Black Bess; or, The Knight of the Road — A Tale of the Good Old Times — page 161: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A a ar TO OY a OST ST a BLUESKIN: A ROMANCE, CHAPTER CIX. JONATHAN WILD. IN order to account for the unexpected and embarrassing | appearance of Jonathan Wild upou the old bridge at Blackfriars, and before we relate what took place there- | upon, it will be necessary for us to go back a little, and | take a glance at his late proceedings, for, as the reader cannot fail to have observed, he has not occupied our | me | corn to the camps, seaports, and manufacturing towns. attention lately. In order, therefore, to preserve the chronological se- | quence of our narrative, we ought to go back to the time | when he discovered the remains of the young man who | | lottery-office keepers, gamblers at fairs, itinerant Jews, | Irish labourers, servants of toll gatherers, and hackney had been so barbarously murdered. As may be readily imagined, he did not fail to make as much of that affair as he possibly could, aud take all the credit to himself. Indeed, upon this occasion, he made a more than | ordinary amount of fuss, for it was only by so doing once now and then that he succeeded in blinding the eyes of the authorities to his other questionable transactions. The authorities, too, happened to require something of the sort from Jonathan, for they had expressed their dis-| ‘ |coin of the realm reaches to every door. approbation of his doings rather audibly, in consequence, not so much of what they had themselves seen, but of what the numerous complaints from the inhabitauts set | forth. This lucky stroke, however, had the effect of completely satisfying all parties, and those who had said the most against him were now foremost in their praises of him. In fact, it was just about this time that the popularity of Wild was at its culminating point, from which its decline was extremely rapid. Lord Ingestrie never forgot the money it had cost him to get back his diamond necklace. well see how he could forget, for he was an impoverished nobleman, and at times almost at his wits end for money. Indeed, it is wonderful how he stood up against such a loss. Few knew the straits to which he was reduced. The necklace would never have been redeemed at all, but it was an heir-loom, and many families knew that he possessed it. Lady Ingestrie never went anywhere with- out wearing it, and so had it been missed the most un- charitable construction would have been placed upon it, and though the story of its having been stolen might have been received and openly apparently believed, yet behind their backs hints of a very disagreable nature would be dropped. But the precious necklace once back, even at so great a | price, his lordship determined, not so much out of desire to do the public service as procure his own revenge, his lordship, we say, determined to make an effort to put an end to that sort of thing, and it was mainly owing to his exertions that the Act of Parliament was framed and passed which made the carrying on of Wild’s business so difficult as it afterwards became. This Stansbury affair, however, for a time rendered all that he had done of uo avail, for Jonathan, at his own expense, caused a number of pamphlets to be printed, professing to give an authentic account of the matter, and in which the most unmeasured praise was awarded to himself. It is much to be regretted that there is not one of these little books extant. Now it would prove both interesting and instructive, as well as give a still better idea of what the man was like. None knew better than he did the value and importance of following up an advantage gained. Accordingly, he looked about him for some :uweans by which he could apparently render the public still further service ; nor was he long in finding what he sought. We think it will be best given in the words of a writer of the period, who says— “ The vast increase and excensive circulation of counter- feit money some years ago was too obvious not to have attracted the notice of all ranks. “It had become an enormous evil in the melancholy catalogue of crimes which the laws of the country were ealled upon to assist the police to suppress. “ Its extent almost exceeded credibility, and the dexterity and ingenuity of the coiners had (after considerable prac- tice) enabled them to finish the different kinds of base Baoney in so masterly a manner that 2 had become ex- Indeed, we cannot | = oe = = - ~——_-, 159 poe difficult for a common observer to distinguish | their spurious manufacture from the genuine silver TAKES A GLANCE AT SOME OF THE PAST PROCEEDINGS OF | ° peunce alpine mint. “So systematic, too, had this nefarious trafic become, that the great dealers, who were iu most instances the employers of the coiners, executed orders for the town and country with the same regularity as manufacturers in fair branches of trade. “ Searcely a waggon or coach departed from the metropolis which did not carry boxes and parcels of base “In London regular markets in various public and private houses were held by the principal dealers, where hawkers, pedlars, fraudulent horse dealers, unlicensed coach owners, fraudulent publicans, market women, rabbit | sellers, fish criers, barrow women, and many who could not be suspected, were regularly supplied with counterfeit copper and silver, with the advantage of nearly £100 per |cent. in their favour, and thus it happened that through these various channels the country was deluged with im- mense quantities of base money. ‘The inischief arising from counterfeiting the current poor man cheated by a single base shilling frequently sustains a loss greater than a forgery to the wealthy merchant. ‘* Cotning or uttering base money is high treason in the second degree. ‘To rob all the people is to be a traitor to the state.” The above-quoted author, William Baldwin, an attorney- at-law, who gave the subject the closest attention, a little | further on writes as follows :— ‘* Tt has been discovered that there are at least one | hundred and twenty persons in the metropolis and in the country employed principally in coining and selling base money, and this, independent of the numerous horde of utterers, who chiefly support themselves by passing it at its full value. It will scarcely be credited that, of | criminals of this latter class who were either detected, prosecuted, or convicted within the last seven years, there stood upon the register of the Solicitor of the Mint mor¢g than six hundred and fifty names! “When the reader is informed that two persons can finish from £200 to £300 (nominal value) in base silver in six days, and takes into calculation the number of known coiners, the aggregate amount iu the course of the year will be found to be immense.” Some very interesting particulars are then given, and which, had we the space, we should willingly quote. But we must refrain from doing so. Our object was merely, by quoting from this author, to show the reader to what an insufferable extent the practice had been carried, and in order that, looking at things as they uow are, they should not undervalue what Jonathan did. The prevalence of counterfeit coin was about the greatest evil then in existence, and there was no one who did not feel the effects of it at some time or the other. : The result of this was, that for some time past there had been a very popular outcry against the “‘ smashers,”’ as the utterers of bad money were called, and the government was called upon to take some more energetic measures to suppress the evil. This, then, was the chance which Jonathan seized upon, in order to thoroughly ingratiate himself into the favour of the public. The policy of this must be at once obvious to all. Situated as Jonathan was, and having so many spies in all parts of the kingdom, it was uot long before he received inteligence of the whereabouts of an extensive gang oi colners and utterers of base coin. These he resolved to make the stepping-stones to his popularity, by bringing to speedy justice. Taking all his measures with the utmost precaution, and laying his plans with the greatest care, he succee® vd in effecting their capture at the very moment they were engaged in their illegal trade. Upon these offenders being lodged in prison, the leyts- | lature awoke at last to the fact that something by way of example must be done to these men, in order to strike terror into the hearts of others. Accordingly, when placed upon their trial, they were found guilty ot high treason, and sentenced to death. That this was an extreme penalty for such an offence Ee —— _——, punts ————e — eS S8., ee NRT = IIE.) CR a EO NOOKS (SO) 5}