CHAPTER II.
FROM SYDNEY TO NEW GUINEA.
Colonists demand Annexation of New Guinea—Lord Derby's Vacillation—Appointment of Sir Peter Scratchley as High Commissioner—His Arrival and first Proceedings—Departure from Sydney—Pathetic Parting of the Commissioner and his Family—A Sabbath Day on Board—Northwards to Brisbane—Description of the "Governor Blackall"—Music hath Charms to soothe the hardy Seaman's breast—An Eminent Naturalist—Gentle Savages—Departure from Brisbane—A New Patent Log—The Tragedy of Percy Island—A Strange Ocean Product—An Island Paradise—An Apron Signal—Townsville—Meeting with a "Vagabond"—Cooktown—The Tragedy of Lizard Island—New Guinea in Sight.
HE repeated demands of the Australasian Colonists for the annexation of New Guinea failed, for a long period, to move the Imperial Government. The policy of Lord Derby, when Secretary of State for the Colonies in Mr. Gladstone's Administration, seemed to be of the Fabian order. His lordship (as Mr. Froude told the Colonists), was in the habit of looking at both sides of a question, and taking time to make up his mind. But somehow the march of events outstripped Lord Derby's calm deliberation. Rumours came abroad that some great Foreign Power was meditating the annexation of the northern island. Stimulated to action by these reports, the patriotic Premier of Queensland, Sir Thomas McIlwraith, resolved upon taking the matter into his own hands, and he despatched an agent to New Guinea with orders to take possession of the territory in the name of Her Majesty Queen Victoria. These orders were promptly obeyed, but the patriotic act did not meet with Lord Derby's approval.
