mayor of Geelong, were deputed to
act in the metropolis for Victoria. The delegates of Tasmania returned
home. The banner intrusted to their care was publicly delivered at a
meeting, of which, Mr. Dry was chairman.[264] Councils were chosen for
north and south Tasmania, and several thousand pounds were added to the
league fund.

Messrs. West and Weston were commissioned to attend the conference at
Sydney. Joined by the delegates for Victoria, they landed in March. A
large concourse of citizens assembled at the Royal Hotel, where an
address, breathing encouragement and hope, was read by Mr. Charles
Cowper, in the name of the New South Wales association. The delegates,
invited to a public banquet in honor of their mission, were met by the
city members, the mayor, the principal merchants, and professional
gentlemen. The immense wool store of Messrs. Mort, decorated for the
occasion, exhibited a striking scene of luxury and magnificence.
Speeches, such as Britons make when their hearts are loyal and their
wrongs are felt, promised a hearty struggle, and predicted a certain
victory. A public meeting of the colonists assembled to recognise the
League, and dissolve the colonial association. Dr. Lang proposed another
covenant drawn up by himself. It recited the chief facts stated in that
of Victoria, but added: "And if it should be necessary in the struggle
upon which we are now deliberately entering, for the protection and
defence of our adopted country, as well as in the vindication of our
rights as Britons, ... to have recourse to the last remedy of the
oppressed, we appeal to God and the world, as to whether we shall not
have indefeasible right and eternal justice on our side. So help us
God." A league, based on moral force, and disclaiming all weapons but
those of persuasion and entreaty, was evidently at an end if armed
resistance were contemplated as the final resource. The earnest
objections of the delegates were supported by Mr. Lamb. The mercantile
and professional classes decidedly disapproved of the substitution; but
the strength of numbers might have carried the threatening clause had
not Dr. Lang consented to abandon it. Never was the league in so much
danger, it being determined by the delegates to relinquish all idea of
confederation on any terms inconsistent with constitutional resistance.
A proposal to join the league was carried amidst triumphant cheering. A
council was chosen by ballot. Messrs. Charles Cowp