Star.
London, England, 1829-10-15 00:00:00

THE LATE SMUGGLING TRANSACTION.

We are this day empowered to lay before our readers a
more full and circumstmtial account of the transaction in which
the name of our Ambassador has been so unfortunately mixed up ;
every fact we shall state may be received as perfectly accurate.
Some months back Lord Stuart de Rothsay gave orders to his
London coachmaker to forward to Paris a carriage, in contempla-
tion of the intended departure of Lady Stuart from that capital—
the imperial of the carriage, and the other appendages for
the conveyance of luggage, were, without the authority, or even
the knowledge of Lord Stuart, used to convey ten parcels; of
these, three were to the address of the Portuguese Ambassador,
and the remaining seven to different individual.. but no one to
Lord Stuart himself. When the weight and number of the pack-
ages excited the attention of the French Custom house officers, the
Poituguese Ambassador immediately made application to have his
consignment banded over to him, and, by some means or other, he
had sufficient interest to succeed in his application • he received his
three parcels unopened ; of course the nature of their contents has
not transpired. We have dwelt upon this fact, because it is pro.
bable that this first concession to the privilege of the Ambassador
of a friendly Power led to the subsequent indulgence extended to
the remaining seven packages, which have been the subject of so
much angry animadversion.
As soon as this part of the consignment was thus disposed of, the
British Ambassador was applied to as to the manner in which the
remainder were to be dealt with. His first answer was, Let
them take their fate—l know nothing about them—dispose of them
according to your ue regulations." Unluckily, and un-
guardedly, his Lordship afterwards assented to a proposal to send
them back to the place from whence they came; had they been
confiscated on the spot, as was the case in a former instance, in
1817, when the Duke of Wellington was Ambassador, the affair
would have been at an end. However, the obnoxious articles were
placed in the bands of Mr. Marshall, the English Consul at Calais,
and the first intimation our Government received on the subject
was by a communication from that gentleman.
When the consignment was returned to London, an investiga-
tion, rigorous and searching, was made by the Commissioners, and
the affair, thus thoroughly sifted, afforded sufficient proof of the
guilty participation of several individuals.
We are In possession •of all the names, but for the present we
suppress them, for a reason we shall presently mention. We shall
nut practise the urns reserve as to the stations it: society they re-
spectively occupy, so tar as that is ascertained. One is an eminent
London tradesman; a second a Frenchman, a dealer in perfumery,
residing in Use neighbourhood of Leicester, square; a third a con-
fidential domestic in the establishment of the British Ambassador ;
and a fourth an individual whose name is known, and whose letter,
found in one of the opened parcels was, as already stated, ad-
dressed to the above-mentioned domestic. The exact occupation
of this fourth person cannot be distinctly ascertained.
The commissioners who conducted the investigation have made
their repot t to the Lords of the Treasury, and a case has been laid
before the proper law officers, to enable them to select the persons
against whom prosecutions may be commenced, with a probability
of their being foliowed up by convictions. The whole of the
packages are under orders to be forwarded to Calais, with
peremptory instructions to the English Cansul to consign them to
the French authorities, to he dealt with according to law.

It may be advisable to inform our readers, w-ho will probably
feel considerable burp!i,e at the information, that the amount of
legal duty upon the articles attempted to be smuggled, would not
have exceeded ninety pounds. This is not to he supposed to ex-
tend to the three unopened consignments handed over to the Por-
tuguese Ambassador, as their contents are not known, and, conse-
quently, the amount of injuty to the French revenue cannot in
that instance be ascertained. . .

%Yr arc sorry to learn that, from some cause or other, the person
who to us appears the first and great delinquent is nut ,opposed to
be amenable to the existing laws. Our reason for suppres.ing, for
the moment, the names of the parties implicated, will be readily
found in the fact we have stated, that the case it as yet before the
law officers.—Chronicle.