The Sun.
London, England, 1839-09-14 00:00:00

EVENING EDITION.

LONDON
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1839.

I
The llorning Post of this day contains upwards
of eleven columns on the subject of the late Lady
FLORA HASTINGS, and her brother's correspon-
dence with various parties more or less interested in
the affair. Much of this correspondence has already
found its way into print ; and in that portion which
is now for the first time made public, we do not
find anything of sufficient moment to justify us in
giving it additional circulation. The comments of
the Marquis of HASTINGS, which are interspersed
among these documents, display in every line a lofty
and generous sensibility ; but we scarcely think---
notwithstanding the very natural feeling which
prompted them—that they are in strict accordance
with the dictates of good sense. What purpose
can the Noble Marquis expect them to serve, beyond
the very equivocal one of furnishing party prejudice
with a theme on which to display its rancour? They
throw little or no additional light on the unfortunate
affair of Lady FLORA ; and they are just suffi-
ciently explicit to give pain to certain personages
whose conduct throughout the melancholy tragedy
in question, appears to us to have been influenced,
not by private malice, but by a sense of public duty.
Popular opinion has already done justice to Lady
FLORA HASTINGS ; popular sympathy has been
loudly and repeatedly expressed in her behalf ; her
immediate friends and relatives, too, have received
the tribute of popular respect and commiseration ;
and such being the case, the painful subject should
now, we think, be let drop, and for ever. Yes, if
not for the sake of the living, at least for her sake
who has gone to her last home, let the curtain of
oblivion be suffered to drop on this sad tragedy.
Lady FLORA HASTINGS is in her grave,
" After life's fitful fever she sleeps well :
Nothing can touch her further;"
and to revive the recollection of the peculiar griefs
which embittered her last moments, seems to us—
under all the circumstances of the case—little short
of a profanation of the ashes of the dead. " Let
the dead rest in peace" is a Wise and touching
maxim, respected in all ages, and not to be disre-
garded without wounding one of the finest impulses
Of our common nature. Were the question one
affecting Lady FLORA'S character, we should say,
persevere by all means in its discussion ; but it is
not so ; her innocence has been established beyond
all possibility of cavil ; and full justice having been
thus done her, we again say, respect her ashes, an
"let the dead rest in peace !"

A man may do what he likes with his own, is
continually asserted by the Tories. This principle,
indeed, is a great favourite of theirs. It is acted

on by the Duke of NEWCASTLE when he displaces
the tenants who think they may dispose of their
own votes ; and by 'Viscount LORTON when he
ejects the peasantry from his estates. When the
Tories use their gold to bribe the electors of Cam-
bridge, and sap the foundations of public morality,
they act on the principle of doing what they like
with their own. As it is so much in favour with
them, and as acting on it leads to important conse-
quences, it seems worth while to examine the asser-
tion, and ascertain with what limitations it is true.

If anything belong exclusively to a man, it is
his life and his health ; but he is not at liberty to
destroy the former, nor injure the latter. He is
bound to use both so as most to promote his own
happiness, and the happiness of others. The oh-
• ligation on him so to act is universally acknow-
ledged.
He who injures his health by excesses
is stated to be a fool, and, till lately, he who took
away his own life, subjected his body to indignities
1 which marked the general reprobation of his act.
If what a man likes to do with his own be con-
i sistent with moral laws he may do it ; but he is
not at liberty to do it if it be inconsistent with
them. This applies to property as well as life.
The muscles and sinews of a man are peculiarly
his own ; but whatever may be the strength they
give him, he must not use it to annoy .or injure
others. He must not run against me in the street
nor knock me down. Though he be very skilful,
i as well as very strong, he must not undermine my
I house, blow it up, and murder me and my family.
He must not do, therefore, what he likes with his
own strength. The Tories are said to be yen/ rich ;
they are said to have employed their gold in cor-
rupting the electors of Cambridge; if that accu-
-1 sation be brought home to them they will find, in
the sentence of the Court, that they must not
do what they like with their own gold. Lotteries
of all kinds are forbidden, though in them a snan
' stakes only his own, money. Lord LORTON a I.lay
very likely have a fish-pond on his demesne, but if
he were to pull up the pent stocks or brettk dow.i
the barriers, and cause the water to overflow the
public roads, or his neighbour's land, he would
end, at least in England, what may be the case
in Ireland we know not, that he had done wrong
' in doing what he likes with his own. If
, ever the Ministers' plan for making railroads
in Ireland should be carried into effect, and a
Piece of his land should be wanted for a road, he
would be compelled to resian it, even though it was
his own favourite walk, proving to him and all the
. world, that the Tory rn, axim is false. We kvoar
)no ease, except that of a man living in utter soh-
tude, who can do what he likes with his own, um.
less what he likes. be coincident with the advan•
tage, or agreeable to the opinions of his fellows,
as well as with the laws of morality.
When Noble Lords say, speakinc, of th •
which in many cases, however, are the
eir estates,
on th
their mortgagees, they making a great sphroperty o
strength of a rent roll which belongs
witoow_another 1
that they can do what they like th their i
own, they will find, when they come to examine the
the matter, that they are much mistaken. Most
of the land of the empire is liable to Poor_rates, or
some other imposts, which the noble landowner
must pay, and he must cultivate his land, air have
it cultivated, to pay them. He cannot alloy, it to
lie idle and unproductive if he would. It is true
that his interest and the public interest are, it this
respect, coincident, and the cultivation which is
the means of feeding the people, yields him a
large rent. In that respect, doing what he likes
with his own does not differ from a man taking
care of his health—he ensures the approbation of
others, and promotes his own happiness.
In the case of land, most of the arguments ewe
have stated apply with great force, for a very 66-
vious reason. Let my Lord LoaToN, or any
other advocate for doing what he likes %yid, h'-is
own, consult Mr. MACAULAY, or any other deep-
read expounder of the right of property, and he will
find that right is strenuously defended because it is ,

' esssential to the public welfare. Each man is to be
secured in his own possessions, not because it is for
his advantage, though his advantage and the public
happiness are coincident, but because the good of
the whole society requires it. The land is nature's
common gift to all her children, and the appropria-
tion of it, by which one man, to the exclusion of
others, is allowed a limited lordship over it, is
justified and defended, because that appropriation,
securing a more abundant supply of food, is bene-
ficial to society. Now, this principle, as in the case
of making a railroad through a Lord's park,
presides at all times over the appropriation, and
limits the power of every noble owner to do what
he likes with his own. He can only do it if it be
for the public good. We humbly and respectfully
request my Lord LORTON and the rest of the Irish
and English landowners to consider well this princi-
ple, and they will probably conclude, that ejecting
tenants by the score, inflicting great misery on
them, putting the public to great expense to
enforce the decrees of my Lord LORTON, and to
maintain or transport the poor wretches whom he
dooms to be houseless wanderers, is inconsistent
with the public advantage, and is condemned by
the very principle on which Lord LORTON holds
his estate and defends his possessions.
It is at the same time true, that my Lord LOR-
TON and his like, having the making of laws very
much in their power, are apt to conceive the
public good to be nothing different from their
immediate gratification ; but in so doing they revolt
all other men, and endanger both their property
and their power. Apart from the landowner
misusing his power or misusing his property, which
is just as reprehensible as a man injuring his
health, it is clear that the very principle on which
he holds his land limits his power over it, and he can
only, in reason, do what he likes with his own
when that is coincident with the public welfare.
We come then to the conclusion that in society a
man can only do what he likes with what is com-
monly called his own, in subserviency to the laws of
morality, to the rights and conveniences of others,
and to the public happiness. On that condition we
hold all our enjoyments. It is the law of social
life, the conservative bond of society ; and a
pseudo Conservative Nobleman like Lord LORTON
ill understands the duties of the character he
has assumed, when, regardless of the public ad-
vantage, which is the tenure of his own pro-
perty, he banishes from their native hearths a
multitude of families because they could not, or
would not, play the part of policemen. He may,
by so doing, think he conserves the power of a
faction, but he weakens the bonds of society, and
hastens its dissolution.
In conclusion, let us again remind our readers
that it is to swell the incomes of landlords, like my
Lord Lo R TO N, that the Corn-laws are kept up. There
is, indeed, another class who support the dearth-
bringing enactments. We learn, from the Report of
the Charity Commissioners we quoted a day or two
ago, that the income of the PR ETYMA NS is in-
creased by what the surveyor calls good times, which
means high prices. Those who eject the poor
from their estates, and drive them out to be fa-
mished or fed by the public, and those who actually
rob them of the lands and goods bequeathed for
their use, have also the unparalleled impudence to
tax the whole empire to add to their wealth.

The Catholics of the United Empire amount to
about one-third of the whole population. If they
do not surpass in numbers the members of the
Church of England they come next to them. Since
the Catholic Emancipation Act was passed by the
Tories, because they could not help themselves, all
the offices of the State, with three or four excep-
tions, have been open to the Catholics. As vet,
however, a very small proportion of the public
employments have fallen to their lot ; and,
as if to show the gross injustice still practised
towards them, and convince all the world that per-
secution still lingers in our manners, and that we
love it in our hearts, the Standard publishes
a list of the more important appointments now
held by Roman Catholics. Instead of amounting
to one-third of the whole, as in reason and justice
they might, they are in number just eighteen, and
are probably not the one-hundredth of the whole.
This is a glaring proof of injustice perpetrated
after the law has said it shall cease ; and those who
quote it, to excite the Protestants against the Ca-
tholics, are wholly insensible to shame.

A numerous body of gentlemen, amounting to
150, and of the first respectability, gave a dinner
on Tuesday last at Glasgow to Mr. WEIR, who
had earned their esteem by his conduct as Editor
of the Glasgow Argus. Previously to sitting down
to table, Mr. WEIR was presented, in the presence
of the subscribers, with an appropriate testimonial,
in remembrance of his services in the cause of
Civil and Religious Freedom.
One of the things mentioned by the CHAIRMAN
on proposing Mr. WEIR'S health was, that "he hail
been residing at Glasgow for upwards of six years, and
during all that period he had distinguished himself
as a great, consistent, zealous, and popular leader
in the Reform cause." We feel pride and pleasure
in recording such circumstances, as equally ho-
hourable to the citizens of Glasgow, to Mr. WEIR,
and the Newspaper Press. We hope to see
such scenes renewed and repeated, not on
any selfish or personal account, but from a con-
viction that the Press is destined to be the instru-
ment for governing, controlling, and improving
society ; and that too much cannot be done to
make it respectable, honourable, and influential.

We had the pleasure, at the anniversary dinner
of the Newspaper Press Benevolent Association,
to hear Lord LYNDHURST speak of the Press in
proper and dignified terms, and he recommended
society to cherish and respect the conductors
of the Press. Its mission is that of instruct-
ing and guiding society. It has become what
the ministers of religion were in the early stages
of civilization--the herald of improvement.
At least it is an instrument without which no
further progress can be made. Even the minis-
ters of religion no longer rely on preaching to
secure success to their doctrines ; they have recourse
to the Press. There are three or four newspapers
wholly controlled by them, and- they use occasion-
ally nearly all the journals of the empire, daily,
weekly, monthly, and quarterly, to promote the suc-
cess of th it own doctrines. "It occupied nor,"
said Mr. WEIR, " in the political world a position
closely analogous to that occupied by the pulpit in
the religious world at the time of the great Refor-
mation."

It is from the conviction, therefore, that the
Press is now of vast importance to the community
that we rejoice at seeing the respectable citizens of
Glasgow taking such an honourable notice of one
of the most respectable conductors of the Press.
Much has of late been said about education, and
about Normal Schools for the education of school-
masters, but we hear nothing about educating men
for the important duty of conducting newspal)A.s.
We have richly endowed colleges for the education
of priests, which were wisely established when that
body of men were the teachers of:society; but though
they are now in a great measure practically super-
seded, or obliged to have recourse to the Press to in-
struct the people, our statesmen seem never yet to
have thought of forming either a Normal School or
endowing a College for the education ofthose who at
present are the practical instructors of so-
ciety. We do not wish them, indeed, to '
undertake any such task, but the circum-
stance is worthy of notice, as a proof that
while they talk with almost endless verbosity of the
thinas that have passed away, they have no ta-
lent to catch the new and growing branches of so-
ciety, which are in future to be the strength and
glory of the tree, and mould them to their purposes.

reasons for it, that Mr.o CONNEL
We stated the other (,lay our belileafb,oaunredd our
reasons for it, that Mr. O'CONNELL laboured un-
der a lamentable delusion about tILe progress of
Popery in Great Britain, and the amount of infide-
lity' which prevailed in Protestant countriest.houNoVh
P e
could not s eak so confidently of Germany,
we had every reason to believe that the
assertions
be made respecting the moral and religious b
inhabi-
tants of that influential portion of Europe were
either unfounded, or greatly exaggerated. A very
sensible Letter, written by one well-informed on the
subject, and inserted in another part of the Paper,
leads us to infer that Mr. O'CoNri EL L knows as little
about Protestantism in Germany as in this country.
The writer does not make mere assertions—he ad-
duces historical facts to prove that the accusations
against German Protestants are entirely devoid of
foundation. Mr.pnlOit'leCiaonl7aEnrl
anis
abale
advocatewerful
powerful
speaker, ,
fspc,reackileirl,
aanisikirelfluisl
but he should not at-
y. tempt theology. Were he to confine his powerful

talents and his ardent imagination to the study of
religion, and become a missionary to propagate the
Catholic faith, we fear that he would commit faults
even greater than those which he attributes to
LUTHER and CALVIN.

By the arrival of the packet-ship Siddons, at Li-
verpool yesterday, in seventeen days from New York,
we have received American Papers to the 26th
ult. inclusive. No change of any moment had
taken place in the Money Market from the date of
the last arrivals. Business was dull, but the pros-
pect of a plentiful harvest, with the certainty of
finding a profitable market for grain in Europe kept
up the spirits of the commercialists.
The yellow fever was raging in New Orleans.
O❑ the 12th and 13th the number of deaths in the
Charity Hospital was seventeen. During the same
two days thirty-nine fever patients were admitted.
In Charleston the number of deaths from yellow
fever, for the week ending the 18th ult. was four-
teen. Nor is the yellow fever the only disease by
which our transatlantic neighbours are afflicted.
A Boston paper publishes the following extract
from a letter from a gentleman residing at Spring-
field, Vermont, a hitherto remarkably healthy town
situated at the base of the Green Mountains :
" Our town is almost a string of hospitals. A virulent
dysentery, accompanied with symptoms of Asiatic cholera,
has broken out among us; and hardly a family escapes.
The wives of two of my nearest neighbours died last night ;
and in every direction, this disease seems spreading. We
are not exempt ; J— and B-- have the first stages of
it. Our help' has left us sick; and we arc . not as we
were, and wish to be. The cause is inscrutable. No
stagnant water exists near. A/1 nature is still clothed in
verdant beauty and luxuriant vegetation."
Mr. CLAY, the candidate for the Presidency, and,
in the boasted land of freedom, the owner, we be-
lieve, of some 300 slaves, is making a canvassing
tour through the United States. His reception
everywhere has been most flattering.
The New York Inquirer complains that the
Custom-house seizures of British woollen, goods,
which continued up -to the latest dates of these
Papers, were not made public, as they ought to be,
for the information of the mercantile body. British
woollen goods to the value of about 30,000 dollars,
were seized in one day at Baltimore.
Quebec Papers to the 20th, and Montreal to the
22d, have been received by the Siddons. They
bring no political news worth extracting. The
Commissioners for Boundary Survey were at Fre-
dericton, preparing to begin their tour. The fol-
lowing extracts include a lamentable account of
another dreadful conflagration at St. John's, New
Brunswick. We are surprised that the frequency
of such awful calamities has hitherto failed to
impress upon the local authortties and the Govern-
ment the necessity of providing means for the prompt
extinction of fires. The report exhibits deplorable
negligence in this respect :
AWFUL CONFLAGRATION IN ST. JOHN.
ABOUT 100 BUILLINGS BURNED.
( From the New Brunswick Courier, extra.)
St. John, Monday Morning, Aug. 13, 1839.
We have the melancholy task of announcing another
awful visitation to St. John—the destruction by fire of a
large portion of the city, including about 60 extensive mer-
cantile establishments. The fire was discovered a few mi-
nutes before nine on Saturday night, bursting from a house
in Nelson-street, occupied as a store and warehouse by
Messrs. Hugh Irvine and Brothers, ship-builders, &c., and
the upper part as dwellings, which continued burning until
daylight yesterday morning, before its devouring progress
was stayed. All the buildings on both sides of Nelson-
street, and on Lawton's, Waterberry's, Donaldson's, and
the north market wharfs, together with those on both sides
of Dock-street (from the Market-square to Union-street), on
the south side of Union-street, from the new dwelling-houses
of Messrs. John and James Lawton, to the water, in-
cluding all the erections and lumber on the Hon. William
Black's, and on Crookshank and Walter's wharfs, fronting
Adams's slip, and all the buildings on the north side of the
Market-square, with the house of Mr. Thomas Merritt,
occupied by Messrs. A. B. Truro and William Strickland,
fronting on Prince William-street, opposite the Commer-
cial Bank, are entirely destroyed, and a great part of their
contents either burned or lost. Here the further :progress
of the flames was fortunately arrested—the exertions of
the people, providentially, being aided by the brick building
of Mr. James K. M'Kee (formerly owned by Mr. W. T.
Peters), which joined the last building destroyed. The
houses on the opposite side of the street, among which were
the Commercial Bank, Messrs. Barlow's large building.
Mr. Melick's (watchmaker), Messrs. Joseph Summers and
Co., &c., being covered with carpets and other woollens,
and kept constantly wet, the fire was prevented crossing
the street at this point.
So intense was the heat that the buildings on the South
Market-wharf were frequently on fire, although separated
from those on the north by a slip of 150 feet, and a road-
way on each wharf of 25 feet, making in all a distance of
200 feet. The rigging of several small vessels lying in
the slip (it being low water at the time) having ignited, it
became necessary to cut away the masts to save them from
entire destruction, and to prevent the communication of the
flames to the opposite side of the slip. The American
schooner Compeer, lying at the South-wharf, was among
the number.
It is utterly impossible, at this time, to give the names
of all the sufferers ; indeed, the task would be a difficult
one at any time, as the grownd between Nelson and Dock
and Union-streets was thickly covered by numerous small
buildings, in some of which each single room was occupied
by a family. This being the case, the number of persons
rendered houseless is much greater than by the memorable
tire of the 14th of January, 1837, when 115 buildings were
destroyed. The season of the year, however, is in favour
of those who have been thus in a moment driven from their
homes, in some cases almost naked, and hungry, and
pennyless.

- We are glad to bear that notwithstanding the great con-
fusion which prevailed no human lives are known to have
been lost; several persons, however, received severe bruises.
It may seem surprising that the fire originating in a
building built on a wharf, with a supply of water close at
liana, could not have been subdued before making much
progress ; but when it is recollected that the tide was out
at the time, that every thing a,: all combustible was in a
ready state of ignition from the late dry weather—that
Nelson and Dock-streets are of the narrowest description
—that there is not an organized Axe or Hook and Ladder
Company in the city—that the engines are not of the first
order—that the streets, and the squares, and the wharfs,
were crowded with numerous apparently idle and careless
spectators, without sufficient control on the part of the
city authorities to direct their energies aright—that many
of the firewardens, although well meaning and ready to
urge what they considered for the best, are not practically
acquainted with the nature of pulling down houses, &c.
—the extent of the present conflagration will not be won-
dered at.

The tire is said to have bad its origin in the flame of a
candle coming in contact with oakum lying upon the top
of a cask of brandy, from which a lad was drawing sonic of
the liquor in the premises occupied by the Messrs. Irvine.
But it is now in a manner immaterial in what way the fire
originated ; it is sufficient to know that by it a large part of
the business part of the city wes reduced in a few -hours to
heaps of smouldering ashes, and that several of our enter-
prising citizens who, about the same hour and on the same
day, only two years and seven months since, had the morti.

lication of seeing large portions of the produce of years o
toil and labour suddenly vanish, and from the effects 01

vtilich they were steadily recovering, are now again called
upon to bewail the loss of much valuable property, and to
seek other places of business, in which to endeavour to

retrieve their lost fortunes.

The total amount of property destroyed, including, 'Anil&
merchandize, and household effects, cannot fell shore

Of-200,0001, ; but at present the sum can only be conj:T.
tared. Large amounts a-e inured in the office of the

New7l3runsick Fire Insurance Company, the Central
Ere Insurance Company of Fredericton, and /Etna and
Protection Companies of Hat tfort County, and other dices
iu the United States and in

The burnt district of 1837 being situated to the south-
ward of the Market-slip, the fire did not extend to that
portion of the city; nor were any buildings destroyed on
the northern side of Union•street (commonly called York-
point).

CENTRAL AMERICA.
A letter from Honduras of the 20th of July says__" We
have received news from the interior that the proposed
treaties for an amicable settlement of the existing differ-
ences have not been accepted, and that the forces of the
State of Honduras (1,500 in number) have marched for
the State of St. Salvador, where General Marazan expects
them with a strong force, consisting of 3,500 men (vete-
rans). Carrera is in Guatemala, and suspected to be
secretly connected with Marazan. It appears to me that
there can be little doubt but that Marazan will eventually be
victorious; however, when this may take place, and how
much blood and money it may cost, it is not possible to
foresee. If the forces of Honduras are defeated, the war
will be concluded, as this State is unable to recruit new
f.irces, and we expect now daily and impatiently news from
the armies, which must have met before this. General
Marazan has advanced a considerable sum of his private
fortune in order to avoid contributions. In the interior of
Honduras, probably, heavy contributions have been levied,
but not enforced on the coast."