ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 76, 21 April 1843, Page 2

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the New Zealand Colonist. Sin, —I beg pardon for intruding once more on your columns ; but the first paragraph in the leading article of this day’s New Zealand Gazette, does me the honor of noticing my former letter in so truly Irish a manner, that I cannot forbear. He writes thus :—“ The lives, liberties, and feelings, of tlie living are as sacred as the dead;” ergo, the feelings, liberties, and lives of the dead are as sacred as the living.' and it matters not whether they be in heaven or hell; and the advocate of democracy, he carries his views far beyond all that this world has ever witnessed heretofore, and would establish an equality of life, liberty, feeling, and, of course, equal division of property, between the inhabitants of hell and heaven itself. Had he said, that the characters of the living are as sacred as those of the dead, which is, I suppose, what he meant, I should immediately say, No ; the living can defend themselves, the dead cannot. I am glad to find that he has adopted a less vituperative mode of attack on the late Governor, and there is nothing in his article of to day, namby-pamby as it is, that reflects on Captain Hobson’s honor and integrity. I am, Sir, Your very obedient servant, A True British Sailor. Wellington, April 19, 1843.

On, Wednesday afternoon, a circumstance occurred which has thrown the town of Wellington into the greatest excitement. It appears that abont four o’clock Mr. Floyd, the gaoler of this town, having left the gaol with two prisoners, for the purpose of getting their irons altered, some convicts who were about to be removed on board the Government Brig, broke open a chest containing muskets and other weapons, with which having armed themselves, they drove the constables and other prisoners into the cells, where they locked them up. Having done this, they forced open the gate of the prison, as they rushed through it, knocking down Mr. Macdonogh, the Chief Police Magistrate, who had come down from the Policeoffice adjoining alarmed by the outcry raised by the imprisoned constables. There being nothing to arrest their flight, they ran, though in irons, to a boat which was lying upon the beach immediately opposite the gaol, and in a few moments were pulling two oars with the energy which may be supposed to actuate men, four of wnom had the previous evening been sentenced to ten years’ transportation. Mr. Macdonogh, in the meantime, had run along the beach, giving the alarm as he proceeded, and stood in company with Captain Richards, of the Government Brig, where Clarkson’s boat lies. In two minutes a good boat’s crew were upon the spot, but owing to some delay, the boat in which was Mr. Macdonagh and Captain Richards, did not start until • the convicts were a mile and a half from the shore, and then with such a bad crew, that after a few pulls in the direction of the pursued, they turned towards the Government Brig. In ten minutes from the time when the convicts started, the Sheriff arrived, and having jumped into a boat, which was well manned, was in five minutes in close pursuit; Ijpt the pursued were now half way across the Bay, and their escape, which at first appeared impossible, now seemed very probable. In a.few minutes they rounded the point just after a boat from the Brig had joined in the chase. The boats were watched with considerable interest, and not'without some apprehension, both parties having arms. Nothing more Was, heard of them until early yesterday morning, whenthe Brigs* boat returned, .ahd reported, that after followingthe convicts for some, hours, during which they kept about thred, .miles ahead, in the direction of Palliser Bay, the pursuit Had been given up to the Sheriff,/whohad pressed a schooner which was entering the harbour ? service. The Government Brig leftj the harbour yesterday inornning, for the of assisting the Sheriff;; but up to the to press, no tidings have arrived. The convicts Who escaped from'

the gaol were six:, though it is said nine were 1 in the boat; the two Cooks sentenced to seyen years' transportation, and. the two Roots, Mullens, and Rowly, whose sentences will be' found in another part of our paper. . It appears extraordinary that six convicts, L. heavily ironed, should be able, in broad day- ' light, to escape in a boat, with but fswo oars, and that, too, when the Police Magistrate and the Captain of the Brig were upon the beach, where good boats and good oarmen are numerous, as they pushed from the shore, and. the Sheriff a few minutes later. The chief constable Sayer, with his usual judgment and decision, having armed himself with a cutlass and a brace of pistols, rode immediately to the Heads, intending to intercept them by means of the pilots’ boat, but unfortunately it was in the harbor. Fourteen special constables have been sworn in to-day by the Mayor. —o