proved either never to have been due, or to have been paid, and which were solely attributable to the blundering methods of business of the Customs, the warehouse keepers in question, in the year 1843, submitted to the Board a system of books, printed form and checks, for the use of the officers of Customs and his own clerks, in transacting the Customs' business at his warehouses. These were approved by the Board, and ordered by it to be observed by their officers. For the warehouse keeper's security, they directed that whenever the Customs' officers ordered goods for delivery in consequence of the duties having been paid, he should sign the warehouse keeper's duplicate books, so that he should always have in his possession evidence of the payment of duties. But this order for signing his books was constantly neglected by the Customs' officers, and in consequence of his repeated complaints, a new peremptory order was issued by the Board on 11th December, 1848, re-enforcing such signature. So inveterate however is the neglect of orders by the officers of the Board, that on the 31st December, 1850, there had been delivered by the officers of Customs, from his examination floors, within the six preceding months, the enormous number of five thousand eight hundred and twenty seven (5827) valuable packages, without the adhibition of the signature of the proper officer in the books, for any one of them.

It is worthy of notice besides, that none of the claims for alleged deficiency of duty arise out of transactions which had their origin after the adoption of the plan which the warehouse keeper spontaneously suggested to the Board, for the better security of the revenue, not less than for his own protection.

A memorial on the subject of this grievance having been transmitted to the Treasury, extracted only the following unsatisfactory result,

Treasury Chambers, March 10, 1851. Sir, I am commanded by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to acquaint you that my Lords having carefully considered the several allegations contained in your memorial of the 8th January last, are of opinion that you have failed to prove that you are not legally liable to the claim made upon you by the Board of Customs, for payment of duty on certain goods removed from your bonded warehouses without payment of duty. With respect however to the wine and brandy imported on board the vessels Industry' and 'Chance,' as it appears possible that the deficiency may have arisen from evaporation by length of time, and as you were not called upon for payment of duty when such deficiency was first discovered, their Lordships are willing to remit the duty legally due thereon, amounting to £2 7s. 4d.; but they must decline to afford you any further relief, and they request that the remaining balance due may be forthwith paid to the Customs department.

It is scarcely necessary to rejoin, that the reasons assigned in italics for remission of the duties on the goods per "Industry" and " Chance," equally applied to all the rest.

As a proof that the preceding is not a solitary instance of claims of the nature referred to, the Committee have received a letter from an eminent merchant in a first class outport, in which he says

"There are many parties here who are served with notices from the Custom-house to pay up old amounts of duties, some going back as far as 22 years. The parties say they will not pay, and as to sending in a statement to the Committee, ask in what way they are to do it. I tell them simply to state the fact of their being called upon to show cause why they should not pay the amount demanded, and send it up to the Committee.

It is worthy of remark that the period to which these claims go back is 22 years, being identical with that relating to the grievance first noticed.

The Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, in a list of suggestions for Customs reform have proposed the following changes in the warehousing system.

That in order to put an end to vexatious demands for duties on deficits arising from obsolete bonds, a declaratory enactment should be passed entirely cancelling

every import bond given previous to 9th July, 1842, which is the date of Sir Robert Peel's new tariff, first perpetuating formally import bonds beyond the term provided by the statute of limitations, and interfering with the then existing cancelling clause sec. 122, 3rd and 4th William 4th, cap. 52. That a return should be made to the triennial bonding plan; to effect which is necessary the withdrawal of the Treasury orders which now suspend the whole warehousing code, framed on the above principle; and a repeal of 12th and 13th Vic. cap. 90, sec. 30 which on 1st August, 1849, enacted 7 years, instead of 3, as the period at the end of which the Customs could sell.

That more explicit legal provision be made for the cancelment of the liabilities accruing under the warehousing bonds.—(3rd Report, Case No. 16.)

The next case is that of a warehouse-keeper in Newcastle, which he was compelled, as will be obvious from the circumstances, to advertise in the local journals.

II. Without going into the details of the specific bond which Her Majesty's Honourable Board of Commissioners require to be given, in order to make a warehouse eligible for the reception of goods paying duties, such as these of mine have been, I will simply relate an outline of the facts which particularly refer to the inconvenience suffered. The statement herein made I trust will prove to you that nothing has been neglected by me to avert the consequences which have arisen from my not being able to provide six persons who would be willing to have their affairs scrutinized by the officers of Her Majesty's Customs, in order that they should individually appear to be worth £3000 (which is the amount of the penalty required.)

It is necessary to inform you that during the last few months, owing to the death of one of the parties to the bond, and also the removal of other two from this town, I handed for insertion in the new bond required, three names of equal worth with those already standing in the bond, so as to supply those vacancies. It however now appears that some great change has taken place, and that more stringent regulations are enforced relative to our warehouses, and to the parties I have nominated, Her Majesty's officers having thought it their duty to object to any person nominated, that will not either produce their banker's book, or give a reference to their banker, in order to prove themselves in possession of £3000 cash, to pay the penalty if called on, for any contingent loss that might occur as regards the payment of duties to Government on goods deposited under bond. Such a tax upon the private affairs of those gentlemen from whom I was soliciting assistance, I did not feel justified in requesting them to accede to. I may here remark that during the ten years, in which these warehouses have been carried on, no loss has ever occurred, either to the merchant or bondsman. Respecting the discontinuance to receive goods under bond into these warehouses, I shall be most happy to wait upon any one interested in this matter, who may think this apology insufficient, and give them a more detailed explanation.-(3rd Report, Case No. 19.)

To every man of business will be very apparent the absurdity of expecting that six men in trade should have £3,000 each lying idle in the banks, or of supposing that no other test of their responsibility could be devised; and that sureties, dependent more or less on their credit for their transactions, would submit to have their books ransacked by Custom-house officers.

The last case is extracted from the speech delivered at the annual meeting of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, by one of the chief merchants of that town.

III. Referring to the oppressive powers exercised by the Board of Commissioners, he remarked that he held in his hand a writ for £5,000, for the recovery of a debt of £4 12s. 6d., which stood over from June, 1839. He was also threatened with two more writs, one for £2 10s. and the other for £1 10s. The wine and spirit trade, in which he was engaged, was more immediately under the cognizance of the Customs than any other. They were sometimes obliged, in consignments of wine, to reduce the original quantity, to make room for small quantities of brandy; and it was one of the small quantities so taken away they were called upon to account for. In 1839, some

wine was imported from which sixteen gallons were taken to make room for some brandy, and this was the property of the party under whose care the operation was performed. The parties to whom the wine was sent became bankrupt, the wine remained in bond, and the parties being bankrupt, they knew how careless assigness were about such matters. Within the last two or three years, on taking the stock of the cellars, it was found that the wine was missing,-the cask, however, remained, but there was no wine in it. The Customs said the cask found was not the right one, and he said it was; upon that point they went to issue. He entered the bond, he was served with a writ, and had all the expenses to pay.

The last answer to the application for payment was made about a month since, to which the only reply the Commissioners made was the service of a writ. They had shown their teeth for some time, but they had bitten this time. There was not a gentleman in trade who was not under penalties of which he was not aware. They were not aware whether their bonds had been cancelled; and if they let this thing slip through their hands, and did not put their shoulders to the wheel, the Customs would carry their point before the committee, and in what position would they then be placed? The law would be enforced with a capriciousness which the Commissioners had the power of exercising. They were not amenable to persons in Liverpool; and they gave no answer why they did this or that. He did not mean to say that individually the Commissioners would be tyrannical; but they had extensive powers, and residing at a distance it was scarcely possible they could be otherwise. But if they had a local board they could bring their cases before the local officers, who could understand them, and decide them properly, for he believed the collector of Liverpool had more judgment than the whole Board of Customs. He next referred to the delay which was occasioned by repeated appeals to the Board of Customs, who had to exercise judgment upon the reports of the officers here, to whom the thing might as well be referred in the first instance. To show the folly of submitting those trifling cases to the board, he might mention that out of thirteen cases submitted eleven had been allowed, and two disallowed; but in each case there was seven days' delay. It was time to put a stop to those unnecessary delays in business. He could show that above three thousand memorials had been for warded from Liverpool last year to the Board of Customs, and on brandy alone the number was 224, the great proportion of which was allowed. If those cases were to be investigated so as to make it a common-sense thing, why could it not be done by the collector of Liverpool, and thus a vast saving of time would be effected?-9th Report, Case No. 98.)

CHAPTER VII.

FINES AND SATISFACTIONS.

THE adoption of the principle of awarding what are termed fines, satisfactions, and seizure money, to officers engaged in the civil service of the country, is of itself an evidence at once of the weakness of contriving power in the institution which resorts to it, of inferior discipline and official morale in those who require such a stimulus to the honest discharge of their duties, of low conceptions of what these duties are, and of a sordid and grovelling estimate of the nature of the service. "Sweet," it is said, "is pillage to soldiers, prize money to seamen.” Their trade is to devastate, ravage, and kill. The more mischief they can do the more extensive the destruction and ruin they can spread around them-the more diligently and effectively they are fulfilling the purposes of their vocation. Towards the enemy they are a sort of human sharks, careering through their element to seize, tear, and devour. To stimulate the cupidity of privateers by making over to them every thing they can capture, to fortify the courage and endurance of the soldier, by promising him unlimited license in the town his prowess may sack, is a natural expedient for rendering them formidable, and of striking terror into their victims.

But it is a strange application of the same principle, to introduce it into the civil service of the country. To issue letters of marque against our own subjects-to promise to deliver up the property of their fellow citizens to be sacked by the servants of the state-to convert landing waiters and lockers into privateersmen, and to point out our merchants to them as their lawful prizes, surprises and startles us, confounding all ideas which might have been ventured to be predicated, with reference to such a subject. The common postman is entrusted with the discharge of a duty requiring punctuality, despatch, and fidelity. In his hands are placed the correspondence of the country, and enclosures often of large sums. Yet the Post Master General does not offer rewards to his servants for precision of delivery, or for not stealing the letters. He cannot so much as conceive of such an absurdity as that of first paying the public servants for the bare and ordinary performance of their duty, and then paying them over again if they do not betray their trust. If they neglect their instructions he cashiers themif they commit breaches of trust, he formerly hung them, and now he tranports them. The Commissioners of Police would scout the bare

idea of remunerating their policemen twice over; once to protect person and property, and second for protecting these in an efficient manner. The expedient of blood money, and other similar "garnish" for the detection of minor offences, has long since been exploded in our criminal polity. It was discovered that it led to the punishment of the innocent by forging against them false proofs of guilt, to procure the rewards of conviction-that it tainted and gradually corrupted the whole official morale of our detective force-that it opened them to bribes for winking at knowing criminals-that it leagued them with gangs of miscreants, who sold each other to share with the officer in the price of human life; and that the very jailors went in partnership with the receivers of stolen goods, to "go snacks" in the proceeds of robberies, and also in the profits of their detection.

Yet this vicious principle seems, in the department of the Customs, to have survived, like all its other abuses, the sweep of progress, and the besom of reform, which have made their influences felt, and visibly appreciable in every other public institution. The collectors of our foreign revenue have far easier duties, and much better pay, than either those of the Post Office, or the Police. They have ten thousand places open to their ambition, and by promotion in which they may be. stimulated to zeal and activity. They have neither to tramp through the streets in all weathers, and from early morning to late at nightto attend at the public office before sunrise and after sunset, to sort and receive, or deliver in letters, by and for every mail-nor to seize murderers, catch desperate highwaymen, follow the scent of subtle thieves, and peril their safety in their dens to hunt up evidence. Their task is comparatively easy, and their duties tolerably light. Their remuneration is greater in proportion to their duties than that of any other public department—and we have no hesitation in expressing our opinion that Inspector A, of the B division, or Serjeant C, of the Kent constabulary, displays quite as much indefatigable zeal, presence of mind, and intuitive sagacity in tracing up a week's crime, as would make a respectable reputation for a Custom-house officer. Yet, not contented with remunerating the latter at a much higher rate than the former, and opening to his ambition the stimulus of the gradations of much more lucrative and distinguished offices, it is considered necessary, besides paying him comparatively higher for protecting and collecting the revenue, to hold out eleemosynary rewards if he does not absolutely neglect what he is primarily paid to perform, and if he graciously condescends not to go snacks with smugglers, or occasionally to report a few breaches of the revenue laws for inquiry or punishment. In the constabulary service the officer is paid and engaged by the week. Any new arrangements, any fit of economy, any change of commission