AustLit

A lengthy editorial piece on the prosecution of the proprietors of the Freeman's Journal on the grounds that the proprietors had not sworn an affidavit setting out their names with the Supreme Court. The writer argues that, since an affidavit was sworn before the Chief Justice on 29 December 1866, the failure to do the same at the Supreme Court was an unwitting and unintentional oversight. The writer can only conclude that the May 1868 prosecution of the case by the Crown Solicitor is an act instigated by New South Wales Premier James Martin in order to discredit the pro-Irish, pro-Roman Catholic newspaper.

Having subsequently complied with the law, and informing the Crown Solicitor of this fact, the proprietors received communication from the latter that the Attorney General will persist with the prosecution 'as he can find nothing in the statements [provided by the Freeman's Journal] ... to warrant him in foregoing the threatened proceedings'.

The writer for Freeman's surmises that the whole endeavour is designed by Martin (himself a Catholic of Irish descent) to 'embarrass, to cripple, or to crush' the Catholic publication. The premier 'has declared war with us simply because we express and propagate opinions unfavourable to his tenure of office, those opinions being shared in the vast majority of the Irish residents in this colony. He is sadly mistaken, however, if he fancies that he will achieve a triumph in this case.'