TO MR. JOHN WALLACE, OF FLAT BUSH.

Auckland Star, Volume II, Issue 581, 20 November 1871, Page 2

TO MR. JOHN WALLACE, OF FLAT BUSH.

g IRj —I addressed to you the following letter through, tho two local morning papers of this day's issue :—

g IK) As you have taken the unusual Course of addressing me through the columns of another journal)-! have deemsd it right tJ ask permission to make a brief reply through the same channel. JR.QX.jny complete reply, however, I refer you to the Evening Star of this evening. J You are wholly responsible for the personal turn which this dispute has taken. In the exercise of legitimate criticism the Evening Star referred to the incongruity of your being an importer of agricultural implements, and, at) the same time, VicePresident of a League pledged to_ the most stringent protection to native industries. The criticism was not of a personal character.

I After exp.r.sstng yourself to various parties in 1 terms of irritation aud menace, yon did siibse--1 quently call at the office of the Evening Star, j and in the most conciliatory tone, and with mi ! erapre9sment altogether unnecessary, you cxi pressed your intention of leaving ihe League. This I can esta.Wisli by affidavit. Some weeks after this, ;md without any further ' cause having arisen, you did at the dinner lof the Agricultural Society, re-opefa the subi jeet, and in a tone of personality which it ' had' not theretofore assumed. Yon then I described tUe editor of the Evening Star as I being such a one as could be properly represented thus :" A pedestal; at one corner a pig, typical of tho swinish multitude whom he influenced ; a brazen head, as symbol of his impudence; and a purse, emblematic of the motive upon which he acted, you further dr-ctibed him as "a kind of cur, vvliich oould not bark .like a respectable dog, and could only snarl iii v, kennel in Queen- | street.'1 Y'JU *urther referred to him as a " sooundre), clad in priestly robes, but hellish spirit." This is as reported in the public press. But you also -»Uted in the same speech that I he hid come f'oui "a convict colony, in which '■ ha had been nowhided." This, sir, was before | ,-sny personal reference had been.' mado to I you, .we us respects the inconsistency in jtoii'r position asvico President of the League. j)i.i you rhi.uk you would hare been permitted !o Bay all this with impunity ? I took lup the 'v-apoiw which, you had laid down, and I think you have found that they cut : two >vny.a. You have obtained a certificate of character from Mr. "W. Buckland. That is well It would have been bett.r though if ha liiid also lad one "given by some person respecting himself*; for, is it a fact that ho has embalmed his moral and political creed in history, with reference to the native question I in the memorable couplet : —

The good old rulo, the simple plan Let him take that has the power, And let him keep who can.

But it requires no certificate of character for y (i u, sir. You tiro an old colonist and well ]aia'#n, and. the unanimous testimony is that you a : o the most disagreeable neighbour, and churish in disposition that has ever resided in the province You push yourself forward as a l«ad«r, but the formers and

settlers disown and dislike jfbu ; and your self-imposed-'championship is quite unwarranted ; and in this controversy the quarrel of the Evening Star is not with the farmers and settlers, who are deserving of the utmost respect, but with the ambitious pretenders who have assumed to speak in their.'name,; You say. that had you met the editor opthfe Evening Star, and "he attempted to justify., the articles in question, the consequences might have been very serious." 1 agree with you in this. I believe they would have been —possibly the most seriou3 in the whole course of your life. At least I believe they might have been such that you would have remembered them for a very long time. However, you took very good care to- steer clear of them ; and, on the whole, this is well.

And now to you and Mr. W. Buckland, I would say, "retire." You belong to an epoch, which, happily, has passed away from Auckland, and which never will return.' With the moa, and other vestiges of an extinct fauna, you should be preserved in a museum. Time was when such as you were motiarehs of all you surveyed ; and the invasion of your domains by intelligence and enterprise, and independence, must be very irksome. Phantoms of a buried past! Begone !

It seems almost unnecessary to add anything to the foregoing, but as you are an old colonist, and as Mr. Buckhnd says your " private character is unimpeachable," I shall be glad to have your testimony on the following subject, feeling assured that an " unimpeachable character" who is so well acquainted with the "private character" of others can and will speak truly respecting another old colonist. Some yearn ago, sir, there was a person bearing the same name as yours, " John Wallace." He brought down a cargo of potatoes to Melbourne, his brother having advanced him £1000 or £2000 at the time. The con signee refused to accept the potatoes as they were rotten. John Wallace thereupon gave vent to ihe illtemper which, it seems, predominated in that person, and having a loose and lying tongue, was sued for falsely, wickedly, and maliciously defaming the fair fame of the Melbourne merchant, and in course of law was heavily amerced in damages and costs. Whereupon John Wallace smuggled himself into the hold of a vessel'and bolted to Sydney, and thence back to Auckland where he subsequently set up as "one of our most respected settlers." You, sir, will probably be able, from your long residence in the district, to tell us what became of the hero of the diseased potatoes and defamatory tongue who sailed' out of llobson's Bay coiled up in the hold of a vessel, arno^g a lot of potato-bags and other lumber ;'aud who, from that day, never ceased to requite his brother's Kindness by exhibiting to him implacable hostility. With regard to your relations to your servants, 'they are well known, although in your letter you claim thai fur the last two years you have turned a new leaf. For this I do not give you credit, but rather to the impartial magistrate who told you lro::i the Bench that the next time you appeared before him for assaulting your servants you should not be let oil" with a line, but should do your "term at Alount Kden. As for Air. W. Huckland, who rushes in where he has no concern, he would do wisely in minding his own business. The day is past when such as he could command the people of Auckland to withhold advertisements, and the position of the STAB is such as to defy his paltry influence. He speaks of it as disseminating "pestilent malaria." We admit that it is death to shams, and spares neither rank nor class in exterminating abuse, though it is invariably on the side of order, good citizenship, morality, and religion. But wo cannot see on what /.arrant an opinion on literary effort, or on a public institution like the Press,'can be given by Mr. W. Jiuckl-uul, a man who publicly declared that " a man might sell his vote as he would a cow or a horse,' wiio learned the rudiments of his political^ economy in the anatomical dissection of dead bullocks, and receives his inspirations from the spirit of his defunct grandmother talking to him through the leg oi a table.

1 feel, sir, that the public have had quite enough of you, and, though: I know much respecting you, I i'eol the degradation of our pages having been poliutted by controversy with such a man. I am, etc., TIIK KIiITOK OF THK Ev'KNING STAB.