The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-09-05 00:00:00

SWINDLING BILL TRANSACTIONS,

John Bull is confessedly the most gullible of created
beings. He has a perfect appetite for being taken in. Our
courts of law reveal instances of this which are scarcely
credible ; and the present summer circuits have supplied
the usual quota. Bill-discounting is the popular mode of
catching gaping Johnny. The sharper advertises his wil-
lingness to assist gentlemen in temporary difficulty by dis-
counting their bills of exchange. When the bait is taken,
a bill-stamp is forwarded through the post-office to the
borrower, to be by him filled and accepted, in return for
which he is to be accommodated with the specified sum.
The accepted bill is sent to the lender, but of course the
dupe gets no cash. We need not trace the further pro-
gress of the transaction through its various stages, until
intimation is given the acceptor that the bill is due, and the
affair is, perhaps, compromised by the payment of a large
sum to get rid of the liability. The particulars of one of
these cases we take from a leading article of the Times of
Wednesday, by way of illustration :
" In a contemporary print, which is favoured with a
peculiar circulation among seriously-minded readers, there
appeared the following advertisement :
' To WESLEYANS.—The advertiser is intrusted with the
disposal of seven thousand pounds, which he is anxious to
apply to the promotion of spiritual religion. He would
advance in portions, at 41 per cent., either for the building
of a chapel or for alms-houses, or for any purpose which
might forward the interests of the connexion ; or, at 5 per
cent., he would have no objection to assist the struggles of
any of God's ministers on their personal security.'

l• This considerate announcement attracted the atten-
tion of an unsuspecting minister in a remote county, who
hipssed the chance of accoromo‘h.4.-4 auh.,h, had thus
thrown in tie communicated his wishes accord-
ingly to the prescribed address, and received by return of
post an answer couched in the most fraternal and serious
language, gently commiserating his trials, eulogizing his
services in the cause of the pure gospel, and delicately
foregoing the 10 per cent. which an ordinary case of per-
sonal accommodation was announced to require. In terms
as evangelical as the subject permitted, he was further
requested to return the hills, accepted by himself and
endorsed by his eldest son, to Islington, whither the writer
had been summoned to preside at a meeting for establish-
ing a Wesleyan Cemetery. Considering the channel of
communication, the language and the spirit of the letter,
it was impossible to conceive such a thing as a suspicion,
and the bill was duly posted. The advertiser, however,
descried the full availability of his present correspondent ;
and the next post brought, not the money, but an intima-
tion that the bills had been irregularly signed, and that
duplicates must be forwarded, with certain corrections.
This request was also cheerfully complied with, and the
result was what the reader will either anticipate or remem-
ber,—that the poor minister appeared in court to defend
a suit against him upon four bills of exchange, for which
he had never received a farthing."
A thing of this sort might happen once ; but it is difficult
to believe it possible for such a trick to succeed twice.
Yet such cases are constantly occurring. One word of
advice to all who may be negotiating for assistance in
" temporary difficulties"—don't part with your money's
worth until you have got the money safe in your pocket.

STATIONS OF THE BRITISH ARMY,
ON THE IST SEPTEMBLR, 1848.
(From Colburn'i United Service Magazine.)
[Where two places are mentioned, the last-named is that at
which the dep6t of the regiment is stationed.]
Ist Life Guards—Hyde Park 56th—(1st batt.) Corfu.
2(1 Ditto—Windsor (2d batt.) Cephalonia
Royal H. Guards—Regent's Pk 37th—Ceylon, Chatham
Ist Drag.Guards—Cahir 38th—Halifax, N.S., Boyle
2d—Piershill 39th—Preston
3d—Nottingham 40th—Galway
4th—Manchester 41st—Buttevant
sth—Birmingham 42d—Bermuda, Isle of Wight ;
6th—Dundalk Reserve batt., Bermuda.
7th—Brighton 43d—Templemore
Ist Dragoons—York 44th—(1st batt.) Malta
2d—Athlone (Reserve batt.) Malta
3d—Bengal, Maidstone 45th—CapeG.Hope, I.of Wight ;
4th—Newbridge Res. batt., Cape G. Hope
6th—Dublin 46th—Liverpool
7th Hussars—Dublin 47th—Clonmel
Bth—Newbridge 48th—Dublin
9th Lancers—Bengal, Maidstn. 49th—Dublin
10th Hussars—Bombay, Maid- 50th—Dover
stone 51st—Madras, Chatham
11th Hussars—Hounslow 52d—Hull
12th Lancers—Cork 53d—Bengal, Chatham
13th Lt. Dragoons—Longford 54th—Antigua, Jersey
14th—Bengal, Maidstone 55th—Dublin
15th Huss.—Madras, Maidston 56th—(1st batt.) Gibraltar
16th Lancers—Norwich (2d batt.) Gibraltar, I. of
17th—Dublin 57th—Enniskillen [Wight
Grenadier Guards— 58th—N. S. Wales, Chatham
(Ist bait.) St. John's Wood 59th—Templemore
(2d batt.) The Tower 60th—(1st tit.) Bombay,Chathro
(3d batt.) Portman-st. Bar. (2d bt.) Dublin
Coldstream Guards— 61st—Bengal, Chatham
(Ist batt.) Windsor 62d—Bury
(2d batt.) St. George's Bar. 63d—Newcastle-on-Tyne
Scotch Fusileer Guards— G4tli—Limerick
(Ist bait.) Chichester 65th—N. S. Wales. Chatham
(2d batt.) Wellington Bar. 66th—Barbadoes, Kinsale
Ist Foot— 67th—Gibraltar, Portsmouth
(Ist batt.) N. Scotia, Stirling Reserve batt., Gibraltar.
(2d batt.)—Birr 68th—Mullingar
2d—D üblin 69th—Malta—Portsmouth
30—Pilltown 70th—Cork
1
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draatst. , itius , Clthrhuarm 71st—Naas
) Reserve batt., Canada
Reserve batt., Mauritius, '72d—West Indies, Sheerness
3ta 1
Isle of Wight 73d—Cape G. Hope, Fermoy
6th—(lst bait.,) Cape G. Hope ,74th—Thurles
Reserve batt. 3co.'s,Hud- I 75th—Kilkenny
son's Bay 3 co.'s,Yoghall6th—Zante=Portsmoutla
7th—Halifax, N.S., Waterfordl Reserve batt., Corfu
Bth—Bombay, Chatham 177th—Portsmouth
9th—Dublin 78th—Bombay, Chatham
10th—Bengal, Chatham 179th—Canada, Mullingar
11th—N. S. Wales, Chatham ;80th—Bengal, Chathaia
12th—Weedon 81st—Preston
Reserve batt, Mauritius 82d—Devonport
13th—Belfast 83d—Kilkenny
14th—Newport • 84th—Madras, Chatham
15th—Ceylon, Brecon 85th—Templemore
16th—Corfu, Guernsey 86th—Bombay, Chatham
17th—Chatham
888'1111-- TWr ei
lel di
(°land , Tralee
18th—Bengal, Chatham
19th—Montreal, Castlebar 189th—Birr
20th—Canada, Isle of Wight; ;90th—Ashton-under-Lyne
Reserve bait., Canada 91st—Gosport ; Reserve bait.,
21st—Edinburgh Cape of Good Hope
22d—Bombay, Chatham jo2d—Limerick
23d—Halifax, Isle of Wight ; 93d—Edinburgh
Reserve batt. Canada 94th—Madras, Chatham
24th—Bengal, Chatham !95th—China, Londonderry
25th—Madras, Chatham • 96th—N. S. Wales, Chatham
26th—Cork 97th—Jamaica,Isle of Wight
27th—Glasgow Reserve bait, Jamaica.
28th— 98th—Bengal, Chatham
29th—Bengal, Chatham 99th—N. S. Wales, Chatham
30th—Manchester Rifle Brigade-
31st—Ashton (Ist bait.) Cape of G. Hope,
32d—Bengai, Chatham , Bristol
33d—Manchester (2d batt.) Canada, Isle •f
34th—Gibraltar, Nenagh Wight
35th—Dublin Reserye batt., Quebec.
COLONIAL CORPS,
Ist West India Regiment—Jamaica
2d Ditto—Windward and Leeward Islands,
3d Ditto—Demerara, Sierra Leone, &c.
Ceylon Rifle Regiment—Ceylon and China
Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment—Canada
Cape Mounted Riflemen—Cape of Good Hope
Royal Newfoundland Companies—Newfoundland
Royal Malta Fencibles—Malta
St, Helena Regiment—St, Helena