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New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette, Volume I, Issue 55, 26 February 1842, Page 2

We insert the following communication from Mr. Abercrombis upon a subject which has lately engrossed much attention, we believe that in our advertising columns one of the Principals in the affair has given his own version of the matter, but we imagine it is usual in affairs of honour for the Seconds only to arrange the matter, for j which reason we insert Mr; Abercrombie’s letter, and knowing him to be a most honourable man, we have every confidence in its correctness, the correspondence, in short, speaks for itself. To the Editor of the New Zealand Herald and Auckland Gazette. Gienmore Cottage, 21st February, 1842. Sir, —I request you will publish the following Correspondence between S. M. D. Martin, Esq? M. D., J. P., George B; Earp, Esq., M. CL, J. F. aad Robert A. Fitzgerald, J, P., and oblige, Your most obedient CHAS. ABERCROMBIE. No.l. Gienmore Cottage, 19th February, 1842. Sir — l have to request that you wilt immediately return to me a manuscript which I hear you have this day sureptitiously obtained at the Printing I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, S. M. D. MARTIN. Fitzgerald, Esq., &c. &c. &c. The above note was sent by my servant, who in about one hour’s time brought back the following answer. No. 2. Sir—l do not recognise your right to call upon me for any document whatsoever ; and your informant/* l’nat 1 have sureptitiously obtained a manuscript,” lias misled you. Your obedient servant, ROBT. A. FITZGERALD. S. M. D. Martin, Esq. Cliff Cottage, 19th Feb., 1842. Dr. Martin was not in the house when the above answer was received, but within half an hour he came in and sent the following answer before 6 o’clock. . No. 3. Gienmore Cottage, •* H 19th February, 1842. Sir —Moore, of the Printing Office, who gave you, without authority, the manuscript, is my

informant. Your right to keep or to take them depends upon your character. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, S. M. D. MARTIN. R. A. Fitzgerald, Esq. No answer having been returned by the bearer to the above note, the following letter was written. No. 4. Watson’s jHotel, Februarv 19th, 1842* i past 7, P. M. Sir —My friend, Mr. Abercrombie, will wait upon you for the delivery of my manuscript, which you have, without my orders, taken from the Printing Office. I have authorised him, on my account, to require such satisfaction as your conduct demands. Yours, &c. S. M. D. MARTIN. R. A. Fitzgerald, Esq. I immediately conveyed the above letter from the hotel to Mr. Fitzgerald’s house, and on passing the windows to the door, Mr. F. asked who was tlrere and to come in ; which I declined doing seeing two ladies at table, Mr. Willoughby Shortland and Mr. Clendon, — Mr. Fitzgerald came out to the verandah, and I delivered him the letter stati ;g to him the contents ; when Mr. F. replied, he had already answered Dr. Martin’s former note, and he did not hold himself responsible to Dr. M.«for the manuscripts in his possession. I told Mr. F. that they were undoubtedly Dr. Martin’s property, being a copy of the Editorial article in his paper, and no one else had a right to them. Mr. F. dissenting from this, I stated that I appeared as Dr. Martin’s friend to demand that satisfaction which was due from one Gentleman to another, and requested Mr. F. to go into the house and read Dr. Martin’s letter, and see that what I said was correct. Mr. F, in reply said, he was quite satisfied that my demand would be in accordance with the letter, and that he would not appoint any friend to meet me—but “he would consider of it.”—l then urged Mr. F. to make me a reply within an hour* and the same answer was given me, that “he would consider of it.”—l then left Mr. F., and after waiting until 10 o’clock without receiving any answer. The following letter was sent from Mr. Earp, dated No. 5. Wood’s Hotel, February 19,1842. 10 o’clock, p, m. Sir, —As I have jus} been given to understand you have surreptitiously obtained some articles from the Printing Office of this town, which you have represented to be written by me, I demand that those articles shall be delivered by you to me. I never write or speak any thing that I am not quite ready to answer as a gentleman, and if I had not known that you have this night refused to Dr. Martin, as Editor of the Auckland Gazette, by his friend, Mr. Abercrombie, the usual satisfaction which one gentleman has a right to expect from another, you would not have been troubled with this'request—it would have been put in a different way. Yours, &c., &c. G. B. EARP. Mr, Fitzgerald. My servant carried down the above communication to Mr. F.’s nouse, and brought it back under a blank cover at 20 minutes to 11 o’clock; during his absense, and only 15 minutes previous to his return, the following letter was ,received by Dr. Martin No. 6. Sir. — l must repeat, that I do not, and will not recognise your, right to demand from me the manuscript you claim, because, in the first place, it is not in your handwriting and it was never your property, and secondly —the Printer and Publisher of the Auckland Newspaper, delivered it to me on my pledge that it should not leave my possession, it being his only protection in case an action for libel should be brought against him. I received it on the part of Captain Ciendon, from Mr. Moore, as the production and handwriting of Mr. Earp, and, as legal proceedings are to be founded on it, I must beg leave to decline any further correspondence on the subject. Yours, &c. ROBERT A. FITZGERALD, S. M. D. Martin, Esq. Editor Auckland Herald. Cliff Cottage. February 19, 1842, 10 p. m. The above document, I considered, finished the business; and my advice to Dr. Martin was, that he could not hereafter treat Mr. Fitzgerald' as a This morning Mr. Fitzgerald was early posted ; yet, notwithstanding, at half past ten thirty hours afterwards the following communication was handed tome by Mr. Earp :

No. 7. Sir, —Having been informed by Mr. Massy, that you stated at the Royal Hotel that you had challenged me, and that 1 had declined to meet you, I beg to state that I have not received any challenge from you, and most certainly should not have declined it; and I now hold mys«lf in readiness to receive your call, my friend, Mr. Young, who will present this, being prepared to arrange preliminaries. Yours &c., &c, ROBT. A. FITZGERALD, G. B. Earp, Esq. Cliff Cottage, 21st February, 1842. No 8. Wood’s Hotel, Feb. 21, 1842, * 11 o’clock, A. M. Dear Sir, —Mr. Fitzgerald having returned my note enveloped in a blank sheet of paper, he cannot in courtesy expect an answer from me, still less can he expect that the request he asks can be granted so long as his name remains posted in two public places in this town, as a coward The letter I wrote to him is, I should imagine, too unequivocal to be mistaken.—l mention this for your own information, and beg to refer you to my friend, Mr. Abercrombie, for the''rest. I am, Dear Sir, your’s truly, G. B. EARP. Wm. Young, Esq. The above note I could not deliver to Mr. Young till near noon, he being on board a vessel in the stream, I showed to Mr. Young the foregoing correspondence, when he agreed with me, that under the circumstances already related, Mr. Earp could not give Mr. Fitzgerald a meeting. About an hour afterwards I had handed to me in the Council Chamber, from Mr, Earp, the following :—- No. 9. Dear Sir, —Mr. Fitzgerald expresses himself much astonished at the tenor of your reply to his note, and feeling satisfied that you are screening yourself behind the Editor of the Auckland Newspaper, he requests me to say that he must immediately post you ! should an immediate reply not be forwarded. Your’s truly, WILLIAM YOUNG. G. B. Earp, Esq. • < , On waiting upon Mr. Young, and expressing my surprise at his writing this note to Mr. Earp, after I had been referred to as his friend, and had arranged the business with Mr. Young—he knowing that-Dr. Martin had • already posted Fitzgerald. Mr. Young at once acknowledged it was an oversight, and wrote on the back of his note : No. 10. Dear Abercrombie —This note should have been addressed to you instead of Mr. Earp, as his friend and adviser. Yours truly, WM. YOUNG. I then showed to Mr. Y. all the foregoing documents, when we agreed to the following : No. 11. We having been requested by Mr. Fitzgerald and Mr. Earp to settle a matter of honor between those gentlemen, are of opinion, that no meeting can take place owing to the circumstances which have already occurred between Mr. Fitzgerald and Dr. Martin. Auckland, 1 P. M. Monday, 21st Feb. 1842. WILLIAM YOUNG. CHARLES ABERCROMBIE. At half past four o’clock Dr. Martin placed in my hands— No. 12. Sir,— -Having been applied to by Mr. Fitzgerald to act as his friend in conveying a challenge to Mr. Earp, and he having screened himself on the ground that you had posted him,Mr.F’g., as a coward, 1 have to request that you will name a friend with whom I can arrange for a meeting at your earliest possible convenience. Your obedient servant, WILLIAM YOUxNG. Monday, 4 o’clock, 21st February, 1842. Dr. Martin, Glenmore Cottage. To the above I sent at 5 P. M. the following answer:— No. 13. Glenmore Cottage, Monday, 21st Feb., 5 p. m, Dr. Martin has placed into the hands of Mr. Abercrombie a note from Mr. Young, calling

upon Dr. Martin to name a friend to arrange a meeting with Mr. Fitzgerald. Mr. Abercrombie having at noon this day explained to Mr. Young that Mr. Fitzgerald refused to meet Dr. Martin, and has been by Dr. M. posted as a coward and a blackguard, it is impossible, in accordance with all laws of honor, for any gentleman to go out with Mr. Fitzgerald. Mr. Abercrombie further stated to Mr. Young, that Mr. Mathew called here at noon, when he obtained Dr. Martin’s word of honour, as well as Mr. A.’?, that no breach of the peace should be committed towards Mr. Fitzgerald. With Mr. Young’s knowledge of these facts, Mr. Abercrombie must express his surprise that Mr. Young should have sent a note of such a tenor to Dr. Martin, and with this explanation, Mr. Abercrombie has to request that all further correspondence on this subject shall cease. And in conclusion, Mr. Abercrombie presents his compliments to Mr. Young. To W, Young, Esq. I really thought that the above would have been a finisher, but I was mistaken, for at 10 minutes past 10 o’clock I received the following letter:— No. 14. Sir, —Having communicated with Mr. Fitzgerald, I have the honor to inform you, that I do not conceive that any passages between that gentleman and Dr. Martin, warrant Mr. Earp in refusing to meet Mr. Fitzgerald agreeably to the laws of honor. In the event of our opinions not coinciding, I would further state, that I am authorised by Mr. Fitzgerald, to offer such terms as could not fail to be satisfactory to Mr. Earp and Dr. Martin, and at once convince you that Dr. Martin was premature in posting Mr. Fitzgerald. In the full hope of satisfactorily arranging all differences with honor to those concerned, I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, ABEL DOTTIN BEST, Capt. 80 th Regt. To Abercrombie, Esq. No. 15. Glenmore Cottage, £ past 10 o’clock, evening, 21st Feb. 1842. Sir, —I have this moment received your communication, and in reply beg to inform you, that l have already arranged the business you alluded to, with W. Young, Esq., the friend pointed out by Mr. Fitzgerald, and I will not re-open the subject. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, CHARLES ABERCROMBIE. To Capt. Best, &c. &c. 80th Regt., at Govt. House. These are all the documents, Mr. Editor (and I think quite enough), that have been submitted to me by my friends, Dr. Martin and Mr. Earp; and I trust that the public will agree with my own firm conviction, that I have done my duty in upholding the high character and honorof my friends Dr. Martin, and Mr Earp. lam Mr, Editor, yours, &c., &c. C. ABERCROMBIE.