HISTORICAL REVIEW OF NEW SOUTH WALES. 



the event, Captain Stokes says that " the officers of the two nations seemed to vie with 

 each other in courtesy, but the question whether Foreign Powers were entitled to take 

 possession of points on the coast of Australia was much debated at the time, and it 

 was popularly believed that the French had entertained some intentions of forestalling 

 our settlement." Shortly after this event they nearly succeeded through the intrigues 

 of Baron de Thierry in taking possession of New Zealand. 



GOVERNOR GIPPS. 



The history of the colony during the Administration of Sir George Gipps, a Captain 

 in the Royal Engineers, who arrived in February, 1838, assumes proportions altogether 

 unknown to it under 

 the rule of his prede- 

 cessors. It is no longer 

 occupied with the melan- 

 choly records of the 

 convict class, or the 

 bitter feuds between the 

 Emancipists and the 

 Exclusives. The state 

 of society had changed ; 

 free immigration had 

 begun to How in ; capi- 

 tal was introduced by THE GATE LODGE, GOVERNMENT HOLM:. 

 settlers from abroad and 



invested in sheep and cattle stations ; the system of assigned' servants ceased in 1838, 

 and transportation itself, which had been yearly growing more unpopular, was abolished by 

 an Order in Council two years later, although it was not finally extinguished until 1851. 



The most remarkable event of this period was the establishment of a new Consti- 

 tution, under an Act passed by the Imperial Parliament in 1842. Representative insti 

 tutions were at length conceded to the colony, although responsible government was 

 still withheld. The new Legislative Council was composed of thirty-six members, of 

 whom twenty-four were elected and twelve appointed by the Crown. The Port Phillip 

 District returned five members, of whom Melbourne had one. Property qualifications were 

 required in the case of electors as well as elected, and the political rights for which 

 the Emancipists had struggled so long were at last conferred upon them. The first 

 writs for the etection of members were issued in 1843 ; and the new Council met on 

 the ist of August in that year. Among its most prominent members were Wentworth 

 and Dr. Bland, who sat for Sydney ; Dr. Lang, who represented a constituency in Port 

 Phillip ; Richard Windeyer and William Foster, both members of the Bar ; Charles 

 Cowper, Terence Aubrey Murray, Major D'Arcy Wentworth, the statesman's brother ; 

 Roger Therry, then Attorney-General ; and Alexander Macleay, the former Colonial 

 Secretary, who was elected Speaker. Among the members appointed by the Crown were 

 E. Deas-Thompson, the Colonial Secretary ; John Hubert Pkmkett, afterwards Attorney- 

 General ; and Robert Lowe, afterwards known as Lord Sherbrooke, a successful barrister 



