CHAPTER II
THE McCULLOCH RÉGIME
The Governor s salary—Government action during my absence And afterwards—Mr. Ireland's malafides—And my repudiation of it—The "Darling Trouble"—Removal of the Governor—Higinbotham's Education Bill—It is withdrawn—I am elected for Dalhousie—Death of Sir Charles Darling—McCulloch's system—The McPherson Ministry, and its policy—Immigration stories—Fall of the McCulloch Ministry—I am authorised to form a Cabinet—Letters and news from Dublin—Letters from McCulloch and Parkes—Protection—Opinions of Carlyle, Mill, and Bright.
Before returning to Australia I had to consider events which happened in my absence, and had excited universal interest in the colonies and the Mother Country. A new Governor had come into office before I left, promoted from the West Indies. His predecessor had received a salary and allowance voted in the days of profusion following the gold discovery, which equalled the united salaries of the Prime Minister of England, the Speaker of the House of Commons, and the President of the United States. When the Legislature awoke from its frenzy a reduction of this inordinate provision was ordered, but the Colonial Office intimated that disastrous consequences would follow such an economy; the best class of men, they suggested, could no longer be counted on to go as Governor to Victoria, and we must be content with what we could get. The names of various noblemen were published in the London papers as having refused the office on the retirement of Sir Henry Barkley, and at length Sir Charles Darling, who had been originally a stipendiary
285
