The 'Mistletoe' affair has ended in a kind of compromise.
The Admiralty have decided that when the Queen is on board the Alberta,' the attention of her Captain, Prince Leiningen, is un- avoidably taken up by attendance on her Majesty, and the actual responsibility must therefore rest with Captain Welch, who—not being a Prince—cannot be acquitted of blame. They therefore reprimand him, and offer sums in compensation to those injured, Mr. Heywood, in particular, receiving and accepting /3,000, for the destruction of his yacht. No compensation is, however, mentioned to the relatives of the young lady who was drowned. The affair may as well rest, and indeed, as Mr. Heywood is con- tent, must rest ; but it will leave an unpleasant impression that if the 'Alberta' had not been the Queen's yacht, her owners would have been liable for all the damage caused by the reckless speed at which she was driven across the Solent.
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