Vlll PREFACE 



I have often noticed with regret the small interest which 

 the rising generation of Victoria takes in the work of nation- 

 building going on around them. Indeed, if one may judge 

 of the knowledge of our legislators by the manner in which 

 they frequently ignore the teachings of experience, it would 

 almost seem as if they, too, were unacquainted with, and 

 indifferent to, the past. It should, therefore, be a conveni- 

 ence to have in one work, easy of reference, the material for 

 forming an opinion, which could otherwise only be gained by 

 consulting voluminous Parliamentary records, official re- 

 ports, and endless piles of journals. So far as possible I 

 have verified the political utterances by reference to Hansard, 

 and all quotations from State documents have been carefully 

 compared. But I have not encumbered the pages with detail 

 references, the source of information being clearly indicated 

 in the text. 



With most of the leading politicians of the last thirty 

 years I have had some intimacy, but in no case have I ever 

 intimated my intention of committing my views of their 

 proceedings to paper, nor have I submitted a single page of 

 my manuscript to any one for an opinion. Hence I am 

 alone responsible for the deductions which I have sometimes 

 drawn from the facts recorded. Many of those deductions 

 will, I am sure, be unpopular ; some, no doubt, will be hotly 

 contested. 



It is a drawback to contemporary history that personal 

 considerations, or even expediency, sometimes counsel 

 silence, when, if dealing with a departed generation, praise 

 or blame would be fairly dealt out. I have not allowed this 

 feeling to influence my judgment, which has been invariably 



