Mischievous Interference, by The Council of New South Wales

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IN order, however, that Her Majesty's confidential advisors may have no excuse for the continuance of these abuses, we unhesitatingly declare that we are prepared, upon the surrender to the Colonial Legislature of the entire management of all our revenues, territorial as well as general, in which we include mines of every description, and upon the establishment of a constitution among us similar in its outline to that of Canada,* to assume and provide for the whole cost of our internal Government, whether civil or military, the salary of the Governor General only excepted, and to grant to Her Majesty an adequate civil list, on the same terms as in Canada.

We, the said Legislative Council, therefore humbly pray that your hon. House will be pleased to adopt such measures as may be necessary for the early redress of these grievances.

by The Council of New South Wales 1852

abridged

Abridged from ‘Hansard’ (June 18th, 1852). Additional background from ‘History of Australia for Commonwealth Schools’ (1928) by J. P. Chard, and ‘A Short History of Australia’ (1916) by Sir Ernest Scott.

Canada had been granted a proper British democratic Parliament in 1849, putting into practice the principles laid down in the so-called ‘Magna Carta for the Colonies’, the Durham Report of 1839. See Defective Democracy.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Questions for Critics

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