The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-09 00:00:00

rHE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, AUGUST 9, 1869.

LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN AND
CALEDONIAN RAILWAYS.
Further Improved Service, by the West Coast Route,
between London (Euston Station), and the North of

Scotland.

FROM LONDON.—On and after MONDAY, the 9th
instant, the 9.0 p.m. Train from Euston Station will be
carried on Express, so as to arrive at Aberdeen at 2.0 p.m.
the following day.
TO LONDON.—On and after TUESDAY, the 10th inst.,
a New Train will leave Aberdeen at 9.0 a.m., Glasgow
(Caledonian), 1.45 p.m., Edinburgh (Caledonian), 2.0, and
arrive in London at 3.15 a.m.
For further particulars see Bills.
August 6, 1869.

AGENTS WANTED EVERYWHERE
to introduce commodities valuable to every householder
high and low. This offers a highly remunerative Commission to
Tradesmen, Travellers, Gentlemen's Servants, &c. Apply with
two stamps to R. 3IARRISON, Great Orford-Ertreet,Norwich.

THE " SINGER" SEWING MACHDTES,
THE "NEW FAMILY"
SEW THE LOCK-STITCH AND THE NEW EMBROIDERY.

STITCII.
Work by Hand and Treadle, and in a Portable Case
for Travelling.

TILE " SINGER " SEWING MACHINES
ARE WORLD-RENOWNED AS THF. BEST SYSTEM
AND THE MOST COMPLETE, WITH NEW IMPROVEMENTS
FOR EVERY CLASS OF SEWING.
The p -Inbar simplicity of thess Machines enables any one to
acquire their perfect use in a rew hours.
Illustrated Price Lists post free.

TIIE "SINGER" MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
Chief Office in the United Kingdom:
147, CHEkPSIDE.
Branch Depots or Loca Agents in every Town

rrilE OXFORD.--INAUGURATION THIS
JL EVENING.—Open until Throe o'clock by Special
permission.—A GREAT ENTERTAINMENT by GREAT
ARTISTES.—SuporbIy Decorated and Appointed.

of ARGYLL and in the other house, thanks to Mr.
GRANT DUFF, his Grace's able deputy in the gover-
nance of that department. The Telegraphs Bill is
another most important work, happily, though only
after many anxious delays, accomplished. Among
the noticeable projects undertaken, but not
carried through, may be enumerated—the sanction of
of the Permissive Bill, the legalising of Mar-
riage with a deceased wife's sister, the application
to personal property of the Statute of Distribution,
and the transference from the north to the south
side of the Strand of the site for the new Courts of
Law or Palace of Justice. The oddest Budget that
ever Chancellor of the Exchequer devised has been
passed quietly, though in the midst of a good
deal of wonderment. There have been two
or three rather startling Ministerial indis-
cretions that have fortunately had no evil re-
sult in the end—such escapades as those two
indulged in by the President of the Board of Trade
to the bewilderment of his colleagues—first his speech
from the Treasury Bench about an Irish Land Bill
all ready cut and dried in his pocket—secondly, his
astounding letter about the Lords, in which
he referred to them not as though they were
an assembly of grown men, but as though their
House were a nursery of very unruly little children.
There has been a certain degree of solicituie felt, off
and on during thissession, lest the Lords and the Com-
mons might—as they fortunately have not—come into
collision. Once there was a chance of a,Bill of Pains and
Penaltiesbeing Fussed summarily through the House of
Commons at the instigation of the Government—the
necessity for any such exceptional proceeding being
avoided at the last moment by the voluntary resigna-
tion of his office by the culprit of the hour, to wit his
Worship the Mayor of Cork. Incidents of interest
have not been wanting in effect to enliven the dull
and morelaboriousproceedings of Parliament in either
branch of the Legislature.

IVHEx Mr. LOWE chooses to give six reasons to

the House of Commons for any of his actions, we
may safely assume that he has said all that it is
possible to advance in favour of his own case; and
as he has taken upon himself the responsibility of
setting aside three Acts of Parliament, upon the faith
of which the Dagenham Dock Company have ex-
pended 170,000, we look with some interest to the
reasons which he assigns for a course which is happily
so unusual. If the executive officers of the Govern-
ment were in the habit of interposing their

judgment and authority after Parliament had
given ifs sanction to the outlay of capital
for a particular purpose, the consequences would be
_ _ .

the destruction of all confidence and the termination
of all enterprise. What should we think of the
Board of Trade if they refused their sanction to the
opening of a railway constructed under Acts of Par-
liament on the ground that the public service did
not require the accommodation ? Such a course
would be precisely analagous to that which has been
taken by the Commissioners of Customs in refusing
to allow the Dagenham Docks to be used for the
purposes for which they were constructed. Upon
an appeal to the Lords of the Treasury the late
Government decided against the Commissioners; but

)Ir. Lo WE has determined to support them, and deals,
as he states, with the case on its own merits. His
reasons for refusing permission to the company to
land goods are, first, that the docks are ten miles
from the Custom House. As this circumstance
was known to Parliament when they granted powers
for the construction of the work, it is clear that the
Treasury are not entitled to urge this fact against a
project to which they should have objected at the
proper time, if at all. It would be monstrous to allow
the Government to sanction a large expenditure and
when it has been incurred allow them to turn round
and say your locality is unsuitable. In this case,
however, the distance is a positive advan-
tage. The wharf is wanted for the purpose
of landing cattle and dangerous articles, such as
petroleum and naphtha. These dangerous goods are

Low landed in the midst of crowded docks and a

dense population, and it would be a great advan-
tage to take them further from London. Mr.
LOW E's second reason is the want of adequate accom-

.odation for the trade. The Commissioners state

that no warehouses or shelter for gocds have been
erected at the wharf. Here we have apparently
some reason for their refusal, but it is apparent only.
The directors of the company have thought it better
to erect their warehouses alongside the Tilbury Rail-
way, with which the clocks are connected by a
tramway 11 miles in length, and to take the
goods, immediately on their being landed, along
this tramway to the warehouses. The arrangement
possesses many advantages, as it keeps the ware-
houses more private and less exposed to the work-
men engaged in discharging the vessels. If the
owners do not object, we do not see what grounds
of complaint the Customs' Commissioners can have.
The third objection is the expense of sending
officers for supervision. As the Dock Company have
offered to pay this expense, we do not see the force
of the objection. The fourth so-called reason is the
risk to the revenue from the lonely situation. As
the Customs permit the landing of goods in places
which are much more remote, there does not appear

to be any ground for raising the objection here. Neither
can the danger be very great, as the company do not
ask for permission to land goods on which duty is
payable. Tile fifth reason is the necessity of grant-
ing licenses to other places if the license is granted
in this case. This objection is ingenious. Mr.
LOWE is well aware that to no other places not yet

licensed has the sanction of Parliament been
given, and, therefore, the argument does not apply.
It is, however, lamentable to think that the restric-
tive regulations of the Customs throw the whole of
the shipping trade of this country into the hands
of a few persons or companies who can
obtain a Custom-house license. The sixth
" reason " is the most wonderful of all.

It is founded upon " the absence of any proof that
additional accommodation was required for the City
of London for the purpose of collecting the Customs'
dues." Surely Mr. LOWE must have been misreported
here. Does he imagine that the end and object of
trade is the collection of Customs' dues, and that so
long as the officers of the Customs are not incon-
venienced no harm is done ? It would be hard,
indeed, if no one was allowed to land goods at any
place until he had proved that his doing so was
necessary to the convenience of the Commissioners of
her Majesty's Customs. Is Mr. Lowz adopting this
tone as the most rapid mode of realising Mr. BRIGHT'S
idea of a free breakfast-table. The advocates of Cus-
tom-houseabolition will no doubt welcome him as their
ablest ally. It is, however, rather hard that the
capital expended by the Dagenham Dock Company
should be sacrificed to Mr. Lowx's
peculiar method
of seeking freedom of trade. When his end
is accomplished we hope he will not fail to compen-
sate the Dock Company, who are, at present, the
victims of the experiment. But even for such an
object we cannot allow Mr. LowF, to assume a
superiority to Parliament which the principles of
our Constitution do not sanction or contemplate.
With the exception of the second reason, which
we have shorn to be unfounded, there is
not one of the arguments used by Mr. LOWE which
could not have been considered and determined by
Parliament when the Acts veers passed which autho-
rised the construction of the Dagenham Docks. It
would be a novel principle if an executive board had
the power to set aside Acts of Parliament after
individuals had expended large sums on the con-
struction of works under the sanction of the Legis-
lature. Such a power would be fatal to commercial
progress. Existing companies will always have an
interest in preventing the development of competi-

tion, and if there is a board to which they can run
at any moment to stop their competitors, they will be
sure to display agood deal of activity in that direction.
The forma of the House do not allow of a discussion
being taken when a question is asked, and the late-

ness of the session will probably prevent the possi-
bility of bringing the subject again under the notice
of Parliament until next year ; but if Mr. Lows does
not change his mind, there is little doubt
that he will then have to explain his "reasons."
In the meantime a grievous injustice is being inflicted
both upon the shareholders of the Dock Company and
upon those traders who are desirous of using the accom-
modation which has been provided at so great
a cost ; and the works are going to destruction
before they have been used for the useful purposes
for which they were constructed.

Wiz are in a position to confirm the report that the
English Government have refused to recognise
Major JAMES HAGGERTY as United States Consul for
Glasgow, to which post he had been appointed by
President GRANT. The inhabitants of the great
Northern town were, it will be remembered, much

excited when the news of this nomination reached
England, some weel s ago. Who Major JAMES

HAGGERTY was seemed involved in some doubt;
but the balance of evidence appeared in favour of
the conclusion that he was an American Fenian. It
was asserted, on the one hand, that be was the Major
JAMES HAGGERTY of Colonel CORCORAN'S C9th
New York Regiment—a notorious Fenian. On the
other hand, some of the people of Glasgow, after they
had got over the first serious burst of indignation
and had inquired into the matter, announced the
discovery that Mr. HAGGERTY was no Fenian, but
a genuine native of Glasgow itself, and therefore the

most suitable person to be its Consul.

Major HAGGERTY of the 69th Regiment had,
it was said, been killed. But the Nw York

Times was so confident of the "Major" being a
Fenian that it deemed it necessary to explain his ap-
pointment. The Administration, it said, in all pro-
bability knew nothing about Mr. or Maj or HAGGERTY.
The changes which are made in the public service
when a new President comes into office are so numerous

that it is quite impossible for the Cabinet to person-
ally note them all. Major HAGGERTY might,
amongst hundreds of others, be recommended,
might present good credentials, and be set down
as Consul without the remotest conception on the
part of the Ministry as to his real character. This
explanation seems reasonable enough, and the more
so as we cannot readily credit President GRANT with
a wish to send over an officer who would be person-
ally offensive to the British people. But whatever may
be the circumstances under which Mr. HAGGERTY
was appointed, the English Government has
refused to acknowledge him as the American repre-
sentative at Glasgow. It is the practice, we need scarcely
say, for consuls to present their commission to the
authorities of the country to which they are accre-
dited, in order that the appointment may be sanc-
tioned by an esequatur—a document securing to the
holder certain privileges and immunities. The exequatur
of Major HAGGERTY has been withheld, thus sheav-
ing that his previous career furnishes some grave
objection to his officiating in this country. The
occurrence is somewhat awkward, but there
is no reason to apprehend any serious
difficulty. If, as the .21'ew York Times says, the
American Ministry made this appointment unwit-
tingly, there can be no reason why Major HAGGERTY
should be retained in opposition to the wishes of the
English Government.

LATEST INTELL EGENCE

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)