Читать книгу Life of Sir Henry Parkes - Charles E. Lyne - Страница 11

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The year 1856 saw the fulfilment of the desires of the colonists in the direction of responsible government, and early in that year a general election took place under the new Constitution. Henry Parkes was elected one of four members for Sydney.

Previously to this he had made a determined effort to retire from political life, and devote himself, at least for a period, exclusively to the Empire. At the close of the session of the Legislative Council in 1855 he addressed to his constituents a letter, in which he informed them that as in the course of a week the Legislature to which he had been elected would virtually terminate its existence, the time had arrived when he ought to inform them of his intention not to present himself again as a candidate for their suffrages. The announcement took the citizens by surprise, and aroused widespread regret.

"During the two laborious sessions of my service as your representative," he wrote, "I have felt the conviction gaining strength, in despite, as I freely own, of some feeling of ambition, that neither my time nor whatever humble ability I might possess, would be sufficiently subjected to my will to enable me to discharge the high and responsible trust reposed in me, with that uniform devotion to the public interest which is implied in its acceptance. Though I have generally been in my place, I have attended the sitting by wrenching myself, as it were, away from other duties of an equally serious nature, which often left me wholly unprepared for the business of the Council; and in the part I have taken there, I have never felt conscious of my success to satisfy my sense of what is due from the representative to his constituents. . . . .

"In making up my mind to stay outside I have had to conquer a strong feeling which my better judgment has told me ought not to be gratified; but the self-denial has been sweetened by the knowledge that I have before me another field, fairly won by my own efforts, for future usefulness. I leave the Legislature, as I entered it, from a sense of duty alone. You opened the door for me against singular obstacles; I cheerfully close it with my own hand.

"If I am too poor to make the sacrifices incumbent on a representative of the people, I am, at least, too proud to accept the honour and neglect the duties of that noble office."

This letter was written in December, 1855. A month later, at an important meeting of citizens, held in the Royal Victoria Theatre, he was chosen one of four candidates in the Liberal interest to represent the City of Sydney in the first Parliament under the new Constitution, by which action on the part of the people, he became committed to a Parliamentary career for life.

A weekly journal of the period, describing the proceedings at a public meeting which was held in the Royal Hotel a few days after the meeting in the Victoria Theatre, stated that there was nothing like general silence and attention until Mr. Parkes rose, that all the discordant elements of which the meeting, attended by the friends of various candidates, consisted, seemed to melt into harmony on his rising to speak; and "he was not only well received, but welcomed with a perfect wildness of enthusiasm."

"His pale excited earnestness would probably have conquered the prejudices of any audience, and won a respectful attention. But his manifest conscientiousness and straightforward honesty were seconded in this case by a strong sympathy with his political principles, and the demonstration in his favour was genuine and emphatic."

Deeply moved by the earnest desire of the electors that he should go into the Legislative Assembly, he placed himself unreservedly in their hands. His own interests, he explained, and his wish to stand by for a season and "search his own heart and conscience to see how far he had been correct" in his public career, would have kept him aloof from this political conflict, but if the electors forbade him the interval of comparative seclusion he would consult their wishes rather than his own views.

3. THOMAS PARKES, MY FATHER

"He knew," he said, "that if he went into the next Legislature he should be for ever doomed to one tremendous struggle in behalf of this country. But if it were the wish of the city which had conferred upon him in former times distinctions, far above any merit he possessed, that he should go to the poll, he would do so, and if he were again elected as the representative of the city of Sydney, he would discharge the duties which would devolve upon him to the utmost extent of his power. One thing at all events he would promise—that he would never be absent when their liberties were at stake; he would never be absent when their money was to be voted away; he would never be absent when new laws might need his advocacy for the advancement of the welfare of their common country. He would promise more—he would never be absent at all so long as he had health to attend. He knew very well the sacrifice he should make—and he confessed that he desired to avoid that for a short time— the discharge of the public duties incumbent upon him would render him comparatively a stranger in his own family. That would be the extent of his sacrifice, but that sacrifice he was prepared to make rather than forfeit the good opinion of the citizens of Sydney, and shrink from a public duty if he was called upon to discharge it."

As was to be expected there were some who charged him with inconsistency, but his intention to retire from politics in the Legislature had been earnest and genuine, and it was only in consequence of repeated solicitations from influential sections of the electors, and unequivocal expressions of approval of his candidature from the citizens generally, that he consented to be nominated for election to the Legislative Assembly. To use his own words, it appeared to him that "he would be flying in the face of the constituency if he were to refuse." He was confident of being elected, but he was equal to either fortune. If defeated he would feel at all events that "the gates of Parliament were constitutionally closed against him"; he could do as he pleased with his time, and enjoy the pleasures of association with his children. But his position in the estimation of the electors was too good for defeat to be possible. At the close of his speech at the Royal Hotel he called upon the meeting, if they really wished that he should throw himself into the contest to tell him so by a show of hands. The appeal was instantly responded to, apparently by the whole meeting, amidst general applause, and Mr. Parkes acknowledged the demonstration by declaring he was at the service of the city.

The contest, long and severe, ended triumphantly. Six candidates entered the field, and Mr. Parkes, as one of a "bunch" of four, the number to be elected, was returned second on the poll, Mr. Charles Cowper being first, 18 votes ahead, Mr. Robert Campbell third, and Mr. J. R. Wilshire fourth. Mr. J. H. Plunkett, who at the time was Attorney-General of the colony, and another candidate, were defeated. Mr. Plunkett was a strong man, and in the election a dangerous opponent. His position in the community, and the fact that he stood alone in the contest as the representative of what had been the ruling class, were circumstances that indicated a great probability of his success, but he was defeated by over a hundred votes below the number recorded for the fourth candidate on the poll.

The nomination proceedings took place on the 12th, and the polling on the 13th March. On the night previous to the nomination a banquet was given to Mr. Charles Gavan Duffy (afterwards knighted, and now Sir Charles Gavan Duffy) in the Prince of Wales Theatre, and Mr. Parkes, a prominent figure on the occasion, delivered a speech in reply to the toast of "The land of our adoption", in which he declared that, under circumstances similar to those in which the Young Ireland party had acted, he would have been a rebel like Mr. Duffy. The declaration has often been quoted against him, and it is as well that his actual words should be given.

Mr. Duffy had recently arrived in Australia to make the country his home, and he had come here with the romantic patriotism of the Young Ireland party and the Nation newspaper surrounding him like a halo. Admirers flocked to him from all sides, and people of almost all shades of opinion sought to do him honour. In Sydney the feeling of the community led to the banquet in the Prince of Wales Theatre, the proceedings of which were marked with much enthusiasm. At such a time and in such company the wrongs of Ireland naturally became one of the topics of the speeches.

"Although, like our chairman," said Mr. Parkes, "I do not profess to enter into the spirit of Mr. Duffy's public life in his native country, I yet know this of Irish history and Irish wrongs, that had I been myself an Irishman, with Mr. Duffy's temperament and his principles, I believe I should have been a rebel like him. We all know," he continued, "that during Mr. Duffy's illustrious career one of the most terrible famines that ever passed over any fruitful country desolated Ireland, and that Mr. Duffy, with his fine imagination, his deep feeling of patriotism, must have seen in this famine terrible calls, terrible appeals to him to advocate the cause of his suffering country at every risk and every possible peril. And I only utter in public what I have often said in private, that if I had been born and reared as Mr. Duffy has been, and had been a witness of grinding want and poverty in a land which was intended by Providence to be one of plenty, I should have taken precisely the same course that he has taken."

These words are very plain and clear, but, to do the speaker justice in regard to them, they must be read with a recognition of the popular feeling concerning Mr. Duffy's arrival in the country, of the circumstance that Australia was not without experience of Imperial misgovernment and oppression, and in view of the undeniable loyalty that characterised the public life of Sir Henry Parkes throughout his long career.

The nomination and the polling for the City of Sydney were signal events in the history of the colony. Excitement was general; the attendance at the hustings, which were in Hyde Park, then known as the Racecourse, was large; and the proceedings were marked with much enthusiasm. Mr. Parkes' nomination speech contained some remarks of special interest, viewed in the light of events which have occurred since that time.

"I may say without affectation, without any parade of false feeling, that from the circumstances of my early life I have felt the want of education too painfully not to be well alive to its great importance, and I shall steadily labour, and use every energy, to promote education among the people upon a comprehensive and catholic basis". . "I can assure you whether I am tomorrow night your representative or not, my great object throughout my life will be so to impress my name and my character and my influence on this country, that I may be remembered when I am dead and in my grave."

The chief interest in the election centred in the declaration of the poll. This was in favour of "the Bunch", but it was thought necessary, on the demand of Mr. Plunkett, to have a special examination of the votes, and the final declaration of the poll was not made till some days after the voting had taken place. The scene was very striking. For some reason, said to be the fear to a magistrate that the excitement of the populace would lead to the burning down of the structure, the hustings, which had been the centre of the triumphant proceedings of a few days previously, had been removed, and in its place a cart with an improvised handrail had been obtained. Offended by this, or professing so to be, the victorious "Bunch" refused to mount the cart either to hear the announcement by the Sheriff or to address the electors. They stood amongst the crowd, and the Sheriff, deeply mortified, was obliged to proceed with his duties, having only Mr. Plunkett, the defeated candidate, and one or two others to support him. The Sheriff was a courageous and zealous officer, with a keen sense of his dignity; but the position he was occupying at the time was new to him, and the occasion was marked by an importance such as he had never before experienced. The new-born power of the people ruffled the feathers of the officialism which had hitherto been the governing principle in the colony, and the old-time privileges of the ruling class were receiving some rude rebuffs. He did his best to induce the four elected candidates to ascend the nondescript hustings. He sought them in the crowd; requested, persuaded, entreated, apologised, almost implored them to come; but they, strong in their success and their popularity, refused point blank, and were inexorable.

They stood together, a little group, not far from the cart, in the midst of a throng of their admirers. We can easily imagine them and their surroundings. Mr. Cowper, eminently respectable in appearance, dignified and condescending in manner; Mr. Parkes, with the determination and general force of his character expressed indelibly on his strangely powerful features; Mr. Robert Campbell, with the quiet sternness of the successful man of business; Mr. Wilshire, with a face in which satisfaction at the result of the election was curiously blended with indignation at certain charges which had been made against him by opponents in the election;—four striking figures, with a dense and excited crowd around them stirred to the depths by the new sensations of power and importance arising from the exercise of the great privileges attending the choice of their own representatives in Parliament. Hyde Park has witnessed since that time many important elections, accompanied by great excitement and much enthusiasm, but none more important or more striking than this. Despairing at last of getting the "Bunch" to do as he wished, the Sheriff ascended the cart with Mr. Plunkett, and commenced to address the people. But the crowd refusing to listen to any speech, wanted the result of the election in a definite statement of the polling. "Poll! Poll!" they shouted. "We want to know the state of the poll!" And the Sheriff was obliged to submit. The state of the poll, as it appeared after the special examination which had been made of the voting, was declared; the victorious "Bunch", were shown to be in a more triumphant position than they were a week previously when the polling took place; and the jubilation of the crowd was unbounded.

Messrs. Cowper, Parkes, and Campbell, arm-in-arm, and Mr. Wilshire, who was suffering from lameness, in his gig, left the ground at the head of a large number of electors, and passing into Market-street, and thence down George-street, went to their committee rooms at the Exchange Hotel, from a window of which they addressed the electors.

"The main feature of the contest," said Mr. Parkes, "the primary and leading idea of it throughout has been Australian," and he expressed the hope that "all present, little boy and white-headed old man, would from that day forth be Australian in their feelings and their aims."

This satisfaction at Australians being the chief actors in all that is important to Australia was a prominent feature in Sir Henry Parkes' life. At the election of Sir J. P. Abbott to the office of Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales, thirty-four years after the event of 1856, he gave expression to his satisfaction as an Englishman at the gratifying fact that Sir Joseph Abbot was a native-born Australian. "The time is coming," he said, "when we must all be Australians, and it is a gratifying circumstance to see the men born in the country aspiring to, and fitly qualified for, the highest offices in the State."