The Sun.
London, England, 1819-11-04 00:00:00

FOR THE SUN.

Mr. EDITOR—I rejoice to see that your good
sense has preserved you from the deplorable ab-
surdity into which some of your brethren have
fallen. I allude to the credit which they arc
pleased to give to Mr. LAWRENCE DUNDAS, for
his candour, in recanting an atrocious calumny,
some days after it had been suffered to ferment on
the minds of a lawless rabble.

I am old enough, as I believe are you, to re-
member Coln.HoN, the bloodiest miscreant of the
French Revolution. This wretch, in a Speech
to the Convention, charged the Royalists of a
village about thirty miles from Paris, with a re-
cent massacre of several Patriots, and raised, like
the Yorkshire Broker, a wild howl of vengeance.
On leaving the house, St. JUST said to hint. " In
the Devil's name, Cotmtorr, what induced you to
forge that impudent lie, when you must know
that it will be detected in twenty-four hours i"
And what, replied COUTHON, do I want with the
lie after twenty-four hours 2 It will bave done my
business by that time.

That the falsehood of Mr. LAWRENCE DUNDAs
bad not the dreadful consequences of the execrable
CoUTHON'S fabrication, need not be attributed to
any sense of justice or humanity in the Speaker,
but to the disposition of his hearers. They hat.e
not yet been fleshed in blood but, let them once
have a taste of the sweets of murder and devasta-
tion, and the broad assertion, in the midst of
twenty thousand of them, that " the Yeomanry of
Manchester whetted their• swords for the occa-
sion,"—of falling upon the People, and it will
have all the effect which the warmest admirers of
the war-charge can desire.

Bu►t Mr, LAWRENCR DU Day did not know,
good easy man, that he was dissetninating an
odious and a dangerous falsehood. The hardi-
hood of this a;,)ology takes away the last shade of
respect for the character of the inventor. A Metn-
her of Parliament, a b►anch of a Noble Family,
an inheritor of vast wealth and influence, thinks

it consistent, with all thoe. advantages, to charge
a number of brave and loyal men with a deli-
berate purpose of savage cruelty—for what else
mean Mr. LAWRENCE DuNDAs's words of whetting
their it'ords for the occasion P—‘Vitbout a single

inquiry into the truth Of the accusation ! nay,
in the very face of a regular affidavit from the
workman who sharpened those swords, and who
states th,it it was done two months before the
Meeting at Manchester took place, and when suds
an event wzs not even in contemplation.

And this is " candour'." this is " the conduct
a of an English Gentleman !" It differs, un-
doubtedly, in some degree from that of 1-JuNT,
who made the very same charge in the very same
words, and has not, perhaps, yet met with one of
the insulted Yeomanry, or " a friend, of Whose
accuracy there can be no doubts," to induce him
to retract the atrocious accusation, Mr. LAW-
/if:I4CE DUNDAS took about a week to learnallie
truth--which, for more than'a months back, had
stared him.in the face, in every Periodical' Paper,
with the exception of The Black Dwarf and The
'Mr. HUNT may probably require a longer
pejod, but the time wiil come ; and we shall not,
therefore,- too eagerly question the Gentleman's
".candonr.",

It is delightful to contemplate the tenderness
winch these Reformers bear to a willing brother.
This horrid charge was made in the hearing of
Lord FITZ ILLIAM, Lord MILTON, the Duke of
NoaFot.x. (to ‘vhoun I wish an easy penance), Mr.
LAM Eros, and I know not bow many besides, of
whom it is more than probable that every one was
fully persamied of its falsehood, yet not a murmur
was raised against it by any of the party. These
gentle Radicals were content that it should drop,
and fester among the People, while WOOLER and
FtNNERTY stood idly by, pleased to see their ob.-
jcct for.v.irded by labourers in the field more effi-
cient than themselves.

Before Mr. LAWRENCE DUNDAS ventures again
to wotk upon the passions of a moh of Radi-
cals, he will probably think it necessary to inquire
into the foundation of the crimes with which be
is disposed' to burden his poll'ical enemies. He
roust see, by this time, the pitiable light in which
be stands. What security have his hearers io their
teliance ;you Isis facts ? And whete are the limits
of credulity operating upon weakness, and both
trpou prejudice to be fixed i Some other accredited
friend may whisper in his east some other refuta-
tion of falsehood; and while I am ~riting to you,
Mr. L. DUNDAS may be contemplating a fresh tx-
erciie of his " candour,'' its the seuunciation of
a second " too hasty charge !" Ile this as it may,
yc,u have done well in withholding your praise
11 ,;fll such a mockery of all genuine feeling, and
hrin9ur, and 1 trust your example will not be
lost.---1 am, Sir,

Yours, &c.

N. F.