294 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



hold a seat in a Colonial Kepresentative Legislature. He was not 

 qualified according to the Act, he was an absentee without an 

 authorised representative, and so forth. But the Mayor said his 

 business was confined to the election the protests were matters 

 for the Government to deal with, and he declared Earl Grey duly 

 elected. 



Lest the inner meaning of this escapade should not be fully 

 realised by the nobleman so honoured, a meeting was held at the 

 Mechanics' Institute on the 31st of July, whereat formal resolu- 

 tions were passed approving the action taken, and setting forth the 

 reasons which inspired it. An exhaustive explanatory memorial, 

 prepared by Edward Curr, was adopted by the meeting, and 

 ordered to be transmitted to Earl Grey through the usual official 

 channels. 



While the conspirators were thus busy in vindicating themselves 

 at headquarters, the Superintendent was shocked at this combination 

 of satire and burlesque, and it was strongly resented by Sir Charles 

 Fitzroy in Sydney. As the Crown Law Officers pronounced the 

 election valid, it was the Governor's duty to officially advise his 

 chief of the honour conferred upon him ; but he added that he had 

 refrained from the usual Gazette notice, because he would not 

 allow the Government to be made a party to a proceeding which 

 he considered improper and unbecoming, even if not intended to 

 be insulting. He also took the opportunity to point out to the 

 Minister that the extraordinary tactics of the electors fully sup- 

 ported Mr. Latrobe's previously expressed opinion, that the residents 

 of Port Phillip were hardly ripe for a representative Legislature. 



There is no official correspondence to show what opinion Earl 

 Grey held on the subject. He certainly gave no indication of 

 feeling insulted by the unauthorised use of his name, for he joked 

 about it in the House of Lords, and he did not formally intimate 

 that he declined to take his seat until the Act which enabled 

 separation had been duly passed. Melbourne can therefore legiti- 

 mately claim him as her representative in the Sydney Council from 

 July, 1848, until November, 1850, when Mr. Westgarth was 

 elected in his place. 



Matters could not be allowed to rest on this unsatisfactory 



