The Westport Times. SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1869.

Westport Times, Volume III, Issue 489, 10 April 1869, Page 2

The Westport Times. SATURDAY, APRIL 10, 1869.

To speak metaphorically, and in language suited to the subject, a comet has appeared in the firmament, calculated to interest, if not to alarm, the advocates of Separation. That comet is a gentleman in Charleston, and, in keeping with his character as a comet, he carries a tail to his name. It is no other than Mr George Wigge Horne, M.P.C. His comparison to a comet is naturally suggested by his brilliancy and eccentricity, but especially by the latter characteristic. It is in these particulars that he is especiallyinteresting—to some extent even amusing, as real comets often are to the unscientific and unsophisticated star-gazer. He is fortunately not alarming, because, in these days, such objects, exceptional and extraordinary as they may be, are no longer looked upou with the superstitious fear of the ancients, or watched with awe for each twinkle of their tails as mysterious messengers from heaven. No one who was a participator in the pleasure of seeing or hearing Mr Horne during his recent appearances at Brighton and Charleston can for a moment question his brilliancy. Metaphors flew from him with thefleetness and frequency of the corruscations of the real heavenly comet. It was only the satirical who pretended to discover, amidst the blaze, the " stick " of the common rocket or the Roman candle. There was, indeed, much metaphor. The pity was that it was rather mixed,]and that there was littleelsebut metaphor. Forexample, in the inhabitants of the West Coast seeking Separation from Nelson, Mr Horne saw only so many children chasing 'the painted butterfly," and when they caught it, what did they find ? Was it like pleasure or like poppies—"you seize the flower, its bloom is shed ?" No ! Its " beauty was gone," it is true, but it had also become an elephant the great metaphorical elephant, which is usually white in color, and very troublesome as to his food. Separation was all this and more. It was Taxation—unmitigated, and ever so much multiplied. And the tax-paying population—what were they ? They were " an old orange—you squeeze him and burst him." They were a " dry stone put in the mill to get the juice out of it." Then again at Brighton, to quote the words of a contemporary, " he contended that it would be equally fatal for them to bo handed over to the tender mercies of Westport, as it was only a question as to which reptile should devour them—Westport or Nelson ?" Unfortunate Westportians 3 That you should live to be compared to " a class of cold-blooded vertebrate animals that breathe air," or, in the figurative sense of the word, to a set of " mean I grovelling wretches!" What next we wonder. Possibly that Mr Horne, M.P.C., will be commissioned asa second Saint George—or it may be a Don Quixote —to mount the Pegasus which he prefers to ride, and to demolish this infuriate dragon whose design it is to " chaw up " the youth and virginity of Charleston and Brighton. In sober earnestness, does Mr Horne really believe, or think that other people will believe, that those in Westport who advocate separation from Nelson have any thought or hope of making Westport's influence paramount, or of its ever similating with success the " reptile " which his fertile brain has suggested as its fitting prototype ! Is it at all likely that if a County of Westland North, or of any other name, were here established, Westport would have one iota of influence more than would Charleston, or Brighton, or any other community which it might comprise ? Has it ever been suggested that Westport should, more than Charleston, be selected as the " seat of Government," or, even if it were so selected, would it be more than a mere empty honor ? It must be known to Mr Horne, if he is not altogether obfuscated by his antipathies to Westport, that in the allocation of County members, it would of necessity be the fate, as we believe it is the desire, of Westport to have the representation so evenly balanced that it would be »n an equal and common footing with the other parts of the County. Chiefly on account of his remarks with regard to this matter do we burden our columns

with Mr Tyler's second dissertation on the subject of Separation, and, were it necessary, we should now refer to it at greater length, but the truth is that, except it be Mr Horne, the same idea has emanated from no one with pretensions to the same intelli gence, and with pretensions to identify himself with the interests of the district. Thus intelligent, and so identified, it is the more marvellous to find Mr Horne so warped in his judgment and his temper, as neither to give people credit for good intentions, nor to suggest to them how they might better themselves. It is only to be accounted for by that characteristic of the comet —eccentricity—that eccentricity which enables him to prefer the Provincial Councillors of Nelson, while his extensive experience of the fair sex enables him to compare them to so many Sairey Gamps—that eccentricity which, as at the meeting at Brighton, enables him, while "he was understood to oppose the resolution," to " end by giving it his support."