T>TnS 



< rTI.KRY. 







Coin, counterfeit, or not of the estabUshed standard in might and 

 flames*. 



The lift of articles contraband a* regard* exportation from the 

 United Kingdom U (till more limited. 



The schedule of prohibitions to importation)! was formerly mm-h 

 more extensive. Under the Cuitomi Act, 8 ft 4 Will. IV. c. 56, cattle, 

 sheep, freah meat or alightl.r salted, and fish, were contraband, but 

 under the tariff established "by 5 & Viet. c. 47, they have ceaaed to 

 be ao. Toola, utvnuiU, and machinery, for exportation, were alao 

 contraband without a lioenae waa obtained from the Board of Trade. 

 The Act 6 A M, however, repeals, with some exceptions, the 



prohibition against machinery. 



There are aome other prohibition!! by which trade in certain articles 

 U restricted ; but them refer to the manner in which the trade may 

 be conducted, ai the nine of the ship, or the package, or the country 

 from or to which the trading may take place, and tneae being only of 

 the nature of regulations, the articles in question cannot be considered 

 contraband. The list of articles prohibited by many foreign countries 

 U much larger than that enforced in this country ; though the system 

 in the case of some of those countries has of late been somewhat 

 relaxed. The tariff of Russia is however still principally filled by 

 designating articles which are contraband. 



Another sense in which the term contraband is applied refers to 

 certain branches of trade carried on by neutrals during the continuance 

 of war between other countries. It has always been held under these 

 circumstances, that belligerents have a right to treat as contraband, 

 and to capture and confiscate, all goods which con be considered 

 munitions of war, under which description are comprehended every- 

 thing that can be made directly and obviously available to a hostile 

 purpose, such as arms, ammunition, and all kinds of naval stores, and 

 all such other articles as are capable of being used with a like purpose, 

 such as horses, and timber for building ships. Under some circum- 

 stances, provisions which it U attempted to convey to an enemy's port 

 are contraband, as when a hostile armament ja in preparation "in tint 

 port. These restrictions rest upon principles whict lore reasonable in 

 themselves, and have been generally recognised by neutrals; others 

 whieh have at various times been enforced or attempted to be enforced 

 have been contested, but a description of this branch of the subject 

 belongs rather to the matter of International Law, than to a descrip- 

 tion of contraband trading. 



It may be mentioned that all legal disputes respecting the payment 

 of the Customs duties, between the merchant and the crown, are placed 

 for the most part under a summary jurisdiction unknown to the 

 common law, as are most matters of taxation. The popularly con- 

 stituted tribunal of a jury was early found not to be adapted for the 

 enforcement of laws which, as they interfere with the pocket, must 

 necessarily always be unpopular. The Court of Exchequer, in the 

 last resort, has the control over proceedings for the recovery of this 

 and other branches of the revenue ; and in such proceedings the party 

 proceeded against is obliged to prove that he has paid the duties or 

 done the act required, which is contrary to the rule usually observed 

 in the courts. 



CUSTOS BRE'VIUM. Officers so called existed until lately in the 

 Courts of Queen's Bench and Common Pleas. They received and had 

 the custody of all the writs returnable in their respective courts, filed 

 warrants of attorney, and various other documents connected with the 

 business of the courts. By the Act 1 Will. IV. c. 58, these offices 

 (of which the duties were performed by deputy) were abolished in 

 both courts, and compensation granted to their possessors. The office 

 in the Court of Queen's Bench was held by Lords Kenyon and Ellen- 

 borough jointly, and the compensation granted them was 2089/. 1 It. id. 

 per annum. 



CUSTOS ROTULO'RUM is the chief civil officer of the county, to 

 whose custody are committed the records or rolls of the sessions. He 

 is always a justice of the peace and of the quorum in the county for 

 which he is appointed. The lord-lieutenant has the chief military 

 command of the county, and his office is quite distinct from that of 

 custos rutolorum ; but it is the invariable practice to appoint the same 

 person to both offices, in whom is united tie highest military and civil 

 authority within the county. By statute 37 Hen. VIII. c. 1, and 

 1 Will. III. c. 21, he is to be appointed under the sign manual. As he 

 has the custody of the rolls of the sessions, he should attend there in 

 penon or by deputy ; and this duty is usually performed by the clerk 

 "f the peace as his deputy. 



< I TI.KI1Y. Thin is a general name for cutting instruments made 

 of steel Its application, however, is not very deiinite: for it maj- 

 or it may not include workmen's tools, and U aoldom considered to 

 apply to iwords. These last-named imp!, i ,< far as the 



United Kingdom is concerned, made almost wholly at Birmingham ; 

 whereas, table-knives and forks, pen and pocket-knives, razors, lancets, 

 scythes, aaws, scissors, snuffers, shears, spades, chisels, awls, plnn> 

 *c., are made more largely at Sheffield than in all other parts of tin- 

 kingdom combined. This is one of those examples of localisation in 

 manufactures, so difficult to trace to its origin. 



ToUc-lcnita are made of various qualities of metal, from the merest 

 iron up to the finest cant-steel. We will take a medium quality as an 

 example of knife-making. A piece is cut off from a bar sufficient for 

 one knife. The tang, or part which goes into the handle, and the 



sh.-mlder, between the tang and the blade, are usually made oi 

 fashioned by heating, welding, hammering, and iwaaeing. \Vlu-n limit 

 rightly nut together, the whole U again heated, and brought into the 

 proper form by further hammering and swageing. The blade ia then 

 made red hot ; plunged into cold water to harden; gradually heated 

 again to give the proper temper or elasticity ; ground flat and amooth 

 on a large revolving stone ; ground aharp at toe edge on a smaller 

 stone ; and finally polished on a leather-edged wheel faced with a mix- 

 ture of glue and emery. 



Raton are made nearly in the same manner as table-knives, but with 

 more care in the several processes. After the first rough forging, the 

 concavity of the surfaces is produced by hammering the blade < 

 rounded edge of an anvil. This concavity or hollowing is necessary, to 

 bring the edge to such a degree of thinness as to render keenness 

 attainable ; and according as the edge is to be keen or strong, ao is this 

 concavity made more or less in degree. The tempering is ;. 

 important process in a razor than in a table-knife, and is dependent on 

 principles which the cutlers themselves do not well understand ; tin- 

 colour of the steel, rather the temperature in degrees of a therm- 

 is regarded as the chief test of the heat employed. The grinding and 

 |x)lihing finish the processes. 



Tablf-furla are usually made of commoner steel than knives. A 

 square rod is hammered while in a red hot state, to give roughly the 

 form of the tang and shank ; and when again heated, the form is 

 finished by means of a die and swage or stamp. The prongs are 

 fashioned by stamping, by means of a die brought down very heavily 

 upon the steel ; the prongs and the middle part of the fork are thus 

 formed, leaving a very thin substance of eteel between the prongs, 

 which is afterwards cut out and expelled by means of a fly-presn. Tin- 

 forks, thus far made, are heated, then gradually cooled to soften t!.. 

 steel, then filed, then heated again, then suddenly cooled to h 

 then ground all over the surface to a smooth and even -.inlitic.ii. and 

 finally polished. Of some peculiarities connected with the grinding of 

 forks, we shall speak presently. 



I': a- U, til ii;fkrt-kitiret afford many illustrations of a remarkable 

 diversity of processes in the production of an article which is to be 

 sold at a small price. The blades are made nearly in the same way as 

 those of table-knives ; but separate attention is necessary for the bits 

 of steel for the springs, the inner scales of metal which form the 

 framework of the knife, the outer scales of ivory or some other 

 substance which forms the visible handle, and various small ]>ins 

 or rivets. All these fragmentary portions of a knife .ire 

 by a skilled workman ; and so numerous are the adjustments. 

 common two-bladed knife will pass through his hands seventy or 

 eighty times. 



Scusor* arc. made nearly in the same way as knives and razors. Each 

 half is forged, swaged, tempered, ground, and polished separately : but 

 there is a particular series of processes, aided by appropriate tool-, f. >r 

 producing the bow or handle. The rivetting, grinding, and polishing, 

 require considerable care. 



fi'riniliiiy.'Fhe work performed by the Sheffield grinders des. 

 little separate notice, on account of the peculiar relation which it 

 bears on the one hand to the different kinds of cutlery, and on the 

 other to the health of the workmen. The grinding of table-knives waa 

 formerly done upon dry stones, and was considered very injuri 

 the health of the men. Numerous attempts have been made at . 

 times to remedy the evil, or to lessen its intensity. The most suc- 

 cessful plan hitherto devised consists in the employment of a revolving 

 fan, which is connected with a pipe extending from the front of tin- 

 stone to the exterior of the building ; the action of the fan produces a 

 powerful draught in the pipe, which carries off the particles of grit and 

 steel set free during the process of grinding. Were it not for the 

 strength of this current, these particles would be inhaled I 

 man, and produce the distressing complaint known as the grinder's 

 asthma. The best preventive of all is to use a wet grind-i-mc ; but 

 some kinds of cutlery will not bear this. The better kinds of razors 

 are shaped before they ore hardened ; and this shaping in effected on a dry 

 stone. The reason for this is, that a stone revolving in water is much 

 softer than when dry ; and the action of shaping producing a 

 scraping effect, the wet stone wears away very quickly. As razors, 

 moreover, are shaped on very small stones, there would be considerable 

 loss of time in preparing new ones. The steel also being soft, tin- 

 operation is more rapidly performed, and no injury is done 

 by frictional heat. Forks are always ground on dry stones ; an. I 

 the tin st injurious effects are found amongst fork-grinders. During 

 forty years past, the Society of Arts has been endenv. mi 

 duce some amelioration into the processes of fork -grinding :>t Sli.-tlii 1,1, 

 and needle-grinding at Uedditch; but these efforts hav. 

 seconded by the workmen. Mr. Abraham invented a mouth-guard, 



ing of a small wooden frame, the upper and lov 

 which are made curved to fit tin- lips ; in this are ! 

 layers of crape or muslin studded with -i-\. ral small magnets to arrest 

 a considerable portion of the deleterious matter before it can re. 

 crape; to tin' upper p.irt of the wooden frame is attached 

 wire, to which crape is affixed for protecting the im-tiils; and the 

 whole is fastened by two strings passing round the head and 

 behind. The fork-grindera refuse to employ this mouth-guard 

 revolving fan ; they prefer to die of grinder's asthma at thirty or forty 



