The Sun.
London, England, 1824-11-19 00:00:00

UN.

MR. FA UNTLEILOY.

There appears to be a general feeling that
this unfortunate man ought to be saved from an ignominious
death ; and thin feeling has arisen, not from any momentary
excitement, but from calm consideration of the circumstances
of his case; because enough has already appeared, and much
more important matter will necessarily be disclosed, which will
demonstrate beyond all doubt that both the firms of Messrs.
Marsh, Stracey, and Co., in Berners.strect, and of Marsh
and Son, in Whitehall-place, mediately or immediately, have
been fed and sustained by the money obtained by these for.
eerie{; that the individual parnets of these firms have more
argely participated in them, for their personal benefit, than,
it would appear, the unfortunate man himself, who is the legal
' victim.
Assuming for a moment that the partners of these firms can
be acquitted of any share in the criminal acts, how will they
appear before the Lord Chancellor, the Commissioners, and
the world, on the charges of gross negligence, of blind and
deaf indifference as to the true sources from which these mys.
terions ways and means were drawn during so many years, not
only to support insolvent firms, but to supply the alleged pro.
fusion of the individuals connected with them P -
In this state of affairs, the public will feel that the Batik hays
ing most properly and effectively pursued Mr. Fauntleroy to
conviction, may, in furtherance of their conscientious duties as
Trustees, endeavour to avert the stroke of justice against him,
by applying to the King to spare his life, that full disclosures
may be made on all and every part of these uncommon transac.
tjonti ; as such disclosures would be a better atonement to the
world and to stern. justice, than prematurely taking away the
life of a miserable man, over whom the real bitterness of death
has passed, in the judicial proceedings that have necessarily
. taken place since his apprehension. Indeed this principle may
be justly carried further, for, by his Immediate death at this in-
teresting crisis of the affairs, the beat, the truest means of in.
fOrMation to the Bank, for further pursuit and for future pro.
amnion, will be lest.
If, therefore, any hope Maybe indulged for this interference,
let It be undertaken and followed up without delay ; and cer-
tainly it might well commence between the Counsel of Mr.
Fauntleroy and the Counsel di the Bank, who will best under-
stand the value of the suggestion, and how useful Mr. Fauntle.
roy might be made on an abstract view, without mina% any
personal feelings of clemency which might interrupt their new
proceeding.
The next body of persons who would share in these pro.
ceedings will be the constituents of the two firms • the value of
Mr. Fauntleroy's aid and information to both of these parties
will be most important; it may, perhaps, :be pronounced in-
dispensible, and that his premature death may shut out that
valuable and full disclosure, without which no person, whether
interested or not interested in the affitirs of the firms, and in
their transactions with the Bank, can or ought to be satisfied.
Let it not be lost sight of for a moment, that the full extent
of the forgeries cannot be completely known, to be pronounced
officially, until thealividends on the three per cent. Consols be
paid in January next, and this will necessarily influence the con.
duct of the Bank as 'rrustees for the public I and as Mr. Vaunt-
leroy will be required to commence his disclosure and informa-
tion with the first act of forgery, and comprise every succeeding
one, whether the stock has been replaced or not, the Directors
will thus acquire no slight means for future prevention, and
they may see, in the detail, whether the most careful measures
have been adopted at the Bank, or what others can be adopted
for preventing a recurrence of such mischief.
should these suggestions be acted upon, Mr. Fauntleroy
might be advised against the admission of persons to see him
indiscriminately, because so many would necessarily be affected,
in sonic way or other, by the progress of this momentous inquiry,
that lie could not be secure against a trap for himself, which
might diminish the actual benefit proposed by the measures.
More may be suggested on all these points, and on other
important questions which this unprecedented affair will pro-
yoke' but if there be any thing worthy the attention of his
legal friends, their kindness, their zeal, and their consummate
knowledge will not want any aid which can be afforded by the
writer of this paper, who has no interest, directly or indirectly,
in the result, nor any wish or expectation beyond that of pro.
longing the life of this unhappy man, and leading thus to the
trite ends of justice, by making those who have shared the
plunder contribute also to the retribution. When the first
forgery was consummated, Henry Fauntleroy had scarcely
reached manhood, yet this boy was placed in the banking-
house by his veteran friends, the efficient partners, as their
Atlas, to carry on his shoulders this tottering firm—a boy
without a shilling of his own to aid him in the oppressive ad.
venture, and without a friend who had the means or the in.
clination to advance any, thing to relieve him.
Even theordinary assistance of discounts at the Bank of Eng.
land, was refused to the unsure firm of Marsh and Co. It was at
this period, it was in 11116, that the fatalpaper was written by him,
which firmly fixed his fate at the bar °Out:nee, and in the regret.
ful feelings of commiserating friends and of consoling strangers,
it is supposed that it has shut up the gate which leads to Royal
mercy ; but its dispenser is known to be intelligent as well
as benevolent : let us for a moment venture to believe, and that
belief is founded on the unvaried experience of his kind and
merciful heart, that he may say truly, " Let us see before the
pen of stern justice inscribes the irrevocable fate of this infatu•
ated, rather than criminal object ; let me look closer at this
man's character in society, and the probable motive which urged
him to these desperate acts." It is represented generally, and
the respectable witnesses have confirmed it at his trial, that ha
has been uniformly mild, benignant, gentlemanly, and liberal
to all. When revenge
human mind, is ascribe, the strongest
l, it has always some personal object
against which it is directed. It is very possible that, person.
ally, Mr. Fauntleroy was not acquainted with any one of the
Bank Directors : if he was not, lie could have had no hostile
passion perhaps in the
feeling against any one of them, and therefore revenge is out of
the question. In merciful consideration of the infirmities of
human agency, then, cannot a truer and a less culpable motive
be found for this paper? Look at his position, his age, and
his romantic hopes in 1816: he was the only prop of this great
and tottering edifice; he was urged by the perilous difficulties
against which his veteran partners had left him to struggle, to
consult his own energies in removing them. Boy—rash boy as
he was, he looked to the glory of the atchievement, anti in his
heated lmagination he did not pause to deliberate on the ins.
moral, the criminal acts which were to be employed; and hay.
ing accomplished his illegal purposes, his evil destiny, his
heated enthusiasm, urged him to record what he had done.—
But the sentiment so recorded was any thing but revenge : there
was no individual before him on whom the elfects of his vengeance
could alight; he knew, as we all know, that the Bank could ao
more suffer personally, than the Directors themselves could, by
the effects of his criminal proceedings. Such a paper, justify. i
ing the motives imputed to its writer, ought n mercy to be
ciosnstrti
exclusivelycdon was
my
y foor b
wint
den.ri 11g principles
noafl
act,o u
construed together, although on his trial, by the just and un-
er
hleawtherse yuscahas'
strike the sword of the law into my breast alone—l alone am
guilty I I ought to be your only sacrifice t--Could revenge,
then, be an inmate of this romantic mind ? It is impossible.
Weak and infirm as is our fallible nature, it is still consistent
in crime.—(British Press.)

14058 Or THE DON 010VANYL—On Monday last, as this
celebrated sailing yacht was returning up the River from a
shooting excursion, after a severe contest from Southend with a
hatch-boat of :12 ton; which she was then beating, she was un-
fortunately run down by a Scotch brig, and instantly sunk.—
The accident took place in the Lower Hope, and the Don was
standing on the starboard tack, with nearly a gale of wind at
S.W. The brig in question was. running rapidly betore the
wind, and her velocity was such that the Don, in endeavouring
to pass a-head, became becalmed under the lee of her sails, and
all exertions made by those on board were fruitless, as the event
which followed was the work of an instant. The fluke of the
brig's anchor first caught her rigging, and her bows next came
violently in contact with the broadside of the Giovanni, and she
immediately went down, in 15 fathoms water. Capt. Davey
was not on board, but there were three Gentlemen of the names
of Harrison, Duke, and Coleman, and Richard Cownden, the
young man who sails the vessel. These four persons were all
immersed in the water, and their situation was very alarming,
As there was a considerable swell out; the brig's boat, however,
quickly came to their assistance, and hapjilly they were all
picked up, but in a very exhausted state. The Don Giovanni
was anew vessel, anti her numerous successes last Beaton doubt.
less proved her the fastest river sailing yacht ever built. She
had the St. George's boat in tow, but there was not time to un-
cast her, and she was also sunk. The Blossom Gravesend
packet has been sweeping about the spot where she went down,
but no traces of her had been discovered when one of the parties
left Gravesend. She is said to hare been engaged for several
matches next glimmer, one of which, we understand, was to sail
what a vessel round the Isle of