cHAP. viiI] RELATIONS OF THE HOUSES 601 
For these culpable acts the Governor was severely censured by 
the Secretary of State in a dispatch of November 27, 1865.1 
In November the Assembly changed its tactics, and sent 
up to the Council a Tariff Bill apart from the Appropriation 
Bill, which was defeated by nineteen votes to five; the 
ministers then advised the Governor to grant a dissolution, 
and a general election was held early in 1866. The session 
was short; it met on February 12 and ended on April 5. 
The Ministry counted fifty-eight votes in a House of seventy- 
eight, yet on March 13 the Upper House rejected the tariff 
again, and the Ministry resigned. Mr. Fellows, the leader 
of the Opposition, was unable to form a Government, and 
Mr. McCulloch was asked to remain in office. Parliament 
was prorogued in order to permit of the reintroduction of 
the Bill on April 10, and summoned to meet on the 11th. 
In the new session a conference was held between the 
two Houses, which resulted in concessions on both sides. 
The Legislative Council won on matters of form, for the 
preamble was altered and the duration of the measure was 
extended, while on their part the Council did not insist 
on the objections which they had raised to the inclusion 
in a Bill of Supply of the repeal of the Gold Export Duty, 
accepting the assurance of the Committee of the Lower 
House that it was inserted in the Bill ag a tax, and not as 
territorial revenue. A new Bill was passed, an Appropriation 
Act legalizing expenditure during 1864-6 became law, and 
the matter seemed to have ended, but for the recall of Sir 
Charles Darling by the Imperial Government. Sir Charles 
Darling had acted illegally and unwisely, but his recall was 
the source of much trouble and confusion. He had written a 
very foolish dispatch on December 23, 18652 to the Secretary 
of State relating to a petition which had been addressed to 
him by twenty-two ex-members of the Cabinet, who were 
still of course, as is usual in Victoria, members of the 
Executive Council. His dispatch, among other things, 
said, ‘ It is at least to be hoped that the future course of 
political events may never designate any of them for the 
Sec above, pp. 259 seq. # Parl. Pap., March 1866, pp. 77 seq.