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authenticating not Seamen and Agents to relieve foreigners, - of British Vessels __ though wrecked in such Vessels, and
where granting such relief would either have to pay direct, i.e. without any Government intervention, or recover from the individuals relieved or the Government of the Country to which those individuals were subjects.
On these points my information was contradicted by the Gentlemen I saw at the Foreign Office, who also told me that relief given to Shipwrecked foreigners by British Authorities in this Country abroad would be deemed Charity, which the relieving party could not claim to recover. They were unable to recollect any instance of such a claim having been made in the Consular Department of the Foreign Office; nor could Mr. Conyngham, the Chief Clerk, recall any such instance, though he mentioned that a despatch from Bermuda, dated 2:101/1880, probably passed through some other Department of the Foreign Office.