C H R O N I C L E. 



19 



year; the damage sustained will 

 be very great, both in the banks 

 and on the lands, as many thou- 

 sand acres are inundated. For se- 

 veral days in tlie week before last, 

 the water in the river at Wisbech 

 rose rapidl}'^, until, on Saturday, 

 the river was ei^ht feet higher 

 than its ordinarj' level. The great- 

 est exertions were necessary to save 

 the bridge, and buildings on the 

 ])auks, from being carried away 

 by the masses of floating ice. On 

 Sunday the waters had greatly 

 abated. The ice-boat, with 18 

 horses, and a great number of men, 

 was incessantly at work on Friday 

 and Saturday ; and to their exer- 

 tions it is owing that a great deal 

 of mischief did not occur, A part 

 of the old wooden bridge over the 

 river Trent, at Markham, near 

 Newark, gave waj' early on Sun- 

 day se'nnight, soon after the Work- 

 sop and fllanchester waggon heavi- 

 ly loaded, had passed over : this 

 old bridije lias been deemed a nui- 

 sance on the great north road, for 

 years past. 



Never, perhaps, w«s greater 

 agitation produced in the me- 

 tropolis by any foreign news, than 

 was yesterday occasioned by a 

 fraud of the most impudent and 

 nefarious description. An express 

 arrived from Dover, communicat- 

 ing information, that an officer, 

 apparently of the French staft', had 

 landed early in the morning at 

 that port, from France, who an- 

 nounced in ihe most positive 

 terms, the death of Buonaparte, 

 .jfhether in battle, or by assassina- 

 tion, or otherwise, the persons at 

 Dover could not learn ; but they 

 stated, that the French officer had 

 proceeded on his way to London, 

 with dispatches for government 



on the subject. This statement, 

 probable in itself, and attended 

 with so many circumstances of 

 plausibility as to the mode of its 

 conveyance, easily obtained belief. 

 The Stock-Exchange was instantly 

 in a bustle. Omnium, which 

 opened at 271, rapidly rose to 33. 

 Vast sums were sold in the course 

 of the day, — not less, it is sup- 

 posed, in all, than half a million ; 

 but at length the non-arrival of the 

 pretended French officer began to 

 throw discredit on the tale. Om- 

 nium gradually declined, and final- 

 ly closed at 28 1. The evening 

 passed away without any commu- 

 nication whatever to government; 

 and it is therefore evident, that the 

 whole was a most infamous piece 

 of swindling. 



Further Particulars of the 

 Fraud practised on the Stock Ex- 

 change. — The jjersons at Dover, 

 who were first concerned in trans- 

 mitting the false intelligence to 

 London, and who, of course, feel 

 it incumbent on them to exonerate 

 themselves from the charge of p^r-i 

 ticipating in so infamous a trans- 

 action, have put forth the follow- 

 ing statement : — They say, that in 

 the middle of Sunday night, a per- 

 son, dressed as an officer, walked 

 from thebeach of Dover towards the 

 town, and meeting with a watch- 

 man, enquired of him the way to 

 the Ship Inn, to procure a post- 

 chaise and horses for town. The 

 pretended officer was a tall dark 

 man, dressed in scarlet and gold, 

 with a large star on his breast, the 

 coat turned up with green, and he 

 wore a large sword by his side- 

 He feigned to be much fatigued, 

 and his beard was very long. The 

 Collector of the Customs was 

 much displeased that he was not 

 C2 



