OUR ISLAND STORY 59

instructions; and I have at present received no intimation, either of a public or a private nature, authorizing me to depart from or alter the system of Government as it is now established in this colony. At the same time, I think that by a prudent and judicious exercise of your Legislative functions the obstacles which now exist to the accomplishment of your views may be ultimately removed and the whole question adjusted in a satis-

factory manner.” A few days later, on the 14th of March, His Excellency sent

to the House a message communicating an extract from a con— fidential despatch that he had received on the previous evening. In this despatch it was stated that ”With respect to the con- cession of Responsible Government, should that subject be pressed upon your attention, the passages in my public despatch of the 27th December which relate to that subject will enable you to fully understand the views of Her Majesty’s advisers. You will observe that I have not expressed in it any determination to advise Her Majesty to refuse this concession if it should appear that it is the real wish of the inhabitants of the colony in general. I have pointed out my own reasons for not thinking such a mode of government particularly desirable for the community in its present state, and I have pointed out, also the permanent pro- visions and establishment which must precede its adoption.”

1 The attitude of the Home Government and the Lieutenant ”Governor towards responsible government is shown by these extracts. That of the House of Assembly was set forth in a series of resolutions passed on the twenty-first of March. They were to the effect that the constituencies of the colony have un- equivocally declared themselves in favor of Responsible Govern- ment; that the House believes the Lieutenant Governor to be warranted by the despatch from the Colonial Office of date the 27th December 1849, in making the changes desired by the House of Assembly; that in the answers of the House to the Governor’s Speech they expressed their want of confidence in the Executive Council by a vote of seventeen to three; that there appearing no intention on the part of the Executive to concede the changes requisite, the House of Assembly had determined to refuse the

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