The letter of imperial law was doubtless violated; but Her
Majesty's Government first violated the spirit, by authorizing men unfit
for England to go to Victoria.
WILLIAM NICHOLSON, MAYOR OF MELBOURNE, AND PREMIER OF THE COLONY.
"An honest man, sir, is able to speak for himself, when a knave is not."
--As You Like It.
In one of our colonial municipalities, which of them I have forgotten,
as I heard my story so long ago, a working furniture-maker, who had
secured an order from the Mayor for his official chair, was observed to
be at particular pains over its construction, and, on being asked the
reason, replied that he intended some day to occupy it himself. If the
subject of this sketch had been of that particular trade, this would
have been a very likely story to fix upon him. Not that he was of
inordinate ambition; for, on the contrary, he looked quiet and contented
beyond most around him. But he was always ready and willing to respond
to the many opportunities of a new colony, and from his great natural
gifts usually able to do them justice. Nature had given him all she
could to make him a good and useful colonist; but there was one thing he
had not had from her, because not within her power, and that was the
school.
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