The Sun.
London, England, 1826-11-20 00:00:00

SIR RICHARD BMNIE AND THE MAWS-

TRATES-OF THE CINQUE,PORT.

. ,
„
The following is a 'COPY of a, letter receivett by the
Mayor of Sandwich (one of the Cinque Veda) fte%air
nichard,Birnie, in answer :to it lettet fwin the tamer, de-
man rind been *ported in the
roandink an explanation of
public journals to have, falleh fi-dm h m, reflecting on the
abiracter of the Cinque Ports Magistrates :
now-naI:ET, 'NOV; 1.7.
eta--in reply t'J Your letter of the 15th, lum ready to admit
that in the complaints of our men for the want of assistance and
coffoperatiori, bone are applicable to the town' and port of, Sand.
It is not true.that I Said,: all or .generally,—but certainly
five or aix of our officers have complained against several ; and
yearw back tide was stated to the Lord Warden, on a complaint of
their acting on a warrant witbacked.

To Wm. Cocking, Esq.
MiyofdiSrindwieh, Kent.

I nt'n, -sir,
Your obedient humble Servant,
R. BIRNIE.

(From the Cinque Ports liquid.)
LETTER TO SIR It. 13111N1E.
Dovxit, Nov. 15.

4
Stn---The slanderous libel which' appeared m the liforniny
Herald, of the 81st of October, kst, against the whole body of
Cinque Ports
_Magistrates has naturally excited great and general
indignation.. 1-laving for many years held the honourable. otliee,
of Solicitor of the Cinque Ports, and fur 3 t years filled the :naive
situatinn of Town Clerk Of Dover (which !titter office I Intro
latsdy resigned), fete perhaps have felt it -more keenly than my.
self, from a thorough conviction, founded on my own experience
tit the falsehood of the charges,
This newspaper libel is grounded on what appears, by the Po-
lies Reports, to have fallen from you on the exavatination, on the
28th October, of the persons charged with the murder of Richard
Morgan, a Preventive Service Romeo. if the report on that
minatinn he correct, you stated that one of your officers ha IX
leged he seldom could get his warrants efieinst sitkugglors backed
by the Migistrittes of the Cinque because the greatest 'tart
Of them were smugglers; You ihrther ethleil, that, live years
afro, the gaol 'at Meer NVits broken open at mid-day by the
flouggielci who took tUrtecti of their companions that were-then
confined out in trittv;ol....ehe )lagistrates looking on at the time.
The manner i!..t which the Report states these circumstances to
have been vrolattioued by you, appears to evince your biliefuf
them, it yeas therefore my intention to have sooner eildressed you
on the *Wirt% but circumstances unnecessary to detail, and whirl,
partly Intel reference to an intended prosecution against. the
Evrearleipirs of the Morning nie to postpone
iktiog
Your farther remarks, however, as reported iii the Times of
yesterday, on warrants being'required to apprehend smuggle:, u,,
the coast of Kent, require stone immediate notice -of these delis :r
ed slanderous attacks ; and, as Solicittir of the Cinque Port,, 1
teel this painful duty tube cast on me,-and that I aro botmd to ful-
fil it; repugnant as it is to toy feelings and habits to obtrude my.
self on public attention.

If the !‘ Times" report ha correct, you directed your oincers,
they found it necessary to get warrants 'cooled by ally of the local
Magistrates, nut to apply to any oc the Megisttitees residing in, the
t Pmts, but to some of the County Magistrates, whom you
knew to be bonoUrablri men ; but with legard to others !evidently
alluding to the eintrae Ports I,,lty,,)kit'ates) you had a different opi-
nion, You are then made to state as a fact grounded on the
oath of Bond, one of yaw eonitables, that on his applying to the
Mayor of one of the .Cinque Port. Towns to back a warrant, the
Mayor not only millets] to do so, but went and informed the wife
of the smuggler, that she mightwarit'her bordnind to keep out of
the way.

Aly official situation gave tne opportunities of knowing person-
ally the greater part of the Magistrates of the Cinque Ports ; and
what your constable stated as to the difficulty of getting wat••
rants baeked, fuel of the 51s'gistrates of
.the Cinque Ports being
smogg'Vrs, 1 have no hesitation in pronouncing to be e• knost gross
atUi rtinbunticti slander. That some ontiiir more instances, of the
nature alluded to, may have occurred, I admit is possible ; but
'
feel: moat confident that, if investigated, they will be !Om to be
very kw, and only tmtier eireuMstances which May adthit of ex-
planation ; and come better proof than the assertion of the onsta-
kenst he adduced betbre I can give credit to so grave Q charge,
evert Against a single
i :cannot but lament that a MagisArnte of your experience,
aml with your Chartif tf:r fur tlisesition, should not have thought
ueeessery to require some 'attiiger geountli, before, by your
*auction, you gave EtivAr.wy 1.0 109 iicßotts an attack,. on the 11111-
iistritvy.
It would riot have lie,ct le,,seoing y,o4v MAW, and
it surely would buys been more imientinitit to the principles of Jib-
tire, if you loud withheld your statetiun, until you had directed some
itortiry, which you had the ready -mane of doing, into OW biii-
thet and diameters of the Cinque Ports Magistratr?.
Had you done so, the obloquy which, through your observations,
the public prints, have. heaped pp the Magistracy of twelve corpo-
rate towns, (nt which the Clique Porta are composed,) Might
hSie been spared. You would, have found that these,gentletneo
(Among whom are several County Magistrates) are men of inteli-
genCe and high reapeetability, of InyA pristeiOes, as zealous in ren-
dering to the enuntrY their gratuitous services as magistrates, and
as tree froth smuggling habits, as you, or any other salaried (I do
not mean the term Offensively) Police Magistrates under Ciovern-

With, regard to the strong and offensive remarks imputed to you
in the " Times," I take upon myself to my they are groundless
and unjust, as applied to the Cinque Porte generally, and if there
he any instance wherein they can apply to individualif, they must,
lam convinced, be extremely rare irulectL If you considered the
testimony of your constable, Bowl, to be correct, I take the li-
berty of suggesting to ypu, whether you would nut better have per-
ibrmed your puhlia duty, by submitting this most flagrant instarcc
of Miacooduet, with the of ruler's name; to the proper Govern-

meat authorities; in tull,r that the deliwpient might have met his
whir punishment.; than by using it as the,menns of publicly idly-
iniatiiiug the NV 14 ot,E. of the Cinque Ports Magistrates.
The manner in tairli your remarks were introduced yester-
day appears to me somewhat singular. It is not, I presume,
Year usual practice in giving directions to your officers for the
vrecution of warrants, to do so publicly; but thin course was
taken yesterday, expressly, as appears to me, to revive the offensive
i►nputations on the Magistrates.
Had these remarks proceeded from, any one less experienced
than 'Ourself, end not standing so high in the public estimation
nv you deterveitiy 11,), I should have beeti led to infer that they
did not spring from a aernar of pnldie duty, but that *nine lurking
feeling of persOnal pique, .or private reseninient, had prompted
therr4 • • • •