Page:My Life in Two Hemispheres, volume 2.djvu/204

 reading in the Sydney papers paragraphs announcing what had been done. I promptly made inquiries, which elicited the following reply from Parkes:—

"I have no doubt the blame—whatever it may be—of their publication rests with myself. Your letter advising me to settle in Melbourne, and tendering your aid in my difficulties, was among the first substantial offers of friendship I received. That circumstance, added to the value I set on your friendship for its own sake, induced me, perhaps indiscreetly, to show the letter to several of my friends. You will readily conceive how some of the gentlemen may have concluded that in my circumstances the offer would be accepted, and accordingly set it down as a settled thing.

"I am anxious to know Melbourne with my own eyes and ears—to see one of your principal and oldest goldfields, or rather the social result as developed on the spot—to acquaint myself somewhat with the state of colonisation in your interior; to learn something from the private conversation of your public men, especially with reference to the Australian future. If in following out these objects I can combine with them a run through Tasmania, I shall, of course, gain an additional pleasure."

A note from John Dillon described the condition of public affairs in Ireland, in which he said he had to endure in silence wrongs and sufferings which he could do nothing to redress. He added:—

"In the midst of this hopeless gloom the news of your success comes to your old friends like a ray of light. When our enemies attribute our failures (individual and collective) to our want of capacity and energy we have but one answer, and it is a conclusive one. We point to men of Irish birth or blood who are prosperous and distinguished everywhere but at home. We claim as ours the first soldier of France, the first soldier and statesman in Spain, the Commander-inChief of the American Army (the son of an Irish physician), and we owe it to you that we are able to add that the genius of our people is asserting itself in the distant Continent of Australia. For this reason (if our old friendship did not supply a sufficient motive) I would watch your career with keen and anxious interest."