tioned, which deserve to be well considered, but which cannot be properly appreciated without perusal of the examinations. There are, however, certain circumstances which occurred in the course of their transactions respectively, to which we think it right to invite attention in this place.

First, it occurred with respect both to Messrs. W. and J. Morgan, and to Messrs. Mariner and De Berckem, some considerable time before the public discovery of the forgeries, to have bills placed in their hands respectively, by Rapallo, bearing a wrong rate of interest; and Mr. W. Morgan admits that he became aware (in his own case) of the fact, being informed of it some time after its occurrence, by his clerk; but states, that he did not consider it as a circumstance of suspicion. In the case of Messrs. Mariner and De Berckem it also appears that the fact was communicated to both those parties; but Mr. De Berckem's clerk (Mr. Mayo), who discovered it, had a conversation on the subject with other persons, the particulars of which are stated in the evidence, and which may have had the effect, very naturally, of leading both the clerk and his employer to consider the circumstance as immaterial. As to Mr. Mariner, he states a conversation between himself and Rapallo on the subject; and that in answer to his own observation, that it was "a very curious thing," Rapallo remarked "that they often made mistakes up at the office."

He asserts, however, that he conceived no suspicion or dissatisfaction at the circumstance. On the other hand, it is alleged by Rapallo, that Mr. Mariner was 66 in a very great rage" on this occasion, and wanted

to write to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, to complain of it as an official irregularity, but that he was prevailed upon not to do so by a representation which Rapallo made him that he "might be deprived of the agency if there was any stir about it." The manner in which this statement is met by Mr. Mariner will appear in the examination, Q. 7,085-7,098.

Another circumstance which occurred in the course of the transaction of Messrs. Mariner and De Berckem was as follows:-Some of the bills received from Mr. Mariner had been deposited by Mr. De Berckem with Messrs. Bennison and Lennard, as security for money advanced by the latter; and on the expiration of the loan, in the latter end of 1840, or the beginning of 1841, he received back (as was supposed) the same bills he had left in deposit; but after a short period he discovered that eleven of them were different bills from those which had been deposited (though agreeing in dates and amount), the substitution having been made by mistake. Upon this discovery he reclaimed the original bills from Messrs. Bennison and Lennard, but they were not in a condition to return them, having in the meantime passed them away by inadvertence to another party, Mr. Cutting. Mr. De Berckem upon this applied to Mr. Cutting, but found that he had negociated them in his turn to a party by whom they had been sold. Mr. De Berckem then conferred on the subject with his brother, Henry De Berckem (who occasionally assisted him in business), and expressed his anxiety to recover his bills; and upon the suggestion of the latter, that it was possible to trace them out,

requested him to do so, and promised to remunerate him for his trouble. Mr. H. De Berckem accordingly undertook the search, and with great difficulty succeeded; and received from Mr. De Berckem for this service the sum of 50l., which was charged in account to Mr. Mariner, and by him charged in turn to Rapallo. A further statement of these circumstances will be found at Q. 2,537, 2,762, 3,150, 5,821, 5,597, 5,831; the explanation given by De Berckem at Q. 5,788, 5,789; and that by Mariner, Q. 6,336. It may, perhaps, be material to remark, that at the time of the recovery of these bills the period for their exchange was close at hand, and that they had been actually advertised.

We may now pass from the manner in which the fraud was carried on to the circumstances which attended its discovery. On the 19th of October, 1841, Mr. De Berckem employed a person to borrow 10,000l. for him on the deposit of Exchequer-bills, for three months, at 6 per cent.; and this appeared so remarkable in all its circumstances to a member of the Stock Exchange, to whom application was made for the loan, and who had just lent money on a similar deposit at 4 per cent., that he conferred upon it with several parties, and after reflecting on the whole that had come to his knowledge, thought it right to enter into communication on the subject with the Chancellor of the Exchequer. This led to further inquiry, and to the discovery that certain bills deposited by Mr. De Berckem on loan in 1839 (and of which the numbers had been preserved by the lender) were forgeries. Under these circumstances, VOL. LXXXIII,

Mr. De Berckem was sent for by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and gave up some of the bills then in his hands; and these being ascertained, by comparison with the counterfoils, to be forged, Mr. Smith was, on the 25th of October following, taken into custody; from which period it may consequently be considered that the existence of the fraud became fully known to the public.

On the 29th of October following an official advertisement was published, announcing that bills sent into the Exchequer would there be examined with their counterfoils, in order to ascertain their genuineness. A large portion of the forged bills were, in compliance with this notice, sent in, and examined, and detained, as not agreeing with the counterfoils. Others were kept back by the holders under circumstances which appear in the correspondence set forth in various parts of the evidence; but to this subject we do not feel it necessary to advert more particularly, there being in our opinion (formed upon mature consideration of the evidence) no reason for imputing any improper motive to these parties, however questionable their course may have been in point of dis

cretion.

Other portions of the forged bills had, prior to the notice in the Gazette, but after the fraud had in some measure become public, been carried in to the Bank of England to be funded, there happening to be at that time a funding of Exchequer-bills in operation; and it appears that almost the whole of the forged bills so dealt with were sent in by persons who by that time had had reason to entertain doubts of their genuineness, having regard to the quarter 2 N

The great measure of Slave Emancipation in the British Colonies, the large sum appropriated to the extinction of that gigantic crime, and the other indirect sacrifices to which the British nation cheerfully submitted as a consequence of that measure, have given eminent proof that the people of this country are not only universally animated by a conviction of the iniquity of the system, but were resolved, by every means, active not less than passive, to wipe away the stain from every part of the British polity and dominion. To a people thus possessed of the will to do and to suffer in this great matter, it became but a natural consequence that, having proceeded thus far, they should extend their views, and by striking at the root of the evil, persuade or compel those nations whom interest or convenience yet induced to hold their fellow-beings in bondage, by every means that international law would permit, to forbid the participation of their subjects in the inhuman traffic, and if impracticable to induce them to take steps equally decisive for the abolition of Slavery itself, yet to abolish that more detestable and inhuman part of it, the purchase of Slaves on the coast of Africa, with its accompanying horrors. The British Government, sincerely convinced in itself of the original wickedness of the system, as well as urged to the execution of the duty by that portion of the public, which from benevolent and religious motives takes a peculiar interest in the subject, and supported by the general opinion of

the people, has for a long period exerted itself strenuously to procure the destruction of the system, and where international rights interfered to thwart their endeavours, at least to mitigate its horrors. Thus, a large armament cruizing perpetually on those coasts of Africa on which the Slave-trade chiefly prevails, and traversing the tracks of vessels engaged in the traffic, has been for many years maintained at a vast expense, and encouraged by extensive bounties; while treaties have been set on foot and pressed by granting or withholding advantages, whenever opportunity seemed to offer in our negociations with Slaveholding states. By these means much progress has been made in this Christian warfare, and large rights of interference and prevention acquired. Unhappily, however, these benevolent views are in a great degree thwarted by unforeseen consequences. The Portuguese and Spanish nations in South America, the southern provinces of the United States, Cuba, and other portions of the American world, are too deeply interested in Slavery to take a sincere part in the designs of the British Government; and while the latter have succeeded, in most instances, in pressing upon the governments treaties for the abolition of that part of it which consists in the importation of Africans, they are too weak to compel, and the people too interested to assist in the determination of the detestable trade—thus, the proprietors and cultivators of these countries still continue to tear

the unhappy Africans from their homes, and the exertions of the British cruizers have only had the effect of raising the value of such slaves as are actually landed, so that the profits of the slave-dealers are increased so enormously that the trade is carried on with a perseverance and recklessness that defy all efforts to prevent it-with this additional evil, that the illegality of the trade and the danger of conducting it, have given rise to a cruelty in procuring, and a disregard of life in carrying the unfortunate captives, which were not found while the trade was not subject to such chances-the sole object of the dealers being to run so many vessels crowded with slaves, that some, at least, must escape the vigilance of our cruizers -it being calculated that if one in three escape capture, or survive the horrors of the voyage, the speculation will prove enormously lucrative; and it seems sufficiently probable that not less than one hundred thousand human beings fall victims annually in the mere exportation.

The British Government has, moreover, carried its interference still nearer the origin of the evil, by our colonies on the western coast of the continent of Africa; which being placed in the centre of those Negro kingdoms whose rulers were the most active in warring on their neighbours for the purpose of selling their prisoners, have by civil force on the one hand, and moral influence on the other, put an end to the Slave-trade, not only along the shores actually occupied, but along a still greater extent possessed by native rulers; and it has still further extended its beneficent exertions among the petty kings

not under the fear of the colonial governors, partly by presents, partly by encouraging trade and the wealth to be derived from it: nor has the Government been at all chary of its dignity in promoting these Christian aims, the sovereigns of these realmis knowing well that their real dignity could suffer no tarnish by entering into treaties offensive and defensive, even with such naked potentates as King Boy and King Brass, upon such humane designs.

Extensive, however, as are the advantages which have been achieved by these means, the desired results are necessarily far from being obtained-the immense extent of open coast, and particularly the innumerable river channels in the Bight of Benin, which it is equally impracticable to hold or to watch, and not less the possessions of the Portuguese and other nations directly interested in the continuance of the trade, and whose participation is connived at by their governments, have all combined to render the efforts of the British Government ineffectual.

Several societies, containing a large number of persons of the highest talent, rank, and fortune, for the express purpose of watching over the interests of the Africans, whether now in bondage, or as yet possessed of the inalienable birthright of mankind, have been formed in England, to whose unceasing vigilance and disinterested exertions the above-noticed proceedings are mainly owing-their connexions have been spread into the remotest districts, carried into the Continent of Europe, and raised advocates even in the very states where slavery exists, and where persecution follows the