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or surral -freaceful and legitimate natives trade from this Colony, as detailed in my despatch No 65 of the previous Mail.
I have now the pleasure to forward a despatch from Consul Robertson dated the 8th instant, but which did not reach this Colony with the mail of the 9th instant when the mail of the 10th had left that dispatch.
It encloses a fresh Proclamation of the Viceroy dated the 6th instant. It announces the withdrawal by the Superintendent of Customs of his obnoxious Proclamation of last November, which directed cruisers to search at sea for smugglers. The Proclamation also threatens punishment to the parties guilty of the outrages of which I had complained, and which were proved by the witnesses whom I had sent.
It is noticeable that the Viceroy throughout speaks of the guilty parties falsely assuming the character of Customs Employés. There is no foundation for such language; those parties were, and no doubt that they were really commissioned by the Intendant of Customs; that like the majority of the minor officers of that Department, they abused their trusts and became simply chartered corsairs.
It is equally certain that, before long, such a productive field for smuggling will not be allowed to lie fallow, and that although the guilty may be at present scared, they will...