The Sun.
London, England, 1828-12-16 00:00:00

DEATH OF MR. CURWEN, M.P.

(From the Carlisle Journal of Saturday.) •
It is this week our painful duty to announce the'delith of
Jelin Christian Curwen, Esq. M. P. far this county, who
died on Tuesday night last, in the 78d year of his'age
Mr. Curwen had been in a declining state of health for
nearly 12 months past, tkough not confined to his bed
until within the last ten days. About a fortnight ago he
was attacked with dysentery, wiith hurried him rapidly
oif, reducing him to a mere shadoW.
Mr. Curwen was born in July, 1756. His family
name was Christian, and he was deseendeii from an ancient
family iu the Isle of Man, of which island his eldest sun,
(by his first wife), John Christian, Esq. is at present one
-of the Deematers. In 1775 he married Margaret, daughter
of John Taubman, Esq. of Castletown, Isle of Man, who
died in 1778. He was again married at Edinburgh, on
the sth Oct. 1782, to Isabella, daughter :aid sole heir of
Henry Curwen, Esq. of Workington-hall; and in 1790
he assumed the surname and arms of Curwen. .By this
lady (who died on. ;he 21st April;
.1820, in the 55th
year of her age), he had six children, the eldest of whom,
Henry C. Curwen, Esq. suceeeds to the maternal estates.
In 1786 Mr. Curwen was called upon by the freemen
of Carlisle to come forward and assist them to resist un-
constitutional attempt of .Bir Junes Lowther, to destroy
their franchises by the introduetion of a large body of his
workmen as voters; Mr. C. at once came forward, and
was elected by- a large majority of the real freemen ; but
the Mayor accepted 428 of Sir James's mushroom voters,
and returned John Lowther, Esq., as member. Against
this return, Mr. Curwen petitioned, and was declared the
sitting member by a. Committee of the House of Commons.
From this time till 1812, he continued to be the popular
eepresontative of the city, and had frequent arduous and
costly contests with the Lowther faction, whom he in-
variably defeated.' On the dissolution of Parliament in
that year,,- however, some misunderstanding having arisen
betweeti Mr. C. and the freemen, relative to the part.
which he took in opposing a cruel and oppressive bill for
the banishment of Irish awl Scotch paupers, he wile met
upon his canvass with a degree-of coldness as unexpected.
as it was undeserved, and which induced him at once to
withdraw from the contest. -Henry Fawcett, Esq. of
Scaleby Castle, and Sir JaMes Graham, of Edmond Castle,
were elected ; but on the death of Mr. Fawcett, in 1816,
Mr. Curwen was again solicited to come forward ; and
hiving oiwyed the call of the freemen, was welcomed back
with great enthusiasm. In 1820 be was elected represen-
tative of the county, in which honourable situation he con-
tinued until his death.

Mr. Curwen was, emphatkally, the representative of the
people; and during the 40 years which he sat in the
House of Commons, he never shrunk from hiS duty, nor
neglected the interests ef his constituents. In the, midst of
corruption and venality his integrity remained unimpeached
and his independence uncomprontised. Thelfriend of evil
and religious liberty, lie omitted no opportunity of assert-
ing the right of the Catholics to all the privileges of the
Constitution, and of the people to a full and fair representa-
tion in Parliament. With a perfect knowledge of the re-
sources of the country, and fully-alive to the misery en-
tailed upon the people by excessive taxation, he was the
constant and unwearied fiirnd of economy and retrench-
tnent in the public expenditure. To him the public owe
the repeal and modification of many heavy and vexatious
taxes : the agricultural horse duty, the coastwise duty on
coals, stone, and slate, were repelled, the leather duty mo-
dified, and the salt tax reduced to a mere nominal amount,
through his exertions. Anti we may justly say, in the lan-
guage of his address to the freemen in 1812, " that he was
never allured by personal or selfish motives to sacrifice the
public interest to his own advantage." From the Minister
he never asked a favour for himself or his friends, and thus
preserved his independence as unfettered by the broils and
cabals of party, as unimpaired by time. •
Active and laborious, he was always at his post; and
the intervals between each Session of Pat !lament were em-
ployed in the cultivation and management of his farm,
an employment of whichbe was passionately fond.

To Mr. Curwen the county of Cumberland is deeply in-
debted for the improvement of its agricultme. By esta-
blishing "agricultural societies, and holding out encourage-
ment to the fat mer, Cumberland, instead of being one of the
worst, has become, at some sacrifice of pecuniary advan-
tage on his part, one of the best cultivated counties in
England. It has frequently been our lot to differ from Mr.
C. in his views• as to legiAative interference on behalf cf
Agriculture; but while we lamented what we conceived to
be his error, we could not but admire the honesty which
dictated them, and the manly openness of their avowal.
He is now gone ; but his nama will be for ever asso-
ciated with the independence of Carlisle, and the prosperity
of Cumberland.