Star. — London, England, 1827-01-13 00:00:00

• MSS TIE COVIT CIRCULAR. •'ll3e King's eight black horses, which are to draw the hearse containing the remains of the much lamented Duke of York from Lon don to Windsor, ate daily exercised through the streets of L o don, in order that the noise may not alarm them on the day the funeral takes place. They are likewise exercised in the King's % e lm with the feathers placed en their heeds. The late Duke occupied. the drawing room itt Rutland House - wh i c h leeks into the Green Pa rk, and in the room adjoining his Royal Highness bad a sofa bed, which be but seldom used. FROM CORRESPONDENTS, AND THE PROVINCIAL PAPERS, RECEIVED THIS MORNING. GLASGOW. Ara I sees etion has been excited here on intelligence being re edged et the lamented death of his Royal Highness the Duke of T s & This is visible among all ranks: By the Army, in particular, Wthat career of attention, usefulness, and iMproventent, in „bl e b be was engaged respecting it, will be most sincetsly felt and and occasion to many aching hearts, since these never did exist an individual in the character of Constnander-in °ski, who had nude more laudable and indefatigable exertion for the benefit and comfort of the British soldier. How many of the presenta tions, personally and in writing, on the part of moumin; L a ws, have been punctually attended to by bis Royal Higlanevng tears dried up, and their heists he has caused to sing fur joy. What so der ewe also has beets unceasingly exemplified by him, not exceeded by their nearest relatives, towards the helpless orphans douse who had shed their blood in the service of the country ; ag es , that facility of seems to the Royal presence, obtained by OR. tro i however low in point of rank and circumstances, whose state mots have been fully listened to, and met with the most prompt sosideration. It will he ur.necelaary to enter into a detail of all thew numerous acts exercised by the Duke to relieve the distressed, take in hand the oppressed, repair wrongs, and redrew every grievance which was laid {before him, since these would open up a wide field. Thousands of tongues will proclaim the obligations t hey are under to, and bless the memory of, the Must nous Frederick. $o individual of such exalted rank was ever more distinguished for frankness, urbanity, a warmeeheut, and divested of all pride and hauteur. Let a sincere wish now be expressed, that whoever is t h e person to succeed to the high office of Commander of our Fortes, betray keep steadily in view all those noble, humane, and judicious regulations, which his Royal Highness has laid down fir the pros perity, happiness, and dignitt o f the Army of Britain, and the true wrests of this country, and study closely to imitate and carry these into faithful execution, saying to himself, let me sa go and do likewiee." As no personage d more the Honour, it must be the sincere wl,b of the country, that his memory may be kept alive and handed down to posterity by some permanent monument being erected; and there is now a noble opportunity afforded to the Army to come forward, and exclusively found it, who have derived such impor tant benefits from his indefatigable exertions in its behalf, on the part of a lamented Commander and true Friend. Should this pro. potitiOli be adopted, it would be highly proper that an Equestrian statue should be erected, and placed in the center of the grounds at low back of the Horse Guards. EDINBURGH. • Tuesday evening the Theatre Royal Caledonian Theatre, and raker place. .4 public amusement, were closed, in consequence'of the death of the Duke York; and yesterday the Royal standard at the Castle was bohted half-mast high.—Caledonian Mercury. OXFORD. . . The melancholy intelligence of the death of his Royal Highness the Duke of York arrived in this Clty about one o'clock in the afternoon of Saturday last. On Sunday all the !sense& the Univer dty and the City were tolled in minute time fur an boar. We ars of opinion, and we know that many others think the same, that the solemn effect of tolling hells is entirely lost when such a long inter. val as a minute takes place between each found. Half-minute time, as practt•ed in London and most other places, much exceeds minute .time in point of solemnity. . STOCKPORT. • Every respect has been pdd by our inhabitants to the memory of hil Royal Highness since the announcement of his death. The bell+ in the tower of the parish church were muffied, and a mourning peal rag on Sunday evening, which has been repeated every even- Ong siceond will continue to be so till the interment takes place. BRIDGEWATER. The regret Which every true lover of big country must feel for the death of a Prince, who was the invariable supporter of its Re ligion and . Laws, could not be more demonstrated than in the smoff bat loyal town of Axbrldge. On Monday, and since, every shop has bete partially closed ; and the muffled bell, during the whole of Sunday rifeht, reminded many a heart of the severe loss they and &Aland had au rained. "" 45 da" • WEYMOUTH. The official intelligence of the death of his Royal Highness the Blake of Trek was received here en Sunday last. At the conchs. Apo of Divine Service in the afternoon, the deep and solemn tolling of the (lurch bell announced the sad event, which affected the in habitants of this town with general and unfeigned sorrow at the premiture diesolution of this truly excellent and beloved Prince. On the following morning these feelings of attachment and regard were fully testified by our shop windows being half closed, and by the colours of all our shipping in the harbour and in the bay being hoisted half-mast high ; the same token of respect was also observed at the different Public Departments. MILFORD. The expected, though truly noeelCOM e, intelligence of the death of his Royal Highnearthe Duke of York, has thrown the whole neighbourhood into a state of grief and mourning. Balls and bunt ing-parties with all other amusements, have been suspended ; not does any individual seem to regret their suspension, so deeply do they partake in the stoked calamity. It is melancholy to look at the ships in the harbour, each with its distinguished flag half-mast high. The Royal standard, that flag which has been so often hoisted at Pembroke Yard, on joyful occasions, is cow suspended only half-way up. LIVERPOOL As soon as the intelligence of the death of its Royal Highness the Duke of York reached here, Mr. Maary,die American Consul, in a way highly honourable to his feelings, sent a rate to the masters •rf the American vessels at present in this port, nesting that they would pay the same mark of respect upon the meisoeidy event, as would be paid by the British ships. IPSWICH. On the arrival In this town of the death of his Royal Highness the Duke of Yoakum 'Saturday last, the bells were tolled in our several Cburebes. A similar mark of respect was paid to the illus trious deceased at Beetles, and many other towns in our district. NORTHAMPTON. In consequence of the melancholy tidings of the death of his 'Royal Highness the Duke of York.tke great bells of AU Saintsand Sr. Giles's, were tolled on Monday morning for some time. At Towoester, and other places in this neighbourhood. the bells of the .rveral Churches were tolled for a considerable time. IT SIR WALTIR SCOTT. In the person of his Royal Highness the Duke of York we may justly say, in the language of Scripture," There has fallen this day in our Israel, a Prince, and a great man." He has, from an early period of his manhood, performed a most important part in public life. In the early wars of the French Revolution, he commanded the British bones on the Continent, and although we claim not for his memory the admiration due to the rare and high gifts which in our latter times must com bine to form a miltary genius of the first order, yet it has never been disputed that in the field his Royal Highness displayed intelligence, military skill, and his family attribute—the most unalterable courage. He had also the universal testimony of the army for his efforts to lessen the distresses of the privates during the horrors of an unsuccessful campaign, in which he acquired, and kept to his death, the epithet of the sol dier's ft iend. But it is not on account of these early services that we now, as boldly as our poor ♦oice may, venture t bring forward the late Duke of York's claims to the pet petual regard of his country. It is as the reformer And regenerator of the British army, which he brought tom a state nearly allied to general contempt, to such 4 pitch of excellence, that we may, without much hesi• Ati ,, n, claim for them an equality with, if not a sup.. rity over, any troops in Eutope. The Duke of York ad the firmness to look into and examine the causes which, ever since the American war, though arising out - .' - 7" -- - s.----..------s e ...----- to destroy the character of the laiidstrarmy as the nem- aid if copeck, of'matchimi thlitaselves.with" the finest rally good materials of which it is composed would troops which Eiir'ope ever produced—to the memory or permit. The. heart must-haveabeen bold that did not his Royal. Highness tire-Duke of York we owe this despair at the sight of such an Augean stable. • change horn the state of our forces thirty years since. In the first place, our system of purchasing cons. Toe means of importing the tactics of the British missions—itself an evil in a military point of view, army did not escape hif Royal Highness's sedulous care and yet indispensable to the freedom of the court. and attention. Formerly, every commanding Officer try—had been stretched so far as to open the way manoeuvred his regiment after his own fashion; and if ibis every sort of abuse. No science was required, no a brigade of troops were brought together, it was very' Venice, no previous experience whatsoever; the boy.let doubtful whether they could execute any one combined loose from sichool the last week, might in the course of movement, and almost certain that they could not exe• *month be a Field Officer, if his friends were disposed cute the various parts of it on the same principle. Milt] to be liberal of money and influence. Others there was remedied by the system of regulations compiled by 1 were, against whom there could ,be no compl a i n t f or t h e l ate Si r D av i d D undas, and which obtained the want of length of service, although it might be difficult sanction and the countenance of his Royal Highness:a-a' so see how their experience was improved by it. It was This one circumstance, of giving a uniform principle no uncommon thing for a commission to be obtained and mode of working to the different bodies, which ark for a child in the cradle; and when he came from col- after all, but parts of the same great machine, was in lege, the fortunate youth was at least a Li eu t enan t of i tse lf one o f t h e most distinguished services whi ch could some standing, by dint of fair promotion.. To sum up be rendered to a national army, and it is only sue this catalogue of abuses, commissions were in some prising that, before it was introduced, the British army instances bestowed upon yarn Ladies, when pensions was able to execute any combined movements at all. could not be had. We know ourselves one fair dame We cannot but notice the Duke of York's establish. who drew the pay of Captain in the Dragoons, ment near Chelsea for the orphans of soldiers, the and was probably not much less fit for the service than cleanliness and discipline of which are a model for such some who, at that period, actually did duty ; for, as we i nst i tutions; and the Royal Military School, or College, have said, no knowledge of any kind was demanded at Sandhurst, where every specie. of scientific.instruc from the young Officers. If they desired to improve tion is afforded to those Officers whom it is desirable to themselves in the elemental parts of their profession, qualify for the service of the Staff. The excellent there were no means open either of direction or of in- Officers who have been formed at this institution are struction. But as a zeal for knowledge rarely exists the best pledge of what is due to its FOunder. Again where its attainment brings no credit or advantage, the we repeat, that if the British soldier meets his foreign gay young men who adopted the military profession adversary, not only with equal courage, but with equal were easily led into the fashion of thinking that it was readiness and facility of manoeuvre—if the British (NB. pedantry to be master even of the routine of the exer- cer brings against his scientific antagonist, not only his cise which they were obliged to perform. An intelli- own good heart and hand, but an improved and en gent serjeant whispered from time to time the word of lightened knowledge of his profession, to the memory command, which his Captain would have been ashamed of the Duke of York the army and the country owe them. to have known without prompting ; and thus the duty The character of his Royal Highness was admirably of the field day was huddled over rather than performed. adapted to the task of this extended reformation, in a It oas natural, under such circumstances, that the plea. branch of the public service on which the safety of sures of the mess, or of the card or billiard table, should England absolutely depended for the time. Without occupy too much of the leisure of those who had so few possessing any brilliants-, his judgment, in itself clear duties to perform, and that extravagance, with all its and steady, was inflexibly guided by honour and prin. disreputable consequences, should.be the characteristic ciple. No solicitations could make him promise what of many, while others, despairing of promotion, which it would have been incon s i s t en t with these principles to could ® f be acquired by money or influence, sunk grant; nor could any circumstances induce him to break into mere machines, performing without hope or heart, or elude the promise which he had once given. At a task which they had learned by rote. same.tiate, his feelings, humane and kindly, were ma ll To this stare of things, by a succession of well eon- possible occasions, accessible to the claims of compar sidered and effectual regulations, the Duke of York put lion; and there occurred but rare instances of a wife a stop with a firm yet gentle hand. Terms of service widowed, or a family rendered orphans, by the death of were fixed for every rank, and neither influence nor a meritorious Officer, without something being done money was permitted to force any individual forwa r d, render their calamities more tolerable. until be had served the necessary time in the present As a statesman, the Duke of York, from his earliest grade which he held. No rank short of that of the Duke appearance in public life, was guided by the opinions of of York—no courage and determination inferior to that i c rcu mstances are worthy of remark. of his Royal Highness, could have accomplished a Mr. Pitt. But two First, that his Royal .. Highness never permitted the condo change so important to the ' service, but which yet was deration o f politics to influence him in his department of ' I to unfavourable to the wealthy and to the po wer f u l, C whose children and proteges had formerly founds briefommander. in. Chief, but gave alike t o Whi g as t o T or y, the preferment their service or their talents deserved.' way to promotion . Thus a protection was afforded to Secondly , in .. himse lf attaching to the party-whose . object those Officers who could only hope to rise by merit and is supposed to be to strengthen the Crown, hts Royal length of service, while, at the same time, the young Hiohness would have been the last man to invade, in aspirant was compelled to discharge the duties of a the s ightest degree, the rights of the people. The fol: subaltern before attaining the higher commissions. lowing anecdote may be relied upon. At. the table of In other respects, the influence of- the Commander. lowing Commander-in-Chief, not many years since, a young in-Chief was found to have the same gradual and me- a. ' Officer entered into dispute with Lieut.-Colonel ---, notating influence. The vicissitudes of real service, and upon the poineto which military obedience ought to be the emergencies to which individuals are eipoted, carried. U lithe Commander -in -Chief," said the young began to render ignorance unfashionable, as it wal Officer, like a second Seid, "should command me to do speedily found that mere valour, however fiery, was .. which I a thin unable on such occasions for the extrication of those en scruple to obey him,and consider my se lf as re li eve d f rom gag ed in them ; and that they who knew their duty all res nsibilit by the commands of my milit ar y pe rand discharged it, were not only most secure of victory rim." " So wo uld y I, " na returned the gallant and and safety in action, but most distinguished a t head- intelligent Officer, who maintained the opposite side of quarters, and most certain of promotion. Thus a t as te for studying mathematics and calculations applicable the question. "I should rathe r p re f er the risk of being to war was radua shot for disobedience by my commanding Officer, thaw , lly introduced into the arm y, and hanged for transgressinr the laws and violating thi carried by to g me O ffi cers to a great length, while a p es- libirlies of the countr " You have answered like fect positively deman intance Wi dtfromh the routine of the in field day was yourself," said his Royal Highne s s, wh ose a tt en ti on h a d de every Officer . the service as an indispensable qualification. been attracted by the vivacity of the deb a te ; rand the His Royal Highness also introduced a speci es of m o - Officer would deserve both to be s hot and h ange d th a t sal discipline among the Officers of our a r my, w hi c h should act otherwise. I trust all British Office rs would unwilling to execute an illegal command, as 1 trust the Commander.in Chief would be incapable of i bad the highest consequences on their characte r . P er - be as sons of the old school of Captain Plume and Captain ssuing one." Brazen, men who swore hard, drank deep, bilked t ra d es . melt, and plucked pigeons, were no longer allowed to The religion of the Duke of York was sincere, and , arrogate a character which they could only support by be was particularly attached to the doctrines and con. deep oaths and ready swords. If a tradesman whose &minion of the Church of England. In this his Royal bill was unpaid by an Officer, thought proper to apply Highness strongly resembled his father ; and, like his 'to the Horse Guards, the debtor received a letter from father, he entertained a conscientious sense of the obli bead-quarters, requiring to know if there existed any gations of the Coronation Oath, which prevented him objections to the account, and failing in rendering a sa- from acquiescing in the further against relaxation of the lawe l tisfactory answer, he was put on stoppages until t he ere . Catholics. We pronounce no opinion on the, tor's demand was satisfied. Repeated applications of justice of his Royal Highness's sentiments on this im. this kind might endanger the Officer's commission,which Portant point, but we must presume them to have been was then sold for•the payment of his creditors. Other sincerely entertained, since they were expressed at the moral delinquencies were at the same time adverted to; hazard of drawing down upon his Royal Highness an and, without maintaining an inquisitorial strictness over odium equally strong and resentful. the Officers, or taking too close inspection of the mere In his person and countenance, the Duke of York was gaieties and follies of youth, a complaint of any kind im. large, stout. and manly; he spoke rather with some of plying a departure from the character of a Gentleman the indistinctness of utterance peculiar to his late father, and a man of honour, was instantly inquired into by the than with the precision of enunciation which distin- Commander-in-Chief , and the delinquent censured or guishes the King. his Royal brother. Indeed, his Royal I punished as the case seemed, to requi r e. The arm y Highness resembled his late Majesty perhaps the most VAN thus like a family under protection of an indulgent of any of George lll.'s descendants. His family affec father, who, willing to promote merit, checks, with a nods were strong. and the public cannot have forgotten timely frown,the temptations to license and extravagance. the pious tenderness with which he discharged the duty The private soldiers equally engaged the attention of of watching the last days of his Royal. Father, dark. his Royal Highness. In the course of his superintendence ened as they were by corporeal blindness and mental of the army, a military dress, the most absurd in Europe, incapacity. No pleasure, no business was ever known was altered for one easy and comfortable for the men, to interrupt his regular visits to Windsor, where his un and suitable to the hardships they are exposed to in happy parent could neither be grateful for, nor even actual service. The severe and vexatious rules exacted sensible of, his untemitted attention. The same ties of , about the tying of hair, and other ogling punctilios affection united his Royal , Highness to other Members of ' (which had been found sometimes to goad troops into his Family, and particularly to its present Royal Head. mutiny), were abolished, and strict cleanliness was sub. —Those who witnessed the Coronation of his present stituted for a Hottentot head-dress of tallow and flour. Majesty, will long remember, as the most interesting 1 The pay of - the soldier was augmeined, while care was part of that august ceremony. the cordiality with which at the same time taken that it should, osier as possible, his Royal Highness the Duke of, York performed his be expended in bettering his food and extending his act of homage, arid the tears of affection which were comforts. The slightest complaint on the part of a mutually shed betw een the Royal brethren. We are private sentinel was as regularly inquired into, as if it aware that uncles this heavy dispensation, his Majesty had been preferred by a General Officer. Lastly. the will be chief mourner, not in name only, but in all the use of the cane (a brutal practice, which our Officers sincerity of severed affection. The King's nearest borrowed from the Germans) was entirely prohibited, brother in blood was also his nearest in affection; and and regular corporal punishments, by the sentence of a the subject who stood next to the throne, was the indi court-martial, have been gradually diminished. vidual who would most willingly have laid down his If, therefore, we find in the modern British Officer life for its support. more information, a more regular cootie of study, a In social intercourse, the Duke of York was kind, deeper acquaintance with the principles of his proles. courteous, add condescending—general attributes, we sion, and a greater love for its exertions—if we find believe, of the blood royal of England, andwell befit. the priiate sentinel discharge his duty with a mind un- deg the Princes of a free country. It may be rentals embittered by petty vexations anitregimental exactions, bered, that when, in " days of youthful pride," his conscious of immunity from capricious violence, and Royal Highness had wounded . the feelings of a youn g . f sheltering himself be. where to appeal if he sustains injury—if we nobleman, be now thought o r—• •7 • • Declined to return it. We would here gladly conclude the subject, but complete a portrait, the shades AS well as the lights in be inserted, and in their foib:es. as well as their g qualities. Princes are the property of hivory. Ocean' perpetually with official duty, which, to the 1 petiod of his life, he discharged witivahe ut mn s punctuality, the Duke of Y tk was peculiarly nag i ' gent of his own affairs, and th- embarrassment which arose in consequence were considerably increa by an imprudent passion for the toll and for deep pla Those unhappy propensities exhausted the funds wi t' which the nation supplied him liberally, and sometime produced extremities which mu t have been painful t a man of temper so honourable. The exalted height • his rank, which renders it doubtless more difficult t. look iro and regulate domestic expenditure, Loge h with the engrossing duties of his it iyal Highness office, may be admitted as alleviations, but not apoln gies, for their imprudence. A criminal passion of a different nature proved, one part of the Duke of York's life, fraught with en . sequences likely to affect his character, destroy coafidence of the country in his efforts, and blight tL lair harvest of national gratitude, for which he ha toiled so hard. It was 'a striking illustration of t sentiment of Shakspeare— • The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices n Make whips to scourge 1111. The Duke of York married to Frederica, Princ Royal of Prussia, September 29, 1791, lived with h on terms of decency, but not of affection ; and the-Du had formed, with a female called Clarke, a connexio l justifiable certainly neither by t h e l aws o f religion not' morality. Imprudently he suffered this woman to es; press her wishes to him for the promotion of two or, three Officers, to whose ptelerment there could be rap other objection than that trey were recommended b such a person. It might doubtless have occurred to' Duke, that the solicitations of a woman like this not likely to be disinterested ; and, in tact, she seems have favoured one or two persons, as being her p mourn—several for mere prospect of gain, which had subordinate agents to hunt out fore—and one or t from a real sense of goodnature and benevolence The examination of this woman and her various pit gate intimates before the House of Commons occu that Assembly for nearly three months, and that with inteseness of anxiety seldom equalled. The Duke York was acquitted from the motion brought ag him by a majority of eighty; but so strong was the cry against him without doors, so much was the na convinced that all Mrs. Clarke said was true, and so could they be brought to doubt that the Duke of Y was a conscious and participant actor in . 41 that per schemes, that. his Royal Highness, seeing his uti obstructed by popular prejudice, tendered to his Maj the resignation of his office, which was accepted ace. ingly, March 20,1809. And thus, as according to mon, a dead fly can pollute the most precious unveil., was the honourable fame, acquired by the services onli lifetime, obscured by the consequences of what the pig world would have termed a venial few ty. The warn* to those of birth and eminence is of the most seriotis allE tore. This step had not been long taken, When the Mist le, which the question was involved began to dispersf The public accuser in the House of Commons, Col. Ward,. was detected in some suspicious dealings with the pri- pal witness, Mrs. Clarke, and it was evidently expect of' gain that had brought this Lady to the bar .as evidence. Next occurred, in the calm moments of re trospect, the great improbability that his Royal High ness ever could know on what. terms -she negociatad with those in whose favour she solicited. 'lt may wdl be supposed she concealed the motive for interest* herself in such as were 'his own favoured rivals; and what greater probability was there, that she should elt• plain to him her mercenary speculations, or distinguish them from the intercessions which s he m a d e upon more honourable m otives' When the matter of accusatiim was thus reduced, to his Royal Highness's having bee, in two or three instances, the dime of an artful womb, men began to see, that when once the guilt of entettala ing a mistress was acknowledged, the disposition lb gratify such a person, who must always exercise.a natural influence over her paramour, follows as a matter of course. It was then that the public cob pared the extensive and lengthened train of public • vices by which the. Duke had distinguished himself js management of the army, with the trifling foible having granted one or two favours, not in the improper, at the request of a woman who had such portunities to press her suit; and, doing to his Royal Highness the justice he well deserved, welcomed him back, in May, 1811, to the situation from which he had been driven by calumny and popular prejudice. In that high command his Royal Highness continued to manage our military affairs. During.the last jrcutrsof the most momentous war that ever was waged, his Royal Highness prepared the most splendid victories our ant a s boast, by an unceasing attention to the character ar d talents of the Officers, and the comforts and health of the men. Trained under a system so admirable, our army seemed to increase in efficacy, power, and even in num bers, in proportion to the increasing occasion which the public had for their services. Nor is it less a praise than when the men so disciplined returned from scenes of battle, ravaged countries, and stormed cities, they te assumed the habits of private life as if they had newer left them; and that of all the crimes which the crimiaal calendar presents (in Scotland at least), there are not above one or two instances in which 'the perpetrators have been disbanded soldiers. This is a happy change since the reduction of the Army, after peace with Ame rica in 1783, which was the means of infesting the country with ruffians of every description ; and in the prison of Edinburgh alone, there were six or seven dis• banded soldiers under sentence of death at the unmans.. This superintending care, if not the. most gaudy, is ansoirest the most enduring flowers which will bloom over the Duke of York's tomb. It gave energy to Britain in war, and strength to her it peace. It combined tranquillity with triumph, sod morality with the habits of a niilitary life. If our soldiers have been found hi. vincible in battle, and meritorious in peaceful society, when restore) to its bosom, let no Briton forget that this is owing to the paters* caret( him to whose memory we here offer an imperfect tribute. —Edinburgh Wald, Jouraoh • On the 4th inst. an Inquest was taken at West Writ ting, Cambridgeshire, on . ♦iew of the body of Mary Ann Mean, about ten years of age, who died in conse quence of wounds and bruises inflicted by lter father and mother. From the evidence, it appeared, tharthe inhu- man parents had frequently chastised the unforr.- - child with the greatest severity and barbarity. returned a verdict of Manslaughter against Mean, and Mary Ann, h.s wife, who were for trial at the ensuing Assizes. : . 1 1 $ ' 1 , 1 0 1 i' 1 r 1 ! - . • 1 ( e . 1 ; . i . I i . i • • 1 % . I I I . . 4 I . i : -s; ii i ~, ? i ic: i 1 ' ▪ in con's- ' father awl C the ice: taint tnnate ▪ The Jury William