which he was persuaded would prove to him a Golconda, one day or other,
under the euphonious title (which, indeed, it ultimately established) of
the "Tibbets' Wheal." The suspension of the mines, however, fortunately
suspended the existence of the Grog and Store Depot, and Uncle Jack was
now assisting in the foundation of Port Philip. Profiting by his
advice, I adventured in that new settlement some timid and wary
purchases, which I resold to considerable advantage. Meanwhile I must
not omit to state briefly what, since my departure from England, had
been the ministerial career of Trevanion.

That refining fastidiousness, that scrupulosity of political conscience,
which had characterized him as an independent member, and often served,
in the opinion both of friend and of foe, to give the attribute of
general impracticability to a mind that, in all details, was so
essentially and laboriously practical, might perhaps have founded
Trevanion's reputation as a minister if he could have been a minister
without colleagues,--if, standing alone, and from the necessary height,
he could have placed, clear and single, before the--world, his exquisite
honesty of purpose and the width of a statesmanship marvellously
accomplished and comprehensive. But Trevanion could not amalgamate with
others, nor subscribe to the discipline of a cabinet in which he was not
the chief, especially in a policy which must have been thoroughly
abhorrent to such a nature,--a policy that, of late years, has
distinguished not one faction alone, but has seemed so forced upon the
more eminent political leaders on either side that they who take the
more charitable view of things may perhaps hold it to arise from the
necessity of the age, fostered by the temper of the public: I mean the
policy of Expediency. Certainly not in this book will I introduce the
angry elements of party politics; and how should I know much about them?
All that I have to say is that, right or wrong, such a policy must have