 Initially an opponent of the coalition associated with Henry Parkes and John Robertson, he later supported Robertson's government in 1885.By 1887 he was supporting his career with his own legal practice in Singleton and Sydney, and when the party system came into being in New South Wales in that year he identified as a Free Trader.In 1889 he was appointed Minister for Justice under Parkes, serving until 1891; he held the position again under George Reid from 1894 to 1898.