The Sun.
London, England, 1836-04-08 00:00:00

CITY AND PORT OF BRISTOL.

LETTERS ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE MUNICI-
PAL HISTORY OF BRISTOL AND
iIIfADP OP ITS PORT.
11;

Brown? Biyzam, and Wright. 1636.
We are personally incompeteht to 6-Lye any decided
tlpcm the merits of this compilation. 1-ne
.:-.taternents made in it may be correct Otlierwisc, for
what persons living at a distance from Bristol can tell
to the contrary. 'We shall, therefore, confine our
notice of it to quoting the " Preface," by which we
leave the author or compiler to explain the object
which he had in view in publishing it. If he succeed

in interesting the public, we are content :
" The Thirty Letters, which gave a name to the present
volume, originally appeared at intervals in the columns of
the Bristol Mercury, during the year 1833,—the first
Letter having been printed in the February of that year.
They were commenced at the suggestion of one or two
friends to the city and its prosperity, and upon my own
earnest conviction that it was of the last necessity that the
citizens should have their attention at. once awakened to
their interest, and be made acquainted fully with the'perils
of their present position, in order that they might be induced
to take the proper steps to extricate themselves while it was
yet time.
" The series of Letters in which I attempted to effect
this, assisted by the better judgment and more matured ex-
perience of some few others whom I am proud and happy
to call my friends, grew upon my hands, until the number
originally contemplated—Xll., became XXX., and the plan
itself was completed, leaving many of my materials neces-
sarily unemployed.
" It was now suggested, by some other friends to the city,
but strangers to me, that a reprint of the Letters should
take place in a collected form ; and, all idea of profiting by
the sale being at once abandoned, the estimated cost, atten-
dant on printing the book, was guaranteed by a few patriotic
citizens ; it was resolved to sell it at cost price ; and the
Letters were immediately subjected to a scrupulous revi-
sion by the writer, and put to press.
" Upon review of my materials, including a large volume
of evidence taken before the Commissioners of Corporate
Enquiry in this city for the use of some gentlemen asso-
ciated to facilitate the purposes of that Enquiry, and to
which I have been kindly permitted to have access, I found,
if justice were done to the subject, that it would be neces-
sary considerably to extend the size of the volume ; and it
was resolved, under the advice of the gentleman who did
me the honour to render me his practical assistance in con-
ducting the book through the press, to give it the neces-
sary extent as far as it was then practicable, and, at the
same time (not to destroy the popular character of the vo-
lume by putting a high price upon it, and thus deterring
many citizens from making themselves acquainted with their
rights and duties) to confine the price to the lowest limit ;
trusting to the feeling which had prompted the printing of
the Letters to provide against the loss which must be now
incurred on the sale.
" I have thus simply stated the principal facts, in con-
nection with the first commencement and re-appearance of
these Letters ; it remains for me to point out the altera-
tions and additions which it has been thought desirable to
make in the present edition.
" The Letters have been -subjected to a careful revision ;
but, with the exception of the last Letter, which has been
re-written, the alterations have not been very many or
important.
" The addititional matter consists—first, of Notes, em-
bodying much information in connection with the subject
from various sources, some of them of difficult access, if not
generally inaccessible, and extracts of the most material
portions of the evidence given before the Corporation Com-
missioners, and bearing upon the question. In the second
place, it consists of a series of Tables, containing the whole
of the dues payable on ships trading to this port, and on
goods imported into or exported from it • the comparative
taxation on trade at the several ports of London, Liver-
pool, Hull, Bristol, and Gloucester ; and the state of trade
in this city during the last nine years. The first class of
Tables have been digeited, as far as their nature would
permit, so as to render reference to them easy ; the second
class are fully explained in the introductory letter and re-
marks from the gentleman who has undertaken the labour
of drawing them up, and the expense of procuring the ma-
terials for them ; and a part of the third class are sub-
stantially the same as those published in the annual reports
of the Bristol Chamber of Commerce, but somewhat more
digested, and brought down to the present year : the re-
mainder have been procured in the proper quarters, for the
purpose of illustrating the present volume.
" Of the whole, it is presumed that it may at least be said,
that it places before the citizens, in a collected form, a mass
of information for their future guidance, no less in extri-
cating themselves from their present dilemma than in pre-
venting the recurrence of similar disasters in future, which
could not be had otherwise than by an expenditure of labour
and of money which every citizen would not feel justified in
affording to the subject, especially when it could only be
by a concurrence of fortunate events that he could hope to
possess himself of every fact here set down. Circumstances
have enabled me so to possess myself ; my contributions, I
may, however, remark, have been principally those of time
and labour ; and if the calls for these have been consider-
able, they have not been grudgingly accorded, nor arc they
now regretted."

There is no truth in the report inserted in the
Times and Herald of this morning, respecting the
death of Earl Cathcart. Letters were received in
town yesterday from his Lordship. The subjoined is
the notice which appeared in the papers 'of this morn-

ing, respecting this nobleman :
DEA TII OF EARL CATEICART.—ibis venerable
Peer died at his seat in Scotland on Friday last ; the rumour
of his death had been current in London for the last few days,
and is now ascertained to be too well founded. His Lordship,
who was in his 82d year, was a Peer of the United Kingdom
as well as a Scotch Baron, K. T., Knight of the Russian Or-
ders of St. Ann and St. George, and of the Portuguese Order
of the Tower and Sword ; a General in the army, third on the
list (January, 1812) ; Colonel of the 2d Life Guards, which
he had held since 1797 ; a member of the Board of General
Officers, a Commissioner of the Royal Military College and
Royal Military Asylitm, Vice-Admiral of Scotland, and Go-
vernor of Hull. He was born September 17, 1733, and suc-
ceeded to his paternal title of Baron Cathcart of Scctland be-
fore he was one year old ; he married in 1779, Elizabeth,
daughter of the late A. Elliott, Esq., uncle of Gilbert first
Earl of Minto, and has issue ten Children, the eldest surviving
of which, Lord Greenock, born in 1783, and who is a Major-
General in the Army, succeeds to the titles, &c. Lord Cath-
cart got his English titles of Viscount and Baron in 1807, and
Earl in 1814 ; the date of the Scottish title goes back to 1447.
Lord Cathcart early entered on his military career, having ob-
tained a curnetcy in the 7th Dragoons in 1777. He served
during the American War of Independence in the 16th and
17th Light Dragoons, and as Aide-de-Camp to Sir 11. Clin-
ton, the Commander-in-Chief; he was actively engaged in
several battles and conflicts with the Independents, and ap-
pointed Colonel (with provincial rank) of the British Legion
which he raised and formed. Part of this period he served as
Quarter-Master-General of the Forces in America, and in
command of the 38th Regiment. He returned to England in
October, 1780, and next year obtained a company in the Cold-
stream Guards, which he exchanged in 1789 for the Lieut.-
Culonelcy of the 297 h, of which he was appointed Colonel in
1792. His next service was as Brigadier-General under Lord
Moira in the expedition to Brittany and Normandy in 1793,
and that to Flanders under the Duke, of 'York the ensuing
year.. Having been placed on the staff of Great Britain, be.ob-
tamed the rank of Lieutenant-General in 1801 ; held the
command of the home district, and was appointed Commander
of the Forces in Ireland. In 1805 Lord Cathcart was ap-
pointed our Ambassador to the Court of St. Petcrsburgh, but
on reaching London, previously to his departure, Mr. Pitt al-
tered his destination, and sent him to command the British
armyin Hanover, the Dtike of Wellington serving under him
in command of a brigade. The battle of Austerlitz having
brought him home, he was appointed Commander of the Forces
in Scotland, which post he held until 1807, when the Duke
of . Portland employed him on a mission to the Court of Swe-
den ; afterwards he joined Lord Gambier in the attack on
Copenhagen. On his return he was created an English Peer,
and resumed his Scottish command, in which he continued
until 1813, when he was employed on another mission to Rus-
sia. The Emperor Alexander conferred on him his Russian
orders.

r 1
.. ,
1 'I I, LATE MR. RUTH vEN.—On Monday morn-
ing, at five o'clock, the remains of the late Mr. Rutliven, the
Member for Dublin, were removed from North-street, West-
minster, on their route to Liverpool, from whence they are in-
tended to be removed to Dublin for interment. The proces-
sion was extremely simple, the hearse merely being followed
by a hackney .coach containing the servants of the deceased
as far
.as Barnet.
The remains of the late venerable Dr. Valpy were in-
terred in the new cemetery in Harrow-road on Tuesday.
We are requested to mention that Mr. Benjamin
Shaw, of the firm of Jordaine, Shaw, and Co., and the Chair-
man of the Great Western Railway Company, is not the
gentleman named in the List of the Provisional Committee
for the Dublin and Kilkenny Railway.
A DISCOVERY.—No maxim is more erroneous than
that which says that " love-letters are only interesting to the
party addressing, and the party addressed." A lady's letters, I
particularly when she happens to be beautiful in person, and
distinguished in station, cannot but have charms for the least
curious. If they involve a piquant story, all the better. A
packet of characteristic epistles, from a lady about whom the
world has been anxiously excited for some tine past, has just
been discovered, and will appear in the Court Journal on
Saturday. They show how prudent it is to preserve letters ;
for who can tell in these times that the writer may not turn
out to be a Princess. •