The new constitution of Van Diemen's Land has precipitated a
war of classes, and the New Year dawned with an angry horizon. An association had been organized for the express purpose of se- cunng the ascendancy to the " Emaneipist" interest; the party was flushed with the hope of success, and did not scruple to ex- press its " hate" of " Puritan moralists." These organized ires are a new fashion even in unhappy Tasmania. Of course, the cor- relative bitterness, a hatred of Emancipists—not only convicts but also their descendants—is stimulated among the free and un- tainted ; and a counter-association, the Anti-Convict League, re- ceives a new and more angry element into its spirit. New Zealand, hating runaway bushrangers, joins New South Wales and Tas- mania in the League. Western Australia, which longed for the forbidden servitude of convicts, has been repaid for its shortsighted public morality : an emeute at Fremantle has been suppressed ; but the rioters openly promise to begin again when more of their class arrive. Western Australia has had its wish !
