The Sun.
London, England, 1842-08-19 00:00:00

DERBYSHIRE.

The glove hands and a large number of men
engaged in the hosiery manufactures:have refused to
work, a notice to reduce their wages having bcnn
given, it is said, by the large houses at Belper, who
state that an abatement is making by other manu-
facturers.

NOTTINGHAM, Thursday, 4 o'clock.
It having been announced that a large meeting
would he held in our market-place at 1 o'clock to-day,
to consider the propri,Xy of ceasing from work, a great
demonstration was expected by the Chartists. The
affair, however, has proved a complete failure. We
arc perfectly quiet, with the exception of the little
discussions which the present state of affairs excite.
There is no appearance of the least intention to com-
mit a breach of the peace, and business is going on
regularly as usual.
The Chairman of the Mansfield meeting was bound
over to keep the peace for six months.
LEEDS, Thursday, One o'Clock.
- -

After the attack on Messrs. March and Maclea's
works, which I informed you of in my letter last even-
ing, the people quietly dispersed.
Thirty-eight persons were apprehended yesterday
afternoon in the town and neighbourhood, on various
charges of forcibly entering mills and workshops,
throwing stones, and otherwise breaking the peace.
They are now undergoing examination before the
Magistrates at the Court-house, in which there is a.
strong body of military and special constables, as well
as in the street adjoining.
Beyond the attempt to turn out the work-people
of Messrs. March and Maclea no serious disturbance
has taken place in this town. The mills are at work
as usual, and there is little fear of their being stopped.
The town of Leeds, then, is perfectly quiet, and
the mills are at work as heretofore.

Yesterday afternoon a meeting of the principal fac-
tory, masters was held in the Court-home at Brad-
ford, to consider the propriety- of commencing work
this morning at six o'clock. rwo of the Magistrates
were present, one of whom expressed his disapproba-
tion 'of the manner in which several of the mill-owners

had closed their mills, namely, without offering the
least resistance ; had which been done, there would,
in a great many instances, have been no necessity to
have closed at all. After some desultory conversation
it was determined unanimously by the masters in
Bradford town to commence this morning. Some 0r
the mill-owners in the Bradford Moor distri2t, re-
fused to do so, unless protected by the military, .'eAr-
ing a renewal of violence from the mob.

The rabble who stopped the manufactory of Messrs.
Varley, at Stanningley, yesterday, was chiefly com-
posed of lads and women, and might have been easily
routed by 50 Ale men, each having a good stick. Yet
300 or 400 persons must unwillingly be turned out of
employment by such a pitiful handful of blackguards
as I have mentioned.

The accounts received here this morning from
Huddersfield, Halifax, and their neighbourhood, are
more favourable. Several mills have commenced-work-
ing again, the hands being protected by the military.
Last evening one of the insurgents, named Booth,
from Northowram, near Halifax, died in the Infir-
mary from a gunshot wound.
Tile examination of the prisoners is going on, and
will last all day.
Lord Wharncliffe (Lord President of the CouncT,
has just arrived here, and is engaged in peruilt g tl e
depositions so far as they have been taken.
The military and police have just gone to Hunslet-
moor, to disperse a meeting.
Two collieries in this neighbourhood have 1 een
stopped this morning.
Thursday Evening, Seven o'Clock.
At eleven o'clock to-day the parties (38 in number)
who were taken up for entering the mill of Me-srs.
Maclea and March yesterday. afternoon, . were
brought before the Mayor, Griffith Wright, Esq.,
and E. Grace, Esq. The evidence in support
of the respective charges occupied the whole
of the day, and up to the present time no commit-
ment has taken place, although, no doubt the whole
38 will be sent to the assizes, now going on at York.
All has' been quiet here and in the neighbourhood to-
day, up to two o'clock, when news was brought to
the Magistrates sitting at the Court-house, that a
number of persons were attacking the colliery works
of J. C. Btandling, Esq., Middleton, distant two
miles from this place, whence a strong body of police
were promptly despatched. Eight desperadqs have
just been brought from thence by a party of military.
About five o'clock news was brought from Cleckhea-
ton—a village extensively engaged in the blanket ma-
nufacture, six miles off—that a mob of persons was
attacking the mills. Aid was promptly sent. •
We shall not now have any disturbance in Leeds ;
and, from the ample force at the disposal or the Ma-
gistracy, there can be no doubt that assistance can
be given to any of the districts in the neighbourhood
which may unfortunately require it.
HUDDERSFIELD, Wednesday Morning.
Nothing serious has transpired since my last. Mon-
day night passed away without any recurrence of the
lawless proceedings which characterised the former
part of it. The measures of the Magistrates seem to
have had the desired effect of showing the mob the
inutility of continuing a course of violence which can
only end in their own discomfiture, and which will
add greatly to their privations.
Yesterday (market-day) passed off without any
renewal of the outrages which marked the previous
night; and business, such as it was, was proceeded
with in the ordinary way. The Magistrates examined
the prisoners taken during the riot, and the result was
as follows :—Four were sent to York Castle for trial,
six were bound to keep the peace for two months,
two remanded, one discharged, and a woman, sent to
the House of Correction for two months, for having
thrown stones at the soldiers.

This morning (Wednesday) all is quiet. The most
noisy of the mob seem to have left the town; and
the Bradley mills have been set at work.

EXCHEQUER BILLS FRAUD.
REPORT.
TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.

We, the Commissioners appointed by an Act passed
in the fifth year of your Majesty reign, intituled "An ,
Act for appointing Commissioners to inquire as to the
Issue, Receipt, Circulation, and Possession of certain
forged Exchequer Bills," humbly report to yotir Ma-
jesty, in manner following, the evidence which we have
taken, and what we have found with respect to the
several matters into which we are directed by the said
Act of Parliament to inquire :
In our discharge of the duty committed to us, we
have never ceased to bear in mind the importance of
dispatch ; but we have aimed with still greater anxiety
at the complete elucidation of the subject on which
we were engaged. When, therefore, we have allowed
our progress to be retarded by no delays that it was
possible to avoid, and kept it free even from the in-
terruption that • the pursuit of our ordinary duties
would have 'occasioned, we have spared no pains in
the exploration of facts, having examined altogether
160 witnesses (of whom many gave their evidence at
°Teat length), and inspected the mercantile books, by
which the parties interested were required to support
their statements, and superintended, in several in-
stances, the preparation of tables calculated to illus-
strate the course of the transactions.

Finding much time necessarily consumed in occu-
pations like these, we considered from time to time
with great solicitude, how far it would be proper,
with a view to the interests of particular claimants,
to make certain of the eases before us the subject of a
preliminary report, reserving the remainder for a sub-
sequent occasion ; but we came with regret to the
conclusion that no arrangement of this kind could be
usefully made. It appeared to us, in reference to the
ultimate objects contemplated by the Legislature in
appointing the commission, and the nature of the
questions that might hereafter grow out of it, that it
would be unsatisfactory to state the case of any
claimant without at the same time adverting_O such
facts as tended to throw light on the merits of ante-
cedent parties ; and we found that there Was no
claimant whose use did not, in this point of. view, in-
volve that of some other person or persons whose
transactions required much time for consideration.
While bent upon the full and effective performance
of the whole duty we had ,to discharge, we endea-
voured, at the same time, to confine ourselves with
precision to its proper limits. Upon the. construction
of the Act of Parliament we apprehend it to he
obvious that the question, whether the instruments
referred to us were genuine or not ? fell in no case
within our province; both because the bills were
described in the title of the Act of Parliament itself
as " forged," and because, with respect to all bills
which the claimant was prepared to prove ge-•
nuine, he had a right capable of being vindicated
in the ordinary course of jdstice, and had no need
to resort to our Commission. We also concluded,
without hesitation, that we 'were not called•upon to
investigate " the manner of the issue" of the Ex-
chequer bills mentioned in the Act of Parliament in
any sense which would involve an inquiry into the
nature of the official regulations of the Exchequer, or
the manner in which those regulations had been ob-
served. That inquiry had been already prosecuted
•under a former Commission, to whose report no
useful addition could have been made; and its result
had been declared to be, that " it was in the absence
of sufficient internal check, and the incompleteness of
general superv:sion" (defects that had, for nearly a
century, escaped observation),. that the late senior
clerk, Mr. Beaumont Smith, had found opportunity
for his rebent'frands.' •
Considering then lc the manner of the issue" of the
bills as regarded the guilty parties them Selves, and
the subsequent "circulation, deposit, and possession"
of thein, and the case of every holder or owner," to be
the only proper subject for our inquiry, we pro-
ceeded to the examination of some fficial per-
sons, from whom it was at once entertained (the fact
indeed being otherwise sufficiently notorious) that no
other officer except Beaumont Smith had incurred
any suspicion of being connected with the fraud, and
from whom we also received such further explanations
of a general kind as were necessary for. our subse-
quent guidance. We then examined in succession the
various parties whom we judged likely, from the
notices in the schedule, to be connected with the bills,
as present claimants, prior holders, or otherwise, en-
deavouring to pursue our coarse continually from the
claimants upwards, until we reached the original
sources of the fraud; the result of which was that
when we came to examine the earlier parties, we were
able to check their evidence by the aid of the informa-
tion previously obtained. At length arriving at that
point where it became necessary to add the last link
to the chain, we judged it, after some deliberation,
desirable to obtain the testimony of Ernest Itapallo,
the person who had been apprehended as a party
to the forgeries, and discharged from prison, only
in consequence of his consent to give evidence
against his confederw-e, Beaumont Smith. On
the te:vice of our summons upon this person,
at Calais, where we found him to be resident, he im-
mediately obeyed it (receiving only the assurance that.
as far as the law might permit, we would endeavour
to secure to him the usual immunities of a witness),
and on his attendance we obtained from him some par-
ticulars necessary to complete the general outline of
the history of the fraud, with such account as he
thought fit to give of the property acquired from it by
the confederates, and received his consent to our exa-
mination of such remnants of that property as were
still under his control in this country. The tendoncy
of his evidence was in some respects unfavourable to
certain of the parties examined before us, but in ge-
neral it did not bear against them more strongly than
the statements received from themselves.
Throughout this series of inquiry we were our-
selves the only examiners : for though at the outset
we made it known that all the parties interested were
at liberty to avail themselves of professional assist-
ance, none of them thought fit to employ counsel, or
with a single and unimportant exception) to be at-
tended by a solicitor; and it gives us pleasure to be
able to add, that though the parties were thus brought
into immediate contact with us, and had in many in-

stances to sustain examination of a most searching
rind, upon points tending to affect their personal cha,
meter, they never failed to ellerve the most perfect
propriety of demeanour, and always rendired, with
the preatest readiness, the accounts which we directed
them to prepare.

r ,

it -seel-s right further to remttrk, that,f.tir'ough she
whole course of the investigation, which has- been de-
scribed, we *ere continually engaged in the search
ifter evidence, as well as in its reception. For,
though we were indebted to your MOieSty's Govern-
ment for the valuable assistance of Mr. Bush (who
had been engaged, under Mr. Maule, iii the prosecu-
tion of Smith and Rapallo, and suggested to us, from
time tj'time, some important lines of inqUiry), yet, in
the main, we had to explore for ourselves the sources of
:nformation,:ead were frequently obliged to call a witness
without being aware of the precise points to which he
was competent to speak. This consideration will.not only
serve to account in part for the manner in which our
time has been occupied, but will alsO explain why
our examinations could not always pursue an un-
broken and methodical course. Under such circum-
stances, it naturally often happened that, after a wit-
ness had been once examined, we had occasion to
summon him again, and sift him further "with regard
to statements that had been in the meanttme made by
other witnesses, or statements made by himself; the
impc rtance of which had not been at first-fully ap-
parent.
In conducting the examinations, the peculiar cha-
racter of the inquiry induced us No to swerve, occa-
sionally from the strict law of evidence, as applicable
to the trial of issues arh,ing in the common law courts.
Thus we received, without hesitation, the statements
of parties as witnesses in their own behalf; and where
a correspondence was offered in evidence; foi the pur-
pose of explanation only, or with reference -to points
of subordinate importance, we deemed it proper to
allow the party to put in copies of his 'oWn'letters as
made by himself, or his clerk, without producing, or
proving any endeavour to procure, the originals: We
,conceived that toenforcetheorainary fulein suchcasea
would tend to no useful object ; and, on the otimv
hand, might materially retard, the progress of our in-
quiry. But any deviation from the strict course of
proof were permitted with great caution ;. and, upon
,points immediately connected with the main stibject
Of" inquiry, we observed a greater rigour than on
'-those of a collateral kind. Thus, in putting the
claimants to show that they had giVen a value for
the bills, we were not satisfied with their dwn state-
ment on oath, supported by their books 4 or even by
the admission of the party to whom the vflineat was
allege:l to have been made, but called upon them to
confirm it by such other proof as the case conveniently
permitted ; for example, where the payment was
made through the medium of a bank, by the evidence
of the bankers clerk who entered the transaction in his
books.

Having now given the explanations which cp-
peared to be material with respect to our course of
proceeding, we shall, in the next place, submit. to your
Majesty a general account of its results, so far as
regards the principal circumstances connected with
the fraud in question.
That fraud related exclusively to the species of
Exchequer bills called supply bills, which, as is well
known, have been latterly issued from the Exchequer
twice in every year, under the authority of succes-
sive Acts of Parliament. The periods are :I.larch and
June, and each bill is either paid off or exchanged
(at the option of the holder) at the Office of the-Pay-
masters of the Exchequer, at the expiration of about
a year from its date, the precise period for bringing
them in with a view to such payment or exchange
being first publicly advertised. It follows of course
from this, that there are two exchanges of Exchequer
bills in every year, the first in March and the second
in June.

These instruments have a blank left,for the name
of the payee, and, except where the blh'lc is filled up
(which is rarely the case), they pass by mere deli-
very, like a bank note, the title of a person who gives
valuable consideration for them, without notice or
suspicion of fraud, is complete, although they should
have been fraudulently obtained by the party from
whom he receives them.

The bills of each successive issue are numbered in
regular progression, and in no instance are there. two
in the same issue which bear the same number. They
are also signed with the name of the Comptroller-
General of the Exchequer (though that signature
might, by the established custom which prevailed at
the time of the fraud in question be subscribed either
by himself or by the Deputy Comptroller-General) ;
and as the principal check against forgery, it is the
practice in issuing these instruments always to cut
them from a counterfoil by comparison with which
their genuineness may at any time be ascertain:;-?.
The bills which are the subject of our inquiry
under the Act of Parliament (being 377 in number,
of which 365 are in the schedule to the Act itself and
12 have been referred to us since the Act passed) all
purport to be bills of the description above stated, and
all emanated through E. Rapallo from Beaumont
Smith. The former is a foreigner, butt was long
resident in this country, and during that period, viz.,
from the spring of 1836 to the middle of 1841, was in
the habit of receiving fromk,Smith (then senior clerk
in the Issuing Office of the Exchequer) instrument;
purporting to be Exchequer bills, for the purpose of
raising money upon them. The bills now the sub-
ject of inquiry are of the number of those so received,
and, being among the later issues, were still in circu-
lation at the time of the discovery of the fraud ; the
remainder having (as it would seem) - been all de-
stroyed (after they had served their purpoie) by the
parties who issued them.
The bills so received from Smith were all (as con-
fessed by him after his apprehension) forged ; and
upon his indictment for the forgery of some of there,
he pleaded guilty to the charge, was convicted, and
has since undergone the punishment of. transporta-
tion. With respect to the particular bills now the
subject of inquiry (though, as already observed, we
have no direct concern with the point of forgery), it
may be proper to add, that all those enumerated ink
the schedule to the Act of Parliament, as detained at
the Exchequer, and also those which have been re-
ferred to us since the Act passed, have been com-
pared with the counter-foils, and found not to coin-
cide with them; that the Comptroller-General has
also inspected the whole of the former class, and the
late Deputy Comptroller a large number, and that
both these officers have, on their examination before
us, declared the signature not to be theirs.
(To be continued.)

IRELAND.
BELFAST ELECTION:
DumtN, AUG. 17.—The following is the result of
;he second day's polling
Tennent
Ross
Chichester

2Gt
290
IG3

GROSS POLL.

Tcnnent
Ross ......ti........
Chichester
IMPORTANT TO ATTORNEYS

A letter, in the following terms, has been addressed
by the Under Secretary, Mr. Lucas, to each of the
Assistant Barristers in Ireland :

" Dublin Castle, Aug. 13, 1842.

" Sir,—The attention of the Lord Lieutenant and
of the Lord Justices has been called to complaints
against attorneys acting at different Quarter Sessions,
who have entered into resolutions declining to move
and conduct civil bills unless the process %has been
drawn or signed by one of their body. The Act 361 h
Geo. 111., chap. 25, sec. 23, provides that it shall not
he necessary that the civil bill process, slaall be signed
by any attorney. Those resolutions must be regarded
as tending directly to defeat that provision, by render-
ing it impossible for the suitor to have professional
assistance unless he submit to incur a charge which
the Legislature leaves it optional with him to incur
or not. It is scarcely necessary to point out to you
that such conduct by persons who are officers of the
Court in which they practise, cannot be reconciled
with their general professional duty; and, with a
view to its correction, the Lords Justices wish you to
inquire whether resolutions to the above,efrecl: have
been entered into by the attorneys who usually prac-
tise in your Court. As to the powers you possess to
prevent its continuance, their Excellencies do not
mean to offer any advice, or give any directions, fur-
ther than to express their desire, it those powers are
not adequate to that purpose, that you will communi-
cate to them or to the Lord-Lieutenant the tesola-
tions (if any) which the attorneys have entered into,
the names of the persons who, in pursuance of such
resolutions, have declined, when applied to, to move
civil bills, and what steps, if any, you have adopted
to correct the practice in question.
" I have the hon'onr, &c."

MEETING OF THE GREAT WESTERN riAILIT AY
COM PA N V.-13RISTOL, TII URSDAT.—A•haIf-ymrly Ge-
neral Meeting of the Proprietors of this C,ome.paiiiuysswe
al
13,
held a
3t the
.iterminusntheethhaiisr,d day at
ealti otnhee on'cleocpoilk
ix
the
Di-
rectors was, after considerable discussion Wopted.
long debate took place on a proposition by Mr. Ovenden
to abolish the reserved fund, and to declare a dividend of
7 percent. instead of 6. Mr. Ovenden was aupperteil in
views by Mr. Lawrence Heyworth and several other
rpoprietors, but, on the proposition being pnt to the
meeting, it was lost. On the whole, the meeting passed
off very favourably.
The books of the Accountant in Chancery will be
closed from Saturday next to October .4 ; during which
time nu draft for any effects shall be signed and 'celivered
out, nor any purchase, sale, or transfer of any stocks,
securities, or effects be mah by the.said accountant in
bankruptcy, for, or on account' of any bankrupt's estate.
The accountant, however, is to be at la y tcrsign orders
or checks for dividends in such cases may appear
urgent.

The Socialist Community in liampahirc is under,
stood to have failed, after an expenditure. of 37,01101.
The workmen have been discharged, and Mr, liabeq
Owen has left the place,_