ABSTRACT
Such a right, once asserted in set terms, the colonists were certain to deny. For it conflicted with their idea that they had a right to be masters of their own destiny-free to admit and to exclude whom they chose. So long of course as transportation seemed to be in their own interests, they were not concerned to question the right. But in the forties the situation changed. The working class in Australia
became stronger and more vocal than ever before: the colonists as a whole became more conscious of their destiny as free self-governing communities and more sensitive as to all assertions of Imperial power: the different colonies came for the first time to realize the interests they had in common. It is one of the ironies of history that Lord Grey's transportation policy united the working classes and thus strengthened democratic tendencies in Australia and justified his fears; and at the same time drew the colonies together, moved them to speak with a single voice, and almost justified his hopes . . Lord Grey had been fighting a losing battle. That Parlia-
ment had more than once unequivocally supported transportation, that the representations of colonists at home had been at least equivocal, that the Legislative Council of New South Wales had been annoyingly inconsistent-all this was no longer to the point. The colonies were determined: in the last resort Great Britain had to give in or lose them. The discoveries of 1851 gave her what was indeed a golden opportunity of admitting that transportation had outlived its usefulness. Unfortunately for Lord Grey's reputation he left it to his successor to yield with a good grace.
