Star.
London, England, 1827-01-13 00:00:00

r—• •7 • •
Declined to return it.
We would here gladly conclude the subject, but
complete a portrait, the shades AS well as the lights in
be inserted, and in their foib:es. as well as their g
qualities. Princes are the property of hivory. Ocean'
perpetually with official duty, which, to the 1
petiod of his life, he discharged witivahe utmns
punctuality, the Duke of Y tk was peculiarly nag i
' gent of his own affairs, and th- embarrassment
which arose in consequence were considerably increa
by an imprudent passion for the toll and for deep pla
Those unhappy propensities exhausted the funds wit'
which the nation supplied him liberally, and sometime
produced extremities which mu t have been painful t
a man of temper so honourable. The exalted height •
his rank, which renders it doubtless more difficult t.
look iro and regulate domestic expenditure, Loge h
with the engrossing duties of his it iyal Highness
office, may be admitted as alleviations, but not apoln
gies, for their imprudence.
A criminal passion of a different nature proved,
one part of the Duke of York's life, fraught with en .
sequences likely to affect his character, destroy
coafidence of the country in his efforts, and blight tL
lair harvest of national gratitude, for which he ha
toiled so hard. It was 'a striking illustration of t
sentiment of Shakspeare— •
The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices
n Make whips to scourge 1111.
The Duke of York married to Frederica, Princ
Royal of Prussia, September 29, 1791, lived with h
on terms of decency, but not of affection ; and the-Du
had formed, with a female called Clarke, a connexiol
justifiable certainly neither by the laws of religion not'
morality. Imprudently he suffered this woman to es;
press her wishes to him for the promotion of two or,
three Officers, to whose ptelerment there could be rap
other objection than that trey were recommended b
such a person. It might doubtless have occurred to'
Duke, that the solicitations of a woman like this
not likely to be disinterested ; and, in tact, she seems
have favoured one or two persons, as being her p
mourn—several for mere prospect of gain, which
had subordinate agents to hunt out fore—and one or t
from a real sense of goodnature and benevolence
The examination of this woman and her various pit
gate intimates before the House of Commons occu
that Assembly for nearly three months, and that with
inteseness of anxiety seldom equalled. The Duke
York was acquitted from the motion brought ag
him by a majority of eighty; but so strong was the
cry against him without doors, so much was the na
convinced that all Mrs. Clarke said was true, and so
could they be brought to doubt that the Duke of Y
was a conscious and participant actor in
.41 that per
schemes, that. his Royal Highness, seeing his uti
obstructed by popular prejudice, tendered to his Maj
the resignation of his office, which was accepted ace.
ingly, March 20,1809. And thus, as according to
mon, a dead fly can pollute the most precious unveil.,
was the honourable fame, acquired by the services onli
lifetime, obscured by the consequences of what the pig
world would have termed a venial few ty. The warn*
to those of birth and eminence is of the most seriotis allE
tore. This step had not been long taken, When the Mist le,
which the question was involved began to dispersf The
public accuser in the House of Commons, Col. Ward,.
was detected in some suspicious dealings with the pri-
pal witness, Mrs. Clarke, and it was evidently expect
of' gain that had brought this Lady to the bar .as
evidence. Next occurred, in the calm moments of re-
trospect, the great improbability that his Royal High-
ness ever could know on what. terms -she negociatad
with those in whose favour she solicited. 'lt may wdl
be supposed she concealed the motive for interest*
herself in such as were 'his own favoured rivals; and
what greater probability was there, that she should elt•
plain to him her mercenary speculations, or distinguish
them from the intercessions which she made upon more
honourable motives' When the matter of accusatiim
was thus reduced, to his Royal Highness's having bee,
in two or three instances, the dime of an artful womb,
men began to see, that when once the guilt of entettala-
ing a mistress was acknowledged, the disposition lb
gratify such a person, who must always exercise.a
natural influence over her paramour, follows as a
matter of course. It was then that the public cob
pared the extensive and lengthened train of public •
vices by which the. Duke had distinguished himself js
management of the army, with the trifling foible
having granted one or two favours, not in the
improper, at the request of a woman who had such
portunities to press her suit; and, doing to his Royal
Highness the justice he well deserved, welcomed him
back, in May, 1811, to the situation from which he had
been driven by calumny and popular prejudice.
In that high command his Royal Highness continued
to manage our military affairs. During.the last jrcutrsof
the most momentous war that ever was waged, his Royal
Highness prepared the most splendid victories our ant a s
boast, by an unceasing attention to the character ar d
talents of the Officers, and the comforts and health of the
men. Trained under a system so admirable, our army
seemed to increase in efficacy, power, and even in num-
bers, in proportion to the increasing occasion which the
public had for their services. Nor is it less a praise than
when the men so disciplined returned from scenes of
battle, ravaged countries, and stormed cities, they te-
assumed the habits of private life as if they had newer
left them; and that of all the crimes which the crimiaal
calendar presents (in Scotland at least), there are not
above one or two instances in which 'the perpetrators
have been disbanded soldiers. This is a happy change
since the reduction of the Army, after peace with Ame-
rica in 1783, which was the means of infesting the
country with ruffians of every description ; and in the
prison of Edinburgh alone, there were six or seven dis•
banded soldiers under sentence of death at the unmans..
This superintending care, if not the. most gaudy, is ansoirest the
most enduring flowers which will bloom over the Duke of York's
tomb. It gave energy to Britain in war, and strength to her it
peace. It combined tranquillity with triumph, sod morality with
the habits of a niilitary life. If our soldiers have been found hi.
vincible in battle, and meritorious in peaceful society, when restore)
to its bosom, let no Briton forget that this is owing to the paters*
caret( him to whose memory we here offer an imperfect tribute.
—Edinburgh Wald, Jouraoh •

On the 4th inst. an Inquest was taken at West Writ-
ting, Cambridgeshire, on. ♦iew of the body of Mary
Ann Mean, about ten years of age, who died in conse-
quence of wounds and bruises inflicted by lter father and
mother. From the evidence, it appeared, tharthe inhu-
man parents had frequently chastised the unforr.--
child with the greatest severity and barbarity.
returned a verdict of Manslaughter against
Mean, and Mary Ann, h.s wife, who were
for trial at the ensuing Assizes.

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▪ in con's-
' father awl
C the ice:
taint tnnate
▪ The Jury
William