NEWFOUNDLAND. 8i 



'' I could have wished, so that, considering my oppor- 

 *' tunities, I have no reason to complain of vv^ant of 

 " success. Besides the specimens which I have already 

 " sent, and those which I have to send, to England, I 

 '' have collected in the different orders as follows : — 

 " Coleoptera, 102 species ; Hemiptera, 29 ; Lepidoptera, 70 

 "(15 butterflies and 55 moths) ; Neuroptcra, ^^ ; Hymen- 

 '' optera, 69; and Diptera, 75, making a total of 388 

 " species, not including the foreign insects received from 

 '* Spain. ... I enter upon the coming year with un- 

 " abated ardour, and with sanguine expectations, trusting 

 " that, if I am spared, it will prove still more successful 

 "and profitable than the past." 



The year 1833 closed socially for Newfoundland in 

 ominous thunders. Ever since the colonial legislation had 

 been granted, the Irish party had been striving to gain a 

 monopoly of political power. Party spirit ran high ; 

 Protestants went in mortal fear, for the Irish everywhere 

 vastly outnumbered them, and threatening glances and 

 muttering words beset the minority. One St. John's 

 newspaper, The Public Ledger, was on the Protestant side, 

 and was edited by a young man of much spirit, Henry 

 Winton, a friend of my father's. He advocated the 

 colonial cause with wit and courage, and was in con- 

 sequence greatly hated. He was, in the course of this 

 winter, round in the Bay, collecting his accounts, when one 

 night, walking alone from Carbonear to Harbour Grace, 

 he was suddenly seized in a lonely spot by a set of fellows, 

 who pinioned him, while one of their party cut off both 

 his ears. This outrage created an immense sensation, and 

 caused a sort of terror among the loyalists. A perfunctory 

 inquiry was made, but the Irish influence prevented it from 

 being carried far. It was soon known that the mutilation 

 was the act of a Dr. Molloy, a surgeon of Carbonear, with 



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