And vain also were the public
and private representations of the first officer of the Liverpool Custom
House in my favour.
At last there came an order from the Treasury to say that any specimens Mr.
Waterton intended to present to public institutions might pass duty free;
but those which he intended to keep for himself must pay the duty! A friend
now wrote to me from Liverpool requesting that I would come over and pay
the duty in order to save the collection, which had just been detained
there six weeks. I did so. On paying an additional duty (for the moderate
duty first imposed had already been paid), the man who had detained the
collection delivered it up to me, assuring me that it had been well taken
care of, and that a fire had been frequently made in the room. It is but
justice to add that on opening the boxes there was nothing injured.
I could never get a clue to these harsh and unexpected measures, except
that there had been some recent smuggling discovered in Liverpool, and that
the man in question had been sent down from London to act the part of
Argus.
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