HONEST, HONEST IAGO.

Manawatu Times, Volume III, Issue 87, 29 October 1879, Page 2

HONEST, HONEST lAGO.

And so Honest Willy Swanson, the rough diamond of the Legislature, whose name was supposed to be a synonym, for * all that was upright and honorable, has, turned out to be a vertible fraud, his sterling qualities the veriest Brummagem x and: his innate honesty the purest paste. The hon. member for N^wtan is not a learned man • the hon. member is not an eloquent; speaker; the hon. member for Newtonjcannot pretend to shed lustre upon th'e v deliberations of the House of which he is a member, but during his lengthy Parliamentary '"career he^has been always looked upon as : a kind- of Colonial Bayard,* whose word was his bond ; whose value to his parly was like the keystone of an arch to the rest of the structure, and. people would just as soon expect to hear of defection of the one as the' other. But "Honest" Willy h^an fallen from his high, estate ; he. has 'proved, that be is only ordinary humanity after .all, and. a miserably, pppr. specimen oi- even' ordinary humanity at that. If report ■ speaks truly the, teinpler who has lured the fallen legislntor.from the path of honor was the Hon Mr, W;hit*ker. — t' ia^ s er,pent. which WBB driven, out of Bdcn. Poor Willy, in,.lpsing your-.^opd; name you lost your, only recommendation, for,, you cannot fall back upon your t pplitbali reputation, like, Halli >■■ or Wooft, and having once, sho wed the cloven; foot, I have no. doubt your constituency will

apostrophise you m the words of Ben Jouson ia " The Devil is an Ass "— "If he were To be made honest by an Act of Parliament, I should not alter my faith m him." Should the "Honorable" gentleman to whom Mr. Swanson has sold his vote, think proper, to advise his Excellenoy to dissolve . the House, as threatened, I think the people of Newton will go m for a representative, possessed of ability, leaving the item of "honesty-" an open question m the future. I would advise Mr. Swanson to mount the funeral pyre upon which his honor has been i sacrificed, and r p r uiratTe*nd to~his "infamy by" the performance of the suttee, remembering that "-- "" - ■■---.•■ ..,•-■.- "When honor's lost, 'tis a relief to die, Death's but a sure retreat from infamy. 1