Star.
London, England, 1829-11-24 00:00:00

THE GARTH PAPERS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAR.
their values great ;
And I am something curious, being strange,
To have them in safe stowage: may it please you
To take them in protection?—

Willingly :

And pawn mine honour for their safety."
Sitaaasramut--Csonieline.
Sta,—l have shewn, that in the first instance, Cap-
tain GARTH could have nu interest in adding to the
amount °this debts pending the agreement, sufficient to
induce him to • risk the non-performance of that agree-
ment, because the additional sum to be advanced for the
liquidation of his fresh incumbrances, would, as he was
well aware, be deducted from the annual income to be
paid him ; and secondly, that he had fulfilled his volun-
tary promises of reducing the amount at which his debts
were first estimated, by disputing some of the demands
against him, as Mr. WESTMACOTT has sworn he did.
With one more observation, I shall pass from
this ground of complaint :—the arrangement, or settle-
ment of these debts, was taken entirely out of Captain
GARTH'S hands ; the money was not to be at his disposal,
but to be paid by Sir HERBERT TAYLOR, or General
GARTH, or any person of their appointment: they in-
curred no responsibility beyond the amount specified to
them and undertaken to be paid by them, and they
adopted every possible means of securing themselves
from any liability beyond a specific sum.
The charges therefore against GARTH resolves them-
selves into the suspicion of having " caused copies
of the documents, papers, and correspondence, or some
part thereof, to be made, and that he kept back the
same." But even this accusation rests merely
upon " the belief' of Sir HERBERT . TA YLOR,
who says "., he has no doubt that the assertion
of the complainant, that nothing had been kept back, was
untrue." Now, considering the prejudice which Sir
HERBERT entertained against the complainant—consi-
dering the decided repugnance which he had expressed
to hold any personal communication with GARTH, and
the full persuasion he felt even pending the negotiation,
that GARTH "never intended to perform the agreement,"
I do think that Sir HERBERT TAYLOR was bound, in
case where he had laid aside all delicacy in his treatment
of the complainant, to adduce some proof more substantial
and more satisfactory to the Court, than his own personal
belief, and his " having no doubt" of the intentions
of the party, who had been compelled by the conduct
which Sir HERBERT, adopted in consequence 'of his own
mistrust, to file that Bill in Chancery for the restitution
of his rights, to which the affidavit now under consider-
ation purports to be an answer. Sir HERBERT is too
conscientious and too honourable a man to speak of his
own knowledge in the matter ; and as it is evident that
his belief is founded upon the representations of some
other person! I do think, therefore, that, in justice to
himself, and in justice to Captain GARTH, he should
produce the affidavit of his informant in corrobora-
tion of his statement. Even Mr. WESTMACOTT,
who so far from betraying any " compunctious visitings"
in the abandonment of his AGENCY, or disclosing the
knowledge he obtained in that capacity, has displayed
somewhat of Roman fortitude in devoting his quondam
friend to destruction, hesitates in confirming the charge,
and confines his deposition on this point in stating, that'
" the complainant stated to him (WESTMACOTT) that
the said box contained not only all the said 'documents,
papers, and correspondence, but also all such copies of,
or extracts from the same, or any of them, as were then
in existence ; which statement he has since discovered to
be wholly untrue." But Mr. WESTMACOTT is not a jot
more explicit than Sir HERBERT TAYLOR, as to the
means of his discovery, or the sources of his information.
If it be indeed true that GA RTH caused attested copies
to be taken of the documents—however inexcusable
such an expedient might be under ordinary
circumstances—it must still be admitted, atm
by the most " rigidly righteous," that a MS
so peculiarly situated as he has been throughout
life, cannot be fairly judged by the established usages of
society ;—for when the mind has been so long habituated
(as GARTH'S has been) to the consciousness of an over-
powering mystery—when all his faculties have been de-
voted to the development of that mystery—when it has
become the very business of his existence to penetrate
the innermost recesses of that labyrinth in which his
destiny seemed involved ;—and when at last he has found
the clue—if he then pertinaciously clings to the means
of self-protection—if, for his own preservation,he resorts
even to practises which in the every day occurrences of
social life we should pronounce disingenuous and lase; are
we to measure his conduct by the untuitigating standard
of rigid morality ? Are we to make no allowances for the
vicissitudes through which he has past, or the tempta-
tions by which he has been beset ? His whole course of
being has been a troubled course of doubt and
of mistrust: and where he should have found friends,
protectors and advisers,—where the voice of Nature
should have spoken hope and consolation to his heart,—
where examples of honourable dealing should have been
held out to him, he found nothing but treachery and
deceit—delusive promises and selfish speculations--the
violation of all natural affections—the disregard of all
human sympathies—and the denial of all right and justice.
Of what advantage is the uncantroverted splendor of
his descent? To him it has hitherto been a curse—and
the pretext for persecution. If he be placed by the cir-
cumstances of his birth out of the pale of legal recog-
nition, should he not by that very privation possess a
stronger claim upon the protection of his " reputed"
parents? If they wilfully incurred the penalty of a
pramunire, by the solemnization of an illegal marriage,
the indemnity they_ have been permitted to enjoy should
at least have taught them to extend the advantages of
their security to the unconscious offspring of that " re-
puted union." But we have seen, in his case, " the
agent of a nameless and irresponsible principal"
assume the right which even his " reputed
father" did not attempt to exercise,—proclaim-
ing his desire of having the documents expla-
natory of his birth, destroyed;—bargaining with him for
their possession ; and having obtained a temporary control
over them as a Trustee, then refusing to perform the
agreement upon which they were confided to his keeping ;
and boldly calling upon the highest Law Officer of the
British Crown to exonerate him from the fulfilment of a
solemn compact, and submitting to the Higb Court of
Chancery that " he is not 'bound be perform the agree-
ment, and that be ought not to be compelled by a Court
of Equity to permit to be given up to the complainant,
the box and its contents."
But have the legal advisers of Sir HERBERT TAYLOR
been so remiss in their duty as not to guard him against
the injury he may thus do to the cause of " the indivi-
duals in whom he takes an interest ?" Is he not aware,
or have they never apprised him, of the validity that he
nay thus give to all GARTH'S statements, by an endea-
vour to suppress the original documents ? Do they for- .
get that by one glorious principle of our laws the destruc-
tion or loss of an origiMi document, when adequately

proved, gives all the force of legal evidence to an at-
tested copy ? If those who have the charge of, or any
controul over, the mysterious papers in question, once
attempt to trifle with that trust ; —if they once
commit themselves by any one act—direct or indirect—
so far as that GARTH can raise a reasonable suspicion in
the public mind that he has pot had fair play—they not
only compromise their own reputations, but make out
such a case. for him as they can never afterwar&
prejudice.
And here my commentaries cease, as far as Si: H.
TAYLOR has been—unwillingly I am sure—concerned
in the affair. However, my love of truth and justice may
have impelled me to cast aside all reserve in canvassing
his conduct, and to speak of him as he appeared involved
in the unamiable intricacies of a tr‘pciation so repugnant
to the high principles of honor, which have distinguished
him throughout his long and meritorious professional
career ; I am fully persuaded that he himself deeply de-
plores the emergency in which the tranquillity of those
who alone are interested in the transaction, required the
effectual interposition of an individual whose station in
society gave weight to his exertions, and whose grateful
feelings to one exalted relative of the parties, and his
veneration for the memory of another, could only have
induced him to put his own self-esteem and his well-
earned popularity to so severe a test as they have lately
undergone.
As for the colleague with whom he condescended to
associate, I shall devote but a slort space to the consi-
deration of his services. Mr. WESTMACOTT hai as-
cribed the extinction of the friendly feeling Which he
once professed for Captain GARTH, to his indignation on
discovering that the latter had " surreptitiously caused
copies of some of the papers to be mode."—Now, giving
Mr. WESTMACOTT all the credit he can desire for the
honourable notions attributed to him by The Standard,
I beg to ask what would a gentleman of such acute sen-
sibility and refined principles, think of a confidential
friend,—one who " acted in no other right than as a
friend and agent," who could be prevailed upon for the
sum of Two THOUSAND POUNDS, to betray the sacred
trust reposed in him, and "surreptitiously" ABSTRACT
" SOME OF THE PAPERS" from that very Box ?
" I pause for a Reply."
• Nov. 24, 1829. JOI-IN OLDHAM,

THE POETESS.'

FROM THE FRENCH.

Tho' Came is reputed fair,
And famed a poetess—'tis rare
How Time each mystery pierces!
Two trifling faults poor Chloe has.
Size makes her face—but. out alas!
She does not make her verses.
PETER SCHLEMIHL.

BRIGHTON, Nov. 22.

The Marquis of Lansdowne is arrived, and has apartments at
the Royal York.
The Hon. Mr. Shore is visiting Lord Teignmouth in Regency-
square. Sir G. Robinson, Ban. is arrived.
The Dowager Lady Dudley, from the Sea Howe Hotel, re-
moved to her residence in lkyanston-square yesterday. Her
Ladyship is expected to return in about a fortnight.
Captain Parry has left the Marine Hotel for Paris, via Dover.
Lady Mary Sheppard. with her Deice. is arrived at this hotel. Mr
and Mrs. Vernon Smith left it yesterday for their seat, Cheam, in
Surrey.
Cape! Cust and Lady Cockburn Campbell, are arrived ; the
former in Regency-square.
The Hon. C. I eslie and family are in the departure list.
Lord and Lady Holland continue to improve in health. Mrs.
Fitsberbert is remaining at her Stryne mansion.
The Countess of Aldborough is prolonging her, stay at the Royal
;York. Mr. Brooks GreuNk and the Count Mornay are at the
SlThairs mosaic gold warehouse is a morning resort
leith the Ladles.

IMPORTANT DISCOVERY.—At a meeting of the
?krauslogical Society held in Panton-square, on Mon-
day evening, the Learned Lecturer, in developing, on
Scientific principles, the various predominant traits of
national character, as they were exhibited in the organic
structure of natural skulls, announced a discovery which
we shall recommend to the immediate attention of Mr.
BUCKINOHAM ;—for the Phrenologist gravely assured
the numerous and respectable auditory assembled on the
occasion, that the conquest of Hindostan, and its long
possession by such a handful of Europeans as the Eng-
lish, were entirely owing to the smallness of the head
which is so peculiar to the Hindoos 1 The addition of an
inch and a half to each skull, would, in his opinion, have
prevented a successful invasion of their territory, and
would certainly have rendered it impossible for us to have
retained our influence in that quarter of the globe.
COVENT-GARDEN TIIEATRE.—Lsst night Miss
FANNY KEMBBLE made her nineteenth appearance as
Juliet, and received, as usual, the warmest applause.
Those who are well acquainted with the style and manner
of Mrs. Stn DONS, must admire Miss KEMBLE in the
act of displaying that which a virtuoso would call an ex-
cellent copy of a fine original; and when it is known there
is no established school for the stage, we feel th:tt a
pupil cannot study a better model. The house displayed
an elegant auditory, and if we may judge from the ap-
plause they bestowed, Miss FANNY has increased her
stock of public favour.
WEST LONDON THEATRE.Last night this little
Theatre was re-opened, under very promising auspices,
perhaps never more so. During the two or three weeks
it remained closed, it has undergone sundry alterations,
both of a convenient and ornamental nature ; a rather
splendid chandelier has also been introduced. The pieces
chosen for the occasion were of such a kind as could not
fail,to ensure success even with performers of a secondary
order, which was not the case in the present instance.
—An adapted edition of the Marriage of Figaro, under
the title of A Day of Folly, or the Spanish Wedding,
led off the performances ; the cast was nearly similar to
what the public have been accustomed to when the same
piece is represented at the Haymarket Theatre ; and in
justice to Vining and Williams, who, by the bye, bids fair
to be a sterling actor, together with A. Lee, Melrose,
Mrs. Waylett, Miss A. Tree, &c. we have rarely seen
them in better spirits. The piece throughout was most
respectably sustained. Mrs. Waylett introduced the
song of "the Soldier's Tear" with great feeling and
effect. The house was crowded from the pit to the
ceiling shortly after the doors were opened.
CHARLES KEMBEE and Miss FANNY KEMBLE have
received highly flattering offers from the Theatres at
Bath, Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Liverpool, to perform
there during the run of the Christmas Pantomime at
Covent-Garden. It is estimated that the receips arising
from Miss KEN nin's performances of Juliet have in-
creased the revenues of that house to the extent of
,200 a-week.
_ _ _

It is a " curious coincidence" in the character of our
rival stars in the theatrical ffrmanent, that they have each
written a tragedy. Everybody has heard of Miss
KEKBLz's " Francis the First," but we believe few
persons, except the immediate friends of Miss PHILLIPS,
are aware that that young lady has produced a work
which has been honoured by the approbation of the
judges in such matters.

FASHIONABLE INTELLIGENCE.