be entrusted to the Executive Governments of the respective Colonies. At all events, the action of the House should be confined in the first instance to considering the best means of accomplishing the 'Union,'—I am, my dear Sir, yours truly,
"James McCulloch."The Hon. C.G. Duffy."
Much may be said for this view of the case, and now happily I will be able to accommodate myself to it without relinquishing my work to strange hands.
At this time, I had a claim from friends in Dublin to help the construction of a statue to Smith O'Brien in that city; £100 would complete the necessary funds. In reply I urged that it ought to be set up in a public place as a noble example to his countrymen of integrity and disinterestedness, and I was able to forward £200, subscribed by his friends in Australia, without the necessity of any public appeal.
Parkes came into conflict with my countrymen in New South Wales, in which it was my belief that he was seriously wrong, and for a considerable period our correspondence ceased. When it became necessary to write to him on public business, I told him frankly my opinion of his policy. This was his reply:—
"Sydney, Dec. 23, 1870."If you have met with any person who has had opportunities of knowing what my feeling has been during the time that our intercourse has been interrupted, he will have told you that my personal regard for you has remained unaltered. I am therefore very glad to receive your friendly note of the 14th, wearing something of the old affectionate face.
"Sometime or other you will begin to understand that ' you and all the race from which you are sprung ' have persisted in viewing my conduct when in office through the false light of men who were not more my enemies than the enemies of your 'race,' but who could do nothing without using the Irish people. They have used them for their scandalous and disastrous purposes and now are flinging them aside like so much filth. I may have been urged on by the influences around me, and by circumstances of irritation from without,
