The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. MONDAY, APRIL 6, 1868.

Westport Times, Volume II, Issue 213, 6 April 1868, Page 2

The Westport Times AND CHARLESTON ARGUS. MONDAY, APRIL 6, 1868.

Fexian disaffection having been thwarted and subdued in England, is now rapidly gaining support and sympathy here. A. few weeks ago the name of Fenian, both in the Australian and New Zealand colonies, excited no remarkable feelings ; living as we are from the scene of the supposed battle ground, we imagined that Fenian sympathisers, although numerous, would never by reason of common policy, carry their hated views into practice here. At Hokitika, however, in the month of March, of this year, the first key note of disaffection was struck, and a mock funeral of a most treasonable and lawless kind was conducted, in honor of the three martyrs as Fenians call them, but in our parlance, in honor of three double-dyed traitors and assassins, who paid the penalty of their miscreant deeds at Manchester. Soon after this affair at Hokitika, a similar treasonable obsequy took place; the discussion consequent on these open disloyal demonstrations had hardly ceased to engage public attention, ere we were horrified by the attempted assassination of Prince Alfred, by a Fenian ; an attempt which, in cowardness and baseness, has never been equalled in the annals of crime. The feeling of execration stirred up in every true Briton's bosom at this horrible crime, soon produced fruits, and the authorities at Hokitika, with a promptness of action, and a praiseworthy zeal, which will gain for them honor throughout the whole world, arrested the leaders of the faction Avho had been guilty of treason in their midst, and who by the common bond of felons were ready to adopt the same policy, as that perpetrated by the miscreant O'Farrell. Public indignation having in some degree subsided, place was given for thankfulness, and the people of the whole of New Zealand joined in thanksgiving at the providential escape of the young and amiable Duke of Edinburgh. "We, of Westport, had our special day of thanksgiving, and many loyal and patriotic sentiments were openly expressed on that day. Bonfires were lighted, hymns were sung, religious services were conducted, and love for the Sovereign and Royal Family of England, and hatred of the Fenian faction were openly demonstrated. The following day a small band of loyalists, who had marched from Addison's, to take part in the loyal demonstration, few in number, but warm in sympathy, were assaulted on their return to their homes by a baud of Fenians (or as we are informed, Fenian sympathisers, from not having as yet taken the oath) who in a most brutal and cowardly way assaulted the small band of processionists. Panic seized them, and

with cut beads and bruisod bodies these men who had taken part in the previous day's loyal demonstration, returned to Westport in a most pitiable and draggled condition. The Commissioner, accompanied by a few policemen, immediately went to the scene of riot. In the meantime public indignation was roused in "Westport, over 200 special constables were sworn in, and far and wide spread that desire for vengeance which every Briton feels for deeds of cowardice and crime. Law and order however was upheld, and although public feeling was in favor of at once marching to Addison's to avenge the insult, that blind obedience to authority, which is the characteristic of a Briton, led to a delay until the news from Addison's was either denied or confirmed by the message from the Comm'saoner. Night had nearly come on, when a messenger from the disaffected quarter arrived with a despatch which told of peace, and the promise made to the Fenians (sympathisers) by the Commissioner that no armed force should march from Westport to avenge the wrong. The next morning the diggers from the Caledonian, joining in the feeling of indignation against the men who had insulted loyalty, marched into town, filled with the same desire for vengeance which had been beating in every man's breast in Westport. The general desire seemed to be to march at once to Addison's, and take prompt action to redress the wrongs felt by all, but in the meantime the Commissioner had returned. He told us that peace was restored, and that Addison's Flat was quiet once more. So far so good, but in the meantime where were the men who had been driven from their homes, where were the guilty perpetrators of the cowardly attack. In Westport were the first-named, fearing to return to a place where neither their property or their life was in their opinion safe. In Addison's, were the last-named free at present from the consequence of crime, from either the unwillingness or the inability of the assaulted men to identify the particular miscreants who shared in the outrage. The question which naturally arises therefore is, has the settlement of the difficulty been the right or the most reasonable one. As a matter of expediency, doubtless, the policy of the Commissioner has been good, and if the men who do not belong to the disloyal Fenian faction, can return to their homes and resume their business without let or hindrance, fchen the quiet, which we are told by the Commissioner reigns at Addison's, will for the present be a real quiet, but we must confess we doubt this quiet—treachery and deceit have always been the watchwords of disaffected Irishmen, whether Fenian, or otherwise, and we believe that the present quiet is only false security, and that we are now only at the beginning of the end. The disaffection is not only wide-spread but deep-seated, and depend upon it if ultimate quietude is to be acquired, the only policy open to the Government here it to arrest at once, not only the participators in the last outrage at Addison's, but every man, who either by word or deed has openly taken the side of the Fenian faction. No temporary measures can ever be of any service with treasonable traitors, the strong arm of the law must be brought to bear upon them, and although a war of races is to be regretted, and to be condemned unless inevitable, the Government have no other choice before them than to deal such measures towards Fenians here as will crush them in the bud, and if force is necessary force must be used ; if arms are necessary they too must be brought out; and if the loyal display of the inhabitants of "Westport and Caledonian means anything, and we do not doubt it, true and loyal men will be found who, at all sacrifice, will be ready to uphold the Constitution, and furnish with their righteous deserts the sympathisers and participators in Fenianism, whose acts are nothing but sedition, cowardly violence, and assassination.