THE COLONIST.

Colonist, Volume III, Issue 287, 20 July 1860, Page 2

THE COLONIST.

Our readers will perceive, from the proceedings of the Supreme Court, Nelson, on Wednesday, the 18th instant, that the publisher of this paper, has beeii mulcted in the sum of eighty pounds* besidei ;costs, for an alleged libel on William^ Thomar Locke Travers, District Judge of this Province. : Our supposed animadversions ori that ir}* ;-" , » 0."" Zr

dividual, in his official capacity, have brought the heavy end of the judicial balance upon our worthy publisher's head with a thump. It would seem that the so-called libel jvhich we had. the mischance to perpetrate has not injured our newly-' 1 appointed judge to the dismal tune of thousands, as our pleasantry formerly hinted; for after the jurors had made every abatement in their several estimates, as we hear, from nearly £1000 to forty shillings,, ! they took a kind of valuation, moderately ' punitive, jind gave damages as aforesaid. Whether this amount be proportioned to the plaintiff's loss from the presumed defamation—rather an unlikely circumstance— or, it might be, as Mr. Justice Johnston, in his very able summary, suggested, according to the respectability of the Colonist^ we are not magicians enough to divine. We have vanity sufficient to believe the latter. Although we might here and there except to his Honor's logic in reviewing and commenting upon our to some persons offensive columns, yet we freely accord to his judicial acumen and conduct sincere praise—praise which our readers,' will neither deem to be the * vulgar abuse* of irony nor the adulation of natures that humbly cringe after undeserved chastisement in the submissiveness of fawning reverence. We acknowledge that recent proceedings have done us service, as all such ought, with properly tempered minds. We shall be no worse for them in our aims, efforts, j and aspirations. If at any time, in spite of honest intentions, we have erred or blundered, we will not persevere in error, nor will we adhere to wrong. Such obstinate vice we detest. But, to the present, we have only endeavored the public welfare. Nor are we ourselves convinced that we have missed our way, even in the case determined against us, by worthy but, as we think, mistaken men. Be this as it may, even seeming mistakes shall not hurt us. Our zeal shall' improve on the apparent disadvantages of our position. No; rest will we take until we convert the little difficulties of the moment to enduring benefits. Petty annoyances we know how to estimate, and it will go hardly with us if we do not turn them to the profit of the public no less than that of the young establishment from which this journal issues. Warned at least, by late occurrences, we shall become wiser and more wary. With; every homage to good law and faithful judges, we shall steadfastly uphold them at all risks; nor shall we fail to point out abuses, to expose official iniquity, and to condemn public evils, no matter by whom committed, in the face of any false authority, and however it may increase the same by artifice or collusion. On the skilfulness of the pnblisher's laborious counsel we merely say that we did not join with him in propitiating judgment on the ground of the urgency of editorial duties in hastily preparing article! ior our readers. Far rather do we acquiesce in the declaration of the judge, that editors should be equal to their vocation. For ourselves we only court justice; of the rest we are utterly regardless. If writers aye qualified to deliver themselves of their thoughts wisely, and at once, it is well; but he is a poor creature who has to. beg for mercy as to his literary productions on account of the haste in which they come iorth. What we say is, if we are not a match for our calling, why, in all conscience, let us sink., We only ask judge and juries to screen us from foul play; for the rest we care not. In everything so well and eloquently said by his Honor as to the lawful use or the fearful abuse of the press, no man could refuse to concur. But we are of thojse who would scorn and loathe it, did it not promote, truth, uprightness, chastity, honor, temperanct, benevolence, and everything pure and deserving. But we regard it ar an Tjgly thing in the eyes ofthe unfair, the sehllners, the greedy, the oppressive, the sensual, and the base generally. To all these moving pests .of.'th* public it is as the rods which seize and shoot the firei they dread. For ourselves we feel that no man ia fit to work for a state of freedom whose knowledge does not master tbe spirit of its institutions, and prepare himself for even * loss j of property and life in its defene*. Unless a man can do this he will be a crawling and trembling coward, sneaking away from misadventure or reverse. But the true freeman is one who strives to turn back dtfeat itself for gallant retreat or victory. Certainly we shall try for this, without » doubt of being heartily seconded by our readers and a generous people. There are some things which wk shall as heretofore eschew—abusive language, low personalities, meddling with matters out of our sphere, contempt of authority, and the like. What then ? Shall w» spare plunder,; waste, indolenca or injury ? No: for these are more cruel and unsparing than the savage of the desert. -'V To b* brief. If ever vup won honest approbation and support from the poor, the lowly, the laborious, the ; sober, the virtuous, in our small community, we shall continually persevere in striving to gain similar rewards. Having there, we can then afford to bear ithe abuse, the contempt, -and the -worst hostility of the crafty and the vile: we mean such as may spring up to sacrifice for their own idishonest and Wicked ends the truest interests of the public. ;

The Lord Worsley arrived here on Wed-' nesday last about six o'clock, a.m., with the English and Australian Mails. The Airedale arrived from the Southern Ports on the same day a few hours afterwards. We received the papers from the Southern Provinces, but must defer our extracts till our next^