The Sun.
London, England, 1854-05-16 00:00:00

nisation of additional forces for the military service
of the country, now that a considerable part of the
regular troops have been shipped off for debarkation
on the shores of the invaded Ottoman territory.
A supplementary army of 100,000 men is to be
assembled almost immediately in the neighbour-
hood of St. Omer and Boulogne. Directly after
We have learnt this, we are informed by the Royal
Message to the Lords and Commons that the Crown
is about to avail itself of the power accorded in
pursuance of the Act of Parliament enabling her
MAJESTY to call out the militia of the United King-
dom. It is well. The country will think so, as the
Legislature has already intimated. Be it the levy-
ing of 10, 000,000/. per annum additional taxation,
the calling out of the whole or a part of the
militia, the people of England are prepared to do
anything within reason, to make any sacrifices in
order that they may effectually support her
MAJESTY in the just war adventured upon by her
MAJESTY'S Government.

The Hon. and Learned Gentleman the Member
for Sunderland deserves much credit for his laud-
able attempt to redress an enormous evil. It has
long been but too painfully notorious that a system
of bill-stealing has been extensively organised, by
which not only many "fast" young men have
been victimised, but persons who, striving to pre-
serve their position, have been irretrievably ruined
through the fraud and treachery of infamous
swindlers. It is impossible to know the specious
pretext under which the attack may be made.
PROTEIIS himself was not more versatile than one
of these amiable characters. The bait is skilfully
prepared to suit the habits and disposition of the
intended victim ; and as the tempter angles with
a golden hook, \he seldom fails in capturing his
prey, and making clear off with the booty. At
one time he assumes the garb of religion, and is
thus enabled to secure clergymen of all denomina-
tions, as well among the badly-paid curates and
incumbents of small benefices in the Established
Church, as Wesleyan and Independent ministers,
who, thinking of the good that they may be enabled
to effect by means of the pecuniary accommoda-
tion offered by tho liberal capitalist, readily fall
into his clutches, and are only awakened from
the delusive dream by inquiries as to what amount
they will be prepared to pay for the restoration
of the stolen property. Then comes the bitter
repentance, followed by the convulsive efforts at
extrication, and, generally speaking; the com-
promise which completes the ruin of the victim,
breaks up his home, and too frequently ends in
the dispersal and misery of a once happy and
united fainily.

As the forms of attack are various, so are
the results. It is seldom, however, that the
dupe has the manliness to appear in open court
to resist the attempted plunder and extortion.
Many considerations deter him from such a step.
He naturally shrinks from the exposure of his
folly. He knows, too, that the law in its wisdom
gives enormous advantages to the plaintiff, who,
although guilty of the most culpable negligence,
will yet, if he can prove that he or any of the
endorsers gave valuable consideration without
distinct knowledge of the fraud, be entitled to
a verdict ; and, finally, the certainty that,
even under the most favourable circum-
stances, he must be a heavy sufferer in his
pocket from the difference of costs between
party and party and solicitor and client, and the
disallowal of the expenses, of the inquiries neces-
sary to elucidate the nature of the plot. There
is, besides, the great probability that he may not
be able to recover even what the law allows and
the taxing officer sanctions, inasmuch as the
" capitalist" too frequently turns out a mere man
of straw, unable to satisfy a single shilling of his
liabilities. The question very frequently is, which
party shall be driven to insolvency, and
it frequently ends in both being compelled
to seek relief from the Court. No wonder,
then, that the victim is not sucked completely
dry, and that the fraud usually ends in a com-
promise.

Now this is all very wrong, and, what is still
worse, the mischief is altogether occasioned by the
law itself. Bills of Exchange are, to some extent,
looked upon as valueless, and the party can only
be indicted for stealing the stamp or the paper
on which it was written. The well-known case
of JOHN MINTER BART (6 CARRINGTON and
RAYNE, 106) showed this, where the prisoner
obtained ten blank acceptances on stamps, pro-
duced by himself and his own property, which
he filled up for 5001. each, and escaped the penal
consequence of his moral crime, affording a power-
ful illustration of this deficiency in the law. And
another case, ejusdem generis, occurred so lately
as Friday last, where a party was tried before
Mr. RUSSELL GURNEY at the Central Criminal
Court, for fraudulently obtaining a bill of ex-
change for 451., with intent to defraud, &c., and
was acquitted on the point, " that the stamped
paper on which the bill was drawn was provided
by the prisoner ; and that, therefore, all he had
obtained from the prosecutor was his signature."
That signature it was which gave validity and
currency to the document. Without it it would
have been valueless, but by the rule of law there
was no offence, and he escaped with impunity,
although there could be no doubt of his moral
guilt !

The enactment which encourages the bill-
swindlers in their nefarious trade is the 7th and
Bth GEO. 4, c. 29, s. 49, which requires that
there should be " a direction, in writing, to apply
the proceeds, or part of the proceeds of the secu-
rity, in the manner specified in such direction."
Under this provision, it is not even sufficient if
the dupe receives a written acknowledgment of
the purpose to which the bill is to be applied. He
must give it himself, to render it binding, a point
of which the swindlers are fully aware, although
they are, generally speaking, ignorant. We believe
that such " written directions" are not given in
one case out of a hundred. If suggested by the
acceptor, it is treated as an imputation on the
" honour" of the party ; and the poor dupe, fear-
ing that his " kind friend" may be offended,
omits the necessary precaution.. Titus it is that
bill swindlers flourish, and that the most infamous
frauds are matters of almost daily occurrence.
From the preceding illustrations the nature of
the remedy will be clearly perceptible. Obtaining
" a signature," or any thing that may render
a party responsible fur the payment of money,
should be regarded in the same light as if
money or valuable securities had actually been ob-
tained. A person intrusted with a bill, or any
other document binding in law, should also be
bound, under severe penalties, to act fairly and
bona fide towards his employer ; and any fraudu-
lent disposition thereof, or of any part of the pro-
ceeds, should be made punishable as felony. It
is very properly proposed to afford more summary
remedies for the recovery of bills of exchange; but
adequate means should at the same time be pro-
vided to check and punish frauds in respect
thereof. We have no doubt that Mr. DrnßY
SEYMOUR'S Bill will meet the difficulty, that it
will greatly diminish, if not wholly prevent, such
frauds, and preserve many unsuspecting men from
serious losses. For this he will be not only en-
titled to the thanks and gratitude of the commer-
cial community, but of all right-minded persons
who desire to repress an evil that has sprung up
to the most formidable dimensions.

A remarkable pamphlet, entitled simply " E
lan d , France, Roltruliassaaaw,naoTynt:y;nik Turkey,"
l'y. was:
Observe—wepublished
gl
given to
tboythMerw. of Piccadilly. It was
arehat
sipnealti3n4g—oftawenty pamphlet
earspuagbeli,shneedarnlyotainqulaBrste4r,
of a century beforectullelly
countries
named.th on its
embroiled
otitthlee-rpasagethbeeycaamree
ata thist moment Russia on one
side opposed by the collective might of Turkey,
France, and England. It will be necessary to bear
the date of publication particularly in mind
during the perusal of the following extracts from
this extraordinary brochure, otherwise the reader
might naturally suppose he was reading something
just written, with a foreknowledge of all that hag
.t ei;•:I t i'' (.::;arreal i!1 ti!'' E.L.-_-L, to L;:€, alflaZ'Ailt•ltt of
entire Christendom. Remembering the date, re-
membering that it was in 1834, as far back as
twenty years from the present period) that the

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