THE Marlborough Express. SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 1868.

Marlborough Express, Volume III, Issue 114, 25 April 1868, Page 3

THE Marlborough Express.

SATURDAY, APRIL 25, 1868.

“ Givk me the liberty to know, to utter, ami to rrgue freely according - to conscience, above all other liberties.* —Milton.

In compliance with the request of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, an Act has been passed by the New South Wales Legislature, under the title of the Treason Felony Act, which has already gained considerable notoriety, and as it is possible that a similar Act will be passed by the New Zealand Parliament and thus become one of the laws of the Colony. Every resident is more or less concerned in the matter. In another part of our columns will be found a letter from a respected correspondent commenting upon some of the clauses of the Act in question. While inserting the letter, we feel it necessary to add that we do not judge the Act from the same point as the writer, but show we are impartial by publishing an expression of opinion differing from our own. We are willing to admit that the Act is arbitrary, and that if it is stringently enforced, will place great power in hands that may possibly abuse it, but it remains to be proved how far the proceeding was wise on the part of the New South Wales Government to pass an Act that may be turned into an instrument of oppression. As the disease it was intended to cure, appears to rage rampantly in that Colony, it was perhaps necessary to use desperate remedies. As far as this Province is concerned, such an Act as the one under notice, would, we trust and believe, remain a dead letter, as the loyalty of the people is proof against any insidious or open acts of disaffection, although they have not shown any amount of demonstrativeness since the recent deplorable event. This however, is readily accounted for by the initiated.

Hearing in mind the scenes that have been enacted in other parts of the Colony, it is probable that one of the first Acts passed when the Assembly meets, will be one identical with, or resembling the Treason Felony Act in force in England, Our reason for calling attention to the subject, at the present time, is to caution our readers against making use of any unguarded expression, as, with the most innocent intention they may lay themselves open to proceedings which may end in their imprisonment for two years. To be forewarned is to be forearmed, and if events should arise to make such an Act a necessity, we can only accept the situation while we deplore the infatuation of a body of men, who by their misconduct have brought into disrepute one of the most thriving and industrious classes in the Colony.