val of transportation opened a channel of communication. The _Sydney
Herald_, the chief organ of the abolition cause, remarked, "the best way
of dealing with this and all other evasions is that suggested by the
people of Van Diemen's Land, the formation of a great Australian
confederacy" (September 16). The people of Port Phillip "tendered their
deep sympathy and hearty concurrence and co-operation," and appointed a
provisional committee to take such measures as might be deemed
necessary to obtain complete redress. The unity of the colonies became
thenceforth the favorite topic, and nothing remained but to give to this
important sentiment a practical direction. Meanwhile (1st October), the
council of New South Wales decided on the despatch of Earl Grey, so far
as related to themselves. An amendment of Mr. M'Arthur, to receive
selected exiles with three emigrants for each, although supported by the
eloquence of Wentworth, was defeated, and Mr. Lamb's motion carried
without a division. The abolitionists had made efforts to secure
unexampled demonstrations without, and to determine the question for
ever. They held meetings daily, and called into action all the agents of
political agitation. The ladies imitated the mothers and daughters of
Van Diemen's Land, and petitioned. The members on the popular side were
encouraged by the countenance of the bishops and clergy of all
persuasions. The judges gave the weight of their experience on the same
side. Five hundred persons memorialised the council in favor of
transportation. Thirty-six thousand protested against it. The Port
Phillip members who went up to Sydney on this errand alone, to secure a
majority of the side of abolition, were met by the citizens at the water
side and escorted in triumph. The debates were more prolonged than any
known before--Australian eloquence exhausted the topic, and satisfied
the public judgment for ever. Mr. Wentworth in supporting the amendment
yet declared his aversion to transportation, and his belief that nothing
but a powerful confederation of the colonies would prevail against
it.[261] The governor was neutral: the official members of the house
withdrew: but the attorney-general rose from the deserted benches, and
claiming to perform a duty as a citizen who had watched transportation
in all its stages and results, gave an irresistible testimony on the
side of social freedom.

A common interest in the liberation of Tasmania being thus avowed b