The Sun.
London, England, 1826-07-18 00:00:00

THE SNOW ON FIRE IN SCOTLAND.

In the zeal of our correspondents to furnish us with the
particulars of the recent fires in the upland districts, we
find they have been led to hazard conjectures as to their
origin, and to state circumstances regarding_ their progress,
not altogether consistent with the facts. We now state,
from authority, that the first appearance in Braemar was
on the west side of the water of Clunie, above Achindrine,
on Saturday the 24th ult. when the adjoining tenantry
on the Invercauld estate, along with those of Lord Fife,
in the neighboerhood, immediately turned out, and kept
it from spreading very far beyond where it had originally
commenced. This fire was originated by a young man
formerly insane, and pronounced "Fatuous" since he has
been lodged in gaol. About the same time as the above
fire commenced, the heath at the head of Glengelder was
also set fire to ; but 'being at such a distance it created
little uneasiness till Sunday, when the Balmorral tenantry
turned out to arrest its progress, It spread, however, so
rapidly towards Lochnagarbh and Invercauld forest On the
west, and on the east towards Abergeldie, that the ad-
joining tenants on both these estates simultaneously
came in the evening to give their assistance. The
wind being favourable for the Invercauld tenants, they suc-
ceeded in preventing the fire reaching either the forest
or snow of Lochnagarbh; but it was not till after a con-
siderable extent of
damage was done in 'the Abergeldie
.
estate, that the tenants there succeeded in stopping it.—
Neither had any connection with those in
olieuhrner ofuiektl; fires
previon
they would have had to cross
'either the river or loch before reaching that quarter. The
primary cause of all these fires was neither lightning , nor
the reflection of the son but as a precognition is now
now going on, relating to them, we forbear saying more at
present on the subject.— en Chronicle.
[Our readers will no doubt beat a loss to conceive why
the Highlanders should .be aftstid that fire should reach
their snow and melt it. We have heard an anecdote
mthaayt iedtxprleafiea rrtehdia. to
Atheertidsn
(though 'we cannot say
nowproo-f
his lands as long as the snow lies on
p roi
ec ht
onragi
sa raab
said to
whhoiledh
a mountain on the estate; and that if any extraordinary
warm summer should entirely melt it, these lands would
revert to the superior. Tradition adds, that one season
the snow melted most alarmingly, until only a very small
heap remained on the summit of the mountain. A sort of
pot or caldron was carried tip and inverted over it to pre-
vent its total liquidation, and the ensuing winter brought
so abundant a supply, that the pot has never since been
seen, but remains buried in the midst of (it is hoped) eter-
nal snows.)

_
Mr. BARON GRAIIANI.— Lae ~.i
enience. A
ed Jude has in hearing is a great source
d°fhiiiimeZ: in the box,
er----1 a'fficUity this learn-
witn"" during a trial on Friday PreeOtte- -
_The Judge
when the tBlowing conversation took pace: --The ~ The
What are you, six ?,, Witness 4, A lath-river."
mv Lord,
Judge , " Oh! a cattle-driver. "—Counsel : " N°l -' a •
ft last- river
a lath-river." The Judge: " Oh, very good," - 1
(emphatically.) 'What, you make lasts for shoemakers, sup-
poke
pose ?"—W4IIO : " No, toy Lord ; to
.do..
with them.".....v-
--utviel: " The witness, my Lord, is a lath
river" (distinctlY.) The Judge : " Oh, come, a person that
river,
drives laths ; what that ?"—Co 8; " A lath r--r--river,
who rives laths." ILI Lordship at length comprehended the
I have nothing
word. The sane day a witness in another ease was proceeding
with his statement, when, after one of the pauses which wil•
noises are obliged to make to give the Judge time to take. down
.his previous answer, Mr. Baron Oraham addressed him thus;
" Well, Sir, you say lie stole some sheep ?" 'Mr. Dowling) the
examining Counsel : "My Lord he has not said a word about
stealing sheep." The Judge: "Well, Sir, what did be say he
stole ?"—Witrites : " I never said he stole any thing at all, my
Lord."—Sunday Paper.

APPEAL to the PEOPLE of ENGLAND•

The excitement of the General Election haring now
subsided, and the public mind being no longer occupied
with that all-absorbing topic, the present period is em-
braced for recalling general attention to the following Ap-
peal, which, in the great national struggle now happily
closed, has been necessarily overlooked, though it is too
powerful to have been quite forgotten.
The case of Alr. :Buckingham (the late Editor 'of the Calcutta
Journal, and present Editor of the Oriental Herald) is now so
well known to the people of England generally, that any lengthen-
ed detail of his Wrongs and sufferings is no longer necessary. It
may suffice to state, that though-residing in Calcutta with a regu-
lar license of the East India Company, and conducting for a period
of five years a highly popular Journal, under the open counte-
nance and protection of their Government (to which it paid a
revenue of more than 4000/, sterling per annum), in postage
alone, and yielded to its proprietor a net profit of 8,0001. sterling
per annum), without having been ouv convicted of any libel,
public or private, during the wboloof that wriest he was badished
from-India without a trial or a hearing, for merely anticipating the
opinion of the Government in England, by mildly questioning the
propriety of a transaction, which was no sooner known by the
public authorities in this country than it received their severest
reprehension.

On leaving India, Mr. Buckingham indulged a strong hope of
his being permitted, by the Government at home, to return ; and
conceiving his establishment to be safe, under the protection of
thelaws, he reposed such confidence in the good faith of thelndian
Government, as, ttileave behind him, under the management of
his agents, property to the value of 30,000/., in printing materials,
books, buildings, and all the necessary appendages of a daily
paper and public library, besides a large balance of cash in his
banker's hands, for the purpose of conduct* his business in his
absence.
lie had scarcely reached England, however, before he learnt
that the government of India had taken immediate advantage of
his departure, to commence and pursne.a series of measures, by
which all the property left behind hint in materials and money
was entirely swept away ; his establiahmentlireibly transferred to
the hands of others; and a decree made by lie government, that
so long as he had any share of property in it, it should never be
suffered to go on, whoever might be its conductors, or whatever
the course of policy it Might pursue ; though the same concern
was allowed to be carried on for the benefit of the perion put into
full possession of all its value; without purchase or compensation,
by the very Government that had banished its lawful owner from
their shores.

Apprehending, in addition to this calamity, the accumulation
of debts, by his not being present to superintend the winding up
of his own affairs, Mr. Buckingham entreated permission of the
India Directors to return to Calcutta, for ever so short a period,
merely to gather up the wreck of his ruined concern, and stay the
tide of destruction which was fast overwhelming every thing he
possessed. But this bumble and reasonable request was cruelly
refused ; in consequence of which, the utter annihilation of his
property, and the anticipated accumulation of heavy debts, un-
happily occurred, and left him equally without hope of recovering
the losses of the past, or of being able to bearlup against the bur-
• t
thens of the future.
After an ineffectual struggle of nearly three years, during which
every legal and constitutional means of redress for his manifold in-
juries was tried in vain, the friends of Mr. Buckingham submitted
to the East India Company the following resolution :
" That the severe loss of property sustained by Mr. Bucking-
ham, in consequence of the measures of the Bengal Government
subsequently to his departure from India, having involved him in
pecuniary difficulties, which it could never have been within the
contemplation of the public authorities to occasion, but against
which no human foresight-on hi part could have Provided, and
these difficulties having been greatly augmented by the obsta-
cles which prevented him from returning to Calcutta for a short
period, to wind up hisairairs—,the Proprietors of East India Stunk,
animated solely by a desire to relieve that gentleman front the
embarrassments in which he is now unhappily Adungeti, earnestly
recommend to their Honourable Directors that there be granted
to Mr. Buckingham, from the funds of the Company, for the pur-
pose of assisting him to surmount his present difficulties, the sum
of 5,0001. sterling, being not more than one-eighth part of the
actual loss of property occasioned by the proceedings adverted to ;
assuring the Honourable Directors that they will meet with the
cordial support of this Court, in helping to repair misfortunes, and
alleviate sufferings, no doubt unwillingly witnessed and uninten-
tionally inflicted." _ _

This resolution was signed by the prescribed number of East
India Proprietors, of the highest rank and character, and Sub-
mitted to a ballot, when 157 independent votes declared in favour
of the resolution ; but the Directors having uniformly united to
defeat every prayer and hope of the supplicant, exerted their in-
fluence on this occasion also, to oppose his claims, and the humble
boon thus asked from their treasured millions was accordingly
denied !

Mr. Buckingham next appealed by petition to' the British Par-
liament, a majority of which thought his case one of such hardship
as to call for investigation ; and, on the motion of Lord John
Russell, by whom the petition was presented, a Committee was
granted to inquire into and report on the same.
The investigation was immediately entered into P • hut, before it
could be brought to a close, the dissolution of Parliament put an
end to all the petitioner's hopes. Such, hoWever, was the im-
pression created by the evidence produced, that the Chairman,
Lord John Russell, publicly declared that his conviction of the
hardship and cruelty of Mr. Buckingham's case bad been greatly
strengthened by the facts disclosed ; and that, after a most minute
examination of the conduct for whieh the petitioner was punished,
he considered it to be not merely blameless, but such as reflected
the highest honour on his character. _

The failure of this last hope that presented itself to the injured
individual, left him now no other course but that of submitting
to an appeal being made to the British publio on his behalf;
and Lord John Russell having undertaken to preside at a Public
Meeting to be called for that purpose, it was accordingly con-
vened.

Short as was the notice of this meeting, and highly disadvan-
tageous the period, from the circumstance of nearly all the public
characters having left town to proceed to the new elections, a very
numerous and highly respectable assembly appeared at the
Thatched House Tavern, on Saturday the Sd of June, at the hour
appointed, two o'clock, the room being filled to the very threshold;
when, after various addresses to the parties assembled, by Lord
John Russell, Mr. Kinnaird, Mr Hume, Sir Charles Forbes,
Mr. Hill, Mr. Lewin, Sir John Doyle, Mr. Butt, Dr. Gilchrist,
Mr. Bowring,, and Captain Maxfield (a full report of which is
liven in the Oriental Herald for the month of July), the sub-
joined resolution was put and carried unanimously :
" That the case of Mr. Buckingham appears to this Meeting to
be one of such unusual hardship and unmerited severity, as to give i
him the strongest claim on the benevolent sympathies of his fel-
low-countrymen;
and every other avenue of hope for immediate
relief being now unfortunately dosed—they earnestly solicit the
liberal Contributions of the British Public on his behalf, in order
to repair, in some degree, the ruin of his fortunes, and to rescue
his family from impending destruction." •
The following are extracts from an Address recently Sent out
to India, on Mr. Buckingham's behalf, at a period when it was
hoped that any appeal to the pablic of England would have been
unnecessary . but the urgent pressare of the embarrassments ad-
verted to, and the great length of time that must necessarily elope
before any returns can be had from that distant country, renders
the aid of the British community of die greatest importance ; and
in the hope of obtaining their cordial and general co-operation to
promote the speedy accomplishment of so desirable an end, the
statements it contains are accordinglysubmitted ai
eqy entitled
to their consideration
" The history' of Mr. Buckingham's life seeme to establish. for
him a powerful claim to respect and sympathy, from all who es-
teem persevering integrity. But his exertion's, when placed by
uall
circumstanc es in a public character ,--his loeses, his sufferings, and
his zeal in what be COnsidered a public duty, give him a more
especial claini on felkov subjects in India—Whether Native,
Atiglo-Indian, or .—in cause, as he conceived it
to'be, he has made shipwreek of his fortune ; and to whom he now
turns an eye of hope for sympathy and relief, in the hoiur of his
distress. _ _ _

" But there are circumstances in Mr. Buckingham's recent con-
duct, which none can well know or duly appreciate, except such as
have been resident nt England of late years. The testimony of
such persons may be of use to him at this crisis, and is the chief