retired from the Cabinet. Simultaneously the long-pending re- 

 signation of Sir William A'Beckett, whose health had broken down, 

 was accepted, and Mr. Attorney-General Stawell was transferred 

 from the political arena to the Bench as Chief Justice. The 

 Ministry had thus lost two of its strongest men, and now was the 

 time for the Opposition to try conclusions. On the 3rd of March, 

 1857, Mr. O'Shanassy carried a resolution censuring the Government 

 for having obtained a vote on account of immigration for 150,000 

 more than they intended to spend. Explanations were offered, 

 which to the unbiassed appear reasonable, but the House would 

 not accept them, for the misappropriation of grants under former 

 Governments had been notorious. So the Ministry resigned. 



The experiences of Mr. O'Shanassy in his effort to find capable 

 and acceptable colleagues, in accordance with the Governor's com- 

 mission, were painfully discouraging. The financial, mercantile 

 and squatting classes were all in silent opposition to giving an 

 untried man the control of their destinies. The capacity which he 

 afterwards developed for broad views of general politics and strong 

 administrative control were unsuspected. He was then only known 

 as a man who, but the other day, kept a small draper's shop in 

 Elizabeth Street, trained for public life in the turbulent atmosphere 

 of the City Council, and suspected of being in league with the 

 irreconcilable Fawkner against all squatterdom. Yet he had been 

 elected to Parliament by two widely differing constituencies, win- 

 ning his seat for Melbourne with less than a hundred votes behind 

 the Attorney-General, Stawell. But his fellow-members did not 

 endorse the confidence of the electors. Mr. Michie and Dr. Evans 

 in turn refused his offer of the position of Chief Law Officer, Mr. 

 James McCulloch and Mr. David Moore also declined his overtures, 

 and he had to meet Parliament with a scratch team, which the 

 House resented at sight. The two of his colleagues who roused 

 the bitterest antagonism were Mr. Duffy as Minister of Lands, and 

 Mr. Foster as Treasurer. The former had incurred the personal 

 dislike of a large number of members by his persistent dictation 

 and querulous fault-finding. Outside the House the intemperate 

 advocacy of his partisans had the effect of raising a somewhat 

 unjust but very marked hostility to himself and distrust of his 



