The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-20 00:00:00

Customs.

" Honourable Sirs,—l beg leave respectfully to
lay before your honours the following plain state-
ment of facts :

" I have been many years a waterman in this
town, having several boats of my own, and ever
since the Royal Mail Company's ships have been
here I have done work for them. On Saturday
evening last I was employed by the provedore super-
intendent of that company to convey trotn the
docks to the Parana, then lying in the river under
quarantine, fresh meat and provisions for the pas-
sengers who had been transferred to that ship from
the Tasmanian. I sent my boat, the Alma, man-
ned by George Deyer and William Blake (who have
been upwards of 20 years in my employment), and
as the weather was stormy I sent an extra hand in
the boat. Mr. Fletcher, of the provodore depart-
ment in the Royal Mail Company, made the ar-
rangements with the tide surveyor for the boat going
off, and a Customs' officer was sent in charge, with
instructions to see that everything was carried out
regularly, and no communication. held with the
ship beyond delivery of the things. while the boat
was alongside. Dr. Wiblin, who •vas passing along
the river in a small steamer, challenged them ;
whereupon he was informed by the Customs' officer
that he was an officer of Customs there, under in-
structions from his superior officer, in charge of the
boat, for the purpose of transferring the provisions
to the Parana, and that everything had been carried
out according to the directions he had received.
Notwithstanding this, Dr.. Wiblin ordered the boat
into quarantine, and as the Parana proceeded yes-
terday morning to the Blotherbank, my boat was
also ordered by Dr. Wiblin. to proceed there. The
Customs' officer, I believe, went on board the
Parana yesterday, and my men, I understand, were
put on board the 2Eolus, the boat remaining on the
quarantine ground.
" As my boat was em ployed in a lawful manner
in charge of your officer s, I have respectfully to seek
the interference of your honourable Board on a
matter in which the liberty of British subjects has
been so grossly outraged.; and I have further humbly
on behalf of the men employed by me, and on my
own behalf, to ask for c ompensation for the loss and
damage we have sustained, and are sustaining, by
reason of your proceedi.ng.—l have the honour to
be, your honours' obedient servant,

" WILLIAM DIBLE."

The whole question of the quarantine laws and
their operation upon col n meree at home and abroad
was brought under the ci consideration of the Cham-
ber of Commerce at this port on Monday evening,
and a deputation was appointed to wait upon the
Privy Council to endeavour to obtain such a modi-
fication of the present Jaws as shall, if possible,
satisfy the requireuaents of foreign Governments,
and, at the same time,
relieve healthy persons arriv-
ing at British ports from the lengthened detention
to which they are liable u. nder the present system
when rigidly enforced.
The Parana steamer and the Tasmanian passengers
have been released from quarantine, and the pas-
sengers landed in the doc:(s this evening—the
healthy crew on board the 2Eot us, the convalescents
in the Menelaus. llible's boitt #IU d men are still de-
tained at the Motherhank.

, await

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HER MAJESTY, &c.

OSBORNE, Wednesday.
The Queen drove out yesterday afternoon, ac-
companied by Princess Christian, and her Majesty
walked and rode in the grounds this morning with
Princess Louise.

Prince Christian roll out yesterday afternoon,
attended by Major-General F. H. Seymour, and
his royal highness walked and drove this morning
with Princess Christian.

Prince Leopold and Prince Henry of Prussia
drove out yesterday, attended by Mr. Legg.
The Duchess of Athole has succeeded the March-
ioness of Ely as Lady in Waiting to her Majesty.

The Duke of Hamilton is entertaining the fol-
lowing party at Easton Park, Suffolk :—The lion. F•
Bertie, Hon. R. Herbert and Mrs. Herbert, Mr. and Mrs. F,
Granville, Mr. F. Wombwell, Mr. R. Burton, Mr. H. Craw-
shaw, and Lieut.-Colonel Knox, Fusilier Guards. HeavY
bags have been made during the past week in his grace's
coverts.

The Dowager Duchess of Athole and Miss
Murray Macgregor have left the St. George's Hotel, for
Osborne, Isle of Wight. The Duchess of Newcastle, the
Earl and Countess of Portarlington, the Marchioness of
Hastings, and Lady Constance Marsham have also left the
same establishment.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Salisbury have
been entertaining a select party at Hatfield House, Herts.
It is not their intention this year to give the ball at Hat'
field.

Sir F. Johnstone, Bart., in consequence of receiv-
ing the information of the death of Mr. Oswald, at Cannes,
has relinquished for the present his hunting at Melton
Mowbray.

LITERATURE.

Abortive Malice.

Under the heading of " Mr. Charles Reade's
Masterpiece of Plagiary," the Round Table returns
to its attack upon " Griffith Gaunt." It charges
the author of that tale with the most barefaced
plagiarism. It not merely denies in lobo his claims
to the merit of originality, but boldly asserts that
he borrows his plot, his ideas, his characters, hie
incidents, his very language from other writers,
and those writers his own immediate contemporaries.
To make good this charge it prints in three parallel
columns extracts to which it directs attention as
not merely similar, but, as it asserts, absolutely
identical—three parallel columns of extract upon
extract from Charles Reade's " Griffith Gaunt,,
published iu 1866—from Wilkie Collins's Griffiths
Story, published in 1859 as a portion of " The
Queen of Hearts,"—and to crown all, from an
anonymous paper, entitled " The Frenchman of
Two Wives," which appeared on Dec. 6, 1856, in NO.
350 of Charles Dickens's Household Words. Novi'
having very carefully taken into consideration the
audacious charge thus directed against Mr. Charles
Meade by his enemies of the Round Table, and
and having carefully examined and compared the
parallel columns of extracts with which the Round
Table undertakes to make good its assertions, We
must protest, in the interests of truth and in the
names of Fair Play and Common Honesty, to say
nothing, of Common Decency, that for these shame-
ful charges we cannot perceive in the extracts given
the shadow of a shade of justification. If this be
plagiarism, then can no future writer ever have the
faintest possible chance of making good any claim
to originality. Love and Jealousy had been written
about before, and will be written about afterwards,
but for all that " Griffith Gaunt" is original, if it is
nothing else—and that it has other merits besides

that great and conspicuous merit of originality we
ourselves took occasion to indicate, iu as plain
language as we could contrive to employ to that
purpose, in our review not long since of Mr. Charles
tleade's last, and in some respect his most remark'
able, contribution to our imaginative literature.