The Sun.
London, England, 1850-08-13 00:00:00

THE SUN,

satisfaction that a regard for the welfare of their
fatherland can thus induce men of fortune and leisure
to forego all the enjoyments of repose, and to with
stand the allurements of an indolent re creation.
Considerations like these are the most unanswerable
arguments in favour of that political ambition
which some mistaken philosophers have repro-
bated as a grievous criminality. But for
it there would be little chance of the labours of le-
gislation being conducted with anything like the pre.
sent promptitude and efficiency. In thinking thus, of
course it must be apparent that we are not among
those who are solicitous to see a pecuniary incitement
introduced into the precincts of the Imperial Parlia-
ment. Of all the demands of democracy, that appears
to us to be the most erroneous. Nothing could more
signally demonstrate this than a comparison of
the benefits secured to the people of France
by the National Assembly, and those con-
ferred upon the people of England by the
House of Commons during the sessions now rapidly
approaching their termination. One constituting the
achievements of paid and the other of unpaid repre-
sentatives, they strikingly contrast with each other,
and illustrate in a manner the most brilliant and con-
spicuous the advantages of the system as existing
amongst ourselves.
Reviewing the records accumulated this year by
the stenographers of Hansard, we confess at once,
and with a sort of exultation, that the Premier was
scrupulously correct in asserting, as he did yesterday,
that during 1850 the toils of the Commons have been
but seldom interrupted by lengthened discussions.
Hitherto, unfortunately, a large amount of public
time had been frittered away in unnecessary debates
and most unjustifiable personalities. Members de-
livered elaborate harangues more with a view toen-
hanee their reputation as orators than to elucidate
any obscure or complicated question, subordinating
the interests of the country to the chance of their own
individual advancement. Against this melancholy
practice the journalist has repeatedly inveighed with
a seriousness proportioned to his sense of the
grievances accruing from it to the population of the
United Kingdom. Gradually we are rejoiced to ac-
knowledge that the annoyance alluded to has been of
less and less frequent recurrence. Especially during
the session which will be closed by her Most Gracious
MAJESTY in person on Thursday next, has the
Speaker of the House of Commons been exempted
from the onerous duty of sitting out tremendous de-
bates of an idle and frivolous character, extending far
into the small hours after midnight, and protracted
by adjournment after adjournment. The discussion on
the Foreign Policy of the Government may be men-
tioned as; the only one of a particularly lengthened
duration ; and, considering the immense importance of
the subject then under deliberation, the multiplicity
of its details, and the magnitude of its misrepresenta-
tions, it cannot, by any possibility, be insinuated that
that debate was in any respect unconscionably pro-
longed. With all the odium devolving upon the
members of the present Administration in conse-
quence of their abandonment of so many measures of
an estimable description, it must be borne in mind
that a large amount of credit is likewise due to them
in a particular degree for the amount of work which
they have got through, notwithstanding the numerous
obstructions raised against their proceedings, now in
one, now in the other, of the two Houses of Parlia-
ment. Added to which, a material improvement has
been perceptible under them in one or two regu-
lations affecting the management of public busi-
ness. With the intention of preventing the annoyance
of any uncertainty as to which would and which
would not be brought forward among some twenty
or thirty orders of the day down in the notice- book
of the House, and also in what succession those same,
orders would be introduced—it has been contrived
that one or two out of those clustered orders should
be especially specified on the votes as being likely to
absorb a considerable portion of such and such an
evening. These more tedious subjects have received
precedence of the other miscellaneous subjects enume-
rated, and the arrangement has, by the means just re-
ferred to, been duly intimated beforehand to the House
by the well meaning intervention of the Government.
Those who are unaccustomed to observe the manner
in which the flow of public business may be re-
tarded by some such trivial interruptions as are
thereby obviated, can form but an inadequate notion
of the value and efficacy of the plan adopted by the
Cabinet in this instance, and carried out, it woukl
seem, at the express instigation of the First Lord of
the Treasury. Incredible as it may appear to the
uninitiated, many whole nights in the session have,
by this simple contrivance, been saved from being
needlessly frittered away in altercations.
As affording a vivid notion of the arduous and
protracted exertions of the House of Commons during
the session of 18.50, the statistical estimate of that
session, given last evening by the Honourable Baronet
the Member for the metropolitan borough of Mary-
lebone, is eminently entitled to consideration. Ac-
cording to the rough calculation of Sir BENJAMIN
HALL, the total number of hours during which the
Commons have been sitting during the last twenty-
five weeks (exclusive of holidays) has been no less
than 1,041 1,041 hours distributed over 149
sittings ; or, allowing 100 hours for the Wednes-
day sittings, they have sat during the whole
of this session four days in every week,
for ten hours and a half a day. Of itself this nume-
rical estimation alone is a sufficient token of the as-
siduous application to their legislative duties on the
part of our unpaid Representatives. Meanwhile, of
course, in carrying out so many and such diversified
schemes, many also have been unhappily overlooked
and prematurely abandoned. In gathering in so
large a harvest it is not surprising that every year
many sheaves should be left scattered about for the
advantage of the political gleaners. Unfortu-
nately the benefit of this kind of sena-
torial gleaning can only be experienced on the
approach of the ensuing harvest, at the commencement
of the nest Parliamentary session. So that, while
exulting over what has been accomplished during the
past session through the instrumentality of their
Representatives at Westminster, the people invariably
look forward with eager expectation to the renewal
of their deliberations.

The more we look into the various articles, letters,
&c., which have appeared in the columns of our con-
temporaries on the subject which is engaging so much
public attention, and which has led to so much cor-
respondence between the Board of Customs and the
dock companies, the more are we confirmed in our
view of the case, viz., that out of this question, much
good must inevitably result, not only to the merchants
of the metropolis, but also to the lesser traders and
dealers in general. We cannot dismiss from our
minds that much of the evil is chargeable on the
Customs authorities. The dock companies have
been left too much to themselves, too much
confidence has been reposed in the honour of
individuals, who in their turn entrust that honour to
the keeping of others, which, as in this case, fre-
quently ends in inextricable difficulties.
It too often happens in public bodies that, however
high the integrity, however respectable the standing
of its members and directors, the practical working of
the business machinery must be entrusted to servants,
dependents, and other officials, with whose actual
doings the directors are unacquainted,except so far as
may appear on paper at their periodical or other meet-
ings. We can, therefore, realise the idea that in the
case before us the directors of the dock companies, as
a body, may be ignorant of many frauds or irregulari-
ties, if there be any, in their establishments, although
such ignorance and innocence on their parts
may not be inconsistent with the existence of
evils on which we have had occasion to
animadvert. We would willingly incline to the opi-
nion that such is the case with regard to the many
highly influential and honourable persons whose
names are associated with these compsoie.=, although
they themselves have not been disposed to Edmit the
fiet ; re.v(rtheless the responsibility rests with them,
the pecuniary consequences of that rasp
constitute a lesser evil than the imputation of privity
and participation in the practices that leEd to such re-
sults. To that responsibility the London Dock Com-
pany inform the Board of Customs that they hold
themselves liable, and this position they admit whilst
animadverting on the conduct of the Customs.

If liberties have been taken with the imports, and
abstractions have been made beft,re the landing
weights have been taken by the Customs, a false
and insufficient charge has been raised against the
importer, and by this inadequate amount the duties have

LONDON,

ben charged, and the merchants have been settled
'with. Where the quantities abstracted before being
brought to account were in excess of the bills of
lading, and the error has not been discovered by the
shipper and notified to the merchant, the latter may
have had ail he expected and been satisfied. If, how-
ever, these excesses have not been brought under the
notice cf the Crown, but wholly or in part brought
into consumption, the revenue has suffered, and the
fair trader has suffered by the unfair competition to
which he who pays honestly the duty on his goods
must be subjected, and if this be so, we ask, what
have the Customs been about ?

How comes it that the guardians of the revenue
have foregone the means of securing its integrity,
and of preserving intact the property of the
merchants, who, confiding in their account for duties,
regulate thereby their demands on the warehouse-
keepers for their goods ? If, by the abstraction of
goods, deficiencies are created, the merchant, it is
presumed, gets an allowance either from the shipper,
the shipowner, or carrier, the lighterman, or the
underwriter. In this case it is not the merchant, but
one or other of the parties indirectly who suffer.
Upon what evidence they are fixed with the loss is
to us an enigma ; but the revenue is here again a
sufferer, and we think the Customs should solve that
enigma, and guard against such puzzles being pro-
pounded for the future.

These things furnish matter for inquiry, and
we trust it is in better hands than for.
merly. We have in a previous article on
this subject freely expressed our opinion of the laehes
of the Board of Customs, and it has called forth a re-
monstrance from a mercantile correspondent, whom
we take this opportunity of informing that our stric-
tures on the Customs were general. We do not wish
to be unjust, and we must admit that on a more care-
ful review of the statements contained in the columns
of one of our contemporaries, though designed fox' a
different purpose—and we thank our correspondent for
the hint—some excuse is to be found for the
existing Board of Customs, as the majority
of the present Board are comparatively
new men. If so, they are not answerable
for the misrule of their predecessors, and we admit
that it is difficult to break through established prac-
tices. They are now furnished with a powerful
lever, and we would rather encourage them in
the proper use of it than join in deriding the quali-
fications of the new Board, and personally inveighing
against its several members. The examination of this
question leads us to take a more cheering view of the
case. The journal just alluded to has unwittingly
furnished materials which place the parties affected
in a much higher position than their predecessors. If
the majority of the present members of the Board
have had but few years of official experience in their
department, we must give them credit for having
turned it to some account. The infusion of a little
new blood into the sluggish constitutions of anti-
quated bodies has a tendency to re-invigorate and
bring about a wholesome renovation. We hope to
see it verified.

We look forward to the adoption of regulations
which will at once form a safeguard to the revenue,
relieve the dock companies from the danger of male
versation by their servants, disarm suspicion against
them, restore public confidence in those influential
bodies, and secure the best interests of the mercantile
community. We are the more sanguine, because we
observe more evidences of energy and uncompromis-
ing integrity in a department which has heretofore
been a subject of complaint and dissatisfactior,
and we rejoice to see indications of a similar spiri►
in the solicitor who, as the legal adviser of the Board,
may be very instrumental in supporting and giving
effect to their measures, if, indeed, he do not give a
tone to their deliberations, as they must needs have
recourse to him on most important matters. We
know that there is no great inducement to a stipen-
diary officer resorting to needless litigation, adding
thereby to the labours of his office. We were glad to SE e
Mr. HAMEL'S declaration against sinecurism, and,
therefore, do not concur in the ungracious attacks
which have been made upon him, avowedly on account
of the firmness and determination that distinguish
him. We purpose shortly, should space and oppor-
tunity permit, to enter a little more fully into this
subject. In the meantime we will only observe that
we have looked in vain for the acceptance of his
challenge, repudiating the statements attributed to
him. As the attack was anonymous, the only clue to
the author was to be found in the details of his ad-
versaries' statements, and their accordance with some
pamphlet said to have been circulated by a former
law officer of the Customs. After the deliberate,
though polite, contradiction which Mr. HA..
di EL has publicly given to every position
advanced, he may accept the silence ob.
served as a retractation of the statements, or
a confession of inability to maintain them. We do
not enter upon this to vindicate the present solicitor,
who, if we may judge from the tone and spirit of hie
letters, can defend himself, but refer to it to show
the weakness of a cause which must have recourse to
personalities. The solicitor, be it remembered, is
amongst those who are abused for protecting the
interests of the merchant, and they may yet have to
acknowledge themselves under great obligations to
that gentleman—but more of this hereafter.

AMERICAN NEWS.

ARRIVAL OF THE AMERICA.
LIVERPOOL, TUESDAY MORNING.

The British and North American steam-ship Ame •
rica has just arrived in our river, having sailed from
New York on the 31st ult. She called at Halifax to
land and receive passengers on the 2d inst. Her news
is four days later than that received per the Atlantic
on Wednesday last.

Tne America brings the usual mails, and about
80 passengers.

We learn by these advices that Garibaldi, the Ro-
man exile, had arrived in New York, where he has
met a very gratifying reception.
The accounts received from the cotton crops Ivere
much more favourable than they had been hitherto.
Business throughout the United States was in a
languid condition.
In breadstuffs little was doing. Prices had re.
ceded slightly. Western Canal Flour was quoted
5 dolls. 121 c. to 5 dolls. 25c. per barrel ; Genesee
Prime Wheat, 1 doll. 34c. to 1 doll. 36c. per 601b5.;
Southern Wheat, 1 doll. 16c. to 1 doll. 18c. per 601bs ;
Indian Corn, flat yellow, 63c. per bushel; Southern
White, 60c. to 62c. per bushel ; Indian Meal, 3 dolls.
to 3 dolls. 121 c. per barrel.
The Cotton market at New York was inactive, and
prices were rather feebly maintained as follows :
New Orleans and Mobile, mid. fair to fair, 1440. per
lb. ; Uplands and Florida, 131 c.
Freights rule low, the market being quiet.
Exchange on London, 1101 to 1101, sales
_mo-
derate • Paris 5 22, little doing ; Hamburgh, 35 to
36 ; Bremen, 79! to 80.

TWO DAYS LATER.
(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH VIA HALIFAX.)
NEW YORE, AvG• 2.
We have also received two days' later intelligence
by telegraph to Halifax, bringing the news down to
the close of business in New York on the above day.
The Compromise or Slavery Bill had been de-
feated in the Senate. ,The admission of California
into the Union was to be made a separate measure.
The President had held the usual official attend-
ance, and declared as his policy strict neutrality in
the affairs of all nations.
Stocks were firm. Cotton unchanged. Flour
dull and lower.

SUDDEN DEATH OF THE RECORDER. OF THE
CITY OF LorinoN.—lntelligence was received at the
Mansion-house this forenoon of the melancholy
death of the Right Hon. Charles Ewan Law, Re-
corder of the City of London, which took place
rather suddenly this morning' at his town resi-
dence, at Eaton-place. The Hon. Gentleman has
been ailing some few days, but his illness was not
of that character to create the alarm of his family.
He served the office of Common sergeant from 1830
to 1833, when he was elected to the dignified posi-
tion of Recorder. By his death a vacancy occurs in
the representation of Cambridge University in Par-
liament.

THE LONG VACATION.--The long vacation has
just commenced, and will continue to the 24th of
eri Oco r to
cober, so
far as law proceedings are concerned, in the supurts.
Persons served with writs of summons must pay within a
few days of the termination of the vaforcationa " ,
declar tior they
on will
have to pay E cme additional pounds."
There is no vacation in the County Courts, and on the Ist of
October the new Act will come iota operation, when a cre-
ditor will have the "option" of bringing his action for a
small sum to 501., or incur great expense in the superior
courts. Attorneys and barristers will, under the new Act,
be :entitled to a higher scale of lees th 4,12 they at present
enjoy.