THE COLONIST. NELSON, FRIDAY, SEPT. 27, 1861.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 410, 27 September 1861, Page 2

THE COLONIST. NELSON, FRIDAY, SEPT. 27, 1861.

That a woman, who has long ceased to maintain or even to value her own character, should employ her tongue in unceasing coarse abuse of those whose virtue and respectability sho feels'to be a silent but very provoking rebuke on her own conduct, can be a matter of surprise to no one, as it is nothing more than every day experience of human nature leads one naturally to expect; but when such a woman undertakes to read us a lecture upon the sin of violating the ninth commandment, and the evils inflicted upon society by those who bear false witness against their neighbors, we feel that she must have surpassed the usual depravity and effrontery even of her own class, and offers a most humiliating spectacle ol the amount of baseness and hypocrisy that may sometimes be exhibited in a single individual of our own species. That the pen of a certain editor, whioh has long been prostituted to the most abject flattery-of those who have done so much to arrest the peace, progress, and prosperity of this once flourishing colony, to the defence of every public robbery, injustice, or neglect that Jbas been committed by its own em-

ployers, should always have been most zealous in its abuse of the few honest and daring spirits that would not fall down and worship, each graven or brazen image that it was employed to set up, is no more than* evory thinking man would naturally expect. 'Nor can we wonder that, in looking round the House of Representatives for ■ some object for abuse, it should have selected the commanding intellect and unsullied character of a Featherston ; but it would surely have been possible to have invented some charge to bring against him upon which the editor could write with a clearer conscience than that of bringing unfounded charges against public men. In a speech delivered in the House of Representatives, Dr. Featherston stated a number of facts connected wiih the late Colonial Treasurer, Mr. Richmond, his interest, his promises, and his strong advocacy of the war, and observed that all those facts taken together looked suspicious. Of course any one of his Excellency's advisers ought to have denied the correctness of Dr. Featherston's statements, or to feel that he could afford to abide by any opinion that a lair deduction from the facts stated would lead the House to form respecting his conduct in advising his Excels lency; but Mr. Richmond appears to have, been unable to do either, and therefore resorted to the miserable expedient of referring Dr. Featherston's ' charges' to a Select Committee, consisting of a majority of his own political supporters, carefully and judiciously selected by his own colleague, Mr. Weld.

Of course such a committee 'honorably acquitted' Mr. Richmond, just as a similar committee 'honorably acquitted' Dr. Monro in the case of the Waimea West road ; and the only wonder is, that they did not attempt to deny any of the facts stated by Dr< Featherston ; but, finding that impossible, they contented themselves by insulting him by ' honorably acquitting' him too; an act which seems to have greatly annoyed the editor of the Nelson Examiner, and for which they will certainly not be thanked by Dr. Featherston's friends, who knew that gentleman's character for honor and veracity to stand far too high to be at all improved by the acquittal or approval of such a committee.

The Examiner says that Dr. Featherston made no reply to sundry accusations made by Mr. Richmond and his friends, and wishes its readers to infer from hence that they must be correct. A. Newfoundland dog does not generally make any reply to the bow-wow of all the little curs that sometimes surround him.

" Dr. Featherston never did, and probably never will, make any reply to the accusations made against him in the Nelson Examiner. He can well afford to let such misrepresentations recoil' on the heads of those who make them ; but we shall not on that account infer that there is any truth in them; we shall not from that circumstance believe that a Select Committee composed of a majority of his political opponents, and selected by a member of the late ministry, went out of, their way to exonerate Dr. Featherston, in consequence of unworthy party prejudices in his favor. Still less shall we believe that Dr. Featherston was frightened into silence for the remainder of the session, although we can readily believe that he was not the man to take any part in the ill-concealed attempt to talk against time, which cost the colony so much money, and reflected so little credit on a large party in the House of Representatives.

tt was singularly unfortunate for our contemporary that, in the same page in which it had suited him to speak in such strong terms of the enormous evils inflicted upon society by those who dared to bring false accusations against public men, he should have been obliged to acknowledge a letter, received from Mr. Oarleton, complaining of the manner in which he had been maligned by the Examiner's • own correspondent,' and should have no better apolocy to offer for the manner in which all the speaker in the first ' want of confidence' debate had been so grossly and absurdly misrepresented, than that it was done • playfully' and in sport.

When persons have pleaded strong provocations, excitement, or prejudice tor the wilfu.l misrepresentations of either public or private men, we have been accustomed to consider them a very insufficient justification ; but when an editor coolly inform? his readers that our public men, their motives, and their speeches have been misrepresented playfully and in sport, we are irresistably reminded of our nursery rhyme—-

There's none but a madman would fling about fire, And say it was only in fun.

The Mary arrived yesterday from the West Coast with several passengers returned from thence. She does not bring any gold this trip as the Gipsy will follow with it in a few days. The accounts by her are not so encouraging as heretofore. A Maori has arrived in custody, charged with the murder of; his wife at the Buller River. It is said that they were travelling up the river together, and the woman made several attempts to lag behind for the purpose of making off with another Maori. The husband being cognisant of the intention, turned back several times to hurry her forward; and at length, in the heat of pasdon at her non-compliance, struck her on the head with an axe, and killed her. Witnesses will be forthcoming to testify to the'occurrence. We believe that the prisoner was once in Mr. Mackay's employ for nearly three years ; his wife is said to have been of the Waikato tribe. .