The Sun.
London, England, 1841-10-29 00:00:00

THE StlN5 LONDON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1841.

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of such a course have been prolifically reaped, without
any of its anticipated benefits, a calm retrospect of what
has been forfeited and what has been gained will neces-
sarily ensue. This, we take it, is precisely the condi-
tion of Ireland at the present moment. The p:ople in
that country are now discovering that " they have
sown the wind, and have reaped the whirlwind." A
season for reflection, occasioned by the mild and heal-
ing character of Earl De Grey's Government, and
powerfully impressed upon them by Lord Shrewsbury,
a nobleman of their own faith, has providentially oc-
curred. A prospect of peace and prosperity, never be•
fore presented to them, is now dawning upon their
wearied eyes. An anxious desire to maintain order and
to reward merit, irrespective of religious predilections ;
a steady determination to give practical efficiency to
the spirit of the Emancipation Act, by knowing no
man's faith, if he be a good and loyal subject); a firm
resolution to cement the severed bonds of society, to
encourage trade, to repress crime, and to foster among
all classes the kindly sympathies of our common hu-
manity—these are the great and supreme objects of
Earl De Grey's Government. That our warm-hearted
neighbours, to whom his Lordship appeals for assist-
ance, will refuse him their patient and candid co-
operation, we cannot bring ourselves to believe. Cor-
roborative of that growing anxiety for peace which
we alluded to in the outset of this article, it de-
lights us to see that one Roman Catholic gentle-
man after another is shaking himself free from the
pernicious domination of O'Connell. The letter of
Mr. O'Brien, repudiating all further connexion
with the Corn-Exchange agitator, as published in
our Irish correspondence of Tuesday, is encouraging
in the extreme. Hardly a week elapses without
similar desertions from the Repeal camp. Notwith-
standing the temporary triumph of the Repealers in
the Dublin municipal elections, we feel perfectly con
fident that nothing is wanting but calm and unpreju-
diced deliberation, in order to increase such desertions
ten thousand-fold. Ireland is now Fterally exhausted
with her own misguided and debilitating violence. All
she wants, says Mr. O'Brien, is a respite from dema-
gogue turbulence. A leng and salutary rest, we trust,
is henceforth awaiting her. May she soon awaken to
a virtuous and profitable employnseut of her resources,
like a giant refreshed with sleep!
STAND ARD.—No one can doubt that the Repeal
agitation in Ireland was much encouraged by the evi-
dent neutrality of the late Government with regard to
it, if, indeed, its treasonable pretensions did not receive
the direct countenance of some of the most influential
of its Members. No sooner, however, are the senti-
ments of the new Lord Lieutenant perfectly under-
stood than that agitation subsides, and member after
raember of the party by which it professes to be sup-
ported abjures ah sympathy or connection with it.
Even his Whig friends, who, so long as anything was
to be gained by agitation, on whatever pretext, were
his unwilling supporters, can now afford to leave Mr.
O'Connell to his Corn Exchange rabble, and openly
declare their repugnance to his traitorous projects. The
Hon. Mr. Ponsonby, the late unsuccessful IN 11;g can-
didate for Carlow., has, we perceive from the letter
received this morning from our Dublin correspondent,
added his name to those of the seaedera from the
Repeal faction, an example which all men who have
a character to lose will no doubt imitate. As a set-off
to these defections, American sympathisers continue to
pour in their subscriptions, and to convey to the iccen-
diary chief of the Repeal agitation their determination
to aid the Irish in their " struggle for liberty:* Tee
time may come when these patriotic philanthro-
pists may need the breath they have expended in
such declaration to " cool their own brose." The
cause of Repeal is absolutely in a state of syncope.
No person of even average notoriety—the stipe.ndary
agitator excepted—will venture any longer to ex-
hibit himself at meetings in its favour, and such
is the dearth of " noticeable" visitors that Mr.
O'Connell has been forced to enlist in the cause an
old Parsee, whose dignified person and Anglo-Indian
costume astonished and delighted the Repealers on
Tuesday at the Corn Exchange, almost as much as he
appears to have been astonished and delighted in his
turn. The figure cut by Mr. O'Connell on the occa-
sion was miserable enough. He is paralysed for want
of something to rail about ; a few months more of Lord
de Grey's government, and his " occupation will be
I gone," and with that, if he does not look very sharp,
I the recompense he has been accustomed to receive for
his labours. The result of the municipal elections in
Dublin dees not surprise us ; still less can it surprise
those who have been instrumental in securing it, and
who pretended to believe that the passing of the
Municipal Corporations Act for Ireland would tend to
promote and consolidate the Protestant interest in that
country.
COURIER.—The result of the municipal election,
which took place on Monday last in Dublin, the first
under the new Act, has, it will be seen, verified tha
very mast apprehensions which the opponents of that
measure had entertained, handing over the municipal
government of that city, the second in the empire,
entirely and exclusively to the noisy and turbulent
faction diet acknowledges the leadership and submits
to the dictation of Mr. O'Connell. Dublin, under
tl c Municipal Reform Act, was divided into
fifteen wards, each ward returning four Common
Councilmen, the highest on the poll amongst them
being entitled to the Aldermanic gown, and of these
clevea have returned Mr. O'Cueueli's nominees ;
thus giving the arch-Repealer an overwhelming majority
in the new Town Council, and placing in his hands the
bauble of the mayoralty. That the first effect of the
8.11 which broke up the exclusiveness, and put
an end to the jobbing of the" old Corporation," would
be to transfer municipal power from one set of exclu-
sive factionists and needy politicians to another—merely
changing the outward and visible form of the evils
which it was intended to remove—we anticipated from
the very first moment the question was mooted ;
knowing that the system of exclusiveness so rigidly
and rigorously practised by the now defunct body,
which admitted no man, however high his position in
the mercantile world, or unobjectionable his character
as a citizen might have been, into the Corporation, who
was not prepared to join in and re-echo their sentiments
of stale and obnoxious intolerance, was most likely to
be persevered in by their successors, although in pre-
cisely the opposite direction. There are few men ge-
nerous enough to despise retaliation when they have
the power, and least of all would we look for such men
amongst the frequenters of the Corn Exchange, or tho
aspirants to corporate honours under the new regime.
Therefore, however deeply we may regret the perpetua-
tion of invidious distinctions amongst fellow-citizens,
and the perversion of the Irish Municipal Reform Bill
to the purposes of a paltry faction, or the further
aggrandisement of a bloated demagogue, we cannot say
that these temporary abuses of recently conferred pri-
vileges have taken us by surprise. We were fully pre-
pared for them.
GLOBE.—Our article of yesterday on the Exche-
quer I3dl forgery has of course excited considerable
attention ; and even the official organs themselves,
while simplifying and elaborating our facts, seem to be
in no small degree surprised at finding the exactness of
our exclusive intelligence. Without regarding the
hints of the Post, that secrets which it cannot obtain
we arc imprudent to divulge, we shall continue
to put our resources of information at the disposal of
the public, even at the risk of startling the offi-
cial pints by the unaccountable priority of our
information on subjects of which their official con-
nections might be supposed to render them more
immediately cognizant. We shall, therefore, proceed
with our disclosures as far as we consider it convenient
at present to carry them. The banking world will be
well aware that Exchequer Bills to a vast amount
are deposited in the strong box of various firms,
from the day they are received from the hands
of the Paymaster of Exchequer Bills, until the cor.
responding day in the following year, when they
are again returned to that officer, by whom they
aro renewed, according to the provisions of the Act
of Parliament. None of the Bills so deposited are
in the smallest danger of having a doubt thrown
on their validity, since it is not through the
connivance of any public officer that Mr. Smith
is believed to have circulated his forgeries. In using
the term " forgery" we are perfectly correct, in
spite of the question raised by some of our Con-
temporaries, whether the fraud amounts to the crime
we have named ; and we arc enabled positively
to state that the documents in question are forgeries
in the strictest sense—both as to the signature
of Lord Monteagle and his deputy. There has not
been a surreptitious use of the genuine autographs
of these officers, but they have been copied with so
much skill, as we observed yesterday, as to have asto-
nished one of the individuals whose duty it was to sign
the Bills, when the imitation of his own handwriting was
shown to him. It is believed that Mr. Smith has acted
through confederates in the City ; and there are ono or
two names implicated, which, until direct proof is in
our possession as to their share in the guilt, we shall
abstain from mentioning. We, however, think our-
selves quite at liberty to divulge the fact that certain
circumstances connected with this affair Lad induced the
issuing of a warrant for searching the house, and an
authority for apprehending the pct son, of an individual
connected with the Foreign Stock Exchango—which in-
struments were placed in the hands of Forrester, the ac-
tive officer, to execute. On reaching the abode of the per-
' son alluded to it was discovered that he had voluntarily
called on the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to whom
he expressed his willingness to afford every facility
in the detection of the forgery. This promptitude it',
to a certain extent, favourable to the party hinted at ;
but in a day or two we shall be enabled to speak more
plainly on this part of the subject. In some instances in-
dividuals have brought suspected Bills voluntarily to the
Treasury, and in one case these documents to the amount
of 60,0001., have been lodged in the handy of the official
personages at that department. The system of Mr.
Smith has been to use his forged Bills through
agents in the City, by whose instrumentality they
have been deposited as securities. The fact that
Exchequer Bills are called in, that the interest may
be paid upon them only in the months of March and
June, has enabled Mr. Smith to take up the Bills of

March deposited with one party, by supplies raised from
another party on Bills dated in the previous June ; and
thus, the year they have had to run has not ex-
pired until three months after the period at wheli
he has employed them to conceal his
These latter Bills were, in their turn, taken care
of by the proceeds of others dated in March ; and
thus he has for a series of years been enabled to
carry on without detection his system of forgery.
We are happy to be enabled to set at rest the appre-
hension of those whose little all may be invested in
Exchequer Bills of small amount ; for Ice believe that
there are none under 1,0001. that have been made the
subject of fraudulent practices. It may also be satis-
factory to some parties to know, that of all the nume-
rous lll's brought within the last day or two to the
office of the Comptroller-General, for the purpose of
having their validity tested by the counterfoil, not one
has been condemned which is of a lower number than
6,000, Mr. Smith having selected the higher numbers,
for reasons that will be hereafter alluded to. We have
greet reason to hope that none of the forged documents
have been purchased in the open market, but that ali
have been used as securities, and lodged with parties,
some of whom have not scrupled to take an enormous
rate of interest. Inched it is owing to this circumstance
being known that the matter began to be canvassed,
and the suspicions were raised which led to the recent
discovery. Some of the holders, a; the readiest way
of asce:taining the validity of their Bills, have paid then:
into the Bank of England as part of the recent fund-
ing ; but we believe this has been done to an amount
that is not considerable.

MONEY AIARKET and CITY NEWS

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
TlMES.—Though the events disclosed yesterday
would seem to have brought the affair of the fraudu.
lent issue of Exchequer Bids to something like a de
nouenzent, the interest excited by it. has hardly at a!
subsided. In fact, until some official announcemen
is made from the Treasury on the subject, there is
scarcely a holder of Exchequer Bills who feel: en-
tirely at his ease respecting this part of his property.
Besides this, the credit of the Government itself is
mixed up in the question to a degree which becomes
more alarming the longer delay takes place, and
there can be no doubt that some very decisive n ea-
sure must soon be adopted at the Treasury to avert
the consequences of this uneasy feeling. It may be
stated, perhaps, as the more general wish, that an
order should be made, not only for immediately call-
ing in the whole of those in circulet on, but for re-
placing them by others of a totally different mark and
colour, so as to prevent any possibility of being con-
founded with them. With the arrangements that are
at the command of the Treasury this ought to be nei•
titer a long nor a diffieult affair, and even the fixing of
a period when all uncertainty would be removed, would
tend to some extent to relieve the public mind. But,
bes:des this, there is another feeling on the part of the
monied interest, which is calculated to make a very
strong impression at the Treasury, and which is, that
frauds Fite these, to so large an amount, and continued
for so long a period of time, could not have happened
without a system of management at the Treasury
utterly defective, and vicious. Hence the Trea-
sury will be expected not only to remedy th,
present evil, but also to establish such reforms as will
make the recurrence of it impossible. It is well known
that in the offices where the responsible part of the
Exchequer Bali business is conducted the attendance of
the persons employed is very short and very uncertain,
and that the facilities, therefore, for fraud, to any parties
who are disposed to practise it are very great ; and we
fear it may be added that many of those servants o'
the public are passing much of that time when they
ought to be on duty either on the Stock Exchange,
engaged in hazardous speculations, or at the offiees, of
joint-stock coinpanien where many of them act as
Director:. With respect to the party charged with
the lead in this fraud, the name is not yet publicly
announced, though it is as freely mentioned
every where as if that had been the case. Much blame
is attached to the Treasury, for having allowed the
whole of this day to pass without making any official
communication either at the Bank or at the Stock Ex-
change. But, though they have done nothing, a num-
ber of minor incidents have come to light which may
be mentioned, as showing that the affair has very ex
tensive ramifications ; and it is thought very possible
that the party apprehended is but an instrument in the
hands of a confederacy, who have associated for the
purpose of conducting this enormous fraud. It has
transpired that the offices of various persons have to-
day been searched, under a warrant from the Secretary
of State, and it is also known that several individuals
connected with the Stock Exchange have had notice to at-
tend at the Treasery for an examination, supposed to be
going on at the moment when this paragraph was penned.
Several very important question, too, have arisen in
connexion with this affair, the most material of which i,,
what has been going on at the Bank relative to the
operation of funding Exchequer Bills, under the late
notice from the Treasury. We believe it may be stated
that, until this day, no precautions have been instituted
there to test the genuiness of the Exchequer Bills
brought in to be funded, and yet such is the nature of
the proceeding that any party delivering Excheque,
Bilis could obtain stock in exchange for them, and dis-
pose of that stock in the market, all within the period
of a couple of hours. Thus, if the parties had resorted
to this mode of obtaining a value for their Exchequer
Bills, they would have realized immense sums, and
placed themselves almost beyond the reach of detection.
Another most important question is how the Trea-
sury will deal with those parties who may be said to be
innocent holders of these forged securities, and whether
they will be repaid. This point must, we imagine, re-
main very much in doubt until the investigations rela-
tive to the fraud are complete ; for the Chancel" a. of
the Exchequer, it is said, conceives a broad distinction
to exist between a fraud originating solely with one 01
his own officers, and one concocted out of doors, oi
which that. officer is made the tool. Something, it is
clear, must be done to bring the whole circulation of
Exchequer-bills under observation, without which it
could net be known, even at the Treasury, what ex-
tent of responsibility they would hive to incur by
adopting the fraudulent as well as the genuine issue.
These disclosures have brought to mind many cir-
cumstances in the money market for months and even
for years past, which were thought et the time myste-
rious and unaccountable, but which, in the hurry of
business, passed away without further observation. As
to the speculations in Spanish Stock, for example, it is
recollected that the parties ostensibly engaged in them
were persons of inferior note and standing, who yet car-
ried on their time-bargains to such an extent that their
differences on the settlement of the foreign account,
which only lasts for a fortnight, were often from
20,000/. to 30,0001. ; and yet it was found that they
always contrived, in some way or other, to make good
their engagements. Hence they acquired, of course,
the confidence of the jobbers in the Stock-Exchange,
and were believed to act, not for themselves, but for
principals of real wealth, who, for some cause or other,
chose, as is not uncommonly the case, to keep aloo!
from observation. It was contrived, also, to let it be
believed that the funds raised by these different ope-
rations had some political object, and even as far
back as the mad expedition of Louis Napoleon, they
were connected with that expedition, as they have been
latterly with the insurrection in Spain. Most of the
speculations in Spanish Stock, it should be observed,
are usually unsuccessful, political circumstances and
the state of the money market turning constantly
against them ; and, hence, some people suppose,
that the mode of raising money by false Exchequer
B was an after thought, devised to rescue them
from a situation otherwise irretrievable ; and it is by
no means thought improbable that a participation in
these losses by the official person implicated et the
Treasury facilitated their employment of him as their
instrument for gett:ng out of their mutual difficulties.
It may truly be said, we believe, that since the first
issue of the document called an " Exchequer Bill,"
there never has existed so much excitement respecting
that security as at the present moment.
It is proper to mention, in order to save many innocent
persons from suspicion, that the person now in custody
is Mr. E. Beaumont Smith, of the Exchequer-office.
The business in Exchequer Bills continues for the
while suspended. One or two small transactions under
guarantee have been effected at the lower premium of
93. They are quoted almost nominally at 9s. to 11s.
premium. This interruption to the regular mode of
dealing increases the business in the permanent Stocks,
which are quoted nearly a 4 per cent. better than yes-
terday.
As the explosion of the Exchequer Bill fraud will
implicate parties who have for a long time past been the
supporters of the Spanish market, the news from Spain,
although of a favourable character, makes but trifling
impression. It is not likely that business in any of the
markets will take its wonted course till the public mind
is relieved by a full disclosure.
H Ell A L D.—The arrest of Mr. E. B. Smith, de-
scribed in tho Court Calendar as "first issuing clerk"
in the Exchequer Bill-office, is now matter of public
notoriety. The fact and the name were known and
talked commonly about yesterday, although it was not
deemed becoming to particularise the individual. One
other party in the City is understood eels° to be under
close surveillance if not in custody ; and two or three
parties connected with the Stock-house have received
absolute summonses to be forthcoming at the Trea-
sury when called for, or at a certain appointed time.
The names of these parties it is not necessary to
mention, as in fact their appearance is only under-
stood to be desired for the purpose of better tracing
tie extant of the frauds from the fact of considerable
amounts of the Exchequer Bills clandestinely abstracted
and put into circulation having passed through their
hands. The statement first and exclusively made in the
Herald under this head, to the effect that the recent
extraordinary issues of these bills to so large an amount,
were intimately connected with the late large specula-
tion and speculators in Spanish Stocks, turns out to be
fully confirmed, although at first discredited by the
Titnes and another paper. But for these large and
sudden issues the fraudulent system might have been

carried on probably fora considerable time forward
without detection, as so long it bad been when managed
with more reserve and cunning. At present it would
be unseasonable to enter into such particulars as have
been communicated to us, and are not unknown at the
Treasury, as the cods of justice might be defeated by a
premature disclosure. There are good grounds for
believi:ig that a regular gang of out-of-door stock
gambers and robbers have been concernel in this aiTair,
into whose hands Mr. E. B. Smith fell, and whose
orders he was bound to obey because at their mercy,
from cognisance of his having already committed him-
self; although in comparatively an inconsiderable degree.
To their unceasing exactions and urgencies, with the
allurements held out of incalculable profits from specu-
lative stock operations on an immense scale, it was
owing that he embarked latterly in those prodigal issues
which led to detection at last, and as may be said so

opportunely.
It is now about thirty-four or thirty-five years since
the celebrated case of Aslctt or Astell (if we recollect
the name aright), deputy cashier of the Bank of Eng-
land, who was tried for the fraudulent abstraction of
some five or six hundred thousand pounds worth of Ex-
chequer Bills from the vaults, or safe, of the Bank, of
which from his office he was the cusp's and held the,
keys. He got off the capital punishment on a point of
law ingeniously pleaded by his counsel, the precise bear-
ings of which do not at the moment occur to us, but
something to the effect that value was not proved.
The point transpired in the course of his trial, upon
which his counsel subpoenaed Lord Grenville, then
Auditor or Teller of the Exchequer, whose evidence
went to show that he was not in tiu haleit of sliming
the bills charged in the indictment as signed by him ;
as indeed how would it be possible for any one man
to sign ten or more millions worth of bills, each at
stated and within certain limited periods of the year.
Mr. As!ett escaped upon that count therefore, hut was
convicted and imprisoned for two years upon a minor
count of stealing to the amount of forty shillings, in the
shape of the value of the paper on which the bills were
drawn. That person, it is reported, is yet living in
Paris. In his case likewise, the robbery was owing to
:beck speculations and the payment of gambling losses

of enormous amoumts.
To show the loose system of transacting business at
the Exchequer Bill-office, it may be noticed as being
reported that a few years ago only a parcel of bills to
the value of about 100,0001. held by a certain corporation,
was discovered to be without the regular stamp of
what is called the " portcullis," being part of the arms
of the city of Westminster with which the regular bills
should be stamped. They were carried to the bill-
office and submitted to the clerks to ascertain if
genuine. One and all, upon careful examination and
collation with the books, pronounced them genuine.
The omission was then pointed out to their surprise,
acknowledged as such, and rectified.
In the year 1831 or 1832 similar frauds to the pre-
sent were committed and detected in Paris. We re-
collect the name only of one of the delinquents, a
person of the name of Kessner. He also was deeply
involved in stock speculations, and being irretrievably
eompromiaed in the tremendous fall of French stocks
consequent on the revolution of July, abstracted or fa-
bricated Boos Royaux, answering to our Exchequer
Bills, to the prodigious amount of seven or eight mil-
lions of francs before he was detected. We do not
exactly remember the particulars of his fate, but rather
think that after apprehension and during imprisonment
he managed to destroy himself.
From these remarkable instances of successful fraud
the necessity becomes apparent and urgent of more
stringent guards and checks for the safety of the
public purse, and above all of the nicest &scum-
spcction in the selection of individuals for fulfilling
such important trusts.
CHRONICLE.—The Chairman of the Committee
of the Stock-Exchange, along with a deputation of
holders of Exchequer Bills, had as interview with the
Chancellor of the Exchequer to-day at the Treasury,
for the purpose of ascertaining the determination of the
Government regarding the spurious Exchequer B lle.
The answer made by the Right Honourable Gentleman
was, that he and his colleagues were anxiously en-
gaged investigating the subject, and so soon as they
had made up their minds on it the public would be in-
formed. Whether the measures to be adopted in this
matter are to remain over until February, like those
attending the general financial embarrassment of the
country, we will not presume to foretcl. The only
point, however, known at present is that the Cabinet
is deeply engaged in the matter, and that the public
will be duly informed of the result of their delibera-
tions. In the meantime Exchequer Bills are scarcely
saleable, and the public mind is left in the greatest de-
gree of alarm, the holders being totally in ignorance
whether their securities are to be acknowledged as ge-
nuine, or to be disputed by the Crown.
Tie party in custody, Mr. Beaumont Smith, of the
Comptroller-General's office, is understood to be the
custes of the bills, but not one of the three func-
tionaries authorised to sign by the Act of Parliament.
It is not known whether the Government admit that
the spurious bills bear the genuine signatures of the
parties authorised to sign, or whether they are to be
challenged on the ground of forgery, but in whatever
light the case may be viewed, the looseness of the prac-
tice of the Exchequer Bill-office is undeniable. It is
now thirty-six years since the system of authorising
certain persons to sign Exchequer Bills originated, and
the t el/ Act, we believe, merely continued the old
practice, while it abolished the office of auditor, and
appointed the comptroller in his place. It is therefore
quite absurd to endeavour to throw the blame of the
fraud upon the late administration. It has been carried on
for several years, and with considerable caution and
dexterity, as the principals always took care to use
the spurious bills merely as a deposit in security,
stipulating that the identical bills should be returned,
end thus they were enabled to call in all their issues
annually about a fortnight before the period of payment
in March, and to issue June bills instead. There was
a new act of fraikl, therefore, committed every year,
and it is quite clear that the principals must have had
several confederates. The question of Government
:iability is much agitated to-day, and the general im-
pression is that the public must be kept safe from loss.
The point, however, is one of considerable difficulty,
and on which, under our present knowledge of the
facts, it is impossible to speak with confidence. There
are certainly some strong grounds for maintaining the
case of the hollers. There is the general liability of
masters for the acts of their servants ; which rule ap-
plies so far in this case, because the bills have all the
Government stamp, and bear official marks, which
prove that they have emanated from a Government
office. Supposing, therefore, that the signatures could
be proved to be forgeries, the liability of the Crown
might be still contended for. But in that case—that
is, in the case of a clear proof of forgery in the signa-
ture—we should apprehend that the Crown would have
strong grounds for disputing their liabilities, because,
although masters are liable for the general acts of their
servants, they are not responsible for their crimes. The
Crown would no more be liable to pay Exchequer Bills,
forged by any clerk in a Government office, than
bankers to pay notes forged by any clerks in their em-
ploy. But there are great doubts entertained whether
the parties authorised to sign could be able to distin-
guish genuine from fictitious signatures, and the test
applied to some bills sent up seems to strengthen that
impression. We allude to the rejection of bills because
they have not been found to suit the indenture of the
check. Such a test is evidently fallacious, and not
likely to have been adopted if the authorities had
been able to detect false from genuine signatures.
Supposing that the trip' icate bill*. were 16d before
the comptroller and his deputies authorised to sign, we
believe it is acknowledged on all hands that they could
not tell the false set from the genuine. Anti it may be
doubted, even if Mr. Smith himself (supposing he were
to confess that he had signed the names) could select
those which he had fabricated from the genuine class.
There is great room to doubt whether any Jury would
give a verdict for the Crown against the holders in such
a trial. Besides the point of Government liability, the
means of detecting the extent of the fraud, and of re-
moving all further doubts as to the validity of the out-
standing bills have been anxiously discussed. The
Government, it is maintained, ought to possess the
means of ascertaining the extent of the fraud, and the
books in tho Exchequer Bill-office ought to furnish
them with the necessary data to do so immediately ;
but if the truth cannot be ascertained in that way,
then the whole bills outstanding must be called in
by public notice. Granting even that step to be
taken, the Government have still to consider how
the Crown and the public are to be protected
against the commission of similar frauds in time to
come. The whole question is full of difficulty, and un-
less speedily set at rest, threatens to produce a most
serious decline in the value of the unfunded Securities.
The quotations for Exchequer Bills have fluctuated
considerably, having been S. 9, and 11 premium. The
extent of the fraud, as far as yet known, is 200,000/.,
whereof 135,000/. has been traced, and the amount is
fortunately in very few bands. Sir James Shaw, the
City Chamberlain, lent 40,000/. on part of the spurious
bills, but whether the money belonged to the Corpora-
tion or not we have not learned. A well-known capi-
talist sold 2,000/. Exchequer Blis to-day for 1.8001.
Upwards of 60,000/. of the spurious paper is lodged in
the Treasury to wait the result of the inquiry. The
alarm created by this affair prevented the public from
making their usual investments in Exchequer Bills, and
induced them to turn their attention to the funded
debts instead, which has created a considerable demand
for Money Stock, and Consols have in consequence
(and from the increased impression of a favourable ter-
mination of M'Leod's trial) improved to 88i to for
the Account, and EBi to for Money.
POST.—The interest taken in this part of the me-
tropolis in the investigation going on at the west end of
the town of the circumstances connected with the Ex-
chequer Bill conspiracy, for so, we believe, we are per-
fectly warranted in designating that affair, has in no
degree diminished in point of intensity. The ordinary
operations of trade arc interfered with by the startling
facts that have been disclosed. Every respectable man
of business is anxious, therefore, not only that the case

should be probed to the core, and the authority of the
kw completely ',indicated, but that me isures of the most
effective and stringent kind should be taken to prevent
a recurrence of the evil. An equal anxiety is expressed
that the ent re system pursued by the money-dealers
and Stock Exchange people should undergo a revision
at the hands of the Government, and that a salu-
tary restraint should at once be put upon the
loan-contracting fraternity, without any respect of par-
ties or of names, however high and imposing. The
connexion is one and the same, and unless the transac-
tions of the whole be considered in relation to each
other, it will not be lung before some fresh outrage
upon public confidence will be perpetrated in a differ-
ent shape. The individual in the City who was said
to have been taken into custody yesterday, has, we

rather think, been seen at large to-day, but the report
of his capture was again very current towards the
evening. The Clerk of the Comptroller's-office, Mr. E.
B. Smith, whose depredations would appear to have been
of so wholesale a character as to have completely out-
stripped his recollection of their actual amount, whether
one, two, or three hundred thousand pounds, and who
was in the receipt of the liberal salary of 6001. a year,
will, no doubt, he severely dealt with ; but it is under-
stood that he has confessed all that he knows, and, if so,
we dare say it will presently be found that he has been
little else than an instrument in the hands of more prac-
tised offenders. A number of others moving in the same
circle with the City operator hinted at, have, we are in-
formed, the eye of the police upon them. They affect
to treat the matter with levity, so as to divert atten-
tion as n.uch as possible from the subject ; and that
such a policy should be resorted to by men in their un-
enviable predicament is very natural ; but the impres-
sion is, that several of them are permitted to be at
liberty only upon sufferance, and under guarantees
to Government to be forthcoming whenever they
shall be wanted to give evidence, or for purposes more
seriously affecting themselves. It was mentioned in
yesterday's paper that one of the principal brokers in
possession of bills lodged with him under questionable
circumstances was believed to have delivered up to the
Chancellor of the Exchequer 50,0001. of the property,
to be dealt with as Government shall think fit. This
turns out to have been the fact. The broker referred
to, a gentleman of acknowledged respectability, who
had acted, it seems, for parties in their speculations on
the Stock Exchange, receiving in deposit, or making ad-
vances upon a dirge parcel of Exchequer 1311 s to cover
stocks purchased for account, proceeded without hesita-
tion to the Treasury and delivered them up, at the same
time giving every information in his power respecting
those from whom he obtained them that was' calcu-
lated to further the objects of the inquiry goner, on.
The gentleman alluded to received a letter in the
course of the present forenoon, requesting his attendance
in the after part of the day on this unpleasent business,
and we doubt not, if all persons innocently implicated
in it, directly or indirectly, will act with the same good
faith and fearlessness that he has done, the whole of the
mystery in which the subject is still involved will soon
be unravelled. It seems but proper we should all that
this gentleman is a broker of long standing in the City,
and that his father enjoyed for many years befire him
the same high character that he does himsi It in the
same branch of business. He has probably been
too confiding, but of his probity not the srnellest
suspicion is entertained. It has been his misfor-
tune to become identified with an exploded instance of
the very objectio-aahste traffic that is carried on at the
Stock Exchange under the modern system. An evening
paper states that a certain tol -coetractor of the Jewish
persuasion holds a very large amount of the unauthorised
bills, intimating that be had made ailvences upon them
at the rate of 7 per cent. interest. We are assured
that this person obtained no more titan from 4 to 5 per
cent. Another party has been named as heving re-
ceived 7 per cent. In his case, however, the charge
was but nominally his, the transactions undertaken by
him for his principal being of a mixed character, con-
nected with the Foreign Stock M Act.
During the inquiry into the circumstances of this ne-
farious transaction, which is still proceeding, the Con-
servative statesmen upon whom the painful duty of
prosecuting it has devolved, have taken due care that
neither from themselves nor from persons officially con-
nected with them shall any revelations, as to the pro-
gress of the investigation be elicited. This cautious
and prudent reserve is highly meritorious, springing as
it does from the apprehension that premature disclo-
sures might impede the single object in v.eiv, that of
doing substantial justice to the public as well as to
every individual whose character or interest is in any
manner involved in the transaction.
But if we may judge from the article, which appeared
in the Globe of last night (insetted in the last page of
The Sun, under the head of " Spirit of the Public
Journals"), and in which it is impossible not to perceive
at least glimmerings of information which must have
been derived from persons concerned in the inquiry, it
would seem that the same anxious and scrupulous re-
serve which Ministers have imposed on themselves and
those who are subject to their authority has not been
maintained everywhere.
The article seems to us an overstrained attempt to
show, not only that Mr. E. 13. Smith, the senior clerk
in the office for issuing Exchequer Bills, is, what we
are told he confesses himself' to be, the only official
person chargeable with moral delinquency, but that
there are no grounds for the imputation to other official
persons of the minor offences of negiigence or incapa-
city. In so far as it attempts this, we cannot disguise
our opinion that it signally fails.
It will at once occur to every reader to ask what can
be the use of a Comptroller-General at the head of a
department, with a
,salary of two or three thousand a
year, if the power is to be left in the ha-ads of a cli rk
of that department, with a salary of 6001. a year, to
issue from it fictitious securities to the amount of two or
three hundred thousand pounds ?
There is no longer, unfortunately, any doubt that
" the position of Mr. Smith gave him every facility for
the fraud," which is precisely the circumstance of which,
as it appears to us, the public have a right to complain.
If it was " a part of his duty to insert the numbers and
dates upon the bills," and if the fraudulent bills " are
consequently upon the proper•paper," surely it was " a
part of the duty" of somebody else to see that " the
proper paper" for the manufacture of miilions of money
was not given out to this clerk at 6001. a year without
measure or limitation, or record, or memorandum of
any kind ; and we think we are entitled to say on behalf
of the publ-c that it might not unreasonably have been ex-
pected of e Comptroller-General at the head of the office,
with a salary of 2,5001. a y eel., and very little to do, to see
that this duty was not entirely neglected. Why Mr. Levy,
the toll contractor, to whom we suppose one passage
in the article refers, takes better care of " the
proper paper" which he gives our to the men at his dif-
ferent gates to represent the twopences and three-
peaces he is entitled to receive. And we ,ire almost
compelled by the statement of the Globe to wish that
Mr. Levy instead of Lord Monteagle had been Comp-
troller-General of the Exchequer, as in this case pro-
bably the calamity that has taken plsce would have
been averted.
There is much of the article which we do not per-
fectly understand, perhaps from the circumstance, in
all respects an unfortunate ene, that we are not very
familiar with the form and appearance of Exche-
quer Bills. Does the Globe mean to intimate, when
it uses the word " signature" in the singular
number, that the genuineness of these important se-
curities is attested only by a single signature? Or,
when it speaks of forgery, does it mean to say that,
there being more signatures than one, all were forged ?
We really ask these questions for the sake of informa-
tion, although they may serve at the same time to show
the extreme inconvenience of premature and imperfect
disclosures upon a subject like the present. In refer-
ence to the word " forgery," we will only remark fur-
ther, that if the Globe have any sufficient warrant for
having employed it, the nature of the transaction dif-
fers very materially from what the public have hitherto
supposed. The general impression, both in the City
and at the west end of the town was, and is, that the
offence of Mr. Smith, though not less than forgery in
moral guilt, cannot be properly described by that term.
The Globe speaks of the system of the office in
which this offence has been perpetrated as being the
same now as it has always been. This, if it be true,
is a very inadequate defence of those who have had
the dominion of the office for the last eleven years ;
for, if the system be a bad one, which we do not- know,
the greater fault is theirs, Reformers as they were, for
not having reformed it ; and, if the system be a good
one, the results it has produced in their hands show,
what scarcely indeed required any such proof, that no
at stem, however good, can supersede the necessity of
vigilance and prudence on the part of those who are
charged with the duty of superintending and controlling
its operation.

__—
GREAT NORTH OF ENGLAND RAILWAY.
Traffic returns for the week ending Oct. 25, 1841:
Passengers £956 13 4
Merchandize

£1,339 6 5
Darlington, Oct. 27. D. O'BRIEN, Secretary.

UNSAFE HOUSES.
(FROM A CoRRESPONDENT.)
The house, No. 126, in the Strand, next but one to
the Globe newspaper (ace, is in a most dangerous con-
dition, and require:i the immediate attention of the autho-
rities who have the management of the property of the
Duchy- of Lancaster in that quarter. Though shored
up Oil i
both sides, the walls are in such a dilapidated
state that a high wind, after the continued rains, would pro-
bably bring the crazy fabric to the ground. Such a danger-
ous nuisance, in a great thoroughfare, ought to be indicted
by the inhabitants in the neighbourhood, or, more pro-
perly, by the parish authorities,, who are expected to
take precautions for the prevention of accidents. But a
few months ago. two houses in Fleet-street, in a similar
condition, fell into the street, and, had any of the pas-
sengers been killed, no doubt a jury would have returned
a verdict of manslaughter against the district surveyor,
or the proprietors. Prevention, however, is better than
punishment, and public attention, therefore, cannot be
too soon directed to the wilful negligence of some party
or another, which may probably lead to fatal 'cow,
sequences,