Note 337 — Chapter XI · OUT OF OFFICE (1842-3).

In a note on this passage, written in the year 1874, Sir R. Hill thus speaks of Sir James Stephen:—

“It had long been the practice with the Liberal party to speak of Mr. Stephen, or, as some of them called him, King Stephen, in very disparaging terms, representing him as the chief obstacle to colonial reform; and I must confess that it was under this prejudice that I began my intercourse with him. Soon, however, I saw reason to doubt the soundness of such views—certainly they received no confirmation whatever in his treatment of South Australia. He invariably received me and my suggestions—some of which departed widely from ordinary routine—in a friendly spirit, and the result of several years of intimate official communication with him, was that I formed a very high estimate of his character.”—Ed.