The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-09 00:00:00

been regularly issued across the counter, but only acquir-
ing the power of circulation iu the hands of the party out
of doors who might have added the signature."
Our Contemporary conceives that the chance of the
holders of these counterfeits is " doubtful ;" but, with
due submission, we contend that there can be no doubt
whatever in the case. Doubtful, indeed !
We hear that scarcely a bill of the unauthorised emis-
sions has been actually sold; and this point being estab-
lished, it is clear that the holders at large must have
held under the most questionable circumstances. Re-
straints were imposed wl►ich indicated in the plainest
manner that the bills had nut been honestly acquired.
In the case of a genuine Exchequer bill there can be no
occasion for mystery, or for whisperings, and conceal-
ment ; and where are we to look for parties among the
self-called "sufferers" who obtained the forged instru-
ments by straightforward, open negotiation ? It is
scarcely " doubtful," in our humble apprehension,
whether individuals who knew, as these persons did,
" what was going on" (for so Rapallo expresses it), ought,
or ought not, to be severely dealt with at the hands of
Government for the suppression of such proceedings.

The Crown has far more to fear from the manifesta-
tion of a weak half willingness to connive at the gross
immorality with which the EKchequer bill fraud is sur-
rounded, than from that of a firm and uncompromising
determination to do justice. The public now perceive
that the floating debt has, been subjected to much less
official tampering than there was, in the first instance,
reason to suppose, and we should consider it exceed-
ingly unwise in Government to give its sanction, in how-
ever negative a sense, to the daring liberties that hare
been taken with it.

It has not, perhaps, occurred to the Times that those
who proceeded to the Exchequer-office some time ago to
get their bills tested, did so possibly will the full know-
ledge that Mr. Smith was the only person in attendance
to whom they could safely submit them. Recourse
might have been had to the expedient as a crafty method
of placing them in the comparatively favourable position
in which they now find themselves in the estimation of
the public. Such extraordinary caution, though not ob-
jectionable in itself, certainly betokens anything but that
simplicity of dealing for which credit is taken.
The Morning Chronicle defends these forged Exchequer
bill holders, on the ground that the forgeries are not,
after all, greatly inferior to the genuine bills. We have
here his reason for the announcement of that generous

conviction :
" It is," he observes, " now established beyond all
question that the spurious bills and the genuine are in
all respects the same, with the sole exception of"—what
is the reader prepared to hear?—" with the sole excep-
tion of the signature ; the signature of Monteagle, which
the Deputy-Comptroller states he oan at once detect to
be forged, as it is neither in his own handwriting nor
that of the Comptroller-General."
Our Contemporary alludes to the conflicting statements
of Smith and Rapallo. Rapallo is so far at issue with
his ally as to declare in the teeth of the latter that he
had the bills from him in a complete state, yet this the
Chronicle deems of little consequence, so long as another
momentous assertion remains nntouched—namely, that
the stationery is the same. He says—" Be that (the dis-
crepancy in the statements of the two prisoners) as it
may, we now see clearly that the whole of the bills al-
leged to be forgeries are in all respects identical with
those admitted to be genuine, with the single exception
of the signature."
But a little farther on we Lind that there is also some
slight discordance between the forged bills and the coan-
foils :
" The paper, printing, and stamp, are all confessedly
the same in the genuine and spurious bills. There is no
attempt to dispute that fact. There is nothing in ques-
tion but the signatures, and the technical point of agree-
ing with the counterfoil."
Our Contemporary goes, as usual, strongly for the
" broad, equitable principle," and accordingly winds up
with the comfortable conclusion, that "even if the bills
were not signed by him (Mr. Smith) the case of the in-
nocent holders is still entire, and, in every equitable
point of view, clearly irresistible."
The same fertile genius has favoured the world
with many amusing essays on the purity of financial
economy, but, on this occasion, he surpasses him-
self. He writes in the trite spirit of the modern
free-trade school. Monopoly is his abhorrence, in
whatever shape or guise it comes before him. Even
a monopoly of signatures is incompatible with the
temper of the times, and no longer to be endured. What
is this moral we are to draw from his strictures on this
Exchequer bill fraud? It is neither mere nor less than
that, if a merchant's clerk should think fit to put his
employer's name to the draft of a bill, as a name more
current than his own, he must be careful only to have
the right material for the purpose. "The paper, print-
ing, stamp," and such like important particulars being
strictly in rule, the bill may be safely discounted by any-
. body that can furnish the cash for it, as it must unques-
tionably be paid at maturity. The time has
The
by for
any absurd boggling about signatures. " The case of
the innocent holder is still entire, and, in every equitable
point of view, irresistible."
All things connected with this business have be-
come a matter of intense public interest, and we
trust that the inquiry in progress will be kept °pert
until the whole of the infamy attaching to the stock
gambling system is very thoroughly exposed, and
ripe to be submitted to the Legislature for correction. It
is affirmed that one of the parties who have negotiated.
largely in Exchequer bills only eight or ten years ago
returned from Brazil so impoverished by unsuccessful
mining speculations, and so destitute in consequence, as
to have been obliged to take his passage before the mast.
It is further stated that another of them is a clerk to a
concern in which most, if not all, the delinquents are largo
shareholders, and which concert, has absorbed some
400,000/. of British capital in the pumping up of water
and breaking of stones by slave labour. It is added that
the clerk referred to, although employed on a salary of
2001. per annum, has, during the year, built or purchased
several houses at a fashionable watering-place. The
Committee of the Stock Exchange sat again to-day, but
their proceedings are kept private. The forgeries are
said to be the work of a female.
We are informed, upon authority in which we hare
every reliance, that important changes in the Stamp-
office are under the anxiouseonsideration of the Treasury.
ADVERTISER.—Conneeted, as Mr. Smith has been,
with Rapallo, and as it is known that the latter had large
speculations afloat, the favourable issue of which de-
pended at one time upon the success of the attempt of
Louis Napoleon to revolutionize France, it is thought
now rather remarkable that the same parties who were
Bears of Stock to a large amount before the news of the
Boulogne affair was made public, should have been ex-
tremely active in predicting a fall in prices immediately
before the fires broke out in the dockyards at Sheerness
and Devonport. The writer of this article was assured
the day before the fire at Sheerness that something would
be made public within twenty-four hours that must lead
to a fall in Stocks. To say the least of it, these transac-
tions had a suspicious appearance.
To-day there were various reports as to certain parties
having met in the City to concoct the Exchequer bill
fraud, and the relative one, it is said, has left this country
with some 40,000/, of the proceeds. It would be unsafe
to particularize.
Inquiries have almost hourly been made to learn the
fate of the Exchequer bills. The anxiety upon this sub-
ject may be conceived when it is stated that ene firm
has held not less than 80,0001., another 60,000/., another
45,000/., and many others smaller sums. That the in-
vestigation now proceeding at the Exchequer-office must
be yew protracted is certain, as bills of the aggregate
amotiZt of 22 millions sterling have to be compared with
the counterfoils of this department. We are not enabled
to confirm a statement made a day or two since, that the
amountCliale
or lfait
these
eosfe
bils.
London,l Sir James Shaw, holds a large

CHALLENGE TO MR. ALLEN,
FOREMAN AT THE NEW HOUSES OF PAR-
LIAME2: T. •
TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sift—Findingin the morning edition of The Sue,this
day a letter from Mr. Allen, denying the charge made
against him on .Friday night at the Crown and Anchor,
we beg leave, through the medium of your, journal, to
again challenge Mr. Allen to come forward and
:prove
that these charges are not true. We are willing to itobr,
niip the case to arbitration, and Mr. Allen can bring
the evidence that he can produce to prove. that the
charges are false.
Now, Sir, it is quite clear that to submit thoess., tt:
arbitration is the only just means that can be ad oinn
prove the truth or fallacy of those charges. 418 in.
Allen be innocent, he need not shrink from Pub
lie
However, if he refuses to accept this cluaelj3groatugthrt
public will at once be convinced that the charges
against him cannot be refuted.
Signed, on behßalofßofEtßhTe OAtigAlfarsehairman.

s
Infdiii:nsac
ecogfsirallos-f
WOOLWICH—Nov. 6.
ROYAL ARTILLERY.
fire at the Tower of London, it is intended to remove
Owing to the great destruction of muskets bypAotnrhtiei
these at present used by the Royal Artillery and in store
in
order,
reevh:
ceoerre,
bt, openly,
lEeti
oh
I at Woolwich. amounting to 7,000, to the Tower, in Case
shortlleart 7
the
will
theyoilt
liees.h mounto ual,chlrebugeartrlcierg:t.tit,ssreilliamsdnvimfd.ooerrd:rpsiivireentrsigctahuovlefaerst
hanifsterlrleßvacimoc)aecalr.naoeuildutne,nertwthrstaehaotsekilf
men of the Royal Horse Artillery.
fEKCCSSION SHELLS.
It will be in the recollection of the readers of The Sun,
tuhlearpsahsets at Woolwich, the liberality of the
that va-
shells during
jn t he
lions experiments made by several inventorssui
Board of Ordnance having afforded every facility for that
purpose. It now appears that nearly at the same time
thesen
e n t s
were experiments
carried
0- ebnr ey
thmpoceil?piatreetcesisis.licicNStiocotln:iotlfh, Louis Philippe and th
they are ordered to
Go-
vernment, but so secret that they were
standing all the care ntheotl‘rneonticehedb
that
akteteipi theirte
nhuernebxepreroifmschnerlsafinrded w e
rrees t2ithloto
toticetrleFedrenachinathvat
wo-
NAVAL INTELLIG
btlieirindstroodfutcheedmins
r
been appointed.
ct,:eesttuadte:tuezt_akthrie
The Dasher, steam-vessel. :1Z
aster `.
White (acting), has had her repairsas Commander Robert
caulkers in the Woolwich
leave Woolwich to resume her station completed, and will
Mr. Henry Bannister has be at Weymouth.
Dockyard, vice Moore, dec.

FIRE AT PRIOR PARK.--At the moment of
going to press, we learned that Prior Park, Bath, the
residence of the Catholic Bishop, Dr. Baines, was on fire
yesterday morning, during the hours of Divine Service.
Captain Carroll and the police were called out of church
to assist in extinguishing the flames. We have received
no particulars, and therefore cannot state the cause of
the. fire, nor the extent of the injury sustained. It will
be recollected that Prior Park was accidentally burnt
down about four or five years slim—Evening PaPal