The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-28 00:00:00

LORD PALMERS2ON AND 21:IE

CINQUE PORT'S.

In anticipation of the ceremony which takes
place at Dover this day, a slight sketch of the past
and present institutions of these ports may not
prove devoid of interest.
The peculiar organisation of the maritime towns
scattered along the coast of Kent and Sussex, be-
tween the North Foreland and Beachy Head—the
part of our seaboard in closest proximity to the
Continent—originated, as is well known, in very
remote times, and was dictated by the most obvi-
ous exigencies of national defence. Some learned
antiquaries have traced its establishment to the ob-
scure era when our shores were first exposed to the
fierce incursions of roving Vikings, Danes, and
other Norsemen. From "Domesday Book" it ap-
pears that in the days of Edward the Confessor the
haven towns of Dover, Sandwich, and Romney, in
consideration of their services to the State by sea,
enjoyed exemption from all manner of impositions
and burdens to which other places were then sub-
ject. In that ancient record no mention is made
either of Hastings or of Hythe ; but there is evi-
dence in the local archives that those two ports
were early invested with the same special privileges
and immunities as the other three. In Henry lll.'s
reign Winchelsea and Rye, situate between Romney
and Hastings, were incorporated as principals and
equals with the first five ports; but, notwithstand-
ing this increase in the number, the original Nor-
man designation of the entire association as " the
Cinque Ports" was retained, and still survives to
this day. To each of these seven municipalities,
except Winchelsea, were attached several subordi-
nate and more or less dependent towns—some in-
land, others on the coast, and situated at distances
varying from 3 to 50 miles from the principal port of
which they were called tho "Emile" or membem
The entire organisation now comprises 16 corpora-
tions and 12 unincorporated members. The rigbts
of the Cinque Ports are expressly ratified by Magna
Charta, and special charters were also granted them
by successive Sovereigns down from Edward I. to
Charles 11.
Although particular ports may be of earlier date
than the Norman invasion, the general framework
of their institutions plainly emanated from the mas-
terly policy of the Conqueror for securing his com-
munications with the continent, and rivetting his
hold over his newly-acquired dominions. Long be
fore embarking on his great enterprise his keen
eye had detected the weak as well as the strong
points on our south-eastern coast, and the surrender
into his hands of Dover Castle—a fortress from very
early times looked upon, by reason of its natural
and artificial advantages, as "the eerie lecke and
keye of the whole realme of England"—was one of
the stipulations of the famous oath which he ex-
torted from the unfortunate Harold. Severing the
maritime towns which constituted the grand out-
works of his conquest from the two counties to
which they belonged, Duke William erected them
into a kind of Palatine jurisdiction, under a garelien,
or warden, who had the seat of his administration
at Dover Castle, and wielded over the entire dis-
trict the combined civil, military, and naval autho-
rity. The principal service performed by the ports
in return for the extensive liberties and immuni-
ties they enjoyed at a period when the rest of the
country groaned under an iron despotism was the
fitting out and manning of ships for the transport
of the King's armies and the defence of his coasts.
The frequent wars waged in France by our Princes
of the Norman, Plantagenet, and Lancaster lines
caused heavy demands to be made upon the jurats
and barons (appellations equivalent to aldermen
and freemen in other towns) of the Cinque Ports.
The custom was for the Crown to issue its sum-
mons to the different ports once a year if necessary,
calling upon them to furnish their quota of seamen
and vessels, and to maintain them at their own ex-
pense for the space of 15 days. If their services were
required beyond that period, the additional cost of
wages and pay was defrayed by the State. By the
terms cf the charter of Edward I. 57 ships in all
had to be equipped for the King every time he
crossed the sea, each vessel to have 21 men and one
garcion on board. To this array Dover contri-
buted 21 vliiho.
Caly A.A.ttaa..". t,...:..
wise sending contingents proportionate to their re-
sources. Therefore, while the aggregate number of
the ships was 57, the total force of seamen was
1,187 and 57 garcions. It would be a grave error
to suppose that the services of this fleet were con-
fined to the Mere conveyance of our kings and their
armies beyond sea. They fought repeated battles
with the enemy, their deeds being always daring,
often brilliant, and, if the truth must be told, some-
times a little piratical. When the French expedi-
tion led by the Dauphin invaded the kingdom
during the civil troubles of King John's reign, the
stout Hubert de Burgh, then Captain and Constable
of Dover Castle, speedily armed 40 ships, and by
their aid inflicted a heavy discomfiture on double
that number of Frenchmen. Some seventy years
later the fleet of the ports, 100 strong, defeated in
mid Channel, and almost wholly destroyed, a French
squadron of 200 sail. In the reign of Henry IV.,
again, they surprised and captured 120 French mer-
chantmen. In 1588 the five ports fitted out six
ships• of larger build, with a corresponding number
of pinnaces, to be employed against the Spanish
Armada, and the mariners of these vessels, being of
course well acquainted with the flats and banks of
the Channel, were enabled to allure some of the
enemy's huge galleons to certain destruction.
For these and similar achievements our Sove-
reigns lavished franchises and honours upon the
Cinque Ports. Their representatives in Parliament,
w who were very numerous, went by the designation
of barons, and they still claim by ancient right the
distinction of bearing the canopy over the head of
our monarchs at their coronation.
The Cinque Ports have from a variety of causes
long lost their ancient pre eminence. The silent
operations of nature and the ravages of time have
combined with the reforming hand of the Legisla-
ture to rob them of their former greatness and splen-
dour. The sea has in the lapse of ages receded from
its ancient landmarks in their vicinity, and the
havens of Rye, Romney, Sandwich, and others of

the associated towns are now either wholly left high
and dry inshore, or are only accessible to the smallest
craft. The establishment of a permanent National
Navy, begun in the reign of Henry VII., gradually
superseded the services rendered by the ports, and
on the disuse of that service there remained no
longer any pretence for continuing their anomalous
and exceptional privileges. Like many other in-
teresting relics of the past which have served their
day and generation, the fleets of the ports, the in-
fant germ of our modern navy, have had to give
place to a new and better order of things, and to
succumb to the great law of progress. What a con-
trast between the tiny craft of the Plantagenets,

with their crews of 21 men and one garcion mid the
colossal three-deckers or the iron-cased Warrior of
Queen Victoria !

The office of Lord Warden, like everything else
pertaining to the ports, has been so much shorn of
its original power and dignity as to be now but a

faint shadow of its former self. Though in great
measure but a thing of history and tradition, a cer,

tain prestige still clings to a position once held by
men so illustrious as Hubert de Burgh and a Prince
Edward (afterwards Edward I.) in ancient times,
and by Mr. Pitt and the late _Duke of Wellington
in modern times. On the lamented death of the last
occupant of the post, the Marquis of Dalhousie, there
was, indeed, some probability of its being allowed
entirely to lapse. But Dover and the rest of the
associated ports bestirred themselves to avert such
a catastrophe, and in answer to their petition
her Majesty was graciously pleased to appoint
Lord Palmerston to the vacancy. The selection of
a statesman so renowned and so popular could not
fail to rouse the enthusiasm of the ports, and a uni-
versal desire prevails to accord their new chief a
fitting welcome.

There are no emoluments now attached to the
office, the only advantage, other than honorary, in-
cident to it being the right to Walmer Castle as a
marine residence. The Lord Warden is also Ad-
miral of the Cinque Ports and Constable and Gover-
nor of Dover Castle, the centre of his jurisdiction
and autaority. His functions, indeed, were till
lately analogous to but more extensive than those
of a Lord Lieutenant of a county and a sheriff corn-

bined. Being returning officer for all the ports,
down to the Revolution of 1688 he claimed the
right of nominating one, and sometimes both, of the
members elected to Parliament by each. This usur-
pation was struck at by an early Act of William
and Mary, which in the ends however, only resulted
in handing over to the Treasury the illegitimate
influence previously exercised by the Lord Wardens.
Schedules A and B of the Reform Act of 1832 cut
down the representation of the ports within limits
commensurate with their. Altered fortunes and posi-
tion. The Municipal Corporations Act of 1835
worked a further revolution in their municipal in-
stitutions, abolishing their power to try capital
offences, and generally assimilating their organisa-
tion to that adopted for the other boroughs of the
kingdom. Perhaps the most important exemption
which still survives to the portsmen is their free-
dom from liability to serve in the Militia. The
Supreme Court of the Ports, called the Court of
Shepway, over which the Lord Warden presides,
took cognisance of treason, sedition, the counter-
feiting of the King's coin or seal, and the conceal-
ment of treasure found, besides hearing appeals
from the minor tribunals. Here, too, the Lord
Wardens used to be formally installed, but this
Court has been so long obsolete that even its site
is now not positively known. It is believed that it
was held at a place called Shepway-cross, some-
where between Hythe and Westenhanger, and that
the installation took place there as early as the
reign of Henry 11. in 1693, when Lord Sydney
was Lord Warden, the ceremony was performed at
Bredenstone-hill, near Dover. The latter precedent
is to be followed on the present occasion as closely
as circumstances will permit.
Until within the last ten years the Lord War-
dens had the custody of insolvent debtors, for whom
there was a prison within the walls of Dover Castle.
I An Admiralty jurisdiction still remains to him,
although of very attenuated proportions. In eon•
a.
nexton with this jurisdiction a Court of Lodema-
nage (a name derived from the old English word
" lodeman," leadman or steerer) existed during the
wardenship of the Duke of Wellington, for the
licensing and regulation of channel pilots. In this,
as, indeed, in all his other duties, the great Duke
took an active interest ; but a recent Act transfer-
ring the Cinque Ports pilot to the supervision of the
Trinity House relieves his successor of all such
labours.

Indeed, but for the fact that Lord Warden is still
the head of all the Volunteer corps of the poets, it
would be difficult to discover what real or substat ;
tial functions are left to the occupant of an office as
old, if not older, than the Norman Conquest. Lord
Palmerston will to-day enter upon his military
duties, on which occasion he is to review the Artil-
lery and Rifle Volunteers on the Castle Parade-
ground.

Great preparations have been made by the towns-
people of Dover to do honour to their new Lord
Warden. Triumphal arches have been erected along
the route by which the procession will pass to the
installation, and the day is to be observed as a gene-
ral holiday. The town is already crowded with
visitors and strangers, who look forward with as
much eagerness as the regular inhabitants to the
coming festivities.
The Lord Warden enters with his characteristic
geniality into the spirit of his new functions, and,
though he has as yet had but the scantiest oppor-
tunities of making the acquaintance of the portsmen,
he has already become immensely popular. If he
had held the office for many years, he could hardly
be a greater favourite. His suavity and bonhom-
mie have won all hearts. The other day Dover
races were held, when his lordship, to the agreeable
surprise of everybody, rode over from Walmer to
the racecourse, and seemed to take great interest in
the sport, even acting as umpire in the determi,
nation of the disputes that occurred between the
competitors in the running.
Dover regatta came off to-day in the presence of
a vast concourse of spectators. The weather was
magnificent, and the different matches were spirited
and well-contested, especially one between four.
oared galleys for the Lord Warden's prize. There
was some expectation that Lord Palmerston would
again h °nom. the town,,r.onl.---:41. bu 6
business prevented his leaving town. The people
of the ancient town and port are just now in an
unwonted state of pleasurable excitement, and in
the midst of a perfect round os festivities.

SEARCH FOR TIDINGS OF THE EX
PLORING .EXPEDMON IN AUSTRALIA.

The public of Victoria have naturally become
anxious as to the fate of the expedition under Mr.
Burke, attended by camels and a camel-driver, into
the interior of the continent. The Exploration
Committee have been desirous to secure the services
of Mr. Alfred William Howitt, whose able manage.
ment of an expedition two or three years ago from
Adelaide to the new pastoral lands discovered by
Mr. Stuart beyond Lake Torrens, to ascertain the
practicability of conveying cattle and sheep by that
route, and his since successful opening up a fine
mountainous district in Gippsland, including
gold field, now profitably working, have given the
colony the highest confidence in his eli.4-.lrgy and re-
liability. The following extracts from the Mel-
bourne Argus give us the particulars regarding
this party of inquiry :
Argus, June 22.—Mr. Heales, the minister, stated last
night that the Exploration Committee htid, on behalf of the
Government, arranged that a party, under Mr. Alfred
Howitt, should leave Melbourne in a day or two for the
purpose of getting information as to the progress and
whereabouts of the exploring party. The hon. member
added that the Governmen was also prepared, if necessary,
to send the Victoria round the coast to the Gulf of Carpen-
taria, to render whatever assistance might be possible.
The Argus, of June 24, adds these particulars :—•

On Wednesday next Mr. A. Howitt's small party wiu
set out for Cooper's Creek, on their mission in connection
with the exploring expedition. The party will number four
members only. Mr. Howitt, Mr. Aitkin, who accompanied
Mr. Howitt in his prospecting examination of Gippsland,
and is a valuable addition to the party, Mr, Walsh, sur-
veyor, and Mr. Vinning, who has had large experience both
in Australia and India, in travel, and in the management
of horses. Mr. Hewitt first proceeds to the Darling, and
will complete his preparations at Menindie. He takes with
him 16 horses and supplies, and from Menindie will pro-
ceed to Cooper's Creek. From that point his movements
will be determined by circumstances. If he does not find
Mr. 'Wright there, he will probably discover some instruc-
tions upon which he can act, or some member's of Mr.
Wright's small command in possession of the intentions of

that officer, and of the route taken by and probable position
of Mr. Burke's main party. Mr. Howitt takes with hint
six carrier pigeons, given him by Mr. Christie, of the rail-
way department, whose liberality in this matter is highly
commendable. It will, of course, be very difficult to carry
these pigeons so long a journey, the greater portion of
which must be made by the party on horseback ; but Mr.
Howitt will give every care to the birds, and if he succeeds
in carrying them to Cooper's Creek, will despatch them
from time to time with news of the party. By this means
the public anxiety may be set at rest at a very much earlier
date than otherwise would be possible. We trust the party
will be entirely successful. Though small, it is composed
ofcapaobwlemt en, and will be ably and intelligently led by
Mr. Howitt.

In the Argus of June 25 appears the latest infor-
mation on this very interesting subject :
" A meeting of the Exploration Committee of the Royal
Society was held yesterday, Sir W. F. Stawell in the chair,
when despatches for Mr. Burke were prepared, and direc-
tions for the guidance of Mr. Howitt were framed. Mr.
llowitt and his party leave on Wednesday afternoon (June
26), and will proceed by coach to Swan-hill (on the Murray),
the intention being not to take charge of any stores until
they reach the Darling. We are requested to state that
letters for Mr. Burke and the members of his party will be
taken charge of by Mr. Howitt if left at the hall of the
Royal Society before 1 p.m. on Wednesday."
We learn from a private source that Mr. Howitt
speaks in the highest terms of the liberality of the
Exploration Committee in theirpreparations for this
expedition, having given him carte blanche for the
selection of his companions, and for everything
which he might deem requisite for the success of
the enterprise.

GENERAL STEAM NAVIGATION COMPANY.—The
seventy-third half.yearly meeting of the General Steam
Navigation Company was held yesterday, at their offices,
71, Lombard-street ; John Wilkin, Esq., in the chair. The
report of the directors and the statement of the accounts
for the half-year ending the 30th June last were unani-
mously received and adopted, and the usual dividend at the
rate of 10 per cent. per annum was declared. The thanks
of the proprietors were voted to the chairman and directors
for their continued zealous services in the management of
the company's affairs, and the meeting separated.