Star.
London, England, 1829-11-23 00:00:00

THE GARTH PAPERS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAR.
•• their value's great i
And I un somethlas carious. being strange.
To have them In safe 'mange : may It please you
To take theta to proteedura—

Willingly :

And pawn mine honour for their safety."
Suactsruss—Cyrabeliste.

SlR—Before I proceed fuif.ier in the exposition of the
glaring inconsistencies into which Sir HERBERT TAY-
LOR has been betrayed by that implicit confidence which
a generous and unsuspecting nature too readily imposes
in the insidious representations of artful and designing
miscreants ; it behoves me to notice the altered position
of all the parties involved in the affair.. When I as-
serted, in my letter of Friday last, that " the only testi-
mony that could give unequivocal validity to Sir H R-
BERT TAYLOR'S plea of GA AT ti's having iinproporly
possessed himself of the mysterious papers, was " the
ajfdavit of General GARTH to the fact of his having
surreptitiously obtained them," and observed that " such
an affidavit was still wanting ;"—I was ignorant of the
_ . .

event which hasr emoved for ever the possibility of obtain-
ing that conSmatory evidence. The subject must now be
considered as having =wined a totally different aspect ;
since it is but reasonable to conclude, that whatever

resentment General GA ET It may have entertained towards
his " reputed son," he would not, on' his death-bed, have
withheld from the unfortunate offspring of a most unfor-
tunate union, the fullest knowledge that he could impart
of the mystery in which every circumstance—even the
most minute--connected with his birth, was enveloped ;
but that on the contrary he would, in that awful hour,
have calmed his own conscience, by doing all the justice
that was then in his power, to a person towards whom
he stood in so peculiar a relation, by making him
the only depository of all the papers and corres-
pondence, and all the evidence, oral and documentary,
which he possessed, elucidatory of those circum-
stances ; " papers and documents," as you, Sir, have
so justly observed, " which nobody has so great
a right, because nobody so great an interest, to possess as
Captain GARTH." We must therefore look upon
them—if indeed they be still in existence—as the in-
disputable property of Captain GARTH ; —for to him—
on the death of his " natural or reputed father," they
must of right belong ; and any pretext for longer with-
holding them, or questioning his title to their possession,
must be founded upon grounds very different from the
charge of having surreptitiously obtained them.—At all
events, the inference which I deduced from the reluctant
admissions of Sir H. TAYLOR and Mr. WESTMACOTT,
relative to the illness of General GARTH, seem fully
borne out by all the concomitant circumstances : but if I
could still doubt that GENERAL GARTH, in the antici-
pation of a fatal result to that illness, haiplaced the do-
cuments in the hands of his " reputed son" that he
might possess an indefeasible claim upon the protection
of his surviving relatives, I should find " confirmation,"
to my mind " strong as proof of holy writ," in the inde-
cent eagerness with which a paper under the control of
one of the antagonist parties, and in the interest of all—
has branded the memory of the " reputed father" with
ingratitude, before hisilifeless remains had been consigned
to the grave !—" Ingratitude"—to whom ? " to the illus-
trious family that made him what he was." This is in-
deed a most extraordinary charge, coming as it does
from a paper of which Mr. WESTMACOTT is " the re-
puted proprietor"—that very Mr. WESTMACOTT
who was, himself, a party to the negociation
in which General GARTH was actually engaged
in endeavouring to , sacrifice the interests of his
" reted son" to the wishes of those nameless persons
in whom Sir HERBERT TAYLOR " took an interest."
The first inconsistency that now demands attention is
the statement of Sir HERBERT TAYLOR, that " the do-
cuments, topers, and correspondence, were of great or
considerable importance, but not of any just and legiti-
mate value. In the course of the treaty which took place
between him and complainant, it was never so alleged or
insinuated." The distinction which is here attempted to
be drawn might be creditable to the chicanery of a petti-
fogging attorney ; but it certainly reflects no credit upon
a gentleman of Sir HERBERT TAYLOR'S consideration in
society. It is admitted that tbe papers related directly to the
facts of Captain GARTH'S birth ; mid although they might
not be available in a court of law—since the " reputed
marriage," of which he was the " reputed issue," was a
violation of the celebrated marriage-act (which followed
upon the Dolce of CUMBERLAND'S marriage with Mrs.
HORTON) yet in a moral point of view, they furnished
the strongest claims to a provision suitable to the circum-
stances of his birth : and at all events, it says little for
the discretion of a negotiator, who could be induced to
offer a " moiety of eigbt thousand pounds, and an annuity
of £1200" to a young man of seven or eight and twenty,
for papers, which were not even " alleged, or insinuated
in the treaty," to be " of any just or legitimate value."
In another part of the affidavit, we read that " On the
23d of November, 1828, at another meeting, between Sir'
HERBERT, Mr. WESTMACOTT, and Mr. WILLIAMS'
the terms of the agreement were re-stated end renewed.
He, Sir HERBERT, was anxious and eager to carry the
agreement into execution, but owing to the breaches of
agreement on the complainant's part, the agreement ought
Sol to have been, and could not for any reasonable pur-
pose be, carried into execution." Up to this day, the 23d,
the complainant stood on the vantage ground—he yet re-
lained possession of the box ; and as Sir HERBERT. TAY-
LOR then found that " the agreement ought not to have
been, and could not for any reasonable purpose
be, mailed into execution," he- owed it to his own
self-respect, to his own honor and dignity, to have
withdrawn from the negociation altogether ; but
tie Ind in the very next sentence, that notwith-
standinwthe outrageous " breaches of agreement on the
part of the complainant," SIR HERBERT returned to
the charge, and " on the 24th day of November, he
(Sir HERBERT) by the appointment of Mr. WESTMA-
COTT, made at the meeting on the preceding day, went
to the house of Mr. WESTMACOTT in Adam-street,
Adelphi, and there found a box, which Mr. WESTMA-
COTT alleged to contain all the documents, papers, and
correspondence, &c." So, here, on the 23d we have
the negociation apparently broken off, on account of
" the breaches of agreement on the complainant's part;"
and on the 24th—the very 'next day !—we have the
mysterious box and still more mysterious papers delivered
up by this intractable complainant, owing to whose
" breaches of agreement, the agreement ought not to have
been, and could not for any reasonable purpose be, carried
into execution."—From that day, be it observed, we have
Mr. WEST)! ACOTT'II authority for stating that " the
annuity was to commence," but we soon have Sir HER-
BERT TAYLOR'S declaration, that " he was fully per-
suaded the complainant never intended to perform the
agreement, but to use the same as the means of obtaining
money;" and that so far from reducing the amount of
his debts, as he had undertaken todo by a rigid investiga-
tion of the demands made upon him, GARTH " COD-