The Sun.
London, England, 1821-08-08 00:00:00

I4HE LATE MARQUESS OF LONDONDERRY.

In our last we mentioned that the Dowager
Marchioness of LONDONDERRY and suite sailed
from Donaghadee to Portpatrick, and that her
Ladyship appeared much affected at leaving the
kingdom. That her loss will be sincerely la-
mented, in the whole circle of her numerous ac-
quaintance, we have too much reason to know,
but by no class of the community will it be so truly
felt, as by the poor. In compliment to the wishes
of the family we have hitherto refrained from
dwelling upon the virtues of the late Marquess,
and the loss sustained by the community in his
death ; but there are a few facts which have long
since come to our knowledge, and which we feel it
our duty, (in order to encourage others to " go
and do likewise") to make known. .During the
last years of the life of the late Marquess, his con-
tribution to the poor every Sunday was 3/. while
that of the other different members of his family
amounted to nearly the same sum ; and those
sums were not merely contributed when they
attended their place of worship, but, was any
member of the family prevented, by indisposi-
tion or the severity of the weather, from attend-
ing Divine Service, (and nothing but serious in-
disposition, or the very worst of weather ever
prevented this,) the poor were not thereby losers,
their contribution was regularly sent to the Mi-
nister or Churchwardens, with a note explaining
the cause of their absence ; in addition'to which
his Lordship paid an annual subscription of
thirty guineas to the Committee for manag-
ing the Funds of the Poor of the parish of
New townards, and similar subscriptions to each
of the other parishes in which he had estates.—
We are enabled upon good authority to state,
that he frequently desired the Clergyman of the
former to apply to him at any time when the
funds might not be sufficient to relieve the actual
necessities of the poor, and that he would make
up the deficiencies ; and that by those subscrip-
tions the committee were enabled to relieve the
wants of the poor in a manner quite unprece-
dented in this country.—And if to this we add
the, relief afforded at the mansion of this noble
family, and also by private donations from the
different members of it to the neighbouring poor,
we may form a slight estimate how much the loss
will be felt by those unfortunate members of so-
ciety.—The last act of this Nobleman is of that
nature which particularly deserves to be record-
ed : It will be recollected that when we an-
nounced his Lordship's death, we said that by
his express desire he was privately interred in
the family vault, none but his domestics attend-
ing : we did not then add, though we were aware
of the fact, in compliance with the wishes of the
family, that the reason his Lordship gave for
desiring to be privately interred was, that the
money which would be expended on a public fu-
neral would be much better laid out on the poor;
and he accordingly desired that the sum of 1001.
which he conceived his funeral might cost, should

be distributed among the poor of the parish of
Newtownards, where his principal estate lay ;
which sum was accordingly so appropriated, to-
gether with an additional sum of 1001. to the
poor of the other parishes (in the county) in
hich he had estates, in proportion to those
estates ; which latter sum was given by the
present Marquess, that the poor on the whole of
his father's estate might be put on the same
footing. There is another trait in his Lordship's
character which we will take this opportunity of

mentioning, not only to spew the utility of a resi-
dent landlord, but to encourage those who do re-
side, to follow his example. It was the usual
practice of his Lordship to settle all the dis-
putes and differences of the numerous tenantry
on his estates, thereby preventing their having
recourse to law, (and often ruining both parties;)
with this view he always encouraged any tenant
who considered himself aggrieved by another
_ _

to apply in the first instance to him, and having
called the other before him, he heard their stories,
and then endeavoured to reconcile them. If,

however, he failed in this, he then summoned the
witnesses on both sides, examined all parties
with the most persevering patience, careless
whether ,it required one, two, three, or more
days, and having summed up the whole,
he then pronounced his decision, giving at
the same time such powerful and substan-
tial reasons for it, as, though they might
fail of satisfying the person against whom the
decision was made, yet seldom failed of carrying
conviction, even to him, that it was founded in
equity; and it seldom happened that any appeal
was made from this decision to a Court of Law,
and wherever it did so happen, his Lordship's
decision was always confirmed. And to this
alone we must attribute a singular fact, that, for
upwards of half a century, not a single attorney
found it his interest to settle on his Lordship's
extensive estate in the county of Down, com-
prising a large extent of country, (together with
the populous towns of Newtownards, containing
between 3 and 4000 inhabitants, and Comber,
containing from 1 to 2000), and a most nume-
rous, wealthy, and respectable yeomanry, such
as in other districts have often given bread to half-
. .

a-dozen. In publishing those facts we feel that we
are not complying with the wishes of the family;
we are equally aware with them of the unobtrusive
❑ature of the late venerable Marquess, and that as
his actions and motives were free from ostentation,
so it would be far from his wish, were he still
living, that they should be blazoned abroad ;
there is however a duty which we owe to the
public, and part of that duty lies, in stimulating
those to virtuous actions and good deeds who have
the power of doing them ; and in this view we
should feel ourselves culpable were we'not to en-
deavour to excite others to imitate this venerable
and respected nobleman and his family in those
highly useful and in our estimation truly patriotic
virtues.

*** The foregoing article, which we have ex-
tracted from The BELFAST NEWS LETTER, of the
3d instant, contains so honourable a tribute to
departed worth, and holds forth so excellent an
example to persons in the same rank of life, that
we consider it as a duty of morality and justice to
insert it in our Paper.