328 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



daylight dressing of endless banners, its evening efflorescence of 

 illuminations, and the holiday aspect of its crowded streets, there 

 were general expressions of satisfied delight at the result achieved. 

 Salvoes of artillery, the blare of trumpet and the roll of drum 

 even the pealing chimes from many church steeples all seemed to 

 stimulate the newly awakened feeling of an Australian patriotism. 



Great things were prophesied to follow this first act in cement- 

 ing the bonds of brotherhood. Apart from the elevating influences 

 on the national character which might be expected to follow the 

 welding of half a dozen insignificant communities into something 

 very like real nationhood, there were pledges of reforms which 

 took less heed of sentiment. Enormous savings were to be effected 

 in the preposterous expenditure on six separate Gubernatorial and 

 Parliamentary establishments ; in sweeping away all customs and 

 other intercolonial barriers ; and in consolidating the formless 

 mass of State debts into an enticing, but low interest-bearing 

 Australian consols. Above all, it was fondly believed that the 

 supreme Parliament would comprise the pick of the wisest and 

 most statesman-like representatives to be found throughout the 

 Dominion. Men animated by the highest principles, jealous for 

 the honour of the high position to which they had been called, and 

 emancipated alike from the tricky methods of party politics and 

 the sordid aims of a petty localism. How far these elated hopes 

 were justified it is for others to discuss ; they pertain not to the 

 annals of the Colony of Victoria. 



When the Federation of the Colonies became an achieved fact, 

 many claimants arose for the honour of having originated the 

 idea, of having brought it within the range of practical politics, 

 or of having given the final touches that ensured success. A 

 brief r6sum& of the facts, most of them within the recollection 

 of the present generation, is all that need be attempted here. 



The genesis of Federation, however, starts from a much earlier 

 period. As far back as April, 1849, the British Board of Trade 

 strongly urged upon the Government that, in dealing with the 

 then pressing questions of the separation of Port Phillip from 

 New South Wales, a House of Delegates should be established, 

 to consist of twenty members elected by the Parliaments of the 



