ignant house, wearied of his prolonged indecencies of
demeanour, but his constituency sent him back untamed and rejoicing--his
mission being to prove that the Ministry was composed of thieves and
liars. The miserable charges dwindled into nothing; but one at least
of his constituents is persuaded that the debates, as printed in the
newspapers, would lose so much of sparkle if Mr Crick were banished
permanendy from the house that the breakfast enjoyment of the public
more than atoned for his presence there. The women are notoriously
deficient in humour, and it is possible that, when they come to vote,
the reign of Mr Crick and his like will be over.

The best hope which lies before Australia at this hour is the federation
of her several colonies. Her determination to keep her population
European can hardly fail of approval, but the immediate work to her hand
is to consolidate her own possessions. The attempt to find material for
six separate parliaments in a population of three and a half millions
has, it must be confessed in all candour, succeeded beyond reasonable
expectations, but concentration will be of service. There will be a
laudable rivalry between the colonies which will result in the choice of
the fittest men, and a combination parliament will be a more useful and
dignified body than has yet been assembled within colonial limits.
But this is one of the smallest of the results to be anticipated. The
ridiculous tariff restrictions which now harass individuals and restrict
commerce will pass away and with them the foolish hatreds which
exist between the rival colonies. At present if one desire to anger
a Victorian he has only to praise New South Wales. Would he wound a
Sydneyite in the fifth rib, let him laud Melbourne. There is a dispute
pending about the proprietorship of the Murray River. It lies between
the two colonies and New South Wales claims it to the Victorian bank.
When it overflowed disastrously a couple of years ago, an irate farmer
on the Victorian side is said to have written to Sir Henry Parkes,
bidding him come and pump the confounded river off his land, and
threatening to agitate for a duty (by the gallon) on imported New South
Wales water. The dispute is nothing less than childish, but I have the
personal assurance of the leading statesman of New South Wales that he
is perfectly satisfied with the position. It is probable that he sees
in the existing riparian rights a chance for a concession whi