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Life of Sir George Grey: Governor, High commissioner, and Premier. An Historical Biography.

[Introduction]

Capable Governors were scarce in those days, when young colonies were to be guided through the perils of infancy. The Governor of a colony, then at six months' distance from the Motherland, and (the time required for a reply being considered) at twelve months' distance from the Colonial Office, was practically absolute. If he was bold and went far, he offended his superiors at Home; if he was timid or weak, he brought the colony to an impasse. The type of Governor, at once strong and judicious, wanted for colonies that were on their way to becoming self-governing communities was still to be created, and it was gradually evolved in the forties, fifties, and sixties; for the Crown-appointed Governors of the North American colonies in the seventeenth century belonged to a different order. Grey was perhaps the most finished specimen of colonial Governor the evolutionary process was to produce, and yet, as will be all too plainly shown, he was in course of time to disappoint and exasperate the department that long trusted him so implicitly.