The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1857-08-10

the writer complains OF the action OF the commit
tee appointed ut the meeting of importing mer-
Giants, held In the Exchange on kouday last,
ier the purpose Of investigating into the cause OF
deay in passing goods through the Cost,m
Home, and con'erring With the Collector as TO
the lest manner of reforming that and other
grievances
In Saturdays HERALD we gave 90 account OF
what the committee bad definitely accomplished
up to that time. namely, vrised the Appraisers
stores in Broad street, in company with M.
Sebell, and, after satisfying themselves of their
Grove ed condition, resolved. ~ the first step to-
wards reform, to avail themselves of the oppor-
tunty offered by Treasury circular, issued on
the ninth Of July, to have their goods removed
Immediately On their being appraised. Our cor
respondent seems to think shat this comprises the
whole report which the committee we're intended
to make, and that they consider their duties GOV
completed. He is mistaken however; for, as we
uuGers and the matter, the committee have bA
their act on until they accomplish some lasting
remedy for the evils complained Of
II this il not their inteutior-if they are going
to stop by recommending the adoption Of plan
which, as Our correspondent states has been tried
and found 20 beeet with difficulties and burders
that it is pronounced "an utter faIure"-th7y
might as well never have been appointed. How
ever, it is we'll that Mr.. Schel should know the
facts stated by our correspondent regarding the
mistakes occurring in the delivery OF packages,
and we hope he will look after them.
For maDy years the merchants of this city have
not had 60 favorable an opportunity OF proca lag
reform IN the Custom House as now presents it,
self 1t is evident that Mr. Cobb is disposed to
give the full sanction of the Treasury Depart
ment to any scheme for amendment which msy
be available aud proper; and we are sure he will
be cheertully assisted BY Mr.. Schell. If, then,
the interests of commerce continue to suffer frvm
the grievances " der which they have go long
been laboring in this respect, it will be att-lbd-
table to the dila orlDess of the merchants them
selves. If they pursue the movement now in
hard diligently, ny afEordipg information to the
Collector, and otherwise aiding him, we will have
| what has long seemed almost an impossible thing
| "a perfect Custom House.
| But this fact should not be lost sight Of: that
the present Custom House is so mseraby made
quate in point of size to the purposes for which
it is intended, and withal go badly constructed.
that no reformation in the mode Of conducting
business in that building will accomplish what is
required. new Custom House we mast have,
and no structure limited to the diuensioos Of the
present one, or even double that, will suffice.
We must have building proportionate to the
vast commerce of this queeniy city, and it mast
be located in an appropriate place There is
room enough at the Battery Standing on the
very point of the water entrance to tue city, and
near enough to both the great rivers through
which all our foreign commerce travels, there is
no place in the entire city where the Custom
House can be located more available tor Its pur-
poses Let US have commodious Custom House
at the Battery; and with efficient officers and an
able Collector things will 20 smoothly enough
The NEw ANGLO AFRICAN SLAVE Trade
We publish elsewhere, from the London Post,
the organ Of Lord Palmerston, what may be
deemed as the official announcement that the ex-
pertinent Of bringing negroes from Africa as 40
prebticed laborers 10 the West India Islands has
been definitely determined upon aud will be car
ried out In fact, we have had little doubt
at any time that such would be the case for
when we first called public attention to the scheme
We were in possession Of evidence that led US TO
the belief that the matter had been fully discuss
ed in the Cabinets Of London, Paris and Madrid,
and adopted jointly By them, not from high
desire 10 supply their fam'shing colonies with
labor, but as part Of a scheme in the sentimental
policy OF those courts TO bar the southwark pro-
erets of the United States. What the final result
of this measure will be II Is impossible TO foresee
but that II will ultimately lead to serious conpli
cations between our OVID government and those Of
Europe we have not doubt Of.
In its present aspect, however il has produced
some marked changes in the public mind Of
| England. The Times and the ministerial journals
of London have sustained the scheme 10y argu-
ments that approach very nearly to a defence Of
involuntary servituoe by the negro, and split
| has been occasioned in the Exeter Hall school Of
English philsntbropiets, some Of them taking
sides with the government on this question aud
others against il. Among the arguments Of
those who favor the government scheme, one OF
the most prominent is that the system Of
African apprentices will do away with the Afri-
can slave trade, and eventually destroy the in
sttution of slavery itself While We agree with
the frt part Of tbi. proposition, on the ground
that there is no inducement to conrabaod traffic
where trade is free, we DO not see at all bow the
institution Of an apprenticeship for six or ten
years is likely to be cheaper than what is an
apprenticeship for life, unless we consider the
negro as 70 much raw material that IL Is cheaper
to use up and replace with new, rather than to
care for, medicate and patch up the partially old.
Only in fact in Cuba can it affect the institution
Of slavery. It may be part Of the compact be-
tween the three Cabinets that Spain shall abolish