upon it, and which the draft of a charter, drawn up by Colonel Torrens, was, later on, submitted to him, he proceeded forthwith to cut it ruthlessly to pieces.
Every endeavour was made by Colonel Torrens to remove his objections, and the provisional committee, with Robert Gouger as their secretary, agreed to modify the charter; but Lord Goderich was inexorable, and, after a lengthy correspondence, into which we need not enter here, the "incident closed," the provisional committee was broken up, and the intending emigrants took their departure to America instead of Australia.
No memoranda of Mr. Gouger's in relation to this movement—which dragged its weary course for nearly two years—appear to have been preserved, but it is matter of history that one effect of these negotiations was the acknowledgment by the Government of the principle of colonisation, for which there had been so much contention.
Colonel Torrens, in his work on "Colonisation," says: "To Lord Howick belongs the honour of having been the first to give practical operation to the principle of selling the colonial lands at the disposal of the Crown, and of employing the proceeds of the sale in conveying voluntary emigrants to the colonies."
To this expression Mr. Edward Gibbon Wakefield, in his "Art of Colonisation," adds this testimony:—
"Not the least impression was made upon the Government while the Duke of Wellington's administration lasted. But soon after the change
