position that his own account of himself is most likely to be the best that could possibly be given. But if so, the best is exceedingly bad! We shall not pollute our pages by transferring to them the scenes in which this wretched profligate appears, self-portrayed, as the chief actor. Suffice it to say, that about the expiration of the period above mentioned, a whaler, in want of hands, appeared in the offing,-a boat came ashore, and, satiated to the full with the pleasures of the vale of Typee, he bade adieu to his "indulgent captivity,' " and "shipped himself" on board the Julia. In this vessel he remained several months, cruising about in the Pacific. At length the captain steered for Tahiti, to obtain provisions. When the vessel entered Papeetee harbor, Melville and the rest of the crew mutinied. The captain sought the assistance of the English consul, Mr. Wilson, then acting for Mr. Pritchard, who at that time was in Europe. The English squadron being at Valparaiso, Mr. Wilson solicited the In his Preface, he speaks of the advantageous position which he occupied as an observer of the "operations" of the missionaries, and of the state of the native population. These are his words: “As a roving sailor, the author spent about three months in various parts of the islands of Tahiti and Imeeo, and under circumstances most faverable for correct observations on the social condition of the natives." What the character of this "roving sailor" is, and how he spent the "three months" in Tahiti and "Imeeo," he shall himself inform us. We derive the following statements from the volume before us, and from another work by him, entitled "Typee; a Peep at Polynesian Life," &c., of which "Omoo" professes to be a conti-aid of the commander of the French frigate, nuation.. According to these, Mr. Herman Melville, "as a sailor before the mast," visited the Marquesas in an American "South-Seaman," in the summer of 1842. After being six months at sea, the vessel put into the harbor of Nukuheva, where a portion of the French fleet was then lying under the command of Rear-Admiral Du Petit Thouars. The anchor was dropped within a convenient distance from the shore, a number of native women came on board, and our self-elected censor-general of the Protestant missions in Polynesia, the "foremast man," Mr. Herman Melville, and his shipmates, threw the reins on the neck of their lusts, and abandoned themselves to their control. To quote his own words, the "ship was now wholly given up to every species of riot and debauchery. The grossest licentiousness, and the most shameful inebriety, prevailed, with occasional, and but short-lived interruptions through the whole period of her stay." Enamored with the island and the ladies thereof, and disgusted in the same ratio with the whaler and its hard work, accompanied by another seaman, who sympathized both in his likings and dislikings, Melville deserted from the ship. After many mishaps in endeavoring to avoid being captured and brought back, when wandering in the interior, he fell in with "a tribe of primitive savages." They dwelt in the valley which he calls "Typee." With this tribe he remained about four months, during which he cohabited with a native girl, named Fayaway. * Typee, p. 10, Routledge's Edition. the Reine Blanche, then in the harbor, which was at once accorded. The cutter was manned by about eighteen or twenty armed men, who proceeded on board the Julia. Mr. Herman Melville and the rest of the mutineers were put in irons and conveyed to the frigate, where they were kept for five days. On the afternoon of the fifth day, as the Reine Blanche was about to sail for Valparaiso, they were sent ashore to the English prison, under a guard of the Tahitian police. As they still refused to return to their duty on board the Julia, they remained in confinement for nearly a month, when the whaler, having obtained a fresh crew, left the harbor, and, consequently, Melville and his companions were liberated. Thus the author of "Omoo" made his acquaintance with Tahiti and its people, and spent his first month among them! When they left the jail, no captain in the harbor would have anything to do with them, on account of their desperate character. They were leagued with a reckless gang of seamen, known in the Pacific as "Beachcombers." These fellows derive their name from never attaching themselves permanently to any vessel, but "ship" now and then for short voyages, on the sole condition that they shall receive their pay, be put ashore the first time the anchor touches the ground after they embark. They are a terror to the respectable residents in the ports where they congregate, and, by their example and appalling licentiousness, they oppose a formidable barrier to the progress of the gospel among the natives, by disseminating the worst of European vices led him to forego the pleasures of Typee, our hero prevailed upon a captain to "ship" him, and soon after he had signed the ship's articles, he bid a final farewell to the scenes of the "missionary operations," which he so eloquently denounces! Our task is done. We have permitted Mr. Melville to paint his own picture, and to describe his own practices. By doing so, we have fulfilled our promise, and have proved him to be a prejudiced, incompetent, and truthless witness. We have thus contributed our quota towards the formation of a correct estimate of his character; and we trust that our brethren of the press in North America and the most dreadful of European diseases. With such companions, Melville prowled about Papeetee for a few weeks, living on the contributions of the seamen on board the vessels in the harbor-upon the "stores" which they stole for them, and dropped into a small canoe which Melville and another were wont to "bring alongside" at night, and upon such fruit as they could gather in the groves. He was then engaged by two seamen who had settled down as planters in the neighboring island, Imeeo. With them he remained for a short time, and then, with an equally dissolute companion, who was hired by the planters at the same time with himself, Melville left the plantation to ram--where he at present resides, and where his ble about the island among the natives in quest of adventures. These he describes in a manner exceedingly attractive to every devotee of the sensual. At length, under the influence of similar feelings to those which volumes have had an extensive circulationwill do justice to the Protestant missionaries and missions in Polynesia, by unmasking their maligner-MR. HERMAN MELVILLE. ENGLISH RAILWAYS.-The Railway Commissioners have made their annual report. We glean from it some interesting facts as to the number of railways in England, and the amount of capital invested in them. These undertakings have already absorbed about two hundred and twenty millions sterling of the national capital-yield a gross annual revenue of little less than twelve millionsgive employment to about 160,000 individuals in various branches of labor, skilled and unskilled and constitute the chief means of internal transit and locomotion to the first commercial community in the world. In the course of 1849, the Board sanctioned the opening of 869 miles of new railway-viz., 630 miles in England, 108 miles in Scotland, and 131 in Ireland"making the whole extent of railway communication, at the end of the year, 5,996 miles; the proportion for England being 4,656 miles, for Scotland 846 miles, and for Ireland 494 miles." The whole amount raised by railway companies in the United Kingdom down to the close of 1848, would seem to be, upon shares, about £156,508,000; and by loans, £43,644,000 total £200,173,000. This includes about £2,700,000 raised by fifty-nine companies who had not, in December, 1848, commenced their works. The whole amount raised in 1849 is believed to have been little more than £20,000,000— or less than twothirds of the sum raised in 1848. Thus the grand total spent, at the end of 1849, was about £220,000,000. There are said to have been, at that date, about 1,000 miles in course of construction. Allowing £20,000 per mile for these works, and deducting the sums raised by companies who had, at that time, done nothing, the 5,996 miles then in actual operation represent a capital of about £197,500,000, or about £33,000 per mile. Now, the gross receipts in 1849 amounted to about £11,806,000; and this, after deducting (acording to an average deduced from the experience of several of the principal companies,) 43 per cent. for working expenses, leaves a net revenue of £6,729,000, or less than 3 per cent. But the loans nearly all bear a rate of interest higher, and we believe none lower, than 3 per cent. The common average appears to be about 4ths per cent. The loans form at least one-fifth of the capital sunk; and their interest being paid, the common average return to shareholders, upon present expenditure and receipts, must rather fall short of than exceed 3 per cent. [From Dickens's Household Words.] HISTORY AND ANECDOTES OF FORGERY. culty about his certificate. But so well did he excuse his early failings, and account for his misfortunes, that his employer did not check the regard he felt growing toward him. Their intercourse was not merely that of master and servant. Vaughan was a frequent guest at Bliss's table; by-and-by a daily visitor to his wife, and-to his ward. Miss Bliss was a young lady of some at VIOTTI's division of violin-playing into | he had failed, and that there was some diffitwo great classes--good playing and bad playing is applicable to Bank-note making. The processes employed in manufacturing good Bank-notes have been often described; we shall now cover a few pages with a faint outline of the various arts, stratagems, and contrivances employed in concocting bad Bank-notes. The picture cannot be drawn with very distinct or strong markings. The tableaux from which it is copied are so inter-tractions, not the smallest of which was a twisted and complicated with clever, slippery, ingenious scoundrelism, that a finished chart of it would be worse than morally displeasing it would be tedious. All arts require time and experience for their development. When any thing great is to be done, first attempts are nearly always failures. The first Bank-note forgery was no exception to this rule, and its story has a spice of romance in it. The affair has never been circumstantially told; but some research enables us to detail it : In the month of August, 1757, a gentleman living in the neighborhood of Lincoln's Inn Fields, named Bliss, advertised for a clerk. There were, as was usual even at that time, many applicants; but the successful one was a young man of twenty-six, named Richard William Vaughan. His manners were so winning, and his demeanor so much that of a gentleman (he belonged indeed to a good county family in Staffordshire, and had been a student at Pembroke Hall, Oxford), that Mr. Bliss at once engaged him. Nor had he occasion, during the time the new clerk served him, to repent the step. Vaughan was so diligent, intelligent, and steady, that not even when it transpired that he was, commercially speaking, "under a cloud," did his master lessen confidence in him. Some inquiry into his antecedents showed that he had, while at College, been extravagant; that his friends had removed him thence; set him up in Stafford as a wholesale linen-draper, with a branch establishment in Aldersgate street, London; that handsome fortune. Young Vaughan made the most of his opportunities. He was welllooking, well-informed, dressed well, and evidently made love well, for he won the young lady's heart. The guardian was not flintyhearted, and acted like a sensible man of the world. 'It was not," he said on a subsequent and painful occasion, "till I learned from the servants, and observed by the girl's behavior, that she greatly approved Richard Vaughan, that I consented; but on condition that he should make it appear that he could maintain her. I had no doubt of his character as a servant, and I knew his family were respectable. His brother is an eminent attorney." Vaughan boasted that his mother (his father was dead) was willing to reinstate him in business with a thousand pounds; five hundred of which was to be settled upon Miss Bliss for her separate use. So far all went on prosperously. Providing Richard Vaughan could attain a position satisfactory to the Blisses, the marriage was to take place on the Easter Monday following, which, the Calendar tells us, happened early in April, 1758. With this understanding, he left Mr. Bliss's service, to push his fortune. Months passed on, and Vaughan appears to have made no way in the world. He had not even obtained his bankrupt's certificate, His visits to his affianced were frequent, and his protestations passionate; but he had effected nothing substantial toward a happy union. union. Miss Bliss's guardian grew impatient; and, although there is no evidence to prove that the young lady's affection for Vaughan was otherwise than deep and sincere, yet even she began to lose confidence in him. His excuses were evidently evasive, and not always true. The time fixed for the wedding was fast approaching; and Vaughan saw that something must be done to restore the young lady's confidence. About three weeks before the appointed Easter Tuesday, Vaughan went to his mistress in high spirits. All was right: his certificate was to be granted in a day or two; his family had come forward with the money, and he was to continue the Aldersgate business he had previously carried on as a branch of the Stafford trade. The capital he had waited so long for was at length forthcoming. In fact, here were two hundred and forty pounds of the five hundred he was to settle on his beloved. Vaughan then produced twelve twenty-pound notes; Miss Bliss could scarcely believe her eyes. She examined them. The paper she remarked seemed rather thicker than usual. Oh," said Vaughan, "all Bank bills are not alike." The girl was naturally much pleased. She would hasten to apprise Mrs. Bliss of the good news. Not for the world! So far from letting any living soul know he had placed so much money in her hands, Vaughan exacted an oath of secrecy from her, and sealed the notes up in a parcel with his own seal, making her swear that she would on no account open it till after their marriage. Some days after, that is, "on the twentysecond of March," (1758)-we are describing the scene in Mr. Bliss's own words-"I was sitting with my wife by the fireside. The prisoner and the girl were sitting in the same room-which was a small one-and, although they whispered, I could distinguish that Vaughan was very urgent to have something returned which he had previously given to her. She refused, and Vaughan went away in an angry mood. I then studied the girl's face, and saw that it expressed much dissatisfaction. Presently a tear broke out I then spoke, and insisted on knowing the dispute. She refused to tell, and I told her that, until she did, I would not see her. The next day I asked the same question of Vaughan; he hesitated. Oh!' I said, 'I dare say it is some ten or twelve pound matter-something to buy a wedding bauble with.' He answered that it was much more than that-it was near three hundred pounds! But why all this secrecy?' I said; and he answered it was not proper for VOL. XXI. NO. IV. people to know he had so much money till his certificate was signed. I then asked him to what intent he had left the notes with the young lady? He said, as I had of late suspected him, he designed to give her a proof of his affection and truth. I said, 'You have demanded them in such a way that it must be construed as an abatement of your affection toward her.'" Vaughan was again exceedingly urgent in asking back the packet; but Bliss, remembering his many evasions, and supposing that this was a trick, declined advising his niece to restore the parcel without proper consideration. The very next day it was discovered that the notes were counterfeit. This occasioned stricter inquiries into Vaughan's previous career. It turned out that he bore the character in his native place of a dissipated and not very scrupulous person. The intention of his mother to assist him was an entire fabrication, and he had given Miss Bliss the forged notes solely for the purpose of deceiving her on that matter. Meanwhile the forgeries became known to the authorities, and he was arrested. By what means, does not clearly appear. The "Annual Register" says that one of the engravers gave information; but we find nothing in the newspapers of the time to support that statement; neither was it corroborated at Vaughan's trial. When Vaughan was arrested he thrust a piece of paper into his mouth, and began to chew it violently. It was, however, rescued, and proved to be one of the forged notes; fourteen of them were found on his person, and when his lodgings were searched twenty more were discovered. Vaughan was tried at the Old Bailey, on the seventh of April, before Lord Mansfield. The manner of the forgery was detailed minutely at the trial: On the first of March (about a week before he gave the twelve notes to the young lady), Vaughan called on Mr. John Corbould, an engraver, and gave an order for a promissory note to be engraved with these words: plate. Another was in consequence engraved, and on the fourth of March Vaughan took it away. He immediately repaired to a printer, and had forty-eight impressions taken on thin paper, provided by himself. Meanwhile, he had ordered, on the same morning, of Mr. Charles Fourdrinier, another engraver, a second plate, with what he called "a direction," in the words, "For the Governor and Company of the Bank of England." This was done, and about a week later he brought some paper, each sheet "folded up," said the witness, "very curiously, so that I could not see what was in them. I was going to take the papers from him, but he said he must go up-stairs with me, and see them worked off himself. I took him up-stairs; he would not let me have them out of his hands. I took a sponge and wetted them, and put them one by one on the plate in order for printing them. After my boy had done two or three of them, I went down-stairs, and my boy worked the rest off, and the prisoner came down and paid me.' after his marriage. But it had been proved that the prisoner had asked one John Ballingar to change first one, and then twenty of the notes; but which that person was unable to do. Besides, had his sole object been to dazzle Miss Bliss with his fictitious wealth, he would, most probably, have intrusted more, if not all the notes, to her keeping. He was found guilty, and passed the day that had been fixed for his wedding, as a condemned criminal. On the 11th of May, 1758, Richard William Vaughan was executed at Tyburn. By his side, on the same gallows, there was another forger: William Boodgere, a military officer, who had forged a draught on an army agent named Calcroft, and expiated the offense with the first forger of Bank of England notes. The gallows may seem hard measure to have meted out to Vaughan, when it is considered that none of his notes were negotiated, and no person suffered by his fraud. Not one of the forty-eight notes, except the twelve delivered to Miss Bliss, had been out of his possession; indeed, the imitation must have been very clumsily executed, and de Here the court pertinently asked, "What imagination had you when a man thus came to you to print on secret paper, the Gover-tection would have instantly followed any atnor and Company of the Bank of England?'" The engraver's reply was: "I then did not suspect anything. But I shall take care for the future." As this was the first Bank of England note forgery that was ever perpetrated, the engraver was held excused. It may be mentioned as an evidence of the delicacy of the reporters, that, in their account of the trial, Miss Bliss's name is not mentioned. Her designation is "a young lady." We subjoin the notes of her evidence: "A young lady (sworn). The prisoner delivered me some bills; these are the same, (producing twelve counterfeit bank notes sealed up in a cover, for twenty pounds each); said that they were Bank bills. I said they were thicker paper--he said all bills are not alike. I was to keep them till after we were married. He put them into my hands to show he put confidence in me, and desired me not to show them to anybody; sealed them up with his own seal, and obliged me by an oath not to discover them to any body. And I did not till he had discovered them himself. He was to settle so much in stock on me." Vaughan urged in his defense, that his sole object was to deceive his affianced, and that he intended to destroy all the notes 66 tempt to pass the counterfeits. There was no endeavor to copy the style of engraving on a real bank note. That was left to the engraver; and as each sheet passed through the press twice, the words added at the second printing. For the Governor and Company of the Bank of England," could have fallen into their proper place on any one of the sheets, only by a miracle. But what would have made the forgery clear to even a superficial observer, was the singular omission of the second "n" in the word England.* The criticism on Vaughan's note of a bank clerk examined on the trial was: “There is some resemblance, to be sure; but this note" (that upon which the prisoner was tried) "is numbered thirteen thousand eight hundred and forty, and we never reached so high a number.' Besides there was no water-mark in the paper. The note of which a fac-simile appeared in our eighteenth number, and dated so early as 1699, has a regular design in the texture of the paper; showing that the water-mark is as old as the bank notes themselves. Vaughan was greatly commiserated. But in the most important documents at that period; * Bad orthography was by no means uncommon the days of the week, in the day-books of the Bank of England itself, are spelled in a variety of ways. |
