The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1864-12-25

far as relates to any action taken, or proposed
to be taken, by the gentlemen of that board
1t is from sincere friendliness to the Sanitary
Commission, and from knowing how much they
suffer from this silence on essential points, that
we urge prompt and full explanation. Our
columns are waiting to receive DR.. Agnew's
card Of explanation.
ssBouney Swindling ~ One Of the Fine
Arts'-Its Origin and Omcers In the
Days or King Henry Nv.
To say that many of the public men
and most of the newspapers of the day,
are great nincompoops, would be merely to
state . truism with which every intelligent
American is already as familiar as with his
creed. We have an illustration Of this in re-
gard to the fuss that is being everywhere made
about "bounty swndling," as if it were "a new
erime," "herstofors unbsard of atrocity,"
which was born within the last year and .
half, and recsived it's FIRST pap within the pre-
eincts of . New York drinking house.
| Now, the fact is that we first hear Of
"bounty swjndling as one of the fine arts" in
tho reign of King Henry w., Of England, the
those Of Brigadier General Sir John Falstaff,
and their location the tavern Of s'mine hostess
| Quickly" in Cheapside, London. The facts
| of this interesting historical case are about as
| follows:-Jefferson Hotspur had raised an insur-
| rection in the Northern counties Of England,
as Jefferson Davis has since raised an insurrec-
| ton in the Southern States of our country.
jeff Hotspur expected help from Owen Glen
! dover, Of Wales, from Northumberland,
France, and various other foreign and domes-
| tic potentates, just as JEFF Davis recently ex-
pected help from France, England, and the
domestic Longs, Voorheeses and tVallandig-
hams of the great Northwest. Both the Jeffs
we're disappointed, and in both cases the regu-
lar powers of their respective governments
proceeded to "seize, occupy and repossess" the
rsvolted strongholds and regions.
King Henry w., however, did not fall into
the error Of believing that sit wouldn't be
much of shower after all; nor did his Secre-
| tary of State, the Earl Of Westmoreland, give
any soto Of hand for "peace within ninety
days" These matters are not so stated in the
chronicles; but We infer them from the fact
i
on the first breaking out of the JEFF. Hotspur
instruction. The order was to call out men,
and call them out Immediately, their term OF
service to extend "for life or during the war;"
| Matters being thus, the Prince Of Wales, gay,
young, rollicking buck-who had keen percep.
tions Of the ludicrous and knew how to use all
ranks and classes Of men in their proper
L Aoko kO ~ he oil knn~
tavern popularity Of lewd old knight named
Sir John Falstaf for the purpose OF raising a
brigade. Sir John Immediately saw it was "a
big thing" and accepted accordingly. He at
once opened his recruiting depot in the tavern
of Mrs. Quickly, of Cheapsde; and there were
employed under him, a. sub-brokers, runners
and "shanghaers," choice party, consisting Of
Captains Pistol, Bardolph, Gadshill, Poins and
their associates, most Of these being highway
men, baggage smashers, pickpockets and plug
uglies-precisely the same class, that we find
employed in the same business on this side OF
the Atlantic.
It nowhere appears that Sir John Fal.
staff was court martialed, although we
know that he was finally sent to the Tower
the Fort Lafayette of those days-undsr a
summary order from the Lord Chief Justice of
England, who declared suspension of the ha.
beas corpus in his case. The only evidence
therefore, that we can hope for as to the modus
operandi of this ancient knight in the mat
ter Of "bounty swindling as one Of the fine
arts" we must take from his own volunteered
confession, in Scene 2, Act w., of the vera
cious chronicles OF the reign of King Henry
w., as handed down to us by one William
Shakspere-a rather able journalist of those
days--who wrote for an evening newspaper
called The Globe Theatre, which was the New
YORK HERALD Of that benighted age.
Now let us hear Sir John:-He confesses,
after his brigade has been raised, that he has
"msused the kings press"-i. =, the right of
CONSUMPTION" damnably." 81 have pressed
me-" says he, "none but good householders yeo-
mems sons; inquired me out contracted bache-
lors, such as had been asked twice on the bans;
such Q commodity of warm slaves, as had as
l lief hear the devil as . drum; such as fear
| the report of q culverin worse than q struck
| fowl or hurt wild duck. i pressed me none
| but such toasts and butter with hearts in their
bellies no bigger than pins heads; and they
have bought out their services And now, my
whole charge consists Of ancients, corporals
slaves as ragged as Lazarus in the painted
i - II. - - a.