21775
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
C.O.885
Reference :-
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
14 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
1
SIR,
No. 225.
(SIERRA LEONE.)
LAW OFFICERS to COLONIAL OFFICE.
Royal Courts of Justice,
August 17, 1899.
We were honoured with your commands signified in Sir E. Wingfield's letter of the 2nd instant, stating that he was directed by you to submit for our consideration certain claims for compensation for losses incurred by various the recent insurrection in Sierra Leone.
persons in consequence of
That the claims hitherto presented for the consideration of Her Majesty's Govern- ment had been of two classes, namely: (a) claims for damage to person and property done by the insurgents, and (b) claims for damages to property done by officers in the Naval and Military service of Her Majesty in the course of the operations taken for the suppression of the insurrection. That, in both cases, claims for compensation had been made both by British subjects and by foreigners resident in Sierra Leone either in pursuance of missionary enterprise or for purposes of trade. That in all these cages Her Majesty's Government had hitherto declined to entertain the question of com- pensation.
That with the details of the former class of cases enumerated above, you did not think it necessary to trouble us, but in those cases in which property was destroyed by Her Majesty's officers engaged in the suppression of the insurrection it appeared necessary to draw our attention to the facts.
That the Palma Trading Company were possessed of a trading station at Manoh Salijah and another station at Sulymah. That the latter station was burnt by the insurgents who then advanced to attack in force the station at Manoh Salijah. That Captain Henderson, R.N., who was in command of H.M.S. "Fox," appeared to have come to the conclusion that it was impossible to defend this station with the force at his command, and that it was necessary to destroy it to prevent its falling into the hands of the rebels. That the buildings were accordingly set on fire by his orders and des- troyed. That Sir E. Wingfield was to enclose a copy of the report of Captain Hender- son of what took place on this occasion, and also a print of certain statutory declara- tions made by Mr. Lowry and Mr. Gordon, persons in the employ of the Palma Trad- ng Company, who were present when the destruction took place.
That the Compagnie Française de l'Afrique were owners of a station at Mokate, near to Manoh Salijah, which was exposed to the same danger of attack by the rebels as that of the Palma Trading Company at Manoh Salijah. That this factory was destroyed by shell fire from the "Fox" while in occupation of the rebels, who had seized it on the embarkation of the British sailors and refugces on board the "Fox." That it would be seen from the report of Captain Henderson above referred to, and from a statutory declaration of Mr. Schultz, the chief agent of the French Company at Mokate, that there was a disagreement between Her Majesty's officer and Mr. Schultz, as to whether the latter consented to the destruction of his factory, but it wa to be observed that as the factory when destroyed was in the occupation of the rebels, its destruction was apparently justifiable as a military operation in the course of the suppression of the insurrection.
That the matters submitted for our consideration appeared to you to involve the determination of the question how far and under what circumstances compensation was payable for the destruction of the property of private persons under military necessity.
That Sir E. Wingfield was to transmit to us a copy of a confidential memorandum prepared in 1896 by the Parliamentary Counsel with reference to the powers of Govern- ment in cases of emergency, and he was also to transmit prints of various reports of the Law Officers to the Foreign Office, together with a copy of a memorandum prepared in that department, from which latter document it would be seen that Her Majesty's Government had refused to compensate persons who under somewhat similar circum stances suffered losses during the bombardment of Zanzibar in 1896.
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