The editor of the Sydney Gazette vents his spleen against Edward Smith Hall, calling him (among other things) 'a cowardly libeller', 'a political poltroon' and 'a sugar-candy sucker and a tea-drinking biped'. The Gazette's editorial responds to Hall's column in the Sydney Monitor ('Humanitas', 26 July 1834) firstly on the issue of the divide between 'native born' and free settlers versus convicts, ex-convicts and ticket-of-leave holders.
The Gazette then notes Hall's charges that William Watt is one of the authors who go by the name of 'Humanitas'. The Gazette's writer says: 'As an act of justice to the writer and at his urgent request, we have inserted the letter from Mr. Watt, which will be found in another column... Mr. Watt is nothing to us - he may have written the pamphlet which goes under the name of that terrible fellow Humanitas ... for all we know. He superintends the printing department in the Gazette Office, and discharges his duty with diligence and fidelity. But if he really be Humanitas and his object was to create a sensation, he is a lucky fellow, for he certainly has done so.'
