CO885-(11-13) — Page 588

8853.

No. 295.

(GRENADA.)

NEPERT

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

6]

SIR,

FOREIGN OFFICE to COLONIAL OFFICE.

Foreign Office, 24th May 1883.

I AM directed by Earl Granville to state to you that, on receipt of your letter of the 7th ultimo, his Lordship caused the papers relating to the British sloop "Mercy," which had been detained by the Venezuelan authorities, and for which compensation was sought by the owner of the vessel, to be referred to the Law Officers of the Crown, and their opinion was asked whether the circumstances of the case, as reported, afforded any grounds for preferring a claim for indemnity against the Venezuelan Government, on account of the loss to which Mr. Billy had been subjected through the action of the Venezuelan authorities.

2. I am now to request that you will inform Lord Derby that the Law Officers have reported that, in their opinion, no such grounds exist.

3. The vessel appears to have been detained pursuant to the judgment of a duly consti- tuted Court, though that judgment was afterwards in part reversed by a higher tribunal. There was, the Law Officers state, in the circumstances of the detention nothing so opposed to natural justice as to warrant diplomatic intervention.

4. The real remedy of Mr. Billy would seem to be by legal proceedings against the charterers of the vessel whose wrongful acts were the cause of the disastrous conse- quences which followed.

5. The original documents which accompanied your letter of the 20th April 1882 are returned herewith.

The Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office.

I am, &c., (Signed) PHILIP W. CURRIE.-

▲ 12916.-972. 95.-19/84.

CO.

Reference :-

885

12 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO