192 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



settlement were a muddle ; but the legal position of the Association 

 was weak, and it would be useless to " kick against the pricks ". 

 The prudent course would be to make the most of the admission in 

 the Minister's letter of 14th April, and try by the aid of it to wring 

 the best terms obtainable out of the Governor of New South Wales. 

 And while this was being done, Parliament might be directly in- 

 voked by getting the recent Committee on Crown Lands reappointed, 

 before whom the whole proceedings of the Association might gain 

 publicity, and the favourable recognition which Mr. Burge believed 

 them to deserve. It would of course be impossible to get the Com- 

 mittee reappointed without the concurrence of the Cabinet, and as 

 it would probably have been fatal to the issue to have appealed 

 to Parliament in opposition to the Ministry, steps were taken to 

 bring pressure to bear on the Colonial Secretary to sanction the 

 Committee. For this purpose Mr. David Eobertson had two inter- 

 views with the Minister in January, 1837, and though at first he 

 seemed hopeful of some advantage being obtained, before the end 

 of the month all doubt was set at rest by curt intimation that the 

 Government would not move for the renewal of the required Com- 

 mittee, and that Lord Glenelg had nothing more to say on the 

 subject. 



Miss Martineau describes the Colonial Secretary as a man who 

 was respected for his large information and clear sagacity. But his 

 indolence was extreme, and so thoroughly constitutional as to be 

 inveterate. This throws some light on his manifest desire not to 

 be " bothered " about matters that other people could attend to. 



Mr. Mercer continued to protest and appeal for fully another 

 year, but the negotiations had practically passed beyond him to the 

 arena of the Executive Council of the Government of New South 

 Wales. 



The instructions to Sir Richard Bourke, so often referred to and 

 deemed by Mercer and his associates so inadequate, were supposed 

 to be contained in the despatch of 13th April, 1836, which authorised 

 the Governor to arrange for a settlement at Port Phillip, under the 

 established conditions ; but there is no indication in it of the implied 

 promise of the Minister to Mercer, that the Governor would be in- 

 structed to have a special regard to their claims. In Sir Richard 



