MR FOX'S RETIREMENT.

Wanganui Herald, Volume VIII, Issue 2375, 3 February 1875, Page 2

MR FOX'S RETIREMENT.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, —Surely my allusions yesterday could not have been misconstrued. Were they not sufficiently clear as to be beyond the possibility of misconception ? " Ino " fears he has been mistaken for a clergyman. Heaven forbid !or for a gentleman either. '< Ino's " sentiments, like his character, are too thoroughly known. His wild, random reasonings are characteristic, but in this case the intrepretation was so manifest that the fact of " Ino's " having failed to detect the application, I should attribute either to wilful blindness, or otherwise to arise from mental obscurity, induced by a desire to be a living contradiction to Mr'Allen's theory, as to moderate indulgence. It required no special divination to establish " Ino's " 1 identity. Many characteristics loom out ominously. He who erstwhile judged Malthus by the' saccharometer, has returned to the wallowing. This modern Jumus undertook to write no more, but with that truthfulness, any implication against which he so indignantly yet mercenarily resents, and influenced doubtless by his perusal of literature of a class which shall here be nameless, he acts up to his natural instincts, displays the cloven foot, and exhibits the innate treachery of his I nature. Did theallusionto the gall and the ! bitterness,-reminding him of experiences in other lands, escape " Ino's " notice ]—or perhaps his peculiar mental constitution precludes the possibility of Ms being susceptible to these influences. If so, the wind has been tempered to the shorn lamb. " Ino " .compares himself to Balaam, and in many respects the comparison is applicable and appropriate. On reference to sacred writ,-1-gather that " Balaam loved the wages of unrighteousness." Does not ■" Ino " 1 Further, that Balaam was " hired to curse." Will "Ino" deny the application] Again allusion is made to those "who ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, " with the prefixed anathema, "Woe unto them ! " A caution and rebuke is, in another place, administered unto those " that held the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel." Does " Ino " fancy the picture I Can he recognise his likeness in the

mirage ? Is it any wonder the more morally-disposed ass upbraided him, and proved his superior in argument ? " Ino" hadno necessity to endeavour so laboriously to remove the impresssion which existed in his own distorted and degenerated imagination only, that he was a clergyman. Might your name be Smith 1 " once yelled an enquiring tax collector to the occupant of a house situated in a street peopled by inhabitants, whose patronymic was chiefly this illustrious monosyllable Yes, it might be, but it ain't by a long chalk," was hurled back by indignant Jones. ' Ino' might be a clergyman, but his vicious propensities, and the fact of his having graduated under peculiarly secular auspices, would permanently unfit him for the sacred calling. His unfaithful fulfilment of minor offices would seriously _ operate against his successful ministrations in a sphere wherein uprightness and fidelity are indispensable. " Ino" should not allude to "anonymity " i Had he ever sufficient moral courage to attack an individual himself except by this means ? Is he not celebrated for his cowardly assassin-like thrusts, given behind the anonymous, through which, however, the bloody hand is recognised. Another proof of '' Ino's " mental obscurity and clou 'Ted intellect. I remarked "he had "- , sufficient courage to name one o f ,ne individuals to whom he referreu. ' Neither had lie then. But his Dutch courage has committed him to an indiscretion. He has done so in his last. That was the one I wanted him to name. Thank you for the information " Ino." It would be an insult to the intelligence of the electors of Rangitikei were I to caution them against being seduced by the inane babbling of such drivelers.— I am, &c, '

Taniwha

Feb. 3,