The Sun.
London, England, 1860-09-05 00:00:00

LAW INTE

THIS DAY),

SHERIFFS' COURT.
(Before Mr. Kerr.)
THE CUSTOM IN THE COAL TRADE.-FIELDING V.

ANDREWS.

This was an action to recover 4s. 2d., and considerable
interest has been excited, as, though the amount is small,
a principle and custom, involving thousands of pounds, is
in question. Plaintiff is a coal merchant of Tooley-street,
and defendant partner in a firm of coal ship brokers. The
present claim was made up as follows :-Is. overcharge on
light dues, &c., paid at Sunderland ; 3s. charge for charter
party; and 2d. overcharge on metage.
Plaintiff said that he had been charged 31s. fer light
dues, &c., at Sunderland, whereas for the same ship,
Regina, he had only paid 30s. at SllielJs.
His Honour held that what was paid at another port
was nothing in this case.

Plaintiff said that he discovered the actual amount paid,
as per certificate from the Custom-house, to be only £1
ss. 6d.

Defendant said his firm paid a clerk £l3O per annum to
manage this portion of their business, and it was not likely
the firm would work fer nothing.

As to the charter party charge, plaintiff declared that the
commission of 21 per cent. covered all, and he could pro-
duce evidence to show that the charge was not made by the
brokers. He had paid defendant's firm a similar amount
on a previous occasion, simply out of courtesy, and he also
objected to it.

Defendant remarked that he would bring evidence to
prove that a charge was always made, and such charge
varied from 10s. to 3s.

His Honour said that to prove a custom it was not ne-
cessary to bring two, three, or five witnesses ; a great
number—if necessary, the whole body engaged in the coal
trade—should attend. What one firm did was not a
custom if another firm did a precisely opposite thing. He
would adjourn the case in order that witnesses might be
summoned on each side, giving plaintiff leave to amend his
particulars. He must impress upon the mind of defendant
the fact that it required the very strongest evidence to esta-
blish a custom.
No costs allowed on either side.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE-(THIS DAY.)

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

EXTENSIVE ROBBERY AT A JEwEnLnies.—Charles
Fletcher, a respectable-looking young man, residing at
23, Broadley-terrace, Blandford-square, clerk, in the
employ of Messrs. Henry Collingwood and Richard Abud,
jewellers, 46, Conduit-street, was charged, before Mr.
Beadon, with stealing 19 gold chains, 1 gold watch key,
two rings, &c., the property of his masters, and of the value
of MOO.

Mr. Robert Nelson Collingwood said he was assistant to
his father, Mr. Henry Collingwood, and Mr. Richard Abud,
jewellers, in whose employ the prisoner was a clerk. On
Saturday last, having missed a gold chain, he went
through the list, and then found that several more
were missing. He told his father he was afraid
there was something wrong, and his father then told
him he had seen in a paper an advertisement of a chain
being stopped. He went to the shop of Mr. Mills, pawn-
broker, in the Edgware -road, the address given in the ad-
vertisement, and there saw the chain they had missed and
some others. He then returned and told the prisoner there
was something wrong. The prisoner was then taken into
a back room by him, and he told him it might be better for
him if he told the truth as to where the chains were. He
said some were pawned opposite Mr. Mills's, some in Lis-
son-grove, in Duke -street, Park-place, and elsewhere
He was then asked where the duplicates were, and he
said they were in his desk, and on search being made
they were found done up in packets, on which was written
"Charles Fletcher's memorandums."

Mr. Henry Leeson Slight, assistant to Mrs. Rosetta
Smith, pawnbroker, Edgware-road, produced four chains
(identified by Mr. Collingwood), two of which he received
in pledge from the prisoner—one for £3 on the Bth June, and
the other for £2 on the 19th July.

Mr. Bowles, inspector of the C Division, said he wished
for a remand for the attendance of the other pawnbrokers,
as there were several to attend.

Mr. Beadon remanded the prisoner for a week.

THAMES.

Txm SMOKE NUISANCE IN LIMEHOUSE.—The foreman
of the pottery works, Bumton's-wharf, Limehouse, appeared
before Mr. Selfe to answer a summons and information pre-
ferred by order of the Secretary of State for the Home
Department against Henry Millichamp, proprietor of the
factory, for using a furnace so constructed as not to burn
or consume its own smoke.

Smith, a police-constable, N0.'415 K, proved the service
of the summons ; and John Pillar, a police-sergeant, No.
13 K, was called to prove the existence of a great nuisance,
which has been mttch complained of by the inhabitants of
Ratcliff and Limehouse. He said that dense volumes of
black smoke were almost constantly issuing from Mr. Milli-
champ's chimney shaft, and it darkened the Commeraal-
road and adjacent str eds. The last time he watched the
chimney a continual cloud of black smoke issued from it
forltwenty-seven minutes. The chimney was not so lofty
as it should be, and the factory, which was close to the
Commercial-road, and facing the Regant'a Canal Dock, was
complained of as a nuisance.

Mr. Selfe—l have heard of this place and Mr. Milli-
champ before. What is the place—what do they make on
the premises ?

Pillar—lt is a drain pipe manufactory.
The foreman said he would leave the matter in the hands
of the magistrate. A remedy had been tried and failed.
Mr. Selfe—Then you must try another. The defendant
has been fined before.

Mr. Sandison, civil engineer, in the employ of the
Government, said the defendant was fined £3 for a similar
offence three years ago. Mr. Millichamp had large works
in Lambeth, where a similar nuisance had existed. He
believed the defendant had provided a large boiler for the
Lambeth works, and he believed they would in some mea-
sure, when in operation, remove the objections com-
plained of.

Mr. Selfe—Three years is a long time for this smoke
nuisance to be continued since the last con,iction. Do you
press for the double penalty on a second conviction ?
Mr. Sandison—No, only for the single penalty.

Mr. Pillar—Everything is blackened with the smoke from
the defendant's chimney. There are loud complaints from
the inhabitants.

Mr. Selfe fined the defendant £3, and said the sooner he
completed the alterations of his furnaces the better. Such
a nuisance could not be tolerated any longer.

THIS DAY'S MARKETS.

CORN EXCHANGE.

Several parcels of new English wheat were on offer here
to-day, in fair average condition; but the supply of old
qualities was very limited. The trade was heavy in the
extreme, and to have forced sales a further decline of from
is to 2s per qr must have been submittal to.

Foreign wheat was in large supply anti heavy request on
rather easier terms. The inquiry for floating cargoes was
very dull at drooping currencies.

On the whole there was a fair demand for barley and
malt, and prices were fairly supported.
Oats were a dull inquiry, and 6d per qr lower.

Beans and peas changed hands slowly on former terms.
Tho flour trade was very dull, and the best town-made
qualities were, in some instances, offering at 56s per 2801bs.
American flour was is per barrel cheaper.

ARRIVALS THIS WEEK.
Whett Barley. Malt. Oats. Flour.
250 40 670 1 5411
1ri5h............
F0reign........ 5,170 3,220 f 8,540 1 3,850 sacks.
410 brls.

BOROUGH HOP.
All kinds of hops support the late advance, and the mar.
ket is very firm. Duty, £50,000.

PRESIDENT BUCTI4N2N AND THE
• AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE.

The letter of Lord John Russell on the suppres-
sion of the odious traffic in slaves and the intro-
duction of coolies, communicated to the American
Government by Lord Lyons, has received from the
Secretary of State at Washington the—following
reply :

Department of State, Washington, Aug. 10.
Sir,—l have the honour to inform you that the
despatch from Lord John Russell, dated the 11th
of July, 1860, which you read to me, and a copy of
which you left at this department, has been sub-
mitted to the President, with its accompaniment of
printed documents relative to the coolie trade. He
has given a most careful consideration to the three
propositions which you have been instructed to
make. It is unnecessary to express in reply the
perfect agreement between this Government and
that of her Britannic Majesty in their estimate
of the character of the African slave trade. The
action of the Government of the United
States upon this subject has been so long con-
tinued, so consistent, and is so familiar to the
civilised world, that I can properly refer to it as the
clearest and strongest manifestation of its opinion,
and I am instructed to say that the President learns
with great pleasure from Lord John Russell's com-
munication that her Britannic Majesty's Go-
vernment can at length see with satisfaction the
happy result of its efforts and sacrifices in the cause
of humanity, and the steady diminution of this
illegal traffic is accompanied by a corresponding
development of honourable and lucrative commerce
on the coast of Africa, which promises in the course
of years to extinguish the slave trade in a most
effectual manner. He regrets, however, that this
agreeable prospect has been overclouded by the
fact, also communicated, that this trade has again
increased within the last two years, and that pre-
parations are being made " in the island of Cuba"
for the prosecution of the trade on a most exten-
sive scale by means of association.
This intelligence is believed to be well foundra
The President has long entertained the opinion that
the African slave trade will never be suppri2ssed
whilst efforts for that purpose are confined the
pursuit and capture of slavers between the coast of
Africa and the island of Cuba. To effect r‘nything
positive or permanent the barracoons on t'ae African
coast must be broken up, and the slavers prevented
from landing their cargoes in Cuba; or, if landed,
the slaves must be followed into the, interior and
set free from the purchasers. Whenever her Bri-
tannic Majesty's Government shall think it proper,
in its discretion, to enforce the provisions of the
treaty with Spain referred to by Lord John Rus-
sell, by which the Spanish Crown undertook to
abolish the slave trade, and accepted a sum of
£400,000 to enable it the more easily to do so, then,
and not until then, in the President's opinion, will
the African trade with the island of Cuba be .abo-
lished. But with this the Government of the
United States has no right to interfere.

While, however, holding these general views, the
President cannot give his assent to the propositions
which have been submitted to him, for the follow-
ing reasons, which I proceed to state in the order
in which the propositions have been made :

First.—A systematic plan of cruising on the
coast. This proposition would involve the necessity
of a treaty with Spain to enable the cruisers of the
United States to enter the waters of Cuba within a
marine league from shore.
The Spanish Government, so far from having
given any intimation that a violation of its sove-
reignty to this extent would be permitted, has only
recently made the strongest complaints to this Go-
vernment against the cruisers of the United States,
upon the alleged ground that they had captured
slavers within Cuban waters. While, therefore,
Great Britain has already acquired this right by
treaty, the United States do not possess it, and their
cruisers would, consequently, be arrested in the pur-
suit of slavers as soon as they had entered Spanish
jurisdiction ; whilst the cruisers of Great Britain
and Spain could not only continue the pursuit until
the slaves had landed, but could follow them into
the interior of the island. It is but proper, however,
to say, that while the President does not suppose
that the Government of Spain would enter into an
arrangement with the United States similar to its
treaty with Great Britain, he could not consent to
any such arrangement, for it would violate the
well-established policy of this country—not to in-
terfere in the domestic concerns of foreign mations,
nor to enter into alliance with foreign Governments.
This Government has maintained, and will continue
to maintain, a naval force in the neighbourhood of
Cuba for the enforcement of its own laws.

It will, to the utmost extent of its power, put
down this abominable traffic, and capture all Ame-
rican vessels, and punish all American citizens en-
gaged in it. The success which has already at-
tended our efforts near the coasts of Cuba prove
that we have done our duty in this respect, and
this at an enormous expense, for the support of the
captured Africans, for their transportation back to
Africa, and for their liberal maintenance there
during the period of a year after their return.
Second.—The laws of regulation and inspection
in the island of Cuba, by which the employment of
slaves imported contrary to law might be detected
by the Spanish authorities.
After what has been said, it is unnecessary to
state that the Government of the United States
could not ask Spain to pass such laws of registra-
tion, But if this were otherwise, it is quite cer-
tain that such laws would have no practical effect.
For if "her Majesty's Government are well aware
that the price of sugar and the demand for labour
afford the slave trader profits which enable him to
corrupt the authorities, whose duty it is to thwart
and defeat this criminal enterprise," and if joint-
stock companies are established at Havana for the
prosecuting the African slave trade under the eye of
the highest officials of the island, and with perfect
impunity, it would be vain to expect the registrars
throughout the country would counteract the policy
of their superiors by faithfully performing their
duty. _ _

Third.--A plan of emigration from China, regu-
Lated by the agents of European nations, in con-
junction with the Chinese authorities.

It is not probable that Lord J. Russell expected
this Government to unite in forming such a plan of
emigration from China, for if he had entertained
this idea he would scarcely have omitted " the
agents" of the United States from any participation
in its regulation. Nor .can the President share in
the anticipation of her Britannic Majesty's Govern-
ment, that the coolie trade can be put on any such
footing as will relieve it of those features of fraud
and violence which render the details of its prose-
cution scarcely less horrible than those of the middle
passage ; and he is of opinion that it would exert a
most deleterious influence upon every portion of
this country to import into it Chinese coolies as
labourers. In the States where the institution of
domestic slavery exists, these heathen coolies would
demoralise the peaceful, contented, and orderly
slaves, very many of whom are sincere Christians,
and in the free States they would be brought into
competition with our own respectable and indus-
trious labourers, whether of native or foreign birth,
who constitute so large a portion of our best citizens.
I avail myself of this opportunity to renew to you,
sir, the assurance of my high consideration.
W. H. TRESCOTT, Acting Secretary.
To W. Douglas Irving, Esq., &c.