The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-11 00:00:00

THAMES.

SMUGGLING FOREIGN WATCHES.—IMPORTANT CON-
VICTION.—Theodore Besseter and Jane, his wife, foreigners,
appeared before Mr. Yardley, to answer a Custom-house in-
formation, which charged them with importing into this
country nine Geneva watches, the duty upon which had
not been first paid and secured, with intent to defraud the
revenue, by which they incurred a penalty of £36 7s. 6d.,
being treble the value of the watches seized. _ _

The defendants immediately pleaded guilty to the infor-
mation, and begged for mercy.
Mr. Yardley was not aware that he had power to adjudi-
cate summarily where foreign watches were smuggled.
Mr. Graham, from the Customs' Solicitor's-office, pointed
out the Act of Parliament giving the magistrate jurisdiction
in the case. The prisoners were about to land with the
watches from a foreign steamer at St. Katherine's-wharf,
and were asked if they had anything about them liable to
duty, to which they answered in the negative. The watches
were found concealed on their persons.
Mr. Claridge, Queen's appraiser of condemned goods,
said the value of the watches and the duty amounted to
£l2 2s. 6d. He valued six of the watches at £1 ss. each, and
the other three at £l2s. 6d. each. _ _

Mr. Yardley thought the watches were valued very low
indeed.

The male defendant, who lives at No. 6, Horndon.-ter-
race, Kensington, said he was a very poor man indeed, and
could not afford to pay a fins. He then handed to the
magistrate a letter, of which the following is a copy :
"J. Wright, watchmaker, 4, Somerset-terrace, Ken-
sington, writes to inform the magistrate that T. Besseter
has been in his employ for some time. He is a poor man,
and has nothing but what he earns. He went home to Bos-
ton to receive a small sum of money which was left him by
a relative, and which he laid out in a few watches. His
poverty induced him to try to evade the duty, for which he
is very sorry. J. W. does net think he has ever been en-
gaged in evading the laws before, and that it is his first
offence, as he has nothing to trade with, and hopes the
offence may be treated with mercy, as his wife is near her
confinement, and will be reduced to want if her husband is
sent to prison.
• • • -

Mr. Yardley said the Act of Parliament enabled him in
his discretion to reduce the penalty to one-fourth the
amount sought for. He should in this case fine the male
defendant £lO. The wife might go. There was no wish
to press the charge against her.
The male defendant—" Oh, sare, sare, £lOl That is
more than de watches are worth."

Mr. Yardley—These foreign watches are very cheap
;hinge. I can't reduce the fine below £lO. It is nearly

the minimum.
The penalty was instantly paid. The watches were con-
demned to the use of the Crown.

PIEDMONT AND THE ROMAGNA.

The Piedmontese Gazette publishes the following
letter from Count Cavour, in answer to the address
presented by the provisional deputation from
Bologna to the King :

Turin, June 28, 1859.
Gentlemen,—His Majesty the King desires me
.o thank you for the address presented to him in
the name of the inhabitants of the Romagna, in
which address, expressing the wish to be annexed
to Piedmont, these inhabitants invoke his dictator-
ship. His Majesty, solely intent on the thought
of delivering Italy from the yoke of the foreigner,
cannot venture upon an act which, by causing dip-
lomatic complications, would tend to render the
attainment of this object more arduous.
Nevertheless, acknowledging the nobility and
generosity of the sentiment impelling those inhabi-
tants to take part in the war waged for this great
cause by Piedmont and her generous ally, the Em-
peror of the French, his Majesty cannot refuse,
notwithstanding his profound respect for the Holy
Father, to take under his direction the forces being
organised at this moment in those districts, and
which they are preparing to place at the service of
Italian independence. He will thus perform the
twofold task of directing the co-operation of the
Romagna in the war, and of preventing the na-
tional movement now in progress from degenerat-
ing int() disorder and anarchy.
I ought to add that his Majesty has resolved on
choosing for his commissioner, to this end, the
CavaHero Massimo d'Azeglio, who has accepted the
appointment.
I beg you, gentlemen, to accept the assurance of
my most distinguished consideration.

His Highness Tousson Pacha, son of the Viceroy
of Egypt, accompanied by Mr. R. H. Galloway, arrived in
London on Saturday night.
FIRE AT RATCLlEF.—Yesterday (Sunday) morn-
ing, about 1 o'clock, a fire,. attended with a considerable
loss of property, happened in the premises belonging to Mr.
J. Rouen, corn merchant, No. 11, Cock-hill, Ratcliff. The
premises in question were of considerable extent, and when
the discovery was made the flames had obtained a strong
hold of the upper part of the structure. The firemen used
every exertion to extinguish the flames, but were unable to
do so until the premises in which the fire originat,ed and
all they contained were nearly destroyed, and the adjoining
premises on each side damaged by water and the hasty re-
moval of the furniture. The loss will fall upon the Phoenix,
Leeds and Yorkshire, and other fire-offlces. Eight other
fires took place during Saturday night and yesterday morn-
' ins, but the damage done at each was inecs.