APPENDIX C.
THE COLONIAL OFFICE AND THE "FOREIGN NOBLEMEN."
Every Victorian is familiar with the phrases in which Mr. Higinbotham used to denounce the Colonial office, and its typical head, the "foreign nobleman." Yet, as I have said in the text, the strong patriotism and intense loyalty of the present Chief-Justice of Victoria were never for a moment questioned. His quarrel was not with England, but with Downing Street and its system of interfering with the self-governing colonies by means of despatches to its nominee, the Governor. Many Australians will read with interest the following thorough-going denunciation by Mr. Jenkins of the system against which one of the greatest of their public men was wont to inveigh:—
"An office, presided over by a shifting partisan, however able, however honest, however industrious—actually conducted by a permanent staff, seldom, if ever, selected for any reputation or experience in colonial life—an office, to visit which, is, for a
