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1084 Cfre g, fii&fr, ts»«nuuY,
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T H E BOARD O F CUSTOMS AND T HE D OC K ...
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ADDRESS FROM THE PEACE SOCIETY. The Peac...
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ST. ALBAN'S COMMISSION. The revelations ...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The City Masquerade. Masquerading Is Dec...
corder Stuart Wortley , and be sworn in by the Barons of the Court of Exchequer . And this latter performance having been satisfactorily gone through by the said Barons , the procession " took the water " again at Westminster , landed at Blackfriars , and proceeded to Guildhall . In the evening there was a gorgeous City feast , honoured by the presence of Lord John Russell and Sir Charles Wood , and signalized by the absence of all the foreign Ministers . ( Where was Mr . Abbott
Lawrence ?) The usual toasts were drunk . Lord John , Russell responded to " Her Majesty ' s Ministers . " He eulogized everybody he mentioned , from that Lord Mayor who assassinated Wat Tyler up to the present Lord Mayor ; and laying down the " peace policy" as the keystone of the policy of the Cabinet . Of course there was a deal of eating and drinking done at Guildhall , much gas consumed in illuminations , and many speeches , more or less distant from what should be said , made after dinner . And so ended the City Masquerade .
1084 Cfre G, Fii&Fr, Ts»«Nuuy,
1084 Cfre g , fii & fr , ts »« nuuY
T H E Board O F Customs And T He D Oc K ...
T H E BOARD O F CUSTOMS AND T HE D OC K COMPAN Y . Greatly to the astonishment of all persons interested in commerce , the London Dock Company have surrendered to the Treasury and knuckled down to the Board of Cusloms . A correspondence has been published between the parties . The Dock Company , on the 29 th of October , applied to the Customs for information as to whether the latter intended to proceed with the pending suits , at the same time admitting that " in respect of some of the goods under seizure there have existed legal grounds for making such seizure , " " on the score of irregularity , " they solicit the Board of Customs to direct that the goods under seizure may be released .
Whereupon an answer , dated November 1 , is received from the Custom-house inclosing a letter dated " Treasury Chambers , November 1 , " and signed . " C . E . Trevelyan , " containing an order for the release , upon certain conditions , so hard and arrogantly expressed , that as specimens of Treasury literature they deserve reprinting : —• " My lords have no reason to doubt that all the goods in question were properly placed under detention , and that in most cases they might be prosecuted to condemnation ; but the object of these proceedings was not for this purpose , or to inflict any penalties on the Dock Company , but to put a stop to those irregularities of the servants of the company in the conduct of their business , ¦ which were at direct variance with the provisions of the law , and calculated to afford facilities for fraud , and to
endanger the revenue . My lords are aware that , by the proceedings which were necessary for this purpose , heavy expenses have born already incurred by the partii s . My lords are glrxd to find that the admission of the directors of the London Dock Company , in their . secretary's letter , leaves the ri # ht of the Crown to make seizures under such and similar circumstances without question , and they are willing to infer from the expression on the part , of 1 he directors of their hope that confidence and harmony may be restored between the Board of Customs and the Dock Company , and of the determination of the company to leave nothing undone for this purpose , that the company will cooperate with the Commissioners of Customs to establish such regulations for the future as may prevent a recurrence of the irregularities which have led to the present proceedings .
" My lords , on these considerations , concur with you in opinion that the objects which you have had in view will have been sufficiently attained without proceeding further to the legal condemnation of the goods , and are pleased , therefore , to sanction the release of the goods from detention , upon payment of a fine of £ 100 , in order to mark the irregularities which have taken place ; and upon the further condition that all the goods under seizure ; shall without delay he recorded in . the Crown ' s ImjoIih for the security of the duties thereon , and the due observance of ihe regulations affecting the same , for which purpose the Dock Company may be permitted to pass the necessary entries . "
To thin epistle the Dock Company on the 4 th , returned ii reply which opens with an expression of the Burprifu ; they felt on reading the above , but staling also , that they . see no good in opening up a renewed discussion thereon . "They limit themselves , therefore , in saying that , ¦ without concurring in the slightest decree in the validity of the remarks contained in the aforesaid letter of the ( Secretary of the Treasury , wherein a juHlification is nought to be advanced for the legal proceedings which have Ixrn taken against this company , wholly repudiating the imputation that it wan needful to have recourse to such proceedings , in order to correct any irregularities which might have occurred on the pint of at the docks
the company's servants , in the correction of which the company had a common , and even a deeper interest , than the Crown " . Affirming , moreover , that the whole amount of these irregularities , compared with the amount of business tranwioted in the iIoc . Uh , has been utterly insignificant . Protesting againut the extreme injustice of having a money line , however unimportant in ' amount , added to the grievances which the company has uheady had most unmeriUdly to encounter , and finally expressing their conviction , founded on tlie highest , legal advice , and supported by the verdict in the Court of Kxehequer , that mo far from all the goods having been ' properly placed under detention , ' it would have been in the power of this company to havo established verdicts against the oflloera
of the Customs in respect to many of these seizures , they have directed the sum of £ 100 to be paid , in order to relieve the officers of the company from the harass of further interruption in the discharge of their duties , and the funds of the company from further dilapidation in a contest conducted on such unequal terms in respect of costs . " This is as singular an instance of an anti-climax as it is of " a powerful company backed by strong legal opinion , judicial opinion , public opinion , and the verdict of an eleven days' trial flinching at the last moment , and striking their flag to the Government . The question involved has yet to be contested . It is very ignominious to protest and repudiate so valiently , and then " direct the £ 100 to be paid " !
Address From The Peace Society. The Peac...
ADDRESS FROM THE PEACE SOCIETY . The Peace Society have issued the following address : — Dear Friends , —There are conjunctures in the history of every great moral reform , which requite special vigilance on the part of its friends , lest they should be insensibly led into compromising their principles and betraying their trust . These times of peril are not when their cause is violently assailed with abuse and ridicule , for it is the impulse of all conscientious and earnest minds to cleave the more tenaciously to their convictions when they are made the obiects of unjust aspersion and scorn . But the
chief danger is when the temptation approaches them on the side of those ardent and generous sympathies of their own nature which have so much power to beguile the understanding and mislead the judgment . Perhaps there is some reason to apprehend that through sxich a season of trial the friends of peace are now being called to pass . A distinguished foreigner , whose name is associated with the aspirations and struggles of a brave and ancient people for the maintenance of their liberty and independence , has recently appeared among us , and stirred the heart of the nation to its depths by his thrilling and eloquent appeals on behalf of his oppressed countrymen . Few can resist the contagion of that enthusiasm which glows in his lofty and earnest soul , But amid all this tumult of excited feeling , it does not
behove the friends of peace to forget , whatever admiration they may feel for his character , and whatever sympathy lor the cause he advocates , that the means by which this illustrious patriot sought in the past , and proposes for the future , to effect the liberation of his country , are such as they cannot approve or sanction , without implicitly surrendering the fundamental principle of their faith . Under these circumstances , we respectfully but earnestly in treat our friends to abide firmly and faithfully , at whatever sacrifice of feeling , by their own deliberate convictions , and boldly to bear testimony to their truth whenever an opportunity occurs . The gratifications of indulging a momentary impulse of generous emotion will ha clearly purchased by that lasting sense of shame and weakness which will result from
the consciousness of . a public inconsistency . The principle wo hold is , that an appeal to ( he sword for deciding questions of disputed right is as irrational as it is unchristian , and that no permanent advantage can accrue to real freedom , or to any of the great interests of humanity , from the debusing conflicts of brute force . That is a weapon which despotism knows how to wield with far more dexterity , as well us with a more ruthless and
unscrupulous purpose than liberty can , until it is degraded to its level . If we needed any practical illustrations of the Boundncss of our principle , are they not abundantly furnished by the recent history and the present aspect of Europe ? After the revolutions of 1817 and 1818 the friends of liberty every where committed the decision of their cause to the wager of battle . And with what result ? In every ca . se they have been worsted and crushed , Germany has seen her charters of constitutional freedom Himtched haclt
from her grasp with insult and contempt . Italy lies writhing in deeper and more degraded thraldom than before . Hungary is betrayed into the hands of her enemies by the military champion to whose sword she had trusted for deliverance . Jiiit it may be said , [ f men are not to take arms to conquer liberty , by what means is the power of the oppressor to bo broken and enslaved nations to achieve their liberation ? Do you counsel that a people should lie mule and motionlens beneath the incubus of despotism until all life i . s crushed out of them ? Cod forbid th . it we should he guilty of" hucIi treason ( igain . st the dignity of our common nature , the loftienthopes of humanity ,
and the declared purpose of Heaven . What agency , then , do we propose to use ? In one word we answer Ideas ! ideas that have proved themselves ever mi ghtier than nwords ; ideas which have already achieved all the greatest and most , enduring victories on which humanity reposes ; ideas which aro cvun now ( slowl y and silently effect ing revolutions on the earth , in comparison with which the stormy career of the greatest conqueror that ever Hbook the earth hcueuth the trump of hiH armed heel , is but hh the momentary sweep of the hurricane , compared with the culm and majeHtic processes of nature when it gradually upheaves continents , or patiently
elaborates through ages * the chief things of truT ^ T ^ mountains and the precious thines of Yvf a 1 ncien * hills . ' Surely , we , as Christiansfneed th n e o la 8 tin ? that truth and right can prevail without the sunn °° f of physical force ; for were not the noblest triffi ' of Christianity won when it had nothing to on ? to the power of the whole world , armed for R tinction , but its conscious possession of truth i ^ * God ? i 6 ht ° f endUrallCe ' it 8 uncl ° uded fait * Should you , dear friends , be invited to su « rn ;» measures the object of which will be to promote ™ the part of this country an armed intervention on behalf of the struggling nationalities of Eurone T * intreat you to abstain and to protest . The on ! principle on which such an intervention can £
grounded is pregnant with terrible contingencies ™ rather with terrible certainties , for the future And were there no other cause for hesitation , we m av well ' ask , what security have we that such an armed intervention will really profit the cause of libertv > All experience proves that the most probable issue of political emancipation effected by physical force is not guaranteed freedom , but military despotism The history of England ' s past intervention by force of arms in the affairs of Continental nations , whether for the defence of legitimacy or constitutional freedom is lanchol d f h
so me y a recororas counsels , Quixotic enterprises , and disgraceful or abortive issues as ought surely to deter us from a repetition of this experiment . There is scarcely a country in Europe on which we have not , at one time or another inflicted our martial protection ; and there is scarcely a country in Europe where that intervention has not eventually failed in the accomplishment of its professed object , or where its memory is not regarded with bitterness and resentment by the very people whom it was meant to save ; while of the consequences to ourselves a melancholy monument still remains in
our crushing and enormous national debt . Should the cause of peace have to bear deeper opprobrium than ever from the course which we thus advise you to pursue , even then we still say , Falter not for a moment . ' We have the most absolute and unshaken confidence , because resting , we believe , on divine and everlasting principles , that the course of events will vindicate the wisdom and rectitude of our counsel . The bitter experience which the friends of freedom are yet destined to reap , should they insist upon committing once more their great and holy cause to the hazard of war ' s unequal game , ' will bring forth your righteousness as the light , and your judgment as the noon day . ' Joseph Sturge , Chairman . Henry Richard , Secretary .
St. Alban's Commission. The Revelations ...
ST . ALBAN'S COMMISSION . The revelations are now complete . What was suspected and believed is now judicially proven . Even the missing witnesses have been examined . On Tuesday these three notorious persons , who sojourned so long in Prance , made their appearance . They seem to be singularly meek and placid people . George Seeley Waggett , the absconding witness , was next called . His appearance in the witness-box excited general laughter . lie is a delicate-looking , elderly mini , apparently moving in a very humble sphere , and seemed to be troubled with deafness . The Chief-Commissioner
put the following questions to him : — Did you vote , Mr . Waggett , at the last election?—Witness , I did . Did you receive any mortey for your vote?—I did . Whom from ?—Mr . Udwards . How much did you receive?— £ 5 , Bir . Did you vote at the election of 1847 ?—I did . Whom for ?—Mr . ltaphael and Mr . Repton , I think , hut I am not fiure ; but I know that I voted for Mr . Raphael . Did you receive any money on that occasion ?—1 did . Mr . Commissioner Forsyth : I hope , Mr . Waggett , that your health is very much improved by the mud climate of France . —Witness : I am very much obliged to yon , sir . { lAiwjkter . ) . Mr . Gresham : Will you ask him , eir , if £ 5 vvaa all the money he received for his vote ? . amount
Mr . Commissioner Forsyth : Was £ /> the whole you received for your rote at the last election ?— WnneHH Yes , sir . . . Mr . Gresham : Have you received any money mncc tnc election for anything else ? Mr . Commissioner Forsyth : No , no , Mr . GrcHliam , you must not a ^ k that . Waggelt then withdrew . Thomas Birchmore , another of the abducted vojeiis and a labouring man , acknowledged to having receiv jC- > for Inn vote . , > n Mr . Commissioner Fornyth : 1 believe you li » v « n .. broad lately , Mr . Birohmoro ? — Witness : Yea , I '" very lately . . ¥ r ( , _ Mr . Commissioner Forsyth : I believe you lulVi ' , turned in beLter health ?—Witm-aa : Yes , mr . (/ . ««//'
Mr . Commissioner Phinn : You have learnt French , I dare nay ? ( Henrwed luuyhter . ) The witnesH made no reply to the last query . James Skegg , another of the witnesses who «» " «' ' , when summoned to appear before tbo c «»" """ ; i « "' tinK House of Commons , wa « next called , and in prts . n ^ » himself in the witness box wus saluted with a « ' /' . - i » another of the Frenchmen . " He is also ft labouring man , a »< l affeoted wiih deafness . rcCcivo The Chief Coiamissionor : Mr . Skcgg , did you rtcciv
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 15, 1851, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15111851/page/8/
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