Page:The three colonies of Australia.djvu/225

 middle class dwelt on the charms of distinction which would be open to them in a new colony; while to ardent politicians and essayists, who in 1830 were for the most part deeply dissatisfied with all our ancient institutions, the idea of becoming founders and modellers of a model commonwealth was truly delightful. Even the government was eventually conciliated by the prospect of additional patronage which a new colony presented.

In 1831 Major Bacon, a fellow-soldier in the Spanish Legion with Colonel Wakefield, brother to the theorist, appears to have opened negotiations at the Colonial Office, then under Lord Goderich, for establishing a chartered colony in some part of Australia; and in 1832 these negotiations had so far progressed that a provisional committee of the South Australian Land Company had been formed, with Colonel Torrens, then one of the proprietors of the Globe newspaper, as its chairman, with a proposed capital of £50,000.

In a letter dated 9th July, 1832, Colonel Torrens transmitted a draft of the charter suggested by his committee, and drawn under the instructions of Mr. Wakefield. On perusing this draft Lord Goderich curtly closed the negotiation, on the ground that "it would virtually transfer to the company the sovereignty of a vast unexplored territory; that it would encroach upon the limits of the existing colonies of New South Wales and Western Australia; that the charter would invest the company, with powers of legislation, of erecting courts, of appointing judges, of raising and commanding militia; that all the powers of the company, involving in their practical effects the sovereign dominion of the whole territory, would be transferred to a popular assembly, which would be to erect within the British monarchy a government purely republican; and that the company would be receivers of large sums of money, for the due application of which they do not propose to give any specific security."

When the promoters offered to modify their plan they were informed, "that the views entertained by the proposed company are not sufficiently precise and determined to lead his lordship to apprehend that any advantage will arise from continuing a correspondence that has for some time been going on."

In 1833 another association was formed, and the chairman, W. W. Whitmore, Esq., M.P., opened negotiations with the present Earl of Derby, then Under Secretary for the Colonies. He proposed to found a colony on the site where it was eventually planted, to sell land at 5s. an acre ("this will ensure the concentration of settlers in proportion to the price at which land is sold"), and devote the proceeds to the con-