The Westport Times. SATURDAY, MAY 14, 1870.

Westport Times, Volume IV, Issue 658, 14 May 1870, Page 2

The Westport Times. SATURDAY, MAY 14, 1870.

There are few but must confess to a feeling of surprise and indignation at the conduct of Mr Franklyn in his capacity as representative of the G-rey in the Nelson Provincial Council; surprise, inasmuch as in his address to the electors of the district which returned him, he expressed a thorough disapproval of the present Executive, and with questionable discretion hinted at something more than a constitutional agitatiou being resorted to, if ordinary representations proved unavailing, to secure for the goldflelds an adequate voice in the government and a fair proportion of the Provincial expenditure ; and indignation that he should have been found capable of deceiving his constituents by false representations and of betrayed in the gravest and most unblushing manner the confidence reposed in him. We are thankful to say that extreme instances of political tergiversation and dishonesty are sufficiently rare to render Mr Franklyn's conduct the more odious and startling, and, whether or not he prove successful in frustrating the various reforms—some members hoped to effect—during the present session of the Council, he has at least succeeded most signally in gaining for himself an unenviable notoriety. The circumstances, however, which attended his candidature for Provincial honors should have directed a suspicion as to the purity of Mr Franklyn's motives. It was difficult to conceive that an officer, holding an active and responsible post under the Government, should have been permitted, while holding such office, to offer himself as a representative of the people without any remonstrance from his superiors as to the propriety of such proceeding; and when added to this that he had with impunity indulged in audacious speeches levelled at thit Government and rioted in the most vehement and unlicensed abuse of its administration, it became more difficult to understand how the Superintendent could reconcile Mr Franklyn's official position with his exceptional and extraordinary conduct. Mr Franklyn has, however, himself furnished the key to the enigma, and the conclusion is inevitable that the official blindness that overlooked the impropriety of his conduct was due to the existence of a corrupt understanding as to the line of conduct to be pursued when returned to the Council. It is scarcely necessary to point out how weak and unstable a government must be that of necessity has recourse to such steps to insure a majority. That Mr Franklyn's political apostacy should also have been accompanied with conduct of a most unbecoming and discreditable nature is by no means a matter of surprise. It was only by impugning the motives of the other West Coast members that he could raise a shadow of a pretext for his conduct, and while endeavoring to make others believe what hehimself well knew to be false, it is not unlikely that he should have indulged in coarse and malignant abuse. The telegram states that members have decided to refuse to recognise Mr Franklyn either publicly or privately. We can well understand his political career being such as to dissever all union with his colleagues, but his conduct must, indeed, have been in the last degree " extraordinary " to forbid all private intercourse. In effect, however, it matters little whether Mr Franklyn aggravated his secession from his party by heaping upon it uncalled for obloquy and slander, or whether he had been satisfied to limit himself to the simple recording of his vote, in direct opposition to the pledges given to his constituents, and we must confess to a feeling of curiosity as to whether he possesses the assurance to meet that constituency and attempt to justify his conduct, and also as to the reception they, under such circumstances, will accord him.