THE LORD MAYOR AND MRS. FRAZER.

THE parade of mock humanity is a besetting sin. The way to get a handsome subscription to a chat ity, is to publish the names of the donors; and the honour of being placarded as president, patron, or trustee, is set up to sale. Only give an aspirant for notoriety the opportunity of figuring before the public as a remarkably humane person, and (especially if his humanity is to cost himself little) you may reckon upon his best assistance in any scheme for practising on the credulous and sympathetic. The conduct of the present Lord Mayor of London in the affliir of Mrs. FRAZER and the New Zea- land savages, as they are called, is a case in point. Mrs. FRAZER is the widow of the master of the Stirling Castle, a vessel wrecked on the coast of New Zealand. She was taken with some of the crew into the interior of the country, but escaped, and arrived some weeks ago at Liverpool, in a vessel called the Mediterranean Packet. She came to London, and pretending to be' in great dis- tress, applied to the Lord Mayor for relief; telling a long story of the horrible treatment she received from the New Zealanders. Her tale was given at great length in the newspapers, and the sympathy of the Lord Mayor with the poor lady's sufferings was repeatedly expressed, and as carefully reported. We regarded the whole affair with suspicion. There was something like de- ception in the theatrical style in which Mrs. FRAZER gave the account of her New Zealand adventures; and the treatment she received was inconsistent with our idea of the character of the New r Zealand people. We therefore did not transfer the long yarn to our columns. In the mean while, a subscription was set on foot for Mrs. Faszett, under the patronage of the Lord Mayor; whose humane interference was the theme of much penny-a-line praise. So far nobody had a right to complain : disgust was excited by the ostentatious mode in which his City Majesty's liberality and

softheartedness were displayed, but that was all. Subscriptions flowed in freely, and would no doubt have continued to be sent to the unfortunate lady, but for the unlucky publication of the follow- ing letter, which was actually sent to the Lord Mayor more than a month ago.

"Central Police•office, Liverpool. "My Lord—Finding that a person calling herself Mrs. Frazer, the widow of the unfortunate master of the Stirling Castle, has been making a statement to your Lordship in order to excite the compassion of the humane and obtain

money, I think it my duty to acquaint you that she landed here some few weeks back, and applied to me, detailing the same circumstances of distress as those

which appear to have interested your Lordship in her behalf. I communicated with the Mayor and parochial authorities of the town ; who most humanely entered upon the pleasing task of giving her effectual relief ; but, on the second interview I had with her, an evident exaggeration of her sufferings whilst in captivity caused a suspicion, and her relief was suspended till inquiries were made; when it turned out, that she had married in Sydney, New South Wales, the master of the vessel in which she arrived here (the Mediterranean

Packet ;) who is a man in yowl circumstances, and who, it now appears, ac. companied her to London—leaving his vessel here in dock—no doubt solely for

the purpose of raising money by imposing on your Lordship and the public. Her husband, whose name is Green, is the person who so warm-heartedly con- firmed her statement before your Lordship. " tier explanation upon the discovery of her imposition attempted here was, that her husband (Green) used her very ill, and she wished to go to London

and separate from him ; and he on being sent for agreed to furnish her with the means to go ; after which, however, they remained here some time, and I saw her on more than one occasion elegantly dressed. The mate of the vessel states that she had a very good wardrobe; and it is certain that, as the wife of Green, she cannot be in distress.

" I am, my Lord, your Lottlship's most obedient servant,

"M. M. G. DowLING, Commissioner of Police."

Will it be believed that the Lord Mayor, with this letter in his pocket, allowed the subscription which lie had set on foot to go on, knowing all the while, on the best authority, that the money was given under a delusion?

His Lordship kept the secret to himself, and never said a word about the fraud till yesterday, when the following letter appeared in the Herald.

"Mantionliuuse, 25th September.

" Mr. Editor—Having observed in the Miming Herald of the 27th inst. the copy of a letter sent from Liverpool to the Lord Mayor, relative to state- ments made by Mrs. Frazer, it becomes necessary, fur the satisfaction of those beneficent persons who came forward to alleviate her distresses, to say that the fact of her marriage with Captain Green was kept back by her on her first ap- plication to the Mansionliouse, but the Lord Mayor having received a letter from Lieutenant Otter fully substantiating the account of her sufferings and the murder of her husband (who bore a 'Host excellent character), as well as from the Reverend Peter Learinonth, minister of Stroinness, of the destitute state of the three children of Captain Fraser, determined to let the subscription pros ceed for their benefit; and Mr. Learinonth and the Kirk-session have under- taken for the same being dispensed in the manner most conducive to their future welfare, Mrs. Green herself receiving but a moderate sum for necessaries, and to convey her to Stromness. " I am, Sir, your obedient servant, THOMAS KELLY, Mayor."

But the Lord Mayor should have informed the public, that Captain and Mrs. GREEN were well able to support the children themselves ; that the lady could afford to dress gaily, and that her husband was a man in good circumstances. A correspon- dent of the Globe says that, alter the discovery of her fraud

at Liverpool, she was seen promenading the streets in a white veil, bracelets, and other fineries. The fact is, that the woman and her husband were impostors ; the Lord Mayor knew it ; and, concealing the fact, became in so far a party to a very shameful deception.