clinging to power. Governments retired promptly. It is strange that the Constitutionalists should disregard the principles of the Constitution. If the Government does not accept the decision of the House, it has no locus standi; if it does accept it, the result is immediate with an appeal only to the constituents."
Deliverance came in a manner no one expected or desired. Sir Charles Darling died, worried to death by troubles inadequately comprehended, and the Assembly marked its sympathy with his misfortunes by granting the sum in dispute for the support of his wife and the education of his children. The McCulloch Government returned to office,[1] but their position was not a happy one. In his new selection of colleagues the Prime Minister left many of his zealous supporters discontented, and there was a very general murmur that there must be no more crises on any terms. Mr. Michie retired, and the Attorney-Generalship was conferred upon a new man without position at the bar. One of my colleagues who afterwards held an important neutral office affirmed that all our troubles sprung from the greed of McCulloch. It was he who first introduced men without adequate capacity or character into the offices of Government, and had recourse to any policy to keep his place. The opposition of the squatters to me at the poll was legitimate, but some of them had recourse to other means of exciting prejudice against me which were not legitimate. Shortly after the second McCulloch Government came into office the walls and wharves of Melbourne were covered with a green placard inviting Irishmen to attend what was called a Fenian funeral on St. Patrick's Day.
"The Government (says my diary) immediately got horse, foot, and artillery in position to resist this alarming demonstration. I thought it my duty to ascertain immediately with whom this proposal had originated, in order to remonstrate with them on their imprudence, but no Irishman could give me the slightest information on the subject. The police were more successful, however; they traced the placard to its author, and we discovered that the Irishmen of Melbourne were invited to muster at a Fenian funeral by a foreigner
- ↑ July, 1868.
