ever, a number of the Government supporters in Parliament objected on grounds which, when they were analysed, seemed to resolve themselves into the fact that the office ought not to be given to a Catholic. Parkes reported these facts to Butler in the presence of their colleagues, and Butler said that to acquiesce in such an objection from such a motive would be to insult the men of his own creed who formed so large a share of the population. A long and courteous, but extremely bitter correspondence, ensued, during which Butler resigned the Attorney-Generalship, and Parkes offered the office of Chief Justice to Sir James Martin. Cynical persons naturally said that to remove the leader of the Opposition in Parliament was a fine stroke of diplomacy, and perhaps accounted for his second thoughts on the subject. To other persons the selection of Martin, who, like Butler, was born and bred a Catholic, but was a Catholic who had ceased to go to Mass, seemed to indicate that there was a submission to sectarian prejudice. I told Parkes my opinion on the transaction frankly, and our relations were disturbed, but not terminated. When he saw that I meditated a journey to Europe, which might be a final one, he wrote:—
Colonial Secretary's Office, Sydney.
Feb. 18, 1874.My dear Duffy,—I write to bid you farewell, and to wish you and yours every blessing.
Though circumstances have occurred to chequer the course of our friendship, yet that friendship has been to me in many respects an unmixed pleasure. I owe you much for the consolation your vords have afforded me in time of trouble, for the happy thoughts you have set in motion in our personal intercourse, and for the fine intelligences you have been the means of making me acquainted with. For all accept my truest and my kindest wishes for your welfare.
I shall no doubt occasionally hear of you if not from you, and your fortunes in life will always have a special interest for me.—Very truly yours,
Henry Parkes.
