The Republican journal., 1902-03-27
THE FRENCH SPOLIArION CLAIMS.

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Correspondence of The journal.
WASHINGTON, D. c., MARCH 26 In
the little four page pamphlets that
come up from the government printing
Office occasionally nowadays are
stories that read almost as strangely as
the best romances of the sea. They are
often of particular interest to residents
and sea faring men all along the Maine
coast, especially from Belfast up to
Kittery, for they are the stories of
schooners and barks that sailed away
from those ports, now more than 100
years ago, never to return. They car
ried cargoes of casks of sugar, hogs
heads of rum and bags of coffee on
their homeward voyage, and on the
voyage out the products of the State Of
Maine in those days. French priva-
teers swooped down upon them, carried
the vessels and cargoes away to
Demerara or herneighboring ports of
Gaudeloupe, where all was sold for what
ever it would bring,
These seizures are the basis for the
French spoliation claims, as nearly
every sailor along the coast of Maine
is we'll aware, but after a century of
waiting the heirs of the owners and
masters of these frail little craft, in
comparison with the monster merchant
men of today, will, before many months
roll 10y. receive full compensation for
the property of which their forbears
We're deprived. In the last month
or two fully half dozen of these
cases have been decided for Maine
Massachusetts, but many of them still
live in Maine. One of the cases. lately
decided, had Mr. Edward \. Dingley,
of Kalamazoo, Mich, son of the late
representative Dingley of Maine, rs all
administrator for certain OF the heirs.
The records in these cases have been
preserved through all the intervening
years, but up to a few years ago it was
impossible to ersuade the government
authorities t. take any cognizance of
them. a large number of the vessels
seized by theFrench privateers and
taken to the island of Guadeloupe
to be sold We're built along the Maine
coast. types Of the swift ships of those
days that gave Maine almost a world
wide reputation. particularly in the half
century that followed, during which
she became a state separate from
Massachusetts, But while the govern
ment is very slow III paying these claims,
it is also very exact in computing the
value of these little ships and their
cargoes Where now it takes hundreds
of thousands of dollars to build a
substantial ship to carry even an ordi-
nary cargo, the Maine built ships that
the French seized generally cost hardly
more than $4,000 Now the court of
claims computes the freight earnings
for the voyage, the value of the cargo,
and likewise the premiums paid for in
Surance.
Much of the insurance was written
in Portsmouth, or in Boston, and the
heirs OF the men who paid the insur-
had been taken, condemned and sold
are likewise to be recompensed. The
names are of sea faring men whose
families are to thus day prominent in
public affairs III the Pine Tree state
and in their own localities. One of the
last decisions for q Maine case was for
the schooner Friendship, whose master
was Samuel Moulton, a scion of a fam
lily that not only sent forth many hardy
mariners but likewise furnished Indian
fighters in Maine and New Hampshire
during colonial days.
AS fast as the Court Of Claims de-
cides the cases they are forwarded to
Congress, and already provision is being
made for appropriations to pay the
due. The sums are COMPARE
lively small, averaging something like
s., 600 and, if the government paid in
terest, would amount to very large
sums, figuring interest for a century.
But unfortunately for the claimants
the government does not pay interest
and the claimants get only the amount
of money that has in a sense been
lying idle since the days when the
French preyed upon the commerce of
the young Republic.
The River and Harbor bill, which the
House has just passed, authorized pre-
liminary examinations and SURVEYS of
several harbors along the Maine coast
which hitherto have not received any
These are Isle au Haut |
between Isle au Haut |
and kimbalrs Island, with view to
obtaining channel u feet deep and 80
feet wide: York IIarbor: Damariscotta
River to bridge at Damariscotta, with
a view to obtain a depth of II feet;
New Harbor, and Medomac River to
the head of navigation.
The petitions for rural free delivery
in the Third Congressional District
TO