The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-12-13 00:00:00

I no less a

the last news, red-hot from the manufactory
wit. Meantime our ministers, all the big ones in town
have resolved upon no Cabinet meetings until the result
of these later negociations has been communicated to
them. All is bustle, despatch, at the Russian Embassy ;
day after day messengers sent off to St. Petersburg, by

,—Vienna to

310 means a pleasant journey, when one's eyes are nearly
closed up with fog and frost before the'Dover terminus,
hard by the Bricklayers' Arms, is reached. But, as I have
aid on % former occasion, your Russian messenger stands
nything but the loss of his brandy. A telegraphic

espatch has just been received, announcing a naval en-
gagement between the Russians and Turks, in which the
latter, it is stated, has lost twelve ships

Is this the vain(

of armed nentralit

Where were

the French and Eng-

fish fleets ?

The only business done in Downing-street, on Saturday
most commonly a busy day there,. was, of all things in
the world,—what d'ye think ?—the great Earl of Cid.-

3LENDON, Foreign Secretary, receiving a deputation on the
subject of guano, praying for a reduction of the duty
thereon. Feathers of the extinct Dodo /--of the living
Penguin !—how are ye honoured ! The guano question
was brought before the Foreign Secretary on Saturday,
because the town is at present filled with our agricultu-
ral friends from all parts of England and the United
Kingdom, —here by reason of the Cattle Show. Lord
CLARENDON, who receives his deputations with greater
blandness than any of his colleagues, smiled and smiled
again, and stated in effect that the question had not failed
to occupy a large share of his attention ; he took the op-
portunity of reminding the deputation that many tons of
fish were thrown away annually as offal, in Newfound-
land, which might easily be converted into a rich and fer-
tilizing manure. No effort would be lost to induce the
Peruvian government to consider the question, and endea-
vouring to secure to the English farmer a larger and
cheaper supply of that powerful element (guano) in the
improvement of the soil ;- all of which meant free-trade in
guano, my Lord, which the English government will not
obtain in a hurry from hungry Peru, much as we have
heard of her gold, With regard to the said tons of fish,
I sincerely hope they will never be brought to England to
poison our hitherto healthy acres ; sprats as manure in
Essex is bad enough. Defend us, worthy farmers, from
the infliction of rotten fish manure, from the Dogger bank !
When so many inefficient acts of legislation pass the
Senate—from the Prevention of Bribery at Elections Bill
down to that for the better protection of women—the
last past enactment—both failures, one cannot but hai
with satisfaction the appearance of a measure which pro-
mises to be nearly all that the exigencies of the greatest
commercial country in the world can desire. Customs
Reform ! why, the words have been dunned into our ears
until we became completely sick from the hope deferred.
Now we have it, " pure and simple," easy of obtainment,
and the means neither costly nor complicate. Lord
BROIIGICAM, in a seven hours' speech, observed to the
effect that he wished to see cheap law brought to the poor
man's door. My opinion is, that the further removed
from the doors of poor and rich the better. Not so with
Custom-house grievances—heretofore neither few nor
small; but the other day the only court for their trial was
that moat costly, most tedious one—the Court of Ex-
chequer. On last Friday I witnessed a grand step in the
right direction,—Court of Exchequer and all its antiquated
paraphernalia sent to the right-about, as far as regards
Custom-house strife. A splendid new court was opened
by the commissioners created under the powers contained
in the 40th section of the Customs Consolidated Act.
The court is appropriately opened in the Custom-house.
Sir Taos AS FREMANTLE, chairman of the board, pre-
sided on the occasion, which attracted a great number of
merchants and brokers, all interested in the " new move."
One commissioner is to sit two days in each week, and the
complainant can have a hearing with much less trouble
and expense than he can a County Court summons. Fur-
thermore, the commissioners will cause witnesses to attend,
if necessary, to establish a case. There are a great number
of minor provisions, all of a salutary character ; but these
are as nothing compared with the wholesome recom•
mendations, certain of being adopted, contained in the
report of the City Committee for reform in the cus-
toms, which is now before me, having been just issued.
There is not a merchant or man of business in Liverpool
who is unacquainted with the absolute and irresponsible
powers of the old board, their " confidential" and secret
investigations,• claims to the amount, it may have been,
for thousands of pounds sterling, disposed of with closed
doors,—seizures sanctioned, and the poor man or merchant

most deeply interested not knowing for what the seizures
were made. This, and more than this, must be viewed
among the grievances that were. In every case where a

seizure is made, the grounds must clearly be set forth to
the party before a Custom-house finger is stretched out.
In lieu of the Court of Exchequer, jurisdiction is con-
ferred, on 2100 cases, upon the County Courts in
the district : Liverpool, for Liverpool,—Hull, for Hull, and
so on ; with regard to Ireland, the assistant barristers
are the tribunals--most discreetly presided over; in Scot-
land, the sheriffs courts are chosen : each of these courts
has a sound lawyer, called " Sheriff Depute," at its head, a
functionary chosen for previous position and legal attain-
ments. Finally, the Court of Requests has been appointed
for the hearing of such cases in the city of London. Now,
with regard to appointments in the Customs, that has
been reformed altogether. lime was when a tolerable re-
commendation—plenty of them to be had at no distant
period,—and the person holding it, if not too old, was
appointed, whether efficient or inefficient—indeed these
All parties now looking

points were scarcely cared about.

for Customs' appointments must pass a severe examination
before the board: by this wise and most necessary deter-

ruination, the commissioners state that a crowd of unqua-
Bed hangers-on will speedily be exchanged for a class
forming an efficient reserve for the public service, who
might be called upon, on emergency, and be useful the
moment they were appointed. Surely this is no more than
the commercial public is entitled to. Hundreds of young
men, chiefly from Scotland and Ireland, have heretofore
been appointed to lucrative positions, and whose chief
qualification, for the most part, appeared to be a capability
of smoking cigars,—which, by the by, some of the superior

officers were not slow in showing the youths an example.
I have not thought it worth my while to take up my
pencil or your readers' attention by any notice of the
promised Reform Bill. It is Lord Jonw Russsix's, and
that is saying quite enough to guarantee dissatisfaction
and debate thereanent. It may, perhaps, be interesting
to know that more useful legislation is now being pro-
vided for, and certainly will be carried during the ensuing
session of Parliament. Two or three barristers—clever
enough in their way—not far removed from Pump-court,
are now, under the command of the QUEER'S ministers,

_ ...,
framing clauses for insertion in divers bills—probably
they will form new bills,—firstly, whipping for the ruffian
husband and the assaulter of women is to be added to the