The Sun.
London, England, 1824-04-08 00:00:00

ARDROSSAN HARBOUR.

To the E,DIT.oti of the AYR and WIGTONSIIIRE COURIER.
LoxDox MAncti 20, 1824.

Silt—As I expected, Mr. Au Li) 11115 most 'COM..
pletely borne out my original statement ; he has also acknow-
ledged himself personally and deeply interested in the welfare
of Ardrossan; and he. has begged the question by quibbling
sophistry, which would bespeak him more of a petty lawyer
than of a timber merchant. E. gr. let seamen look at his an-
swer to my third question—What is the true--depth of water.
inside of the pier, or harbour, at low neap tides ? Answer by 111 r.
Auld—" The depth of water inside-of the pier of Ardrossan is
about 20 feet at full-sea neap tides !" Here I ask for low
not at neap ticles,hut at the full and change of the moon--,call
water, and he gives me the extreme of :iigh water ! and that
you this an answer without sophistry, Mr. Auld ? • lint even-1
from these equivocations, seamen will elicit for themselves
something near the truth. They will say, the tides to
20 feet, and the fall is Bor 10 feet, which will leave-10 or
12 - feet standing water, • about low water in Ardrossan liar-
bow ; and as low water depth is the criterion "by which
.allharbours_are reported, and thence estimated, I think Mr.
Aultl haS gone far to bear out my original statement ! Why
should.. Mr. Auld feel so angry at my' generous omission to
apply to him the story of the jack:-ass m the Merry Don of
Dover ? Does he wish his opponent
:onent to be so rude and person-
ally severe as himself ?Al ingratitude is deeply rootedin
the world, and Mr. Auld has got his share of it. lie will give
iceWafli with Mr. Auld in
me credit for nothing ! fie is like Miss Caroline 'Wilhelinina
Amelia Skeggs, in the Vicar Of Wakefield,' he is deterininea
not to be pleased, and his resolves, like the laws-of the Medes
and Persians, are unchangeable.
part of Ayrshire anti the Clyde feel did-
manner in .which I,propose to conclude
this.letter, let it compare
rpapySpohc
oioniTutle2siptal lot:
tdhneeanubcteri
my original statement, letter and .questions, withthe bi .
am gu-
'oils and evasive answers of Mr. Auld, auit will
.coineiclein
opinion with me, that there exists not:the slightest necessity for
farther noticing the notions of a than, who, from the personal
interest he confesses to have in Ardrossan, where .it is probable
he has been a spectator, and may have ' k. 1 n' braw
ree mg , ums.a
kailyards !' seem to act up to the Character of Goklsmith's school-
master— _ .

, " For e'en though vahquish'd he can argue still ;"
and, though he contradicts himself in a breath, lie will make no
allowance for his aberrations from consistency.
Seamen and cabin-boys I think will have been amused on
reading his answer to ,my Bth question, and the impossible
statement that follows it in the 9th answer. He says, " there
is now.a vessel of 250 tons .lying moored in Ariirossan.by a
hawser." How am Ito understand such an anibiguity,-or be-
lieve such an impossibility ? . Probably Mr. Auld means that
such a verse] is secured to .pests on the. shore by a hawser—
or if not so, that she is so riding bye kedge and hawser,and
if she is so riding, it logically follows that she is not moored !
for two anchors are always
necessary to moor by—so 1111..
Auld is wrong again ! But .he has not. told us a word
about a vessel of ten or twelve feet water being able to run
into Ardrossan, and ride out a gale from the north-west,
with
and float out the .gale withoutnwithoutt
g
Mr. Auld knows nothing about it—but yet he: that such
roundtwingo anchors
at
the a-head,
cables veered to the clinch. No,
can be done at Troon
.by a vessel of greater draught and
he charges me with a disposition to keep theanelanchaly fate
of the brig Eliza in the shade That object can 1 have in do-
ing. so ? All I know of the subject is the report that her cables
were rotten and parted,.and that she consequently drone aslAre
—but that was not the fault of Troon ! Was she, however, the
only collier stored with bad cables ? The Industry of Saltcdats,
according to Mr. Auld, could answer in the negative. Her old
Junk gave way in-. Belfast Loch, the best and safest harbour
roads, or bay, on the northern coast, there not being a stone ia
it to rub a-cable. In the commencement of his letter-he-spMks•
of the superiority of Ardrossan, and in a few minutes after be
says, " the amount of my argument was simply this—tbat-ves-'
sell which could enter Troon, could also, with equal facility,
enter-Ardrossan !" He,himself, William Auld, has proved
that it is not a fact, and I agree with him ! Vessels can enter,
and be. safe in Troon, with good anchors and cables, that would
knock their keels off in Ardrossan.
Such, Mr. Auld, is the opinion of many other seamen, as
well as that of your humble .opponent. But I have been
brought up in the wrong: school of war to take advantage .of a
vanquished foe. Hence it is that I shall pass-over many of the
discrepancies of Mr. Auld, aud,merely advise him, because he
is my senior in life, to be less positive in future—to relinquish
the, contemptible habit of ,sneering he has introduced in his
correspondence with him--and to believe me, (anti I have been
round, the world gathering proofs,) that civility is sterling coin
in all rational society ; and I can declare, of my own know-
ledge, that it passes current even among savages. , His
mean allusions and personalities .call .for • this counsel and in-
formation from me I lam obliged by the compliment in-
tended by • the quotation from " The . Wanderer -in Ayr.
shire.' I have no -reason to -blush, I think, for that juvenile
production. Although. .51r. Auld has.tixed this quarrel upon.
me, And punished himself, yet I. Wish Mr. Auld more success
in his future correspondence than he has had in this case ; more
ternpereit zeal, aml,better. information. By-bearing out my case
;against himself, he has only anticipated what I would have done
by -other authorities than myself—he has only saved me the
trouble of sanctioning them, verb. sat. , Vale
.1 _

H. CAMPBELL.

P. S. TheeeditOr has my best thanks for his impartial conduct.
In bidding him farewell, Afr. Auld may rest assured that I shall
not,give .up my vantage . ground, nor heed his future vague
notions.

. ,
Or! Sunday, the 2802 ult. the obsequies of the
late Count de STAgpoo were, solemnized at Paris, in the
church of 't. Philippe du Roule. The-funeral was attended by
.his son, the present. count de ST.Ac I`ool., his relatives and
friends. .Be died after a long and painful. illness, which he
endured with fortitude. lie his left hii son a noble inhe-
ritance.