138 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTOEIA 



in the Constitution of the Commonwealth. Indeed, it was Mr. 

 Higinbotham's impassioned declarations of the rights of the As- 

 sembly which made thousands applaud his method of concussing 

 the Council, who cared little and who thought less about its bear- 

 ings on constitutional procedure. For when the same tactics were 

 adopted later on by Graham Berry, for the purpose of putting money 

 in the pockets of members of Parliament, it was very generally re- 

 garded as a vulgar imitation of a desperate device, applied to attain 

 an end wherein self-interest stood unabashed. 



Whatever charges may have been brought against Mr. Higin- 

 botham from time to time, and for some years he was the daily 

 subject of journalistic condemnation, they never touched his per- 

 sonal honour. The stirring up of class strife hi Australia, the 

 hatred which the masses have been encouraged to exhibit towards 

 the more prosperous of their fellow-colonists, the belittling of the 

 Second Chamber of the Legislature because it was elected by a 

 restricted suffrage, these and kindred movements have usually been 

 the work of scheming demagogues with personal ends to serve. 

 But it was universally recognised that the element of self-seeking 

 was conspicuously absent in Mr. Higinbotham throughout his 

 whole career. His devotion to his official duties was exceptional. 

 When he accepted the position of Attorney-General he declined all 

 private practice in his profession, and he worked for his salary with 

 a close application that made the Civil Service uneasy. 



Though it sounds paradoxical, it may be said that his weakness 

 as a politician was the result of his strength of character. Having 

 once deliberately made up his mind that the course he proposed 

 was the right one, nothing could deflect him from it. He was 

 contemptuous of expediency, scornful of Opposition clamour, and 

 declined to escape defeat by accepting compromise. Some phases 

 of his character appear inexplicable from the strange contradiction 

 they involve. An Irishman who in lofty phrase and burning 

 words had denied the right of the Colonial Secretary to offer an 

 opinion upon the legality, or otherwise, of the proceedings of a 

 Colonial Ministry ; who had expressed his readiness to ignore that 

 official if but the people of Victoria were united in their own 

 interest he was yet an outspoken opponent of Home Eule, and 



