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    eorder 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 B : irons , 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 Lord

    Lawrence ?) The usual toasts were drunk . John Russell responded to " Her Majesty ' s Ministers . " He eulogized everybody he mentioned , from that Lord Mayor who assassinated Wat Tyier up to the present Lord Major ; 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 . -4 » d so « nded the City Masquerade .

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    THE BOARD OF CUSTOMS AND THE DOCK COMPANY . Greatly to the astonishment of nil persons interested in commerce , the London Dock Company have surrendered to the Treasury and knuckled down to the Board of Customs . 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 mi << ht 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 Jaw , and calculated to afford facilities for fraud , and to

    endanger the revenue . My lords are aware that , by the proceedings which were necessary for thi . s purpose , heavy expenses have been already incurred by the partii s . JSJy lords are # Jad to find that the admission of the directors ofthe London Dock Company , in their secretary ' s letter , leaves the right 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 the diicctors 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 Khali without delay be recorded in the Crown ' s books for the security of the duties thereon , and the due observance of lUe regulations affecting the name , for which purpose the Dock Company may be permitted to pass the necessary entries . "

    To this epiHtle the Dock Company on the 4 th , returned a reply which opens with an expression ofthe Burprise they felt on rending the above , but Htatinp also , that they nee no good in opening up a renewed discussion thereon . " They limit thnriKelveH , therefore , in Haying that , without concurring in the nlightcst degree in the validity of the remarks contained in the aforesaid letter of the Secretary of the Treasury , wherein a justification is sought to be udvanct li for the legal proceedings which have brrn taken iigaiiiKt this company , wholly repudiating the imputation that it . wa « needful to have recourse to su < : h pioceedingK , in order to correct uny irreiiulitrilU'U which iriit ; lit have occurred on the part of the dodein the correction

    the company ' s « ervantn "t n , of which the company had a common , and even u deeper interest thiin the Crown . Affirming , moreovei , that the whole amount of these irregularities , compared with the amount of busineMB transacted in the do (! k « , husbeen utterly iiiHigiii / icant . Protecting ugauibt the extreme injustice of having a money fine , however unimportant in amount , a « Jde < J to the grievances wltioh the company has already had moat unmeritedly to e » - uounttr , and linully expressing their conviction , founded on the highebt le « ul advice . «» d tuinported by the verdict in the Court of Jixehequer , that so far from all the goods having been ' properly plaoed under detention , ' it would hjjve bceu in the j > pw . er of this coinpany to hava established verdict * Against the officer *

    of the Customs in reapect to many of these seizures , they have directed the sum of £ 100 to he 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 sueh 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 " !

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    ADDRESS FROM THE PEACE SOCIETY . The Peaee Society have issued the following address : — Dear Pjkzends , —There are conjunctures in the history of every great moral reform , which requite special vigilauee 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 objects 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 such a season of trial the friends of peace are now being called to pees . 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 for 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 intreat 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 be dearly purchased by that lasting sense of shame and weakness which will result from

    the consciousness of a public inconsistency . The principle we hold is , that an appeal to the 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 debasing conflicts of brute force . That is a weapon which despotism knows how to wield with far more dexterity , as -well as with a more ruthless aud unscrupulous purpose than liberty can , until it is degraded to its level . If we needed any practical illustrations of the soundness of our principle , are they not abundantly furnished by the recent history and the present aHpect of Europe ? After the revolutions of 1847 and 1848 the friends of liberty everywhere

    committed the decision of their cause to the wager of battle . And with what result ? In every case they have been worsted and crushed , ( Jermany has Been her charters of constitutional freedom enatched back from her grasp with insult aud contempt . Italy lies writhing in deeper uiul more degraded thraldom than before . Hungary is betrayed into the hands of her enemies by the military champion to whose sword « he had trusted for deliverance . But it may be enid , If men are not to take arms to conquer liberty , by what meaiiH i « the power of the oppressor to be broken and enslaved nutious to achieve their liberation ? Do you counsel that a peojjle should lie mute and motionlcksu bcneiith the incubus of despotism until all life is crushed out of them ? ( Jod forbid thut we

    should be guilty of euch treason against the dignity of our common nature , the loftiest hopes of humanity , and the declared purpo « e of Heaven . What agency , then , do we propone to utse ? In one word we answer—Ideas ! Ideas that have proved thein . selven ever mightier than hwoi < Ih ; ideas which have- already achieved all the greatest and most enduring victories on which humanity rejK » s « jH ; ideas which arc even now wlowly and Hilently c / l ' ecling revolutio n ** on the earth , in comparison with whi <; h the Htoriny cureer of the greuUHt conqueror that ever uhook the earth , beneath the trump of hit * armed heel , in but jib the momentary sweep of th « hurricane , compared with ¦ the culm mid naujestio processes of nature when it gradually upheaves continents , or patiently

    clabo-Tates through ages the t&ief tilings of the ancient mountains and the precious things of the lasting hills / Surely , we , as Christians , need no proof that truth and right can prevail without the support of physical force ; for were not the noblest triumphs of Christianity won when it had nothing to oppose to the power of th « whole world , armed fox its extinction , but its conscious possession of truth , its heroic might of endurance , and its unclouded faith in God ? Should you , dear friends , be invited to sustain measures the object of which will be to promote on the part of this country an armed intervention on

    behalf of the struggling nationalities of Europe , we intreat you to abstain and to protest . The only principle on which such aa intervention , can be grounded is pregnant with terrible contingencies , or rather with terrible certainties , for the future . And , were there no other cause for hesitation , we may well ask , what security have we that such an armed intervention will really profit the cause of liberty ? Ail experience proves that the most probable issue of politic *! emancipation effected by physical fo rce is not guaranteed freedom , but military despotism . The history of England ' s past intervention bj force of arms in the affairs of Continental nations , whether for

    the defense of legitimacy or constitutional freedom , is so « nelancJb . oly a record of rash 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 nofc 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 , ? Palter 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 , 6 hould 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 . Henhy Riohakd , Secretary .

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    ST . ALBANS 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 France , 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 . He is a delicate-looking , elderly man , apparently moving in « very humble sphere , and see . nard 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 money for your vote ?—I «» " Whom from ?—Mr . Edwards . How much did you receive ?— £ 5 , sir . Did you vote at the election of 1847 ?—I difl . Whom for ?—Mr . Raphael and Mr . Itepton , I lliink , but I am not sure ; but I know that I voted for Mr . Ituphael . Did you receive any money on that occasion ?—I did . Mr . Commissioner Forayth : I hope , Mr . Waggett , that your health is very much improved by the mlla climate of Fruncc—Witness : I am very much obliged tQ you , air . ( Laughter . ) . Mr . Ureakam : Will you ask him , sir , if £ 0 w » 8 oil tti © money lie received fpr hia vote ? Mi . Commissioner Forsyth : Was £ 6 the whole amount you received for your rote at the last election ?—Witness : Yes , sir . . ., Mr . Gresham ; Have you received any money Bince tno

    election for anything elm : / Mr . Commis . ioncr Foray th ; No , wo , Mr . Grr «« liam , you must not a k that . Waggctt then withdrew . ThoinuH Jiirchmore , uuother of the abducted voters , and a labouring man , acknowledged to having jreccivtu £ 5 for liiy vote . , iv ,, ii Mr ComniiHHioner Fornyth : I Im-Jimto you b » ve b <• abroad lately , Mr . Dirchmoro ?—WicneHB : H but Uol V 0 Hr . ' C . m » ni 8 sion ( 'r For . yth : I brllev * you *> « JT t .. mi-d iii bettor health ?—VVitm «»; ¥ <» , nu . < £ « W *'

    Mr . CommiHHioncr Pliinn : You have learnt Freuoh , I dare nay ? ( iti-nevcd laughter ) The witiu-BB made wo reply to the laat query . , , when oummouva U > i » » eur b « fe » the *>•»«>» M * « ° f * jj JI 0 U . 0 of Opinion ., wuh neitca l ed , « ml wif j-curMtJ £ hi . »« elf iu tb « wiuiow , bo * wa BiUut «* J w ' J »^ u- £ J i » another of the Ff « t > Uw *« - " * 1 *> w *!«•» * J « ' »»« u' » w » latin . » nd ftffipcted wjtf * deftftMM . reooiv * The Chief Commlsuionor ; Mr . iSkegg , did you rccoiv «

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    1084 1 £ > % t It * & > $ !?? [ Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 15, 1851, page 1084, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1909/page/8/