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SEMI-WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER.

AND

“THIS Is TRUE, LIBERTY WHEN FREE-BORN MEN—HAVING ‘TO ADVISE THE PUBLIC—MAY SPEAK FREE.”—Mittos’s Eor

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New Series.

CHARLOTTETOWN,

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in

AUGUST 21, 1850.

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Vol. 1: $ No. 58

Che Bx<itiner.

WE ee AUGUST 21.

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THE MAILS.

We are told that the advocates and apol- ogists of the Governor are. labouring might and main to shield his Excellency from censure for the monstrous deception he has practised upon the authorities in England, in reference to our postal com- munications. These people must havea very mean opinion of the comtnon sense of the community if they think to entrap, for a mument, eny intelligent mind intoa delief of their representations. “How could the Governor have caused the stop- page of the Mails?” they ask: “the House of Assembly is alone to blame, as it voted no supplies.” The answer to this silly question is obvious. Some per- eon in the Colony must have acquainted the Post Master General that the revenue derived. from the estabiishment here is not equal to the expenditure incurred, sud that as there was no cppropriation from the public funds, it was not safe to continue the service, unless the charges necessary for its support could be drawn from the Imperial Treasury. Now it is not likely that any other person than the Governor would have communicated such information ; nor is it likely it would have been listened to, had it emanated from any other source. We remember the nervous anxiety his Excellency ex- hibited in reference to this subject in his prorogation Speech—we remember his subsequent uncalled-for interference, through the Deputy Post Master, with the Mail carriers, when he advised them to break through their contracts; and these

facts are alene sufficient to prove that his }

Excellency is at the bottom of this disre-

.putable business. Besides, it is extreme-

ly improbable that the Deputy Post Master (the only other individual who can_be supposed to have any influence with the Post Office authorities in Eng- land) would have so intrigued as to bring about a suspension of the Mail communi- cation, when such an occurrence would be attended with the most disastrous consequences to himself, as it would deprive him of the meangof an honourable lwelihoed. And it isnot less improbable

that the Post Master General would have

interfered if he knew that the recei pts at the Post Office were sufficient for its Support. The payment of these receipts into tae Treasury and their appropriation by the House ef Aesembly, for the use of the Post Office, has hitherto been a mere matter of form. The Post Office is beyond the controul of the Legislature, nd ne one has ever denied that it enjoys ‘he power of disbursing its expenses out 4 te receipts. Now these receipts, as

We pointed out on Saturday by reference |

‘o the journal of the Assembly, are equal, ormore than equal, to the expenditure;

tnd this being the fact, it is absolutely | receive, which he won’t print. Five la

‘80 insane as to suspend, or cause to be

absurd to suppose that the Post Master General would have authorized the sus- pension of a service that could be carried on independently of the local Legislature, and without expense to the Imperial Go- vernment, unless he were grossly misin- formed as to the facts of the case, for the authority alleged to have been commu- nicated by him to Mr. Qwen, would otherwise be aa unwarrantable interfer- ence with the interests and privileges of the whole community. We repeat that the Post Master General would never be

suspended, a service, the charges of which were freely and adequately borne by the public for whose benefit it was established, unless the responsibility of its support were grossly seught to bel imposed upon the British public.

Since we have written the above, we have learned that it was determined at a meeting of the Executive Council on Monday last, that the British, foreign, and Colonial Mails should be received and transmitted as usual, the all-powerful Council guaranteeing, as we are told, the payment of the expenses to be incurred thereby. Well this is amazingly funny ! A Council guaranteeing the peyment of public money,when they cannot command over five or'six votes in the Assembly to appropriate it! But the funniest part of the farce is yet to come. The order received by Mr. Owen, 80 the story runs, was a peremptory one—no description of postal Communication was excepted— British, foreigny~-colonial, and inland Mails, were all to share the same fate, Now, how will the possessed Council answer this question—if they have the power to set one part of the order aside, have they not the power to set the whole aside? The blunders thicken around the Government with tremendous rapidity. His Excellency, by the force of represen- tations home, procures an order from the Post Master General to stop ail the Mails, The Council sit in solemn conclave, and determine that that won’t do; they find Sir Donald has gone too far, and they behove to pull him back; his Excellency, good easy man, is forced to submit, because, by aid of the superior wisdom of his Council, he and they plainly perceive that the British Mails for this Island will cross the Atlantic as. heretofore; the Imperial Government can’t stop them—) dare not stop them,. notwithstanding the foolish order of the Post Master General: the Mail Bags cannot remain in Pictou: it won't do to let them moulder in the pigeon holes of the Post Office there, or allow their contents to be given to dress- makers for patterns, or to grocers for wrapping up parcels ofsugar. Over they must come ; the Cotncil, in their magna- nimity, make a virtue of necessity, and resolve to abmit them. Besides, the Governor has despatches to transit, which be cannot write, and despatches to

bagatelle! Misrepresentation has not yet consummated its end—has not yet triumphed over the power of the Assembly and people; therefore be it wisely re- solved, that despatché¢ shall go and comé,—and such being the state of the case, other communications cannot be cut off. But as for the inland Mails— what are they? They mostly concern the negrest and dearest interests of the rebellious people who had the audacity te return a majority of representatives to oppose Compact schemes and interests, therefore; let them be cut off. Another great desideratum is, the people may be kept in ignorance of the acts of the Go- vernment—the Press wil! be muzzled, and public opinion quenched, like the snuff of a candle.

Let this fact be indelibly stamped upon the public mind: the local Government could as easily disregard the order of the

Inland Mails, as well as to the Foreign or British ones. The order is as peremp- tory in the one case as in the other. It is useless to say there was no money granted for this purpose. There was no money granted forthe Foreign Mails. Why will not the Executive guarantee the payment of expenses attending the former as well as those entailed by the latter? But there is no guarantee re- quired. Mr. Owen has the necessary funds at his disposal. He paid the last quarter’s expenses of the Inland Mails, ending in July. There was no grant then: there was no grant necessary, Will any body say that he. would be unable to pay the next qnarter’s expenses, when it is evident from the past, that the receipts are fully equal to the outlay ? Interrogatories are vain. It ie idle to admonish a Government that is driving headlong to its own destruction. Likea swimming pig, it is cutting its own throat faster than any body wishes it to do.

A greater blunder than any that the Government has committed, or is likely to commit, is to suppose, that the com- munications with the country will be stopped. If there is any man in the com- munity with the spirit of a cute Yankee, he will forthwith open a Post Office. The opportunity is an admirable one for the employment of superfluous time and energy. The speculation would pay better than the traffic in potatoes.

THE OLD STORY.

“An Elector” again pants through a column of fiatulent‘and verbose nonsense in the last Jelander, from which we are only enabled to discover that his intellects are still fearfully unsettled about the story of the Members’ Pay, and the non-appro- priation for roads und bridges. Beyond these topics he cannot budge a peg—the moment he quits either or both, his de- clamation flaps like a wet. blanket; so that any one who has read his first letter,

can honestly gay that ke has read the en-:

Post Master General in respect to the

tire ‘eleven, Have you ever heard, pa- tient and indulgent reader! the perpetual motion man descant, for the fiftieth time, upon his darling theory— have you ever bad your dinner spoilt by that most ex- | ecrable bore, “the unfortinate man” of your acquaintance, nabbing you by the button-hole, and reciting in your reluc- tant ears for the twentieth time, his narra- tive of grievances, about which you un- derstand as little as when he first com- menced his. persecution—have you ever heard our royal brother of the Gazetle make a speech, for the Lord knows how many times, about the liberty of the press and the cares and responsibilities’ of an editor’s life—have you ever listened to a stupid lawyer (the Solicitor General for example) make a drivelling, floundering

bly, by which he established his own ig- »norance, and set people around him yawn- ing, without confounding an adversapy; —well! if you have been subjected: to any. of these inflictions, you may readily form a tolerabiy correct idea of the character of “an Elector’s” letters. Will nobody give him “a lift,” in the way of supplying him with a new subject, on which he may pump all the suds of his declamation ?

_ A WORD IN SEASON,

THERE can be no doubt that the time is near at hand, when, the necessary ar- rangements being completed, the Jong- looked-for privilege of Self Government musT be conferred upon the people of this Island, in.common with their fellow sub- jects in the other provinces. It is, however, to be expected, that the official oligarchy and their tools will use every exertion and artifice to postpone the introduction of the new System, forthe longer they can keep the Island in its present condi- tion, the longer will they put money into their own pockets, even in defiance of the Legislature. It is likewise to be expect- ed, that they will urge the Governor to dissolve the present Assembly, in the hope.of getting a subservient, slavish, and tory majority of representatives to do just as they please, and to continue them in office. They have nothing to lose by a General Election; but may gain some- thing. Let the people be, therefore, on their guard. The battle of constitutional hberty is fought and won—bravely and completely won, in spite of all the tricks and stratagems that human cunning could devise to support a bad cause, But it is not the part ofa victorious and prudent army to give way too suddenly to idle transports of joy, and to forget that’ the posts and fortresses require vigilant watching and. means of defence as well after victory az before it... Let the poople, then, still watch the movements of the foe as keenly as though they bad achieved no.

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triumph, and be prepared to fight another

field, if necessary, as gallantly and as suc-

cessfully as they fought the last.

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