statement. of
the claimant, To $4,000.
To speak in legal terms the Govern
meni j. not legally responsible for the
forts of It's officers. The law allows
il and the court awards 1t. aS Mr..
Smith. of Pennsylvania, Was exceedingly
anxious that the House of Representa-
lives should be instructed. Strictly,
therefore. the damaged man should
have pursued the Consul Of the United
States. Perhaps he did, and there is
no telling how far the pursuit has gone.
for both are dead long ago-but that Il
a~nticiuating another chapter. How
ever. for good and sufficient reasons
Mr.. Leef did not, legally, pursue Mr..
TYLER. the Consul. but applied, with
dae regard to time and form, TO Com
yress for relief. He appealed 10 the
grace. as il is called, or III other words
10 the honor of the Government.
II.
We will next see how this appeal was
met. and this. | may advise the reader
in advance. is a particularly interesting
chap-cr of the narrative
No fault could be or is found with
1.-THE diligence used by Mr.. Leef.'
His first appeal 10 Congress was on the
9th of july. 1913. within sixty DAYS
after the return of the vessel. and, in
the words of one of the Senate reports.
the claim has been reasonably pursued
ever since" The reader may coincide
In such a view when told that no less
than seven reports. all favorable, have
been made By committees to different
Congresses. As follows: January %.
1919. from Committee on Commerce,
recommending payment for full amount
claimed; February 20, 1880. the same
report from the same committee; in
1876 and in 1853 Il third and fourth
favorable report from the same commit
tee; in 1874 a bill reported from the
Committee on Claims recommending
the sar.e payment: on April %. 1873. a
unanimous report in favor of the settle
ment Of the claim upon principles of
Justice and equity" from the Committee
on Commerce. The seventh of the
series of favorable reports was made by
Mr.. Reale during the extra session from
the Committee on Commerce
Strange rs il NAV seem, perhaps. the
bill once came really near passing.
The widows memorial SAYS:
Toward the close OF the Fo-ty-hfth Con-
cress This bill. reported 10y Mr. Roberts from
rhe on was, after the
usual read ms, put on rs passage, out meet,
in. unfortunately, with objection from a
memher. VINO stated afterwa-d that he had
objected simply because be did not under,
sfani the case. II vas on thar occasion passed
over. and Is no proper opportunity offered
sesin during tn II Congress 70 urge is passage.
n consequently had TO lay over, as had hap
pened several times in past years. 20 another
Congress
Unfortunately. in 1860 Henry Leef
died. Death on his pale horse is a man
of affairs. He does not govern himself
by Cushing's Manual. He does not
entertain motions to debate, TO amend.
TO substitute, TO POSTPONE to a day fixed.
TO postpone indefinitely, to lay on the
table. to recommit, To discharge from
further consideration, to vote by d.
vision, by ~tellers, by yeas and nays, to
raise the question Of n quorum voting.
to reconsider and to lay that motion on
the table. No, Death is not a pariia-
an..rsnn heath dnnS Snrnaihinn. he