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 the neutralisation of the colonies in case of the mother country being involved in war, but it met with no very definite encouragement from any contemporary Australian statesman. In June of the next year, on the defeat of the fourth Culloch Government, Mr. Duffy at length became Premier. During his administration the whole country was for the first time thrown open for selection by the abolition of the reserves made in favour of the pastoral tenants, and the tariff was made more protective. In 1872 Mr. Duffy was chairman of a conference of Cabinet Ministers from all the Australian colonies to press on the Imperial Government the repeal of the law limiting inter-colonial legislation on fiscal subjects, an object which has since been effected in pursuance of that remonstrance. After a year the Government were defeated by a narrow majority nominally on an amendment moved by Mr. Ramsay, but really in consequence of certain alleged abuses of patronage, including the appointment of Mr. Cashel Hoey to the position of Secretary to the Agent-General's office in London. Lord Canterbury having refused him an appeal to the country, Mr. Duffy resigned in June 1872. A few months afterwards he was offered a companionship of St. Michael and St. George, which he respectfully declined. In May 1873 he was knighted by patent, and in 1874 he made a second visit to Europe, his eldest son being elected for Dalhousie in his father's place. On his visit to Ireland he was invited to re-enter the House of Commons, a county member making way for him; but he declined on the ground that he disapproved of the programme which had been substituted for the policy of the repeal party. On his return to Australia in 1875 Sir Charles was elected for North Gippsland, one of the largest constituencies in Victoria, without his presence at the election being required. In returning thanks he stated the remarkable fact that during the twenty-four years since he first entered Parliament he had never lost an election. On the assembling of Parliament in May, he was unanimously chosen Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, and discharged the duties of the post till Feb. 1880. In the meantime it was suggested that Sir Charles Duffy should accompany the embassy to England on the subject of reform of the Upper House in 1879. In the end, however, the project was abandoned, as it met with little popular favour, and Messrs. Berry and Pearson went alone. In 1880 Sir Charles Duffy, who had been created K.C.M.G. in 1877, returned to Europe, and has since resided in the south of France. He is in receipt of a pension of £1000 a year from the colony of Victoria under an early act for the benefit of ex-Ministers which was quickly repealed. It is understood that Mr. Parnell was not favourable to the return of Sir Charles Duffy to public life as a member of the House of Commons and of the Irish Parliamentary party. It is to be doubted also whether Sir Charles Duffy could have rendered that unquestioning obedience to his leadership which he desired in his subordinate colleagues. Sir Charles Duffy was chairman of the Trustees of the National Gallery of Victoria, and took an active share in projects for encouraging art, literature, and industrial enterprise in that colony. Since his return to Europe in 1880, he has published "Young Ireland: a Fragment of Irish History, 1840-50" (London, 1880); "Four Years of Irish History, 1845-49" (London, 1883), being a sequel to "Young Ireland": the "League of the North and South" (London, 1886), which contains a trenchant refutation of John Mitchell's personal charges against him; and written on colonial and Irish questions in the Contemporary Review, Nineteenth Century, National Review, Freeman's Journal, and other periodicals. Sir Charles Duffy married first, in 1842, Emily, daughter of Francis McLaughlin, of Belfast (who died in 1845); secondly, in 1846, Susan, daughter of Philip Hughes, of Newry, who died in 1878; and thirdly, in 1881, Louise, eldest daughter of George Hall, of Rockferry, Cheshire, who died in 1890.  Duffy, Hon. John Gavan, M.L.A., eldest son of, was born in Dublin in 1844, and was educated at Stonyhurst. In 1859 he went to Victoria, where he took the Vice-Chancellor's prize for the best English essay at the Melbourne University. He is in practice as a solicitor in Melbourne, and has represented Dalhousie in the Legislative Assembly since 1874. He is a moderate Liberal and Freetrader, and was Minister of Agriculture in Mr. 's first 143