The Sun.
London, England, 1844-10-15 00:00:00

1Z344.

THE FORGED EXC HEQUER BILLS
AND PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
beg, through you, to call the attention of
parti: s capable of making the inquiry, as to whether
a surmise on my part, that Prince Louis Napoleon is
a victim of the Forged Exchequer-bills' Conspirators,
in order that Englishmen, after the King of the
French shall have left our shores, may make an
appeal to him to remit the sentence on the Prince ?
In the first instance, in order to support my sup-
position, I believe it is an undoubted fact that
Rapello entered into the contract for the engagement
of the steam-packet (with the proprietors) which con-
veyed Prince Napoleon and his party to the shores of
France.

I was in London at the time of this mad attempt,
and in the immediate neighbourhood of the Stock
Exchange. I perfectly recollect that the news arrived
just after the close of business ;—is it not probable
there was some delay in the arrival of the news, and
that it was intended to have arrived in business hours
and created a panic of which the Forged Exchequer-
bills' Conspirators purposed to take advantage, and
make a grand rush in order to recover some of their
immense losses ?—that Prince -Napoleon was com-
pletely ignorant of the scheme of which he fell a
victim, and was led to believe that a strong party was
ready to receive him on his landing on the shores of
France, and that he is to this moment ignorant of the
real object for which the conspirators made him their
ready tool?

it has been the surprise of all parties how so large
a sum of money could have been got rid of as that lost
by the Forged Exchequer-bills' Conspirators. It will
also be recollected, that when Louis Napoleon and his
party were secured, an immense sum of money was
found in their possession. If this money was part of
the proceeds obtained on the deposit of some of these
forged Exchequer-bills, a great portion of the loss is
fully accounted for, and also the means explained how
the party obtained possession of a sum said to have
been nearly one hundred thousand pounds.
If it can be proved that no real conspiracy existed
in France to aid the mad attempt of the Prince, but
that he is the victim of a set of forgers and Stock Ex-
change speculators, I think it highly probable, if an
appeal were made to King Louis Philippe, he would
remit the sentence on Louis Napoleon in compliment
to the reception given him on his visit to England.
I am, Sir, &c., R. V. D.
Ilfracombe, Oct. 10, 1844:

IMMENSE DRAUGHT OF
HERRINGS.

About the middle of the fishery of this year the
shoal, which had remained stationary for several days,
opposite the Frith of Dornoch, suddenly disappeared.
The fishermen were uncertain whether it had turned
up or gone down the Moray Frith, and the boats from
all the various villages of the coast, which had for-
merly fished together in one huge fleet, were scat-
tered- in quest of it in every direction, above and
below, here, on the southern shore, there, on the
north. The boat in which we sailed had shot her
nets in the middle of the Frith, near the bank
which the herrings had so lately quitted ; no fish were
caught, and, in the morning, the crew proposed
that they should sail for Burghead, to ascertain whether
any of the other boats had been more successful, and
to learn the opinion entertained by the more sagacious
fishermen regarding the state and prospects of the
fishing generally. But their progress was so impeded
by adverse currents and a dead calm, that the even-
ing was beginning to darken ere they arrived abreast
of their port, and they agreed that, instead of landing,
they should turn up the Frith, and shoot their drift a
little below Guilliam. The day had been dull and
hazy. When the night set in there came on a thick, un-
pleasant drizzle, accompanied by a low breeze from the
west; and, before they arrived at the proposed
ground, the rain had become very weighty, and the
breeze had increased to a gale. They shot their drift,
however, and spread their sail over the beams ; but
so saturated was the canvas with water, that it
afforded them scarce any shelter. The rain ceased
soon after midnight, but the gale had risen into a
hurricane, and the sea around them presented to
the view the appearance of a field of snow
agitated by a whirlwind. On a sudden the waves
began to roll by in silence, and without breaking.
One of the crew, starting up, exclaimed, "We are
in the middle of the largest shoal I ever saw in
the Moray Frith, and shall lose our whole drift ;" and
the others, shaking themselves from the sail, rose but
in time to see, in the dim light of a stormy August
morning, their buoys sinking, one after one, as the fish
struck the nets and dragged them to the bottom. They
immediately commenced hauling, but the terrific
heave of the sea compelled them to desist, and they sat
in the stern, shuddering with cold, for their clothes
were soaked through, waiting till the gale would
" take off." It continued, in unabated strength, until
late in the morning, when it began to lower, and
the fishermen to haul ; but the appearance of the first
net showed them that they could scarce expect to
bear to the shore, in such weather, the one-fourth of
their draught. Signals were made to a stranger boat
in the distance, to come and load. The stranger, how-
ever, was in no circumstance to benefit by the invitation:
she had carried away her mast at the commencement of
the gale, and the crew, nearly exhau-ted by the fatigues
of the preceding night, were tugging at the oar.
And so the fishermen found that, in order to save
their nets, they would require to give up the greater
part of the valuable charge which they contained again
to the sea. After hauling and shaking the first few
they again attached the drift to the stem and threw
overboard several barrels of fish. Another net was
therfhauled, and more of the fish thrown out; and,
in this manner, taking in and throwing out alter-
nately, they continued to labour until two o'clock
in the afternoon, when the whole drift was hauled.
They then made sail for port, carrying with them
twenty-five barrels of fish, all they could venture on
bearing through so rough and broken a sea, but little
more than the fourth part of their original draught,
the rough and perilous sea had made them fain to
accept, in lieu of the fifty pound prize which they had
drawn in this lottery, a composition of little more than
twelve.—North British Review.