THE EVENING MAIL. MONDAY, MARCH 12, 1877.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 276, 12 March 1877, Page 2

THE EVENING MAIL.

MONDAY, MARCH 12, 1877.

Werds are- tiling, and » drop nf ink falling upon a thought may produce that which makes thousands tl'iirvk."

Tub booming of the heavy artillery which rent the atr and played such unmerciful havoc amongst the ranks of certain milters has now given place to the puerile tones of infantile pop-guns, and the period has nearly arrived when editors shall pronounce the dictum—"This must close the correspondence." It is scarcely becoming manhood's dignity to meet an accusation by retorting " You're another," and yet this is just what the battle of the milters hast come to. That the millers acted foolishly, no one can gainsay Viewed commercially, their conduct was not worthy that of the proprietor of an apple-stall. Whilst, worse still, it was a covert endeavour to impose upon a large community. Wrong will out : and if Mr. Ht*t>BoN had not acted as champion fir the public in this matter, so vile a compact would have proved too heavy a burden for the conscience of someone cognisant of its existence. It is little use now for the milters' to publicly repent at the conduct of Mr. ItrpsnN* in having discovered their ptofc. letter that they should kerp their injured feelings pent up in the innermost recesses of their own breasts, for certain it is that the public would be deplorably wanting in gratitude were they to accord these milters even a glance of sympathy. £t is, of course, pitiable to sec men so thoroughly put to the: r»ut,and we cannot heit> feeling for them the s~me kind of pity that has seized hold on our own hearts when we have seen an iuc. rriu'ibte breaker of his country's laws foiled for the last time; when he. who in every respect a man. but possessing an imperfect knowledge of the taws of whw. and fn»m. is before the tribunal of his country. To trample on one's foes is unspeakably mean and cowardly, and we therefore think that the matter, seeing that discovery has robbed it of any sting it m*y have possessed, should be allowed to sink into the oblivion from which it was so ruthlessly dragged against the will of the milters. Agitation will only increase the bad odour of the slough into which these silly men have allowed their sordid propensities to lead them, and our advice is that they should scramble out as best they can, without attempting in palliation to bedaub others with the offensive mud that clings to them.