Hmm. Here's the version I learned from Tom Goux and Jacek Sulanowski. Some of the wording is slightly different from the version posted above. I'm not sure where Jacek learned it from, but their sources are usually respectable.

Well it happened in old Hartlepool about the time of France.
The Emperor Napoleon was leading us a dance.
Along our shore came a British Man-O-War,
And the Captain's pet monkey was washed upon the shore.

The Lord Mayor of Hartlepool was walking on the shore
When he saw a funny sight he had never seen before
There was a little fellow sitting on the sand
Holding a banana in his tiny, hairy hand.

CHO:
Old folks, young folks, every one and each
Come and see the Frenchy that's landed on the beach.
He's got long arms, a great long tail and he's covered all in hair.
We think that he's a spy, so we'll hang him in the Square.

The Lord Mayor told the Town Clerk, who hurried to the shore
To see this little fellow where he'd been seen before.
A crowd had gathered 'round, for he was the funniest sight
Since the timber yard had burnt down the previous Friday night.

Constable Parsons came upon the scene:
He took out his notebook and he licked his pencil clean.
Causing a disturbance is a serious offense!
Anything you say will be used as evidence.

CHO

Well when the little fellow spoke, a funny thing was heard.
Constable Parsons couldn't understand a word.
The reason for his puzzlement the Clerk could plainly see:
"The little man's a foreigner, from far across the sea!"

"The little man's a SPY!" The angry crowd did roar,
"Sent by Napoleon to our native shore!"
They grabbed the little fellow by his long hairy tail,
And gave him to the copper, who threw him in the jail.

CHO

They hung the little fellow from a gallows in the town,
A rope all 'round his neck, and his tail all hanging down.
A lesson to Napoleon to make himself a rule:
Never send his hairy spies to old Hartlepool!

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 18-Mar-02.