CHAPTER IX.
VEXATIOUS DELAYS.
As Mr. Gouger did not commence his second Journal till January, 1835, it will be necessary to give a brief sketch of events from the time when the first Journal ceased, viz., from May, 1884.
Just when matters appeared to be on a fair footing, when Mr. Gouger had sent in his draft of the proposed Bill, when the energetic and persevering band of men who had devoted so much time and thought to the colonisation of South Australia were congratulating themselves that their success was now only a question of days, there came a change of administration in the Colonial Department, and Mr. Spring-Rice (afterwards Lord Monteagle) succeeded Mr. Stanley as Secretary of State for the Colonies. Vexation, apprehension, and fear lest all the work would have to be done over again, took possession of the provisional committee, while poor Robert Gouger, who had known neither rest of body nor mind for some years, was almost in despair. It is no wonder that he ceased to record events in his Journal—like Sisyphus, he no sooner reached the top of the hill than the heavy stone fell back again. His was a most
