investment of our capital, while our lodging-houses will be increased in value and the public at large will be taxed for our emoluments. But, thanks to the independent conduct of a majority at the meeting, the ingenious scheme was frustrated. Some may say that the proprietors of Beach Cottages would not have been injured. This I deny. Their houses let at any time at higher rents than any others in Hastings, and if the said owners were paid even one third more than the intrinsic value, where else could they lay out that money with equal advantage? Yet with all these evils, your correspondents affirm that the proposed measure would carry with it an overwhelming majority. In this they are grievously mistaken. Their letter has been the means of rousing the inhabitants of Hastings to a sense of their duty, and the time has arrived when they will protect their rights and liberties and not suffer themselves and their posterity to be ruined by innovations or wild theoretical schemes of a few who seek their own personal aggrandisement"
A Reply
"Sir, - your friend who dated his leter Nov. 21st went so far beyond the truth that even though he signs himself 'An Enemy to Tyranny!' it amounts to proof(sic) presumptive that he is on intimate terms with the father of lies. His letter, is in fact, a complete olio of falsehood and abuse, and I shall take the liberty of troubling you with a few comments thereon....As to Beach Cottages, I will now call the situation the Diamond Ground, and perhaps the eight or nine immaculate friends to whom they belong may not think it improper to place 'An Enemy to Tyranny' on a pedestal on the northern side with a poll in his hand inscribed 'Possession is nine points of the law!', himself being in the character of the ex-King Charles X. Second thought is best, I think the old name 'Condemned Hole' will be very appropriate to a person whose conduct is so much like that of a criminal. So there I'll leave him. The writer of that letter need not have built a wall to dash his head against, there are enough and to spare already for him to batter his skull with. Who but himself ever thought of destroying Beach Cottages without having due regard to the claims of the proprietors? Nor can they be taken down on the same principle on which they were erected - that is without right claim or title, they being built on the full of the beach. Such would not have been allowed at any other place in England...Your correspondent chooses to forget that some of the property already belongs to individuals who are possessed of great lodging-houses in the background, as he contemptuously calls the Crescent. Why should notices have been given to the eight or nine proprietors of Beach Cottages more than to the other seventy persons whose property was scheduled at the same time? And by whom was it scheduled? Not by a few individuals, but by a committee appointed by the Commissioners to select the most eligible places for a new market-place, for widening the streets, and for other improvements...The recommendations were laid before a general meeting of the inhabitants, each recommendation was fairly put to the vote and carried or lost by a majority...He seems to think little of recent settings in Hastings. But there are even Corporation men who much regret that such a nuisance as Beach Cottages should have been suffered to be erected, and would rejoice to get rid of them...As to the idea that Hastings would not benefit by such improvements it is as ridiculous as his obloquy, for every street, lane and alley in the town would reap advantage in consequence of the additional attraction given to this already favoured watering-place, which only requires a few nuisances to be abated to render it still more enticing!
A Rejoinder
{"Your correspondent alludes to Beach Cottages being erected without right, claim or title, yet, he himself built one of those cottages and afterwards sold it as freehold. I should judge that the purchaser would be highly pleased with his conduct. But, lo! a sudden light illuminates the horizon! When I see a Commissioner of the town hold up one hand to keep the old Warm Baths in position while he raises the other to doom Beach Cottages...He tells us that the -
