of the colony do not, in my opinion, justify the wholesale condemnation implied in the prayer for redress. There are, no doubt, many improvements in the details of the Government which are desirable and practicable, but I am satisfied that they could be brought about without the petition to the House of Commons which you have prepared, and which strikes me to be a misapplication of force that should be reserved for greater needs.
I have said that the state of the Colony does not justify the implied condemnation of the administration, and I will venture further, and to say, that I think on the whole Hodgkin has been a very good Governor, or at any rate, if he has either neglected his duties, or abused in any way the powers and privileges of his office, the Secretary of State has promptly set things right. Do you consider that the Government would have been better conducted in the past if the unofficial