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    * 1082 THE LEADEK, [Ho. 496. Bept. 24, 1...

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    CUSTOM-HOUSE EXTRAVAGANCE. A BETrrKN has...

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    Ourselves And Our Nioioiujours. Iv Mr. B...

    he makes a charge so utterly devoid of reality that we must suppose his fanaticism has either disturbed his sanity or overthrown his veracity . He could hot produce a single ¦ meiaber of the party he maligns who is not anxious for peace ; and if a large amount of money is squandered upon military or naval jobs , that contribute rather to our weakness than to our strength , Mr- Bright should remember that neither he nor his friends

    ever propose any practical measure of reform in these departments , nor do they trouble themselves to support any one who does . We do not complain that the gentleman ' s " harp has one unchanging theme ; " his instrument is the horn of a bull of Bashan , which he blows continually , with an unvarying noise , and he seems never happy unless scattering insults among those who care for national honour , and believe that international duties are not entirely comprised in an exchange

    of goods . We have c onstantly advocated a reconstruction of the naval and military services upon principles of common sense and civilisation , but we cannot look at the state of Europe without giving our best support to those who are determined that England ' s position , and ability to discharge her moral obligations to the cause of freedom , shall not be contingent upon the caprice of any other Power . On afl sides there are possibilities or probabilities of danger , which a rational policy may avert , but which the crotchets of the Peace-at-any-price school would render imminent if carried into practice . It is evident that the old * system of Europe is breaking up , not being strong enough to -withstand the shock of arms at Magenta and Solferino ; and a host of complicated

    questions crowd upon the statesman ' s view . In Italy it has to be decided whether the principle upon which Louis Napoleon claims to reign , and by which the English throne belongs to Queen Victoria and not to the representatives of the Stuarts , shall be violated or carried out ; and in Germany the contest for * unity against the selfish interests of petty princes , although now enveloped in clouds of tobaccovsmdke , may at any moment emerge in a shape fraught with revolution and war . At such a time we ought to be strong , and able to offer a firm support to any power that will maintain the right , and exercise a powerful repression against those who would be ready for evil purposes to disturb the general

    peace . If the French Emperor , unable or unwilling to permit the extension of liberty at home , is desirous of making the influence or France upon other Countries an object of honour and respect , he must be well aware that he cannot succeed alone in any important scheme , and he is entitled to expect from England something more than a cold ex post facto assent to measures of Italian regeneration . We could wish that the policy of the French cabinet was more intelligible , but the Italian problem is far too difficult to admit of a dogmatic solution ; and

    those arrangements alone would be likely to answer that had the consent of the great European Powers , as well as the support of the Italians themselves , According to the telegrams the visit of the astute king of the Belgians has been quite successful , but what schemes or interests that potentate has been representing , is by no means apparent , although it . cannot be supposed that they are Austrian in their tendency . We also hear that the Zurich conference is to end in a treaty of peace that will not attempt to settle the question of the Duchies ; It is likewise noticeable ? hat although some of the Frenoh papers place

    difficulties in the way of" the recognition of Italian claims , the personal interview of thoir representatives with the . Emperor have been assuring and satisfactory . These circumstances load to the belief that the Italians of the north have the game in , their own hands , and that if they will continue to maintain the firm , unexceptionable attitude that has hitherto characterised them , their union with Sardinia may become an accomplished faot . It is , however , certain that other and less advantageous schemes will be urged upon thei * attention , that old jealousies between states « nd | oitiea will be appealed to , and no intrigues wanting to lead them astray . ; ' •' It may prove a fortunate thing for the Italians that Austria should have plenty to do in endeavouring fo thwart or prevent the German movewwnt , which threatens a severer blow to her power

    than even the late war with France . When unity is won—and its achievement is evidently only a question of time—Austria must occupy an inferior position to Germany ' as well as to France and Russia ; and as the new . German Federation or State would be Protestant or . neutral , the mischievous domination of Papal priestcraf t would receive the severest blow dealt upon it since the days of the Reformation . It is therefore no wonder Courts under her

    that Austria and all the German influence are furious at the unity agitation ; and the small potentates will act with greater wisdom than ordinarily belongs to despots in difficulties if they do not attempt to suppress it by violent means , and thus change a . constitutional movement into a revolutionary struggle . Previous rulers of France , like Louis Philippe , would doubtless have lent themselves to Austrian intrigues , and done their worst to thwart the . rise of a first-rate power on the

    banks of the Rhine . If Napoleonism is aggressive in its dreams , and looks to conquest in this direction , such will be its policy , but if no such course is adopted Europe will have a strong guarantee that the " Empire " is really desirous of being " Peace . " In Paris the war feeling is certainly in abeyance , and songs of fighting and glory meet with little acceptance , while the same performers , warbling sentiment or fun , receive abundant applause . So far there are hopes of being as quiet as the Quakers would wish ; and if over-excitable soldiers of the Empire want more glory and promotion , they can enjoy the China quarrel * or make the most of the difficulties with Morocco , and put into practice plans for its conquest that have long , lain dormant in the archives of the ministry of war .

    * 1082 The Leadek, [Ho. 496. Bept. 24, 1...

    * 1082 THE LEADEK , [ Ho . 496 . Bept . 24 , 1853 .

    Custom-House Extravagance. A Betrrkn Has...

    CUSTOM-HOUSE EXTRAVAGANCE . A BETrrKN has lately been published of the ports and places in the United Kingdom approved by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury for the purpose of warehousing goods liable to customs duties , together with the amount of duties collected at each port , and the salaries and expenses incurred thereat . . ' The plan of warehousing which this return illustrates , is entirely of modern origin , and therefore the purist Treasury of our own day—not the corrupt Treasury of Lord North , or that of Mr . Pitt—is responsible for the facts which we are about to lay before our readers ^ In this return , then , there are seven places in England at which the cost of collecting the revenue ^ exceeds the value of revenue collected , and one in which it . very little less . Here is the list : — ¦ do ,,-.. Duties Salaries and . riaces , collected . expenses . Aberyetwitu .., £ 372 .. £ 780 7 0 Ariradel ; ..... 1 , 128 .. 1 , 236 5 0 Cardigan ,... 58 .. 362 13 0 Harwich 533 .. 1 , 430 0 0 Llanelly 1 , 614 .. 1 , 480 6 0 Maldon ..... 797 .. 853 7 0 Milford 1 , 242 .. 1 , 357 11 0 Rye , 867 .. 954 2 0 Total £ 0 , 520 ' . ' . £ 8 , 408 17 0 We must add two that are found in Scotland—T > in / . rtH Duties Salaries and Places . coUeoted . expenses . JBorrowatounoss £ 721 ,. £ 750 A 0 Irvine , 028 .. 0-13 11 0 Total £ 1 , 040 . " . " £ , 1 , 702 IS 0 '

    T c otlaW . . " ? .. ??? J dlJ 8 ' " « 10 , 171 12 0 Now it happens that every one of these places in England , either as a contributory borough or a borough of itself , is interested in sending members to Parliament , "WTiat Maldon , or Harwioh , or Cardigan can possibly want a warehousing aystera for , we cannot guess ; but why the Treasury should desire to have a respectable Custom-house establishment in each lies on the surface . The collection of the Customs revenue costs ( including the

    coastguard service , though this is now placed under the Admiralty ) about £ 1 , 800 , 000 a-year , and the judicious expenditure of such a sum annually amongst needy people may help to secure the Treasury the immunity from public investigation which is necessary to preserve it in respect . Though Excise officers and Custom-house officers must not vote at elections , they may have the art to influence them , and the prospect , ' expectation , ov promise of a snug berth in a bbrpugh is more corrupting than even the possession . Prom this example , and from what oconre in the United States , it would seem that the Customs from

    Commissioner ships — given sometimes to reward literary adherents to . tide-waiters' ships ; are amongst the most priced means of Government retaining by corruption its hold over the people We take from . the New York Tribune of the 1 st instant a counterpart to our system . " The whole revenue-collecting system is a stupendous sham . When Mr . Cobb was called on by the Senate to make a clean breast of it , and say howmany loafers he kept in his Custom-houses , how much money these fellows collected , and how much they got for doing it , he was compelled to acknowledge that at Wilmington , Delaware , the sum collected in 1857 was 2 , 004 * 57 dols ., to do wliich he employed eight men , whose salaries amounted to

    15 , 848 -38 dols . —a dead loss of nearly 14 , 000 dols . At Annapolis , four men , ardent as a _ southern sun could make them , were kept painfully busy a whole year in collecting 874 dols ., for which they received 983 dols . At Ocrakoke , North Carolina , 82 dols . were collected at a cost of 1 , 300 dols . At Port Oxford , in Oregon , 5 * 85 dols . were collected by two stout , able-bodied men , who received the insignificant sum of 2 , 702 dols . for this extraordinary effort . At Monterey , California , the amount collected reached the snug sum of 42 dols ., but it required three men to perform the feat . -They performed a much greater one by drawing salaries to the amount of 7 , 050 dols . At Buffalo , in this State , 10 , 140 -53 dols . were collected , for which laborious service ten men received the comfortable sum of 16 , 896 ' 51 dols .

    " Here are only six Custom-houses , whose gross receipts are 12 , 648-95 dols ., to collect which costs 44 , 779-83 dols ., thus making a dead loss of 32 , 130 ^ 94 dols . " Our eight Custom-houses in England cost about as much as these , six American Custom-houses ; but they collect more than twice as much revenue . It must , however , be remembered that our Treasury is now—if we may believe its members and advocates—the purest of the pure ; while the

    Government and the Treasury of the United States are avowedly overrun with corruption . At the Custom-houses in our list none of the articles most usually warehoused— -wine , tea , sugar , coffee , spirits , tobacco—ever appear at all as contributing to the revenue . Remembering that the coastguard is everywhere stationed to prevent smuggling , quite exclusively of these Custom-house establishments , we conclude that they are established rather for the convenience of the Treasury than

    the welfare of the State . With these specimens before us of what Customhouses are capable of , and to what uses they are put , we learn with satisfaction that the financial reform to be speedily inaugurated at Liverpool is to commence by a further reform of the Customhouse establishment . By removing from the list of articles sujected to duty the several hundred which yield little or no revenue , the pretext will be removed for employing the present immense staff of commissioners , surveyors , tide-waiters , & c , whose services are even more annoying to trade than the loss of money caused by the amount

    of duties . It will lessen both the means ot corruption and the will to be corrupted . Financial difficulties embarrass Governments , and to escape them Governments pillage their subjects , bince the period when kings in Europe ceased to be the chief landowners , or were reputed to be tnc owners of all the soil , Governments have had no other means of action but taxation . Imv mJ no power to put a single arm in motion but toot which they gather from the pockets of the . people . Hence , in modern times , financial questions , including the extension of taxation by innumerable devices , such as Customs and Excjse duties , licenses , stamps , & c , interfering with all business , and making life inord a plague than enjoyment , have become of pre-eminent importance . * " reduction of Custom-house and other duties is not

    merely a tea and sugar question , it is a a " - " " of freedom and property . We bavo taught Governments generally to respect personal freedom ? they no longer wantonly , imprison tle people ? most of them respect religious freedom , to a groat extent ; . some of them are beginning to respect freedom of industry , but they all muiro to be taught respect for the property of thoir auujeqta . We therefore regard sound financial reform , understood in its widest sense , aa the gio " political -business of the day ; and they who put themselves forward to lead the peop le on tnw subject , assume as great a responsibility ns ov « men voluntarily undertook . ' They must bo cioseiv watched , but when they enter into the right p ^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 24, 1859, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24091859/page/14/