Litchfield enquirer., 1870-06-30
THE SINS OF THE FATHERS UPON
 THE CHILDREN"

On Saturday, in an obscure village where he had sought concealment under a false name, died Lord Arthur Clinton, at the age of thirty-fou The cable would not have burdened itself with the news, but for the horrible notoriety which within the last few weeks had attached itself to the name of this young man, already dishonored by prohigate extravaganza and bankrupt in fortune. All England has been deeply stirred by the revolting revelations brought out during the investigation before Lon- don Police Court which followed on the arrest of two young men disguised as wo- men. Among the many compromised in the horrible affair was the young man who died on Saturday. A warrant was issued for his arrest and he fled. The excitement brought on brain fever, and lie died pro- testing in the most solemn manner his innocence. The unbappy young man came of an ill-fated family. though some of the noblest blood in England coursed in his veins. His father was the Duke of Newcastle, nobleman of more than aver- age ability, who had held places in more than one liberal ministry. His mother was the daughter of the Duke of Hamilton, member of family the noblest in blood among the great houses of Scotland and connected with royalty. This lady left her husband and fled with a lover. She was divorced, and, if yet alive, lives in obscur- ity. Her mother was the daughter of the famous Beckford, who wrote s'Vatheck, '' aud whose great wealth and extravagant style of living is still remembered both in England and in the various countries of Europe through which he travelled with al- most royal magniicence. Beckford was a man of great ability, cousummate taste in art, and writer whose works are not yet forgotten. He spent his last years in .ob- scurity, having lost the greater portion of his fortuue, and summed because he was suspected of practicing the same nameless crime of which his great grandson who died on Saturday was accused. The broth CT of Lord Arthur Clinton, the present Duke of Newcastle, is bankrupt. His magnificent fortune was wasted on the turf, and his estates are III the hands of his creditors. His cousin, the Duke of Ham ilton, also the great grandson of Beckford has wasted the enormous fortune, into the possession of which he came but few Years since, and lives in Paris. He is a near relative, through his mother, Princess of Baden, of the Emperor Napoleon. Could Beckford have foreseen the fate o1 his descendants he might have added an other chapter to the work in which he de scribes the horrors of the Hall of Eblis. Some of our contemporaries speak of the late Duke of Newcastle, the father of Lord Arthur Clinton, as having been the hero oi Disraelis brilliant novel, "Coningsby.'
 This is mistake. The hero of that work was the late Lord Strangford, who when g young man gave promise of a brilliant fin
 ture which he never fulfilled. The work
 if we remember rightly. for we have not seen a copy for some years, is dedicated "to the blue-eyed boy, the hope of Eng
 land" He died a few years since having failed to achieve any political reputation
 and having, indeed, covered himself with ridicule by duel. The career of the Mar
 quis of Hastings, the bankruptcy of two Dukes, and the horrid scandal which un
 doubtedly caused the death of Lord Arthur Clinton, are evil auguries for the future ot the nobility of England, though it would be as absurd as unjust to accept these graceless young men as types of their class