THE PORT PHILLIP ASSOCIATION 187 



" Your Lordship will not fail to have observed the result of 

 a late expedition sent to follow up Captain Sturt's discoveries, 

 behind Lake Alexandrina, which had returned, having suffered loss 

 in a skirmish with the natives. A circumstance that could not 

 have occurred had an amicable intercourse with these unhappy 

 beings been previously, as in our case, established ; but instances 

 of this description are too numerous to trouble your Lordship 

 with. 



"In conclusion, I may be permitted to observe that, inde- 

 pendently of British interests, on the score of humanity alone, 

 I humbly conceive it to behove His Majesty's Ministers to take 

 this subject into their most serious consideration, and, with as little 

 delay as possible, to plant British authorities at Port Phillip for 

 the prevention of exterminating conflicts, which will, I fear, in- 

 evitably ensue, as some squatters have possessed themselves of 

 lands in the neighbourhood, without any previous arrangement with 

 the natives, and also to give legitimate protection to flocks of great 

 value (20,000 to 30,000) belonging to the Association, now grazing 

 on the ceded tract. 



" I have the honour to be, my Lord, 



" Your Lordship's most obedient humble Servant, 

 (Signed) "Gso. MERCER." 



A fortnight later Lord Glenelg replied briefly and decisively to 

 the effect that he intended instructing the Governor of New South 

 Wales to arrange for the proper official supervision of the new 

 settlement, and to put up the lands there at such a reduced upset 

 price as, upon full consideration of the state of the infant settlement, 

 he might consider reasonable. He dissented, however, from the pro- 

 posal to accept a quit-rent, that plan having now been generally 

 abandoned by the Crown. He did not condescend to any examina- 

 tion of the precedents cited, or attempt to controvert the arguments 

 of the writer on any other point. 



If plain speaking was to count for anything, it must have been 

 evident to Mercer that there was little chance of what was equiva- 

 lent to a free grant, and a change of tactics was necessary. It was 

 clearly resolving itself into a financial question, and the main 

 object of subsequent correspondence was to see how good a bargain 



