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Wellington Independent, Volume VI, Issue 562, 1 March 1851, Page 2

The Editor of the Spectator is,laying the flattering unction to his soul, that our paper will soon be reduced to tho size of his own. We of course are unwilling to dispel such a pleasing delusion, or to give him a 'moment's pain— but the kind support which we have from.our very starting received, from all classes of our fellow settlers, 1 demands that..we should' explain that' the very 'trifling alteration in the of our paper," arises from precisely the sajtie cause' that compelled Mr. Stokos some time past to print his little production on blotting paper, viz :—that the order we gave hias not been executed in" Sydney—but a smaller sized paper has beeh sent to hs. Our readers may rest assured that the change will hot be continued any single issue after a supply of the ordinary sized paper 'has, arrived. So "far fr;pin having'any'iritention'ioreduce our paper, the fact of its. circulation having been more tt\an doubled within the; last *)' e ftK renders us anxious both io eiildrge and : issue it three times a" week, as soon as, the necessary arran j»e_j)__its.'ban be completed. And from the daily increasing number of advertisements, jn which respect our paper "presents a remarkable contrast with the Spectator, (a contrast which we suspect has si;rather souring effect upoii the temper of our cotemporary) we have long felt conscious that an enlargement of our paper n.ight fairly be claimed by our supporters.

We observe in a recent number of the Nelson Examiner, a well written article commenting upon' the late politicaLmeetings held in this settlement. The disgraceful manner in) which that Government organ the Spectator has calumniated not only the public but also"."the private character of one of the principal leaders of the popular cause (Mr. Fox) is severely animadverted upon in that article, and in our opinion most justly so. To cast the vilest and most unfounded aspersions upon the character of any* man in his absence, merely because he happens to bo a political opponent, is a course of conduct which every right thinking man must and will always deprecate—it is an act for which not even the heat of political or party strife can'find an excuse, itut no sooner has Mr. Fox taken-his departure for England, than the columns of the Spectator teem with a trade of the most abusive attacks upon his character. But it is not upon Mr. Fox alone that the Editor of the Spectator pours out the venom of his mahgnftorit feeling—tie dd.es also to attack the characters of the leading men and merchants of this ( pJace-~ men infinitely superior to him in .every point of view. We need not, we'feel'asl sured, say more u'pbn this point,,for'When the. Editor of a public journal can and does, descend so low as to make use-of such coarse and vulgar names as those of Fagin, Fogs, Sconce, &c, which have lately appeared in the columns of the Spectator, it. is we think, a, convincing proof not only that he is totally unfit for any editor&l capacity, but that he possesses a mind as base and despicable as it is low and grovelling. We give the following extract from the article itrtbe Nelson Examiner, to which we have above ''"•'".' ■" We wish that our notice of the proceedings of our neighbours could teruti-. nate here, but we are bound to stato all, The prominent part which Mr. Fox, the late Principal Agent of the New.ZeaJand Company, has taken in the lbo»l polities of'the settlement; is) well-known; and many of our *eWaj$ mqty h'ivij. fteard of that gentleman's intention,.to return,-to England in the Lord William. Bbnfiic/f, and that he' bad been constituted the political agent of stitiitioiial Asßooißtioh, Now to damage

Mr. Fox's charabte'r as greatly as possi. ble, seemed-to his opponents the readiest way of damaging the cause ho had undertaken to serve, and therefore ! oh his headhas been showered- the'whole' ■•concent, ate'd wrath Of the ; opposite party. To those who Approve of the Sophism, that "the end justifies'the means," we have nothing to say-J but we would put it to any nian'of proper feeling, whether the language to be found'in the columns! ofthe Wellington Spectator is fair aridlegitimate criticism of a man's conduct because he happens to be apolitical opponent, to say nothing of the perversion of facts ? We ate sorry to See political strife thus sinking'into private'abuse, 'and we hope the 1 good sense and good feeling'which has hitherto characterised bur discussions, public as-Well as private, may ever" continue, and that party rancour may never become'a di&gi'&ce Und a curse to our "settlement."'"'• !