The Sun.
London, England, 1842-03-04 00:00:00

SUPPLY OF GRAIN.

An HoN. MEMBER wished to ask the Right Hon.
Baronet, the First Lord of the Treasury, whether it was
the intention of her Majesty's Government, in regulating
'The supply of corn, to establish some means of ascer-
taining correctly, or as near as possible, the number of
acres sown annually in the United Kingdom, specifying
the different kinds of grain, and also the quantity of
produce thereof, so as to be able to estimate, when the
system is in operation, whether, with a fair average crop,
there was a sufficient quantity sown for the consumption
of the United Kingdom.
Sir ROBERT PEEL said that the House was
aware, probably, that there had existed, in con-
naition with the Board of Trade, a department
for the purpose of collecting statistical information
in reference to the commerce and exports of the country.
There had been a recent addition made to that depart-
znent for the purpose of collecting statistical information
connected with agriculture ; but that information would
have reference to facts and not to estimates. He
thought nothing could be more unwise than for a
Government to undertake to colleet information
for the purpose of enabling individuals to form
an opinion as to the probable supply. He apprehended
that the probable supply, and the consideration of what
means should be adopted for the purpose of supplying a
deficiency, had much better be left to the natural
operations of commerce than to any interference
on the part of Government. Although it might
be proper to collect statistical information with re-
ference to agriculture, he should deprecate the publication
of any information on the part of the Government, for
the purpose of enabling individuals to firm an opinion as
to whether there. were or were not a sufficient supply.
Mr. O'CONNELL gave notice, that on the House
going into Committee of Supply on the Army and Navy
Estimates, he would call the attention of the House to the
religious destitution of Catholics in her Majesty's service.
On the motion of Mr. MILES, certain returns of
County Treasurers' accounts were ordered.
NAVY ESTIMATES.

Captain PECHELL wished to ask the Right Hon.
Baronet at the head of the Government whether it would
be convenient for him to state on what day he proposed
to bring forward the Navy Idstunates. It appeared from

IMPORTATION OF INDIANS.
Mr. BINGHAM BARING said that perhaps he might
now be allowed to answer the question put by the
lion. Gentleman the Member for Inverness (Mr.l3aillie),
a few evenings ago, as to whether the Board of Control
turned its attention to the importation of Lasears from
India, who were wandering about the streets in a
state of destitution. He had promised to make an
inquiry into the subject, and he might state that the
attention of the Court of Directors, and of the Board of
Trade, would also be drawn to the subject.
THE EXCHEQUER BILL FRAUD.
The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER then
rose ; he said, I am glad, Sir, that the Noble Lord, and
the Honourable Gentleman opposite, bate enabled me
to bring before the House a subject of great public
and individual importance, and that 1 am now
at liberty to recur to the assistance of Parlia-
ment for a complete development of a transaction
which has lately engaged a large portion of public at-
tention, and which has been to all concerned in
the administration of the financial department_ of
the country, for some months past, a source of
unceasing labour and\ unceasing anxiety. • Al-
though the subject has been fully discussed
by the Government authorities, and though the
Government has applied itself to obtaining
a complete development of all the circumstances of thb
affair, yet there are parts of that transaction which
cannot be completely developed without calling on Par-
liament for its assistance. The object, therefore,
which I now have in view this evening, is to submit to
the House the measure which I have thought it expe-
dient that Parliament should adopt, in order that the whole
transaction may be fully known both to this House, to
Parliament, and to the country. In proposing the mea-
sure which I shall submit to the House, it is not my
intention to enter into any examination of what may
have been the defects of the system under which
I,:xcliequer • Bills have heretofore be in fabricated
and issued, nor to discuss what changes it may
be essential to make, either in the law which go-
verns their issue, or the regulations under which
they have been issued. That will be a sub-
ject for future discussion, when sufficient time shall
have been allowed to weigh well the recom-
mendations that have been submitted to the

House, in the Report of the Commissioners ; and
when time has been . allowed for those most
-conversant :with the business. both of the Treasury
and •the Exchequer, to suggest what improvements
may be made in the law for the prevention, as far as
human means can prevent, the repetition of crimes simi-
lar to that which forms the subject of our present attention.
Before, however, I explain to Parliament the nature of
the measure which I shall propose to them to adopt,.l
may be permitted briefly to advert to the cir-
cumstances of the case, ' and to • the - position
in which we now stand. The outline of the case is,
no doubt, known to all those • whom I have the
honour to address. An extensive fraud has b-en
committed by- means of a forgery of puh:ic
securities to a • very considerable amount. That for-
gery was commit ted by a breach of confi -
deuce on the part of a public officer, and by one
of those gross violations of duty, which hap-
pily are rare in the annals of this country,
but which, in proportion as they are rare, create, when
they do occur, gent ral sensation and considerable
alarm. The mode in which the fraud was commit-
ted was simply this :—an individual in the department
having had reposed in him the confidence of his supe-
riors; having been in that department for twenty-
eight- years; being connected with parties who had
distinguishe themselves, both in the civil and military
service of the country —an individual who had
enjoyed the uninterrupted confidence of a series
of auditors and comptrollers in department—who
had received the strongest testimonies as to his ability
and honesty from Lord Grenville, Lord Auckland, Sir
J. Newport, and until of late of the present
Comptroller of the Exchequer, had been guilty
of the deplorable crime of violating a most
sacred duty, and abasing the powers which he
possessed to defraud the public, in whose ser-
vice he had been so long employed, and whom
he was under the strongest obligations of duty
to serve with honour and good faith. The mode in which
he committed the fraud was by possessing himself of pa-
pers entrusted to him in his official capacity, and haring so
possessed himself of those papers, by withdrawing them
from -the office in which he served, in order to forge the
' name of the Noble Lord, whose signature Exchequer Bills
were by law bound to bear. He then availed himself
of these forged Bills as negotiable instruments.
But this was an offence which if it had not
been committed guardedly and with great pre-
' caution would have admitted of easy detec-
tion. The course this individual pursued assisted
by agents, whose crime, perhaps, did not'''
,equal, but certainly approached near to that
of the• principal in the transaction—the mode"'
in which he conducted the fraud,
to give those Exchequer bills, so forged, as deposits for":
loans of money on condition that the very bills so del:6'i- ;-
sited for loans should be returned to him on pay-
ment of the money, or on other Exchequer bills""n,
being given in the room of those which had been'
originally deposited. Thus by constantly at each sue+
eeSsive change of Exchequer bills forging new'
bilk, with a view to replace those forged bills
already outstanding, he contrived effectually to prevent
the presentation of the forged bills at the Exchequer' '
Office, and to hindar their general circulation - '
among the commercial community of the Metropolis."' '
Thus, he committed in the first instance a breach of '•
every honourable obligation, and afterwards, by an
artful concealment of the forged instruments issued, ,-
he succeeded in escaping the detection to which a-" ';'
different course would have certainly exposed him.
On the 20th of October last an individual called upon
me at my office, anti informed me that an offer had.
been made to him of Exchequer bills in deposit in re-
turn for a loan of money, and he told me that the
rate ,of interest offered to him upon the loan had
so far exceeded the 'market rate of interest that he sus-
pectpd the bills had been stolen, or that they )‘ ere the
property of some other person. Upon that information
having been communicated to me I felt it was my duty; and
I lost no time, to inquire into the matter.—(Hear, hear.)
In consequence of the informatiOn given to me, as I
already stated on the 20th of October, the result was,
that., on the 25th of the same month, in consequence
of the inquiry which was instituted, the guilty author was
taken into custody.—(MiniSterial cheers.) Five days
only had been occupied in bringing to light a fraud
which had been so long perpetrating.—(Cheers.) Let it
not be supposed that I mention that fact to gain
any credit for the Government, or for their activity, far
from it ; but I, do it for this reason. It is
surprising that when so many persons had been engaged
in the fraud—. amongst the many persons who must have
been cognizant of it—there was not one public officer who
had given any information whatever on the subject, and
the result of the immediate inquiry instituted was, that
this fraud, which nits carried on from April, 1836,
till October, 1641, had been detected in the short
space of time I have already mentioned.—(Cheers.)
This is an important matter for the House to bear
in mind—it is important to bear in mind that in the
progress of this fraud no information had been given to
lead to its detection. Upon the discovery of the offence,
the Government had but one course to pursue. The first
course was to bring to punishment the offender by whose
agency this extensive fraud had b( en committed. The
unhappy man made a full confession tf his
guilt,
and means were taken for getting hold of the agent w
to
hohad been principally concerned in assisting hi
dispose of those Bills. An application
was made tmo the
Government by both parties, for a remissiosn,9 punish-
ment, An
if they gave information uponai tthof
sbimeitch_t:
the
application was made on the p
r
principal, that he might receive commutation of his pun-
ishment if he pleaded guilty, and° gave the Government
information. Of course,
was impossible for the
Government to accept such a proposal. Their duty
was to become acquainted with the minutest de.
tails of the fraud, and to punish to the utmost the
perpetrators of it. They could not allow them to
escape without punishment, and the answer the
Government gave to that application was the

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