THE rising generation will scarcely remember the extraordinary case I am about to relate; but those who, like myself, stand, almost on the verge of the great unknown, will recall the sensation that was produced by the disclosure of a series of frauds that beyond doubt rank amongst the most remarkable of the century. In a certain sense they were unique, and were stamped with an originality of conception worthy of being applied to a better cause.
It was soon after the grand and imposing inaugural ceremony which marked the opening of the marvellous Exhibition of 1851, on that memorable 1st of May, when our Queen, then a young and radiant woman, and her well-loved consort, who had worked so hard for the success of the undertaking, were received with a thunder of applause by tens of thousands
