Transcription
quantity of Arms purchased from the French / Government; the vessel was met with at sea on / the 19th Nov’r 1796 by one of His Majesty’s / [creirers?], and carried into port for trial. The / vessel was released as a neutral, but further / proof was required with regard to the neutral / character of the Arms; the proof produced / was not considered satisfactory by the / Court of Admiralty, and the cargo was / accordingly condemned. The claimants / appealed, and the Court of appeals, while / it allowed the cargo to be liberated on bond / required further proof to be adduced of / the purchase of the arms by the claimant, / and of his having paid for them, in order / to show that they were not destined for / bad purposes in iReland. From various / circumstances which occasioned a delay / in
[END OF PAGE 1]
In the production of the proofs required, the / cause did not come to a final [hearing] until / the month of February 1804 when the Court / of appeal declared the further proof insufficient / and decreed the restoration of the cargo upon / payment of the Captors expenses. The period / which elapsed from the capture of the vessel / on the 19th Nov 1796 to the liberation of the / cargo on the 22d February 1804, was somewhat / more than seven years. The claim now advanced / by Mr. Allen is for losses occasioned by the / length of the litigation, and for the unjury / alleged to heave been occasioned to his fathers / property by the legal proceedings in this / country. Thus after a lapse of nearly / twenty seven years since the sentence of / the
[END OF PAGE 1]
Court of appeal, the British Government is called / upon to reopen the case and to revise the / judgement of its own tribunal.
Objectionable as such a course / would be under any circumstances, the / Lords of His Majesty’s Treasury are of opinion / that it would be peculiarly so in the present / case. Without entering into all the statements / of the claimant, it may be affirmed that the / delay which has occurred in making the / present application, whatever may be the / explanations which have been given of it, / cannot but increase those objections which / would have been strongly felt even at / the time, to review the proceedings of the / Court of appeal. The original claimant / acquiesced in the decision of the Court / of
[END OF PAGE 2]
Of appeal, from Feb’y 1804 until his death in / 1814 and it remains to be shewn that during / the whole period from the year 1804 to the year / 1812 when Hostilities broke out, there was / any thing in the nature of the relations subsisting / between the two countries, which could prevent / the prosecution of any claim supposed to be / founded in Justice.
With regard to the period of / 16 years which has elapsed since the conclusion / of peace, the mere allegation that the present / claimant had not come to a proper knowledge / of his rights and did not possess means of / prosecuting them, can scarcely be looked / upon as sufficient to account for that part / of the delay, especially as no one allegation / in support of the original claim seems / now
[END OF PAGE 4]
now to be adduced, which had not been / produced at the date of the decree of 1804. / and which is not to be found in the printed / statement transmitted by Mr M. [Lowe?] of / the proceedings up to that time /
Upon these ground the Lords / Commissioners of His Majesty’s Treasury / decline to entertain the claim. With regard / to the allegation of loss occasioned by the / length of time occupied by the proceedings / in this country, their Lordships can hardly / consider that to be a ground upon which / any pecuniary allowance could be made / by the British Government. All persons seeking / redress from competent legal tribunals / such evidence as may be necessary for / the
[END OF PAGE 5]
The purpose of establishing their case, and / they cannot expect other parties to indemnify / them for any [inconvenience] or loss which may / arise from a delay created by their omitting / or failing to substantiate, by proper and / adequate proof, the facts of the case upon / which their claim may be founded
The Undersigned avails / himself of this opportunity to review to Mr / Washington Irving the assurances of his high / consideration
(signed) Palmerston
Foreign Office
Aug 17th 1831
Washington Irving Esq.
+c +c +cTranscriber
Kathryn AlexanderLanguage
English
