LORD MUSKERRY,who had given notice "Again to call attention to the case of the captain of the British steamer 'Antillian,' who was imprisoned under 166 circumstances of a degrading character by the Mexican authorities at Vera Cruz; to ask His Majesty's Government whether they now can give any further information as to their negotiations in this matter with the Mexican Government; and whether, owing to the representations of His Majesty's Government, there is now a probability of the claim for compensation lodged by the captain on behalf of his owners and himself being satisfactorily settled," said: My Lords, I only propose to trespass on your time to a very small extent in again calling your attention to the case of the captain of the British steamer "Antillian," and the claim for compensation lodged by the captain and his owners, in the first place, for personal degradation and injury to health to himself, and, in the second place, for satisfaction to his owners for the serious and unjustifiable detention of the steamer.
The noble Marquess the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs will be quite aware of the circumstances of the case; in fact, when I brought this matter before your Lordships last year, I was exceedingly gratified and obliged by the sympathetic way in which he had interested himself in the matter. To mention the circumstances briefly, the captain was ordered by his agents at Kingston to carry a number of labourers, with their effects, to Chencan on the Mexican coast. He was told that on arrival at this latter place there would be a Customs official and a doctor awaiting him. On arrival he found that this was not the case, and he therefore landed the labourers, with their effects, and proceeded on to Vera Cruz. He stated quite openly to the authorities what the nature and the circumstances of his passage had been. Great was his surprise four days after, and on the point of sailing, when the port authorities at Vera Cruz arrested him and confined him in the common gaol amongst criminals of the worst kind. Thanks to the splendid way in which the British Consul and the British Vice-Consul at Vera Cruz interested themselves on behalf of this British subject in adversity, and also to the action of Mr. Duff, the British Minister at Mexico, the captain was ultimately released on bail amounting to 3,000 167 dollars, and the steamer was permitted to leave under, I am informed, a bond of 20,000 dollars.
In reply to the representations of the Merchant Service Guild on the case, the Foreign Office stated that they were informed that the captain appeared to be in a state of complete nevous prostration in consequence of his treatment. I might also mention that he lost the command of his steamer for the time being, and undoubtedly suffered greatly in health for some time after. The noble Marquess on the last occasion was good enough to say that prima facie the captain's treatment was of a harsh and unjustifiable character, and that it was the duty of His Majesty's Government to pursue inquiries into the matter. Also that, to say the least of it, he had been subjected to very disagreeable and painful surroundings which occasioned him for a time a loss of health. The Court which tried the case acquitted the captain of criminal responsibility, and the noble Marquess stated that certain papers before him showed that Mr. Grant Duff spared no pains to convince the authorities that the captain had been guilty merely of an error of judgment, and that no crime could be imputed to him. Further, I was informed that the noble Marquess understood that the Board of Trade were of opinion that some claim for compensation existed. Personally, I feel that there is little probability of compensation being granted in such cases as these unless the claims are advanced in a very firm way.
The captain of the "Antillian" has undoubtedly had a lot of sympathy from our authorities, for which I judge he is duly thankful. At the same time both his owners and himself are, I feel perfectly sure, justified in considering that more than this is due to them. I should be greatly obliged to the noble Marquess for any further information on this case, and if he could give some definite assurarnce that compensation will be granted, it would be appreciated not only by those particularly concerned, but by our merchant captains generally, who often require to carry on the business of British ships in foreign ports under circumstances of the greatest difficulty, and who, I am sorry to say, in many 168 cases receive no assistance or sympathy from those to whom they rightly look for it—that is, our British representatives abroad.
*THE SECRETARY on STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (The Marquess of LANSDOWNE)My Lords, I am afraid I have not much to add to the statement I made on this subject last year. I will not to-night again recite the facts. They have been, I believe, correctly given to the House by the noble Lord behind me. The captain of the "Antillian" committed an irregularity in landing at a port which was not a port of entry and where there was no Customs House. He was tried and treated, I believe, with some harshness in a Mexican prison. I imagine Mexican prisons are not very agreeable places in which to pass even the three days which the captain of the "Antillian" had the misfortune to spend in this particular prison. The captain then and there wrote a letter to the Mexican authorities, intimating that he intended to claim £1,000 as compensation for himself and £3,000 in respect of the ship. After the question had been debated here we communicated with our Chargé D'Affairesin Mexico, and we learned from him that the owners of the "Antillian" intended to consider what action they should take after the verdict of the Court had been given. The verdict of the Court was given, and a fine of £100 imposed on the captain, but since that time we have heard nothing of any action on the part of the owners or of any intention of theirs to lodge a formal claim for compensation. In a case of this kind the usual course would be that the owners should formulate their claim and bring it before His Majesty's Government, whereupon His Majesty's Government would consider the particulars of the claim and whether it was of such a character as they could support. Those preliminaries have not taken place, and we have, therefore, not had in our possession any particulars of the claim sufficient to enable us to take it up diplomatically.
§ House adjourned at five minutes past Five o'clock, till Tomorrow, half-past Ten o'clock.