THE BERRY INFLUENCE, 1875-1882 207 



pause, and he finally issued an authoritative announcement that he 

 would not go. 



A few Ministerialists joined the Opposition in reprobating the 

 whole proceeding, but protest was unheeded, and the expenses were 

 voted by a large majority. In subsequently reviewing the vote and 

 the objects of the embassy to his constituents at Maldon, Mr. 

 Service said: "No more miserable confession of incompetence, of 

 inferiority on the part of the people of this country to the people 

 at home, was ever discussed or even hinted at". He pointed out 

 clearly how the supposed impasse could be surmounted by consti- 

 tutional means, which if slow were certain, while the indecent haste 

 which invoked outside interference would assuredly result in failure 

 and covert ridicule. On the other hand, in the unlikely event of the 

 Colonial Secretary acting upon the advice of one branch of the 

 Legislature, the colonists would be involved in disputes with the 

 Crown, and possibly serious internal feud. 



When the Appropriation Bill was dealt with in the Council, Sir 

 Charles Sladen carried an address to the Governor in which he set 

 forth a protest against the inclusion of this 5,000 in the Bill, on 

 the ground that there was no power to appoint Commissioners to 

 represent the colony in England without the authority of an Act of 

 Parliament, and that no such Act existed. The address urged the 

 Governor not to issue any such Commission, or to sign any warrant 

 for the payment of the money proposed to be thus illegally expended. 

 But Sir George Bowen was too far committed to hold his hand. 



The day before Parliament was prorogued the Governor had 

 received a despatch from Sir M. Hicks-Beach which should have 

 rendered the trip impracticable, for in it he declared that no sufficient 

 cause had been shown for the intervention of the British Parliament. 

 As the passages had been arranged for, the despatch was kept back, 

 with the connivance of the Governor, until after the prorogation 

 ceremony. Sir George Bowen had been superseded, and it would 

 not look well for his successor to discover a despatch that ought to 

 have been communicated to Parliament, so it was published in the 

 Government Gazette of 18th December, a fortnight after its receipt 

 and about a week before the embassy sailed. The comments of the 

 Argus upon the unconstitutional attitude of the Assembly in assum- 



