APPENDIX B.
SIR C. GAVAN DUFFY'S "ROYAL COMMISSION."
The years 1870-1872 were certainly critical in the relations between England and her colonies. The Imperial troops were withdrawn in 1870 from Australia. It was the year, as we have seen, of Dr. Lang's "Coming Event." Just afterwards Mr. (now Sir) C. Gavan Duffy was for a short time Prime Minister of Victoria. Lord Granville seems to have succeeded in convincing colonial public men that it was to their interest, as well as that of their particular colony, to promote disintegration. As Mr. Jenkins points out, even Sir Alexander Gait took the hint. Mr. Duffy seized the opportunity to move for the appointment of a Royal Commission, ostensibly to report on the federation of the Australian colonies. The Commissioners, however, deviated into the wider question of the relations between England and the colonies. On this they were divided, but the majority proposed to meet the difficulty, in which Australia would be placed in the event of
