Page:The founding of South Australia.djvu/111

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
IMPERIUM IN IMPERIO.
105


"I write without the knowledge of any of the committee.

"It appears to me that your official letter of this day must have the effect of dissolving the present association, and my reason for saying so is, that Mr. Stanley insists on a Crown colony, while the sole object of the association is to found a chartered one. The very great difference between a Crown and a chartered colony is clearly pointed out in the enclosed paper, which was not written by me, or, as you will readily see, with a view to its being laid before Mr. Stanley, and which I should not have thought of submitting to you in your official character.

"Supposing you to have read that paper, I conclude you will perceive that the committee (who will not meet till Friday next) are almost sure to object to a colony which should be chartered as to the money, the trouble, and the responsibility, but Crown as to every kind of power. This is why I believe that your official letter will induce them to dissolve the association and to appeal to Parliament.

"But as the sole object of some of the committee is, like my own, simply to found the colony on the principles laid down as to land and emigration without regard to questions of government, and as you allow me to express my wishes as an individual, I submit to you whether all Mr. Stanley's objections might not be removed if the association were to keep together merely for the purpose of enabling him to found a Crown colony. " The only obstacle to the founding of a Crown colony is the want of funds for defraying the cost of government. But this difficulty would soon be at an end if the association were able to assure the public that a colony, on the principles laid down as to land and emigration, was about to be founded. In that case the colonists going out, and others here, wealthy persons,