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Mr. DARVALL presented the following petition, signed by 2630 of the inhabitants of the city of Sydney :— To the Honorable the Legislative Council of New South Wales, in Council, assembled. The humble Petition of the undersigned inhabitants of the colony of New South Wales,

HUMBLY SHEWETH,

That in the opinion of your petitioners the proposed Constitution Bill now before your Honorable Council is radically defective and opposed to the wishes and interests of the inhabitants of this colony, who believe that a Representative Legislature, consisting of two Elective Chambers, will alone possess that stability, energy, and usefulness which are maintained by public confidence, and without which no government can permanently exist.

That your petitioners earnestly remonstrate against any attempt, in the hasty manner now proposed in the Legislative Council, to impose a Constitution on the colony which is framed in direct opposition to the wishes of the people.

That the proposed alteration of the Electoral Act is calculated to increase that inequality in their representation of which the colonists have so justly complained, which inequality, instead of being increased, ought now to be rectified, and the representative system established on a just and satisfactory basis.

That your Honorable Council having been elected without reference to the proposed change of Constitution, the colonists are entitled to demand the interposition of such delay between the first and second readings of the proposed Bill as will enable them to express their views fully on this momentous question.

Your petitioners therefore pray that your Honorable Council will be pleased to postpone the further consideration of the measure in question for at least one month, in order to give the colonists at large the opportunity of expressing their sentiments on the subject.

And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will

ever pray.

The petition was received.

THE SECOND READING.

On the order of the day being called for the second reading of the Constitution Bill,

Mr. WENTWORTH rose, Mr. Speaker, I am not sorry after all the obloquy which has been attached to my name in connexion with this measure, the second reading of which it is now my duty to move, to have an opportunity of explaining to this House and the country at large the principles which

actuated me in the course I have taken in the Select Committee appointed to prepare it. It may, however, be well discussion of the measure itself, in the that I should, before entering into any first place show the utter fallacy of one of the main propositions, of that which was in fact the substantial basis of the

petition which had been agreed to at a public meeting yesterday, and which has been presented to the House this night by the hon. and learned member for Cumberland. That proposition is, that the House consists of members who have been elected without reference to the proposed changes of the constitution. Now, a more fallacious, a more erroneous, a more unjust and false charge, was never made. So far from this being the case, I broadly assert the present Legislative Council was elected chiefly in reference to this very purpose. Aye, I will go further, and aver that amongst all those who have any real knowledge of the political position of the colony, it was elected exclusively with reference to this very object-(cheers)-that the sole

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to have been elected, was to frame the Constitution, which for the first time the Minister and Parliament of Great Britain had given them power to make for themselves. (Cheers.) I believe the minister who bestowed upon the representatives of the people in this colony the power to exercise this function, believed that the attention of the Council, elected under the present constitution, would in the first instance be turned to it alone. And I further believe that the mind of that minister must be filled with astonishment to find that three years have been allowed to elapse without any fruit having been matured from the great and important power bestowed upon us. (Cheers.) I contend, therefore, that there is not the shadow of foundation for this proposition in the petition; but that, on the contrary, it was to this body, this very Council, that the duty of framing a Constitution has been exclusively entrusted and that it was with the knowledge that the Council had to perform the greatest and highest functions ever entrusted to them that its present members have been returned by the constituencies throughout the country. (Cheers.) The whole tenor of the petitions and speeches which have been made against the Electoral Act under which the Council has been elected, and also against the Bill now under consideration, is plainly that they both went to further the private interests of a party who were inimical to the welfare of the country, or who were prepared to sacrifice that welfare to their own personal aggrandisement, or the furtherance of their private ambition. I repudiate the gross aspersion, not only for myself, but for every hon. member of this House. I fling it back to its vile and contemptible authors with indignant scorn. (Loud cheers.) I assert, and before I sit down I will prove to the satisfaction of every calmly reflecting man, that it has been the most anxious desire of the Committee entrusted to frame this measure, to take the sense of the country upon the Constitution to be adopted to obtain the real sense of the country, and, having

it a local habitation and a name. (Cheers.) It is perfectly easy to show that the Committee and the Council have never had any feeling inimical to the rights and privileges of any class in the community. The Council, I repeat, under the Constitution of 1850, was elected for the express purpose of framing a Constitution for this colony. Well, what did it do in its first session? It simply did nothing in the matter but re-affirm the petitions and remonstrance of the previous session. And how was this deference to the opinion of this country met? Not a single voice was heard to offer a suggestion. The result of the delay was nothing but universal silence. (Cheers.) And what conclusion, I ask, had this Council a right to draw-were, I contend, compelled to draw-from this universal silence? Why, that the country had the fullest confidence in the Legislative Council; that they believed the representatives they had elected, in discharging the great duty cast upon them by the Parliament of Great Britain, would fulfil that duty conscientiously to themselves, and satisfactorily and beneficially to the public at large. It evinced, also, that the opinions of the constituencies of the colony remained the same as they were some four or five years ago, when, with one voice echoing throughout the length and breadth of the land, they repudiated the proposition of Lord Grey of a Constitution based on this very principle of doub'e election now so loudly but so rashly demanded. The moment that mischievous proposition was published, the toscin of alarm was sounded throughout the colony. Never before, never since, had there been so great a manifestation of political feeling as took place on that occasion. Sydney, the metropolis of the colony, took the lead in the movement; but throughout the towns, the small remote inland towns of the colony, the feeling extended, until every district had spoken out unmistakably that the people of New South Wales would not have this mischievous principle introduced into their civil government, but

that they would have a constitution assimilated, as nearly as circumstances would allow,_to_the_glorious constitution of their Father Land. (Great applause.) That was the opinion declared by the people of Sydney then, reiterated throughout the colony, and echoed, I believe, from the heart of every colonist. (Cheers.) This was four years ago, and there had been no expression of public opinion since to show that any reaction had taken place, or that the feeling of the country had changed in any way; and seeing this, the committee that framed this measure, and the House which appointed that committee, have a right to believe that it is the feeling still. (Cheers.) Now the next step taken by the Council in the performance of this duty, thrown expressly upon them by the Act of Parliament, and to perform which they had been elected by the country, was taken by myself. In the second session of Council under the Constitution of 1850, I, thinking it necessary and desirable 'that the Council should adopt some measure to take advantage of the boon conceded to them, and about which the great body of the people seemed so apathetic, moved for a select committee to inquire into and report upon

the form of Constitution best suited for this colony. That committee sat for some months, anxious to receive all the opinions and information that could be afforded from out of doors. On the 17th Sept. it brought up its report, and a Bill, embodying its recommendations, which were in favour of a double legislature, consisting of a Representative Assembly and an Upper House nominated by the Crown, not, I admit, in the same form as is proposed by the present Bill, but in principle exactly similar. This report and Bill were published; and on the 28th September-again in deference to public opinion, to give time for approval of, or dissent from, the substantive proposition then brought before them the House adjourned till November. This adjournment was made for the express purpose of eliciting the opinion of the country on the Bill prepared by the former committee. And the period of the

adjournment passed away not only without the slightest opposition, but without the slightest expression of opinion from any section of the community. (Cheers.) If those who framed that Bill had been actuated by the sinister and selfish motives which had been so broadly imputed to them, they had, when the House met, the most glorious opportunity ever offered to evil-minded men to carry out sinister and selfish_designs. (Cheers.) Why, if I had chosen to have done so, I could have carried that Bill, which so far as the elective principle is concerned was quite as objectionable as the present one, through the House triumphantly. There would have been no one to oppose it. (Cheers.) But at the suggestion of my honourable and learned friend the member for Cumberland (Mr. Darvall) who acted with me on that occasion, I consented to withdraw the Bill for the Session, in order to give still further time for the expression of public opinion, and to allow the measure to be more extensively discussed by the press. I was further induced to this course, because I thought it was prudent that we should wait until we were made acquainted with the fate of our petition of rights and our remonstrances, forwarded to the Queen and Parliament. In our then state of ignorance as to what concession the Minister of England was prepared to make, it was difficult, if not dangerous, for us to proceed with the measure; and for this reason, and for the purpose of giving further time for the expression of public feeling, the subject was allowed, as the wisest and most patriotic course, to stand over till this session. But again, the same universal silence prevailed. There was no feeling displayed of opposition to the Bill, which in principle I again contend was identical with that which is now before us. The public had only a right to expect that the same measure would be re-introduced. The Council had given them no anticipation that further enquiry and deliberation would take place on the subject, but the impression out of doors must have been, that as no opposition had been manifested against it, it would

be again brought in and adopted. They had no right to think anything else to imagine there would be any difference between the bill of last session and that of the present; but till the beginning of the present session the public out of doors has been silently acquiescent in the proceedings of the Council, and in the constitution proposed for them, which, I again repeat, was identical in principle with the present measure. (Cheers.) How could the House avoid coming to the conclusion, under circumstances such as these, that the nominative principle contained in both bills met the approbation of the country? We found that it was in accordance with the spirit of those petitions sent to the foot of the Throne, four years ago, from all parts of the colony. We had heard of no alteration in the opinions of the people; we had waited patiently for the country to say what it would have; we had submitted a constitution which had neither been rejected nor opposed; and what course was open for the Council but the contitinuance of that course which had so constantly met the silent acquiescence of the country! (Great cheering.) If there were any blame to attach to the production of this measure, it fell not upon the members of the committee, nor upon any member of this House, or on any member of the Government, but on those only who, having all along failed in their duty, became now the impugners, not only of our measures but of our motives. (Loud cheers.) I do not know whether it is worth my while to refer at all to the proceedings out of doors yesterday in regard to this question. But I cannot help expressing my deep regret that so many members of this House should, by taking part in these proceedings, have forgotten alike what was due to themselves and to the dignity of the Council. (Cheers.) I feel that by the part they have taken in this matter, they have destroyed the freedom of the representatives of the country: they have degraded the position which the Legislature of the country ought to occupy; and I lament much to see some hon. members, my friends, and who have on

most occasions acted with me, consent to sink from the rank of representatives to that of mere miserable delegates. (Loud applause, and " no, no," from Mr. Darvall.) My honorable and learned friend says No, no; but I ask the House can any hon. members who have identified themselves with the proceedings of yesterday act in this House as free agents? (Cheers.) Why, if the arguments they have put forward were refuted to their own absolute conviction-if the declamation and reasonings, if they could be called such, used at that meeting, could be utterly demolished-blown into thin air-if it could be proved to demonstration that the Constitution this Bill offered was calculated to secure on the most permanent basis the free institutions, and the moral, social, and material interests of the colony, they could not now support it. They had become the delegates, the pledged delegates of -a noisy and intemperate faction, and they must continue in that degraded position to the end. (Cheers.) But, feeling all this. deeply, I have also another duty to perform-I have to express my gratitude to the hon. and learned member for Cumberland (Mr. Darvall), for the chivalrous defence he made of the purity of my motives, at the meeting yesterday. I feel the hon. gentleman is the more entitled to my gratitude, because I am quite sure the generosity he displayed must have exposed him to considerable obloquy, and considering the parties he had around him, I have little doubt to some personal risk. (Laughter and cheers.) I can assure the hon. and learned member the good intention he exhibited of creating a favorable impression in my behalf in the minds of my constituency will be of no avail, for long before I shall stand before that constituency again, all that my hon. and learned friend has said in my behalf will be unsaid by somebody else who for the moment may be the oracle of the mass. (Cheers.) I do feel regret, however, of no common kind, that the hon. and learned member should have committed himself in a manner so inconsistent with constitutional freedom, and that he should have descended from