The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-07-27 00:00:00

SWINDLING EXTRAORDINARY

At the Westminster Police-office, on Tuesday, Thomas
Collins, a man 60 years of age, underwent a lengthened
examination, charged with fraudulently obtaining an im-
mense number of portraits of the nobility and gentry.
It was stated by the police that the prisoner had, for
many years past, had a peculiar penchant for pictures, and
that, owing to repeated complaints to the Commissioners
of police, they had been employed in the matter, but that
he had for a great length of time eluded the vigilance of
the law in consequence of the reluctance of persons to
come forward to prosecute, and his having sent home
some of the portraits about which a stir was made. It
seemed to matter but little to the accused whether the
originals were " born to greatness, had achieved greatness,
or had greatness thrust upon them," all were alike to
him ; " eminent military men, eminent Conservatives,
eminent Liberals," and Liberals that were not eminent—
members of both houses, of all conditions, and among
them those who had not been returned a couple of days,
were solicited for their pictures, in order that copies might
be taken of them for publication ; nor were the likenesses
of the ladies of the land even spared, but were to be sub-
mitted to the gaze of the admiring multitude as The Fe-
male Aristocracy of the Reign of Queen Victoria. Be-
sides those owned, 43 portraits and miniatures of ladies
and gentlemen, the pawnbrokers' duplicates of which were
found upon the prisoner, remain to be claimed.
The first case proceeded with was that of the Earl of
Desert.

His Lordship stated that in the summer of 1848 the
prisoner (as he believed) called upon him, and asked him
for his portrait, from which he might engrave a copy for
publication in his work of Portraits of Conservative
Statesmen, His Lordship gave him permission to have
it, with an understanding that it was to be returned the
following season, but it never came back, and he heard no
more of it until about three weeks ago, when he received
a pawnbroker's duplicate for the portrait pledged for £2,
and the following letter :

"My Lord,—l have really now no other alternative but
to write to you and describe what must be to me most pain-
ful. I struggled but wholly failed in my efforts to pub-
lish your Lordship's portrait in my national work of
eminent Conservatives, and during the Whig adminis-
tration all my efforts were in vain. A distress on my
property was the result, and in order to save the property
of others I was compelled to adopt a most disagreeable
mode to do so. Your Lordship's portrait, among the
rest, is in safety, at a considerable expense to myself.
How, my Lord, I rejoiced when Lord Derby's Govern-
ment was installed. I made myself quite certain of con-
quering my difficulties, by proceeding with my national
work, and my resolution was formed to place your Lord-
ship's portrait in hand forthwith ; but, my Lord, unex-
pected troubles have come upon me, and I therefore
candidly and openly confess my position. I inclose the
document, (the pawnbroker's ticket,) to show that the
property is in safety ; but, my Lord, not being able to
conquer the troubles with which I am now visited, I have
resorted to your Lordship without loss of time. I will
not enter into any details as to my present position ;
suffice it to say it is excruciating. 1 have the honour to
be your Lordship's faithful humble servant,—ThomAs
COLLINS."

James Wood proved that the portrait of his lordship
was pledged on the 29th of June, 1848, the very time at
which it was obtained. The tickets had since been from
time to time renewed.

Mr. Arnold inquh ed whether there were any other cases
ready ?

Sergeant Smith, of the detective police, who had proved
prisoner's writing in the letter produced by the Earl of
Desart, said that he had found the portrait of Mr. Miles,
M.P., pawned, but he was unable to attend that day.
Mr. Cummings, an inspector of the B. division, pro-
duced the pawnbroker's tickets of Lord and Lady Alfred
Paget's portraits, and said his lordship's butler was in at-
tendance.

Andre Castier, the butler, said the prisoner had the
pictures in last autumn or January.

The tickets had been forwarded to Lady Paget in a let.
ter, which precisely resembled that addressed to the Earl
of Desart, until towards the close, which expressed a hope
that her ladyship would not prosecute him. Her lady-
ship's picture was pawned for £lO ; his lordship's for 10s.
The letter further stated that that amount was wholly be-
yond prisoner's reach, but he might some day be able to
place it at her ladyship's disposal.
Mr. Arnold having intimated his intention to remand,
The prisoner's solicitor said, if such was his intention,
he would decline saying anything at present.
Mr. Arnold said he should assuredly remand him, and,
after the evidence he had heard, it would bo for larceny.
The prisoner was remanded for a week.

The Times, in a leading article, says, in reference to
the above case :—" A humorous old rogue, Thomas Col-
lins by name, who appears to have been as well acquainted
with the weak side of human nature as Sam Slick himself,
has for a long time been in the habit of obtaining a great
number of the portraits of noblemen and gentlemen, that
engravings of them might be taken for publication. The
old fellow appears to have divided his male dupes princi-
pally into two batches, eminent Conservative statesmen—
eminent liberal statesmen.' The clergy and the army had
niches apart. It does not appear that Mr. Collins meddled
with the lawyers. The ladies were to be all comprised in
one fourne'e. ' The female aristocracy of the reign of
Queen Victoria.' Ah ! that one word aristocracy'—how
well Mr. Collins knew the measure of those with whom
he had to deal ! In the case brought before Mr. Arnold,
at the Westminster police-office, the application was made
by the Earl of Desart, the present Under-Secretary for
the Colonies. We wish, for the sake of all that is ridicu-
lous, we could record that Mr. Collins had played upon
Lord Desert's credulity since his recent accession to the
eminent post in the Derby administration which he now
so worthily occupies. Lord Desart, however, told the
magistrate 'that it was in the summer of 1848 the prisoner
called upon him, and asked him for his portrait, from
which he might engrave a copy for publication in the work
of Portraits of Conservative Statesmen.' Alas for the
good old days of Gil Blas, or the more modern epoch of
Jerome Paturo—the young Secretary for the Colonies fell
into the snare. In placeof telling Mr. Collins that he might
have a sitting or two if he would undertake to supply him
with a copy of the interesting work in question gratis,
Lord Desart was ' green' enough (we crave pardon for the
phrase) to comply with the request. Of course, the old
rogue took away the portrait at once, laughing in his
sleeve at the gullibility of human nature, and pledged it
at a pawnbroker's ! We wish that we could find space to
re-insert the letter which Mr. Collins wrote to Lord
Desart, informing him of the fact, and enclosing him the
pawnbroker's ticket. We grieve to say that the pawn-
broking interest only estimate our present Under Colonial
Secretary at £2. However, he may console himself :
Lord Alfred Paget—this was one of the eminent Liberal
statesmen' batch—was pledged for a beggarly 10s. Lady
Alfred Paget was involved in the same fate, but upon
more honourable terms. The pawnbroker set a value of
£lO upon her ladyship's features, which really appears to
us very flattering as times go. In addition to the instances
named, it appears that Mr. Collins has been most success-
ful in many other cases ; but he has supposed, and with
reason, that those who had been silly enough to fall into
his snares would rather shrink from proclaiming their own
absurdity in public. We trust that the present case may
serve as a warning to our young statesmen that they
should think twice before they rush into the engravers'
shops. Only conceive—Charles James Fox, the present
Earl of Desart, Sir Robert Peel, Lord Alfred Paget,
William Pitt, and Cardinal Richlieu—what uniformity in
the gallery !"

THE CAPITAL OF ICELAND.—The dwellings of the
rich are of wood, and built entirely on the ground floor,
with the exception of a single edifice, to which the high
school now kept at Bassestadt is to be removed next
year—this has an upper story. The Stiftsamtmann oc-
cupies a stone house, which was originally intended for a
prison, but crimes are of such rare occurrence in Iceland,
that it was converted many years ago into a residence for
this officer of the crown. Another stone house can be
seen from Reikjavick—it is the seat of the Bishop, which
lies surrounded by meadows near the sea, at Laugarnes,
about half a mile from the town. The church is barely
large enough to hold a hundred or a hundred and fifty
persons. It is of stone, with a wooden roof, under which
is kept a library, containing several thousand volumes.
This church possesses a treasure which might well be
envied by others of greater size and pretensions—a font
by Thorwaisden, whose parents were natives of Iceland ;
and, although born himself in Denmark, he seems to have
been desirous to honour the land of his forefathers.—
Pfeifer's lourney to iceland.