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AUSTRALLANA FACSIMILE EDITIONS NO. 3
Reproduced for the Libraries Board of South Australia from a copy held in the State Library of Victoria by Microreproductions (S.A.) using the xerographic process*
Public Library of South Australia Adelaide 1962
Reproduced by the kind permission of the Trustees of the State Library of Victoria
M itonun 530mini btneiitlum.
THE
EUREKA STOCKADE:
THE CONSEQUENCE OF SOME PIRATES WANTING ON QUARTER-DECK A REBELLION.
BY
CARBONI RAFFAELLO.
• V TUB ORAOB or irT '* aOUDBNOOOa," OArTAIN or rORBION AMAROUI!fT>)
■ UT BT TBB CKANIMOUf OHOIOB OF 'hIS FBLLOW-MINRR*.
MBMBBR or TBB LOCAL COURT, BALLAABAT.
COPYEIGHT.
MELBOURNE:
FRIKTBO FOR TUB AUTHOR BT
J. P. ATKINSON AND CO., 79, QUBEN-STREZT; AM0 MAT BB HAD AT
THU orricR UP j. m. oramt. es^., m.l.c , solicitor, oollimS'Strkbt: of >>iuir
BROTHERS AND CO.. HBRCHAMT8, FLINDBRS-LANB, MBLBOORKR. AKD TOWMBtHIF, BALLAARAT ; F. W. UEINBCHB AND CO., TOBACCONISTS, OPPOSITB THB TOWN •BiALL, MKLBoCRNB, AM) FACING TUB BRIDGE, UAIN-ROAD, BALLAARAT; O. ROBRRT'ION, BJORSBLLBR, 85. COLLINS-STREET EAST, MELBOURNE: W. PATRRSOK, OOLD BRO> '.BR, eERLONO; H. SBEKAMF. "TlMBb" OFFICK. BARERT HII.Lr AND iOHN C«MPB!IIL, " *at" OFPICS, MAIN ROAD, BALLAARAT.
DECEMBER I., Mncccu;
,A
559935
NOTA BENE.
In person 1 solicit no subscription — in writing I hereby ask no farour from my reader. A book must stand or fall by the truth contained in it.
What I wish to note is this: I was taught the English language by the Very Reverend W. Vincent Eyre, Vice Rector of the English College, Rome. It has cost me im- mense pains to rear my English up to the mark ; but I could never master the language to perfection. Hence, now and then, probably to the annoyance of my Readers, I could not help the foreign idiom. Of course, a proper edition, in Italian, will be published in Turin. ^
1 have nothing further to say.
CARBONI RAFFAELLO.
Prince Albert Hotel, Bakery-kill^ Ballaarat,
Annieersary nf the Bnndvg of Brntleyn Eureka Hotel, 18.55.
THE
EUREKA STOCKADE
I.
FATSTE LINOUI8.
Mendacium sibif sicut turbinist viam augustam in urbe et orbe terrarum aperuit,
Stultus dicit in corde suo, *' non est Deus,**
Veritas vero lente passu passu sicut puer^ tandem aliquando janunculat ad luctim.
Tunc Justus ut palma florescit,*
I UNDERTAKE to do what'an honest man should do, let it thunder or rain. He who huys this hook to lull himself to sleep h^d hetter spend his money in grog. He who reads this hook to smoke a pipe over it, let him provide himself with plenty of t'^hacco— he will have to hlow hard. A lover of truth — that 's the man I want — and he will have in this book the truth, and nothing hut the truth.
Facts, from the " stubborn-things " store, are here retailed and related — contradiction is challenged from friend or foe. The observa- tion on, and induction from the facts, are here stamped with sincerity : I ask for no other credit. I may be mistaken : I will not acknow- ledge the mistake unless the contrary be proved.
• Listen to me—
The lie, like the whirlwind, clean itself « royal road, either in town or country, through the whole face of the earth.
The fool in his heart says, " There is no God."
The truth, however slow, step by step, like « little ohild, •Qoieday, it iMt, finds a footpath to light
Then the righteous flourish like a pajm tree.
When two boys are see-sawing on a plank, balanced on its centre, whilst the world around them is " up " with' the one it is " down " with the other. The centre, however, is stationary. I was in the centre. I was an actor, and therefore an eye-witness. The events I relate, I did see them, pass before me. The persons I speak of, I know them face to face. The words I quote, I did |iear them with my own ears. Others may know more or less than I ; I mean to tell all that I know, and nothing more.
Two reasons counsel me to undertake the task of publishing this work ; but a. third reason is at the bottom ef it, as the potent lever ; and they are —
1st. An honourable ambition urging me to have my name remem- bered among the illustripus of > Rome. I have, on reaching the fortieth year of my age, to publish a work at which I have been plodding the past eighteen years. An ocean of grief would overwhelm me if then I had to vindicate my character : how, under tlie hospitality of the British flag, I was put in the felon's dock of a British Supreme Court to be tried for high treason.
2nd. I have the moral courage to show the truth of my text above, because I believe in the resurrection of life.
3rd. Brave comrades in arms who fell on that disgraced Sabbath morning, December 3rd, worthy of a better fate, and most certainly of a longer remembrance, it is in my power to drag your names from an ignoble oblivion, and. vindicate the unrewarded bravery of one of yourselves ! He was once my raatCj the bearer of our standard, the "Southern Cross." Shot down by a murderous hand, he fell and died struggling like a man in the cause of the diggers. But he was soon forgotten. That he was buried is known by the tears of a few true friends ! the place of his burial is little known, and less cared for.
Sunt tempora nostra; non mutabimur nee mutamur in illis ; jam perdidi spem.
The work will be published on: the 1st of December next, and given to each subscriber by the Author's own hand, on the site of the Eureka Stockade, from the rising to the setting of the sun^ on the memor^ able third.
n.
A JOVE PEINClPIUSr.
"Wanted a Governor. Apply to the People of Victoria :" that was the extraordinary advertisement,, a new chum in want of employment, did meet in the usual column of T^e Argus y December 1852. Many could afford to laugh at .it^ the intelligent however, who had immigrated here, permanently to better.his condition, was forced to rip up in his memory a certain fable of ^sop. Who would have dared
s
then to warn the fattened Melbourne frogs weltering in grog, their colonial glory, against their contempt for King Log ? Behold King Stork is your reward. Tout comme chez nous.
One remark before I start for the goldTfields. As an old European traveller I had set apart a few coppers for the poor at my landing. I had no opportunity for them. " We shall do well in this land ;" was my motto. Who is goin^to be the first beggar ? Not I ! My care for the poor would have less disappointed me, If I had prepared myself against falling in the unsparing clutches of a shoal of land-sharks, who swarmed at that time the Yarra Yarra wharfs. Five pounds for landing my luggage, was the A, followed by the old colonial C, preceded bv the double D. Rapaciiy in Australia is the alpha and omega. Yet there were no poor ! a grand reflection for the serious. Adam Smith, settled the' question of ** the wealth of nations." The source of pauperism will be settled ir. Victoria by any quill-driver, who has the pluck to write the history of public-houses in the towns, and sly- grog sellers on the gold-fields.
Let us start for BaUaarat, Christmas, December, 1852. — Vide — tempore suo — Julil Casaris junioris, De Campis AureiSy Australia Felix Commentaria,
For the purpose, it is now sufficient to say that I had joined a narty ; fixed our tent on the Canadian Flat ; went up to the Camp to get our gold licence ; for one pound ten shilling sterling a head wt were duly licensed for one month to dig, search for, and remove gold, etc. — -We wanted to drink a glass of porter to our future success, but there was.no Bath Hotel at the time. — Proceeded to inspect the famous Golden Point (a sketch of which I had seen in London in the Illustrated News), The holes all around, three feet in diameter, and five to eight feet in depth, had been abandoned j we jumped into oae, and one of my mates gave me the first lesson in "fossiking, "-»— In less than five minutes I pounced on a little pouch — the yellow boy was all there, — ^my eyes were sparkling,T— I felt a sensation identical to a first declaration of love in by-gone times. — " Great works,'' at last was my bursting exclamation. In old EMrope I had to take off my hat half a dozen times, and walk from east to west before I could earn one pound in the capacity of sworn interpreter, and translator of languages in the city of London. Here, I had earned double the amount in a few minutes, without crouching or crawling to Jew or Christian. Had my good angel prevailed on me to stick to that blessed Golden Point, I should have now ta relate a very different story : the gold fever, however, got the best of my usual judgment, and I dreamt of, and pretended nothing else, than a hole choked wjth gold, sunk with my darling pick, and on virgin ground. — I started the hill right-hand side, ascending Canadian Gully, and safe as the Bank of England I pounced on gold — seventeen and a half ounces, depth ten feet.
III.
JUPITE& TONANS.
One fine morning (Epiphany week), I w^s hard at work (excuse old chum, if I said hard : though my hand had heen scores of times compelled in London to drop the quill through sheer fatigue, yet I nerer hefore handled a pick and shovel), I hear a rattling noise among the brush. My faithful dog, Bonaparte, would not keep under my control. " What 's up ? " " Your licence, mate," was the peremptory question from a six-foot fellow in blue shirt, thick boots, the face of a ruffian, armed with a carabine and fixed bayonet. The old " all right " being exchanged,, I lost sight of that specimen of colonial brutedom and his similars, called, as I then learned, " traps " and " troopers," I left off. work, and was unable to do a stroke more that day.
" I came, then, 16,000 miles in vain to get away from the law of the sword ! " was'my sad reflectiour My sorrow was not mitigated by my mates and neighbours informing me, that Australia was a penal settlement. Inveterate murderers, audacious burglars, bloodthirsty bushrangers, weie the ruling triumvirate, the scour of old Europe, called Vandemonians, in this bullock-drivers* land. Of course I felt tamed, and felt less angry, at the following search for licence. At the latter end of the month, one hundred and seventy -seven pounds troy, in two superb masses of gold, were discovered at the depth of sixty feet, on the hill opposite where I was working. The talk was soon Vulcanish through the land. Canadian Gully was as rich in lumps as, *ther gold-fields are in dust. Diggers, whom the gold fever had ren- dered stark blind, so as to desert Ballaarat for Mount Alexander and Bendigo, now returned as ravens to the old spot ; and towards the «nd of February, '53, Canadian Gully was in its full glory.
iV.
INCIPIT lAMEMTATlO.
The search for licences, or " the traps are out to-day " — their name at the time — ^happened once a month. The strong population now on this gold-field had perhaps rendered it necessary twice a month. Only in October, I recollect they had come out three times. Yet, " the
traps are out" was annoying, but not exasperating. Not exasperating, because John Bull, ab initio et ante secuhy was born for law, ord*»r, and safe money-making on land and sea. They were annoying, because, said John, not that he likes his money more than his belly, but he hates the bayonet : I mean, of course, he does not want to be bullied with the bayonet. To this honest grumbling of John, the drunkard, that is the lazy, which make the incapables, joined their cant, and the Vanderaonians pulled up with wonted audacity. In a word, the thirty shillings a month for the gold licence became a nuisance. • A public meeting was announced on Bakery-hill. It was in November, 1853. Four hundred diggers were present. I recol- lect I heard a " Doctor Carr " poking about among the heaps of empty bottles all round , the Camp, and asked who paid for the good stuff that was in them, and whither was it gone. Of course. Doctor Carr did not mention, that one of those bottles, corked and sealed with the " Crown,'* was forced open with Mr. Hetherington's corkscrew ; and that said Dr. Carr had then .to confess that the bottle aforesaid contained ^ nobbier some .£250 worth for himself. Great works already at Toorak. Tout cela soit dtt en passant, Mr. Hethenhgton, then a storekeeper on the Ballaarat Flat, and now of the Clarendon Hotel, Ballaarat Township, is a living witness. For the fun of the thing, I spoke a few words which merited mt a compliment from the practitioner, who also honoured me with a private precious piece of information — " Nous allons bieniot avoir la Republique Ausiralienne! Signore,^^ " Quelle farce! repondis je." The specimen of man before me impressed me with such a decided opinion of his ability for destroying sugarsticks, that at once I gave him credit as the founder of a republic for babies to suck their thumbs.
In short, here dates the Victorian system of " memorialising." The diggers of Ballaarat sympathised with those of Bendigo in their common grievances, and prayed the governor that the gold licence be reduced to thirty shillings a month. There v as further a great waste of yabber-yabber about the diggers not being represented in the Legislative Council, and a deal of fustian was spun against the squatters. I un« derstood very little of those matters at the time : the shoe had not pinched. my toe yet.
Every one returned to his work ; some perhaps not very pteacefuby, on account of a nobbier or two over the usual allowauce.
V,
mSUM tENEATIS AMICI.
I* RECOLLECT towatds this time I followed the mob to Magpie Gully. It was a digger's life. Hard work by day, blazing fire in the evening, and sound sleep by night at the music of drunken quarrels a]l around, far and near. I had marked my claim in accordance with the run of the rs'nges, and safe as the Bank of England I bottomed on gold. No search for licence ever took place. What 's the matter ? Oh, the diggers of Bendigo, by sheer moral force, in the shape of'some ten thousand in a mob, had inspired with better sense the red-tape there and somewhere else, so I took out my licence at the reasonable rate of two pounds for three months, my contribution for the support of gold-lace. So far so good. I had no fault to find with our governor Joseph Latrobe, Esquire ; nor do I believe that the diggers cared about anything else from him. "Was it then his being an esquire that brought his administration into contempt ? The fact is, a clap of " The Thunder " from Printing House- square boomed on the tympanum of my ear. -We diggers got the gracious title of " vagabonds," and our massa " Joe,"^for his pains to keep friends with us, was put down " an incapa.ble ; " all for the honour of British rule, of course.
" Wanted a Governor,", was now no longer a dummy in The Argus ; but, unhappily, no application was made to the people of Victoria.
Give a dog a bad name* — and the old proverb holds good even at the antipodes. My trampings are now transcribed from my diary.
With the hot winds whirled in the Vandemonian rush to the Ballaarat Flat. My hole was next to the one which was jumped by the Eureka mob, and where one man was murdered in the row. At sixty- five feet we got on a blasted log of a gum-tree that had been moul- dering there under a curse, since the times of Noah ! The whole flat turned out an imperial shicer. (You did not sink deep enough, Signore Editor.) Slabs that had cost us some eight pounds a hundred would not fetch, afterwards, one pound. We left them to sweat freely in the hole ; and all the mob got on the fuddle. My mate and myself thought we had been long enough together, and got asunder for a change. I was soon on the tramp again. Bryant's Rapges was the go of the day, , and I started thither accordingly. December, 1853. Oh, Lord! what a pack of ragamuffins over that way ! I got acquainted with the German party who found out the Tarrangower den ; shaped my hole like a- bathing tub, and dropped " on it" right smart. Paid two pounds to cart one load down the Loddon, and left two more loads of washing stuff, snug and wet with the sweat of my brow, over the hole. Got twenty-eight pennyweights out of the load. Went back the thixd day,
trisk and healthy, to cart down the other two loads. Washing stuff! " gone : hole ! gone : the' gully itself ! gone : the whole face of ii had been clean shaved. Never mind ; go ahead again. Got another claim on the surface-hill. No search for licence : thank God, had none. Nasty, sneaky, cheeky little things of flies got into my eyes : could see no more, no ways. Mud water one shilling a bucket ! Got the dysentery ; very bad. Thought, one night, to reef the yards and drop the anchor. Got on a better tapk though. Promenaded up to the famous Bendigo. Had no particular objection to Celestials there, but had no particular taste for their tartaric water. Made up mi mind to remember my days of innocence, and turned shepherd. Fine landscape this run on the Loddon : almost a match for Bella Itallia ; but there are too many mosquitoes. Dreamt, one day, I was drinking a tumbler of Loddon wine ; and asserted that Providence was the same also in the south. It was a dream. The lands lay waste and desolate : not by nature ; oh no ; by hand of man. Bathing in these Loddon water-holes, superb. Tea out of this Loddon water magnificent. In spite of these horrible hot winds, this w|iter is always fresh and delicious : how kind is Providence ! One night lost the whole blessed lot of my flock. Myself, the shepherd, did not know, in the name of heavens, which way to turn. Got among the blacks, the whole Tarran' tribe in corrobory. Lord, what a rum sight for an old Europe traveller. Found natives very humane, though. My sheep right aga only the wild dogs had given them a good shake. Was satisfied th the Messiah the Jews are looking for will not be bom in this bullocl drivers' land ; any how, the angels won't announce the happy event o his birth to the shepherds. No more truck with sheep, and went t< live with the blacks for a variation. Picked up, pretty soon,- bits ol their yabber-yabber. For a couple of years had tasted no fish ; now I pounced on a couple of frogs, every couple of minutes. Thought their " lubras" ugly enough ; not so, however, the slender arms and small hands of their young girls, though the fingers be rather too long.
That will <lo now, in as much as the end of the story is this : That portion in ray brains called "acquisitiveness" got th« gold- fever again, and I started for old Ballaarat,
n.
SUA CUIQUE YOtUNTAS.
I WAS really delighted to see the old spot once more ; Eastei^, 1854, J do not mean any offence to my fellow-diggers elsewhere; it struck me very forcibly, however, that our Ballaarat men loek'hy far more decent^ and our storekeepers, or grog-sellers if you like, undouhtedly more respectable.
Of a constitution not necessarily savage, I did not fail to observe that the fair ones had ventured now on a larger scale to trust their virtue among us vagabonds, and on a hot-wind day, I patronized of course some refreshment room.
I met my old mate, ajid we determined to try the old game ; but this time on the old principle of labor omnia vincit — I pitched my tent right in the bush, and prophesied, that from my door I would see W golden hole in the gully below.
I spoke the truth, and such is the case this very day. Feast of the
sumption, 1855 : — ^What sad events, however, were destined to pass
.tctly b^ore the very door of my tent ! — Who could have told me on
lat Easter Sunday, that the unknown hill which I had chosen for my
est^ would soon be called the Massacre Hill \ That next Christmas,
ny mate would lie in the grave, somewhere forgotten ; and I in the
gaol 1 ' the rope round my neck ! !
Let us keep in good spirits, good reader, we shall soon have to weep together enough.
Gravel Pits, famous for its strong muster of golden holes, and blasting* shicers, was too deep for me. The old Eureka was itself again. The jewellers' shops, which threatened to exhaust themselves in Canadian Gully, were again the talk of the day : and the Eureka gold dust was finer, purer, brighter, immensely darling. The unfaithful truants who had rushed to Bryant's Ranges, to knock their heads against blocks of granite, now hastened for the third time to the old spot, Ballaarat, determined to stick to it for life or death. English, German, and Scotch diggers, worked generally on the Gravel Pits ; the Irish had their stronghold on the Eureka. The Americans fraternised with all the wide-awake, uhi caro, ibi vultures.
Here begins as a profession the precious game of " shepherding," or keeping claims in reserve ; that is the digger turning squatter. And^ as this happened - under the reign of a gracious gold commissioner, so I am brought to speak of the gold licence again. First I will place the man bdbre mj reader, though.
Get a tolenUe young pig, make it stand on hit hind legs, pat on its head a cap trimmed with gold -lace, whitewash its snout, and there you have the ass in the form of a pig ; I mean to say a ** man ;" with this privilege, that he possesses in his head the brains of both the above-mentioned brutes.
TH.
LUDI BALLAAKATZN8E8.
Eureka was advancing fost to glory. Each day, and not seldom^ twite a defy, the gutter gan:moned and humbugged all us " vagabonds '* so deucedly, that the rush to secure a claim " dead on it " rose to the standard of " Eureka style ; " that is, '* Ring, ring," was the yell from some hundred human dogs, and soon hill and flat poured out all spare hands to thicken the " ring."
By this time, two covies-^cne of them generally an Irishman— had stripped to their middle, and were " shaping " fbr a round or two. A broken nose, with the desired accomplishment of a pair of black eyes ; and in all cases, whep manageable, a good smash in the regions either of the teeth, or of the ribs — both, if possible, preferred — was supposed to improve the transaction so much, that, what with the tooth dropping, or the rib cracking, or both, as aforesaid, it was considered " settled." Thus originated the special title of "rowdy mob," or Tipperary, in- reference to the Irish. Let us have the title clear. ' The ^*^ shepherding," that is the . squatting by one man — women and children had not got hold of this Dolce /ar niente yet— the ground allotted by law to four men ; and the astii jness of our primitive shepherds having found it cheap and profitable to have each claim visi- bly s'eparated from the other by some twenty -feet wall, which was mutually agreed upon by themselves alone, to call it '* spare ground," was now a grown-up institution. Hence, whenever the gutter, 120 feet below, took it into its head to bestir and hook it, the faithful shepherds would uQt rest until they were sure to snore in peace a foot and a half under ground from the surface, and six score feet from " bang on the; gutter."
This Ballaarat dodge would have been innocent enough, were it not. for "Young Ireland," who, having fixed head-quarters on the Eureka, was therefore accused of monopolising the concern. Now, suppose Paddy wanted to relish a " tip," that is, a drop of gin on the sly, then Scotty,. who had just gulped down his " toddy," which was a drop of auld whisky^
no
would take upon himself the selfish trouble to sink six inches more in Paddy's hole, which feat was called "jumping; " and thus, ' broken noses, and other accomplishments, as aforesaid, grew in proportion to f** tips " and " toddy i* drunk on the sly,
I frequently saw horrid scenes of blood ; but I was now an old chum, and therdbre knew what was what in colonial life.
I had a Cameleon &r a neighbour, whoj in the garb of an Irishman, flung hi€ three half-shovels out of a hole on the hill punctually every morning, and that was his work before breakfast. Then, a red shirt on his back, and a red cap on his head, he would, in the subsequent hour, give evidence of his scorning to be lazy by putting down some three inches deeper anotKer holebelow in the gully. " Full stop ;" he musthave
a " blow," but the d d things — his matches — had got damp, and so
in a rage he must hasten to his tent to light the pipe ; that is, to put on the Yankee garb and complete his forenoon work in a third hole of his, whose depth and shape recommended him as a first rate grave-digger.
And what has all thi« boah to do with the Eureka Stockade ?
Q" »>
KJLT JTT8TITIA., BUAT OOtLUM.
Jii an old Batlaarat hand, I befeby assert, that much of the odium of the mining community against red-tape, arose from the accursed practice of jumping.
• One fact from the " stubborn-things" store. The Eureka gutter tras fast progressing down hill towards the Eureka gully. A party of Britishers had two claims ; the one, on the slope of the hill, was bottomed on heavy gold ; the other, some four claims from it, and parallel with the range, was some ninety feet deep, and was worked by day only, by three men: a fourth man would now and then bring a set of trimmed slabs from the first hole aforesaid, where he was the principal " chips." There was a Judas Iscariot among tiie party. One fine morning, a hole was bottomed down the gully, and proved a scheisser. A rush. Eureka style, was the con- sequence ; and it was pretended now that the gutter would keep with the ranges, towards the Catholic church.
A party of Yankees, with revolvers and Mexican knives — the garb of ''bouncers" in those days-^— -jumped the second hole of th« Britishers, dismantled the windlass,- and Godamn'd as fast as the Britishers cursed inihe colonial style. The excitement was awful.
u
CommissioDer Rede waa fetched to settle the dispute. An absurd and unjust regulation was then the law ; no party was allowed to have an interest in two claims at one and the same time, which wan called " owning two claims." The Yankees carried the day. I, a living witness, do assert that, from that day, there was a ** down" on the name of Rede.
For the commissioners, this jumping business was by no means an agreeable job. They were fetched to the spot : a mob would noon collect round the disputed claim ; and for " fair play," it required the wisdom of Solomon, because tlie parties concerned set .the same price on their dispute, as the two harlots on the living child.
I. The conflicting evidence, in consequence of hard swearing, prompted by gold-thirst, the most horrible demon that depraves the human heart, even a naturally honest heart.-^II. The incom- prehensible, unsettled, impracticable ordinances for the abomi- nable management of the gold-fields; which ordinances, left to the discretion— -that is, the caprice ; and to the good sense — that is, the motto, ** odi pro/anum vulgus et arceo ;" and to the best judgment-»-that is, the proverbial incapability of all aristo- cratical red-tape, how to bule us taga^onds. Both those reasons, I say, must malce.even the most hardened bibber of Toorak small-beer acknowledge and confess, that the perfidious mistake at head -quarters was, their persisting to make the following Bel- fCravian billet-doux the " sine qua non'' recommendation for gold- lace on Ballaarat {al the time): —
^ADDBESS)
**,To the Victorian Board of Small' Beer,
** Toorak (somewhere in Australasia, t.«., Australia Felix— inquire from the natives, reported to be of black-skin, at the southern end of the globe. '^
*' Belgravia, ** First year of the royal projecting the '* Great Exhibition, Hyde Park.
** Lady Stabvesempstbess, great-grand-niece of His Grace the Duke pf Curby-powdeb, begs to introduce to Fortyshillino Takehimaway, Esquire, of Toorak, see address, her brother-in- law, PoLUPUSs, Watebloobolteb, tenth son of the venerable Prebendary of North and South Palaver, Canon of St. Sebastopol in the east, and Rector of Allblessedfools, West End —
UiQENT."
In justice, however, to Master Waterloobolter, candidate for gold -lace,' it must not be omitted that he is a Piccadilly young sprat, and so at Julien's giant bal-masque, was ever gracious to the iadj of his lore.
18
" Miss Smartdei;ice, may I beg the honour of your hand for the next waltz? surely after a round or two you will relish your champagne."
" Yes," with a smothered " dear," was the sigh-drawn reply.
"Who has the power to roar the command, *' Thus far shalt thou go, and ho further," to the flood of tears from forlorn Smartdeuce, when her soft Waterloobolter bolted for the gold-fields of Australia Felix.
To be serious. How could any candid mind otherwise explain the honest boldness of eight out of nine members of the first Local Court; Ballaarat, who, one and all, I do not say dared, but I say called upon their fellow minftrs to come forward to a public meeting on the old spot. Bakery-hill. September, Saturday, 30th, 1855. Said members had already, settled at that time 201 disputes, and given their judgment, involving some half a million sterling altogether, for all what they knew, and yet not one miner rose one finger against them, when they imperatively desired to know whether they had done their duty and still possessed the confidence of their fellow diggers ! They (said members) are practical men, of our own adopted class, elected by ourselves from among ourselves, to sit as arbitrators of our disputes, an4, our representatives at the Local Court.' "That 's the key, for any future Brougham, for the history of the Local Courts on the gold-fields.
It has fallen to my lot, however, to put the Eureka Stockade on record ; and, from the following " Joe"-chapter must begin apy proper history of that disgracefully memorable event.
IX.
ABTSSUS. ABTSSUM INYOCAf.
*^ Joe, Joe ! " N^o one in the world can properly understand and describe this shouting of ** Joe," unless he were on this El Dorado of Ballaarat at the time.
It. was a horrible day, plagued by the hot winds. A blast of the hurricane-winding through gravel pits whirled towards the Eureka this ihouting of *' Joe." It was the howl of a wolf for the shepherds, who bolted at once towards the bush : it was the yell of bull-dogs for the fossikers who floundered among the deep holes, and thus dodged the hounds : it wa« a tcarecrow for the miners, who now ^scrambled down to the dee]), and left a licensed mate or two at the windlass. By
/ «»
tiu« time, a regiment of trooperi, in fall gallop, had besieged tke whole Eureka, and the traps under their protection ventured among the holes, km attempt to give an idea of such disgusting and contemptible campaigns for the search of licences is really odious to an honest man. Some of the traps were civil enough ; aye, they felt the shame of their duty ; but there were among them devils at heart, who enjoyed the fiin, because their cupidity could not bear the sight of the zig-zag uninterrupted muster of piles of rich-looking washing stuff, and the envy which blinded their eyes prevented them from taking into account the overwhelming number of shicers close by, round* about, all along. Hence they looked upon the ragged muddy blue shirt as aa object of their contempt.
Are diggers dogs or savages, that they are to be hunted on the diggings, commanded, in Pellissier's African style, to come out of their holes, and summoned from their tents by these hounds of the executive ? Is the garb of a digger a mark of inferiority ? " in tudort 9uUii3 lue vetceris panem "* is then an infamy now-a-days !
Give us facts, and spare us your bosh, says my good reader. — Very wen.
I, Carboni Raffaello, da Roma, and late of No. 4, Castle-court, Comhill, City of London, had my rattling" Jenny Lind" (the cradle) at a water-hole down the Eureka Gully. Must stop my work to shew my licence. "All right." I had then to go a quarter of a mile up the hill to my hole, and fetch the washing stuff. There again — " Got your licence ?" "AH serene, governor." On' crossing the holes, up to the knees An mullock, and loaded like a dromedary, " Got your licence?" was again the cheer-up from a third trooper or trap. Now, wjiat answer would you have given, sir ?
I assert, as a matter of fact, that I was often compelled to produce my licence twice at each and the same licence hunt. Any one who knows me personally, will readily believe that the accursed gates worried me to death.
X.
JAM VON ISTIS HOSPITES ET ADVBNa.
It is to the purpose to say a few words more on the licence-hunting, and have done with it. Light your pipe, good reader, you have to blow
hard.
• ** In the sweat of tbv brow thoo ihalt eat bread.^
w
Out red-tape, generally obtuse and arrogant, this once got rid of the Usual conceit in all things, and had to acknowledge that the digger who remained quietly at his work, always possessed his licence. Hence the troopers were despatched like bloodhounds, in all directions, to beat the bush ; and the traps who had a more confined scent, creeped and crawled among the holes, and sneaked into the sly-grog tents round about, in search of the swarming unlicensed game. In a word, it was a regular hunt. Any one who in Old England went fox-hunting, can understand pretty well, the detestable sport we had then on the gold-fields of Victoria. Did any trooper succeed in catching any of the " vagabonds '* in the bush, he w^ould by the threat of his sword, confine him round a big gum-tree ; and when all the successful troopers had done the same feat, they took their prisoners down the gully, where was the grand depot, because the traps were generally more successful. The commissioner would then pick up one pound, two pounds, or five pounds, in the way of bail, from any digger (liat could afford it, or had friends to do so, aud then order the whole pack of the penniless and friendless to the lock-up in the camp. I am a living eye-witness^ and challenge contradiction.
This job of explaining a. licence-hunt is really so disgusting to me, that I prefer to close it with the following document from my subse- quently gaol-bird mate, then reporter of the Ballaarat Times : —
Police Court, Tuesday, October 24th.
Hunting the Digger. — Five of these fellows were fined in the mitigated trifle of £5, for being without licences. The nicest thing imaginable is to se« one of these clumsy fellows with great beards, shaggt hair, and oh ! such nasty rough hands, stand before a fine gentleman on the bench with hands of shiny white- ness, and the colour of whose caoibric rivals the Alpine snow. There the cluoisy fellow stands, faltering out an awkward apology, "fuy licence is only just expired, Rir — I've only been one day from town, sir — I have no money, sir. lor I had to borrow half a b»g of flour the other day, for my wife and children.'' Aheu», says his worship, the law makes no distinctions — fined £5. Now our reporter enjoys this exceedingly, for he is sometimes scarce of news; and fn)ra a Strang* ikbenation of intellect., with which, poor fellow, he is afflicted, bus sometimes, no news at all for us; but he is sure of not being dead beat ht any time, for digeer- hunting is a standing case at the police ofiice, and our reporter is growing so precocious with long practice, that he can tell the number of digi^ers fined every morning, without going to that sanctuary at dill.^^Ballaarat J'imes, Saturday, October 28, 1854.
\8
XI.
lALYUM T4C POFULUM TUUM DOMIIfB.
The more the pity — I have not done yet with the accursed gold licence. I must prevail on myself to keep cooler and in good temper.
Two questions will certainly he put to me : —
Ist. Did the camp officials give out the licence to the digger at the place of his work, whenever required, without compelling him to leave off work, and renew his licence at the camp ?
2nd. It was only one day in each month that there was a search for licences, was it not ? Why therefore did not the diggers make it a half-holiday on the old ground, that " all work and no play, makes Jack a dull hoy."
The first question is a foolish one, from any fellow-colonifit who knows our silver and gold lace; and is a wicked one, from any digger who was on Ballaarat at the time.
•' Fellah " gave the proper answer through the Ballaarat TimeSf October 14th; — here it is : —
To the Editor of the Ballaarat Timet, October 14, 1854. Sir,
Permit me to call your atteotioD to the miserable accommodation pre- sided fur the miner, who may have occasion to go to the Camp tn take out a licence Surely, with the thuu!>aDds of pounds tliat have been expended in gov- ernment buildings, a little better accommodation might be afforded to the well disposed digger, who is willing to pay the odious tax demanded of him by govern* ment, and not be compelled to stand in the rain or sun, or treated as if the ''dis tinguished government official " feared that the digger was a thing that would conumiuate him by a closer proximity; so the *' fellah " is kept by a wooden rail from approaching within a couple of yards of the tenL In consequence of su many persons mistaking the licence-office for the commissioner's water-closet, H placaid has beeu placed over the door.
I am, Sir, vonrs &c.,
FELLAH DIGGER,
Who had to walk a few miles to pay away the, money he bad worked hard for, and was kept a few hours standing by • rail — not " sitting on a rail, Mary.*'
Now 1 mean to tackle in right earnest with the second question^ provided* I can keep in sufficiently good temper.
On the morning of Thursilay, the 22ud June, in the year of Grace, One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four,
His Excellency Sir CHARLES HOTHAM,
Knight Commander of the Most Noble Military Ordier of the Bath, landed on the shores of this fair province, as its Lieutenant- Governor, the chosen and commissioned representative of Her ^ott
16
Gracious Majesty, the QUEEN ! " Never, (writes the Melbourne historian of that day) never in the history of public ovations, wag welcome more hearty ; never did stranger meet with warmer welcome, on the threshold of a new home :
VICTORIA WELCOMES VICTORIA'S CHOICE, was the Melbourne proclamation.
The following is transcribed from my diary : —
Saturday, August 26 ch, 1854 : His Excellency dashed in among us " vagabonds" on a sudden, at about five o'clock p.m., and inspected a shaft immediately behind the Ballaarat Dining Rooms, Gravel-pits. A mob soon collected round the hole ; we were respectful, and there was no**joeing." Ou His Excellency's return to the camp, the miners busily employed themselves in laying down slabs to facilitate his progress. I was among the zealous ones who improvised this shabby foot-path. What a lack! we were all of us as cheerful as fighting-cocks. — A crab-hole being in the way, our Big-Larry actually pounced on Lady Hotham, and lifting her up in his arms, eloped with her ladyship safely across, amid hearty peals of laughter, however* colonial they may have been. — Now, Big Larry kept the crowd from annoying the couple, by properly laying about him with a switch all along the road.
His Excellency was hailed with three-times-three, and was proclaimed on the Camp, now invaded by some five hundred blue shirts, the ** Diggers' Charley. "
His Excellency addressed us miners as follows : — ** Diggers J. feel delighted with your reception — I shall not neglect your interests and welfare— again I^ thank you."
It was a short but smart speech we had heard elsewhere, he was not fond of "twaddle," which I suppose meant "bosh." After giving three hearty cheers, old Briton's style to " Charley," the crowd dispersed to drink a nobbier to his health and success. I do so this very moment. Eureka, undef my snug tent on. the hill, August 26, 1854. C. R."
Withinj six short months, five thousand citizens of Melbourne, receive the name of this applauded ruler with a loud and pro- longed outburst of indignation !
Some twenty Ballaarat miners lie in the gra^e, weltering in their gore ! double that number are bleeding from bayonet wounds ; thirteen mure have the lope round their necks, and two more of their leading men are priced four hundred pounds for their body or carcase. ..
Tour ceia, ripest pas preciaement comme chez nous^ pets vraif
Please, give me a dozen puffs at my black-stump, and then I will proceed to the next chapter.
17
XII.
aUFriCIT DIEI 8.UA TEXA.TTO.
Either this cHapter must be very short, or I bad better gire it up without starting it at all.
Up to the middle of September, 1851, the search for licences happened once a month ; at most twice: perhaps once a week on the Gravel Pits, owing to the near neighbourhood of the Camp. Now, licence-hunting became the order of the day. Twice a week on every line ; and the more the diggers felt annoyed at it, the more our Camp officials persisted in goading us, to render our yoke palatable by habit. I assert, as an eye-Avitness and a suflferer, that both in October and November, when the weather allowed it, the Camp rode out for the hunt every alternate day. True, one day they would hunt their game on Gravel-pits ; another day, they- pounced on the foxes of the Bureka ; and a third day, on the Hed- hill : but, though working on different leads, are we not all fellow diggers ? Did not several of us meet again in the evening, tinder the same tent, belonging to the same party ? It is useless to ask further questions.
Towards the latter end of October and the beginning of Novem- ber we had such a set of scoundrels camped among us, in the shape of troopers and traps, that I had better shut up this chapter at once, or else whirl the whole manuscript bang down a shicer.
•* Hold hard, though, take your time, old man : don't let your Roman blood hurry you off like the hurricane, and thus damage the merits of your case. . Answer this question first," says my good reader.
"If it be a fair one, I will."
** Was, then, the obnoxious mode of collectmg the tax the «ole cause of discontent ; or was the tax itself (two pounds for three months) objected to at the same time r"
*Vl think the practical miner, who had been hard at toorh, night and day, for the last four or six months, and, after all, had just bottomed a shicer, objected to the tax itself, because he could not possibly afford to pay it. And was it hot atrocious to con- fine this man in the lousy lock-up at the Camp, because he had no luck ?"
Allow me, now, in return, to put a very important question, of the old Roman stamp. Cut bono? that is. Where did our licence money go to f That 's a nut which will be positively cracked by-and-bye.
f
18
XIII. . UBI CASO, IBI VTJLTTiaES.
One morning, I woke all on a sudden.^ — What's up ? A troop of horse was galloping exactly towards my tent, and I could hear the tramping of a band of traps. I got out of the stretcher, and hastened out of my tent. All the neighbours, in night- caps and unmentionables, were groping round' the tents, to inquire what was the matter. It was not yet day-light. There was a sly-grog teller at the top of .the hill; close to his store he had a small tent, crammed with brandy cases and other grog, newly come up from town. There must have been a spy, who had scented such valuable- game.
The Commissioner asked the storekeeper, wh'o by this time was at the door of his store: "Whose tent is that.^" indicating the small one in question.
" I don't know," was the answer.
''Who lives in it.^ who owns it : is anybody in?" asked the Commissioner.
'• An old man owns it, but he is gone to town on business, and left it to the c^re of his mate who is on the night-shift," replied the storekeeper.
" I won't peck up that chaff of yours, sir. Halloo ! who is in ? Open the tent ;" shouted the Commissioner.
No answer.
*' I say, cut down this tent» and we '11 see who is in ;" was the .order of the Commissioner to two ruffianly looking troopers.
No sooner said than done ; and the little tent was ripped up by their swords. A government cart was, of course, ready in the gully below, and in less than five minutes the whole stock of grog, some two hundred pounds sterling worth, or five hundred pounds worth in nobblers, was caifted up to the Camp, before the teeth of some hundreds of diggers, who bad now collected round about. We cried " Shame! shame !" sulkily enough, but we did not inter- fere ; first, because the store had already annoyed. us often enough during the long winter nights ; second, because the plunderers were such Vandemonian-looking traps' and traopers, that we were not encouraged to say much, because it would have been of no a?e.
As soon, ho^e^er, as the sun was up, and all hands were going to work, the occurrence not only increased the discontent that had been hrewing fast enough already, but it ^ose to excitement ; and such a state of exasperated feelings, however vented m the shouting- of '• Joe," did certainly not prepare the Eureka boys to submit with patience to a licence-hunt in the course of the day.
10
^irst and foremost : it is impossible to prevent the sale of spirits on the diggings ; and not any laws, fines, or punishment the government may impose on the dealers or consumers can have any effect towards putting a stop to sly-grog selling. A miner work- ing, as during the past winter, in wet and cold, must and mil have his nobbier occasionally ; and very necessary, too, I think. No matter what the cost, he will -have it; and it cannot be dis- ^ pe'nsed with, if he wish to preserve his health : he won't go to the Charley Napier Hotel, when he can get his nobbier near-handy, and thereby give a lift to Pat or Scotty.
Secondly : I hereby assert that the breed of spies in this colony prospered by. this sly-grog selling. " We want money," say some of the " paternals" at Toorak.
*• Oh ! well, then," replies another at Ballaarat, *' come down on' a few storekeepers and unlicensed miners and raise the wind. We can manage a thousand or two that way. Let the blood-hounds on the scent, and it is done."
v/.And so a scoundrel, in the disguise of r.n honest man, take? with him another worse devil than himself, and goes round like a roaring lion, seeking what he may devour.
If I had half the fifty pounds fine inflicted on sly-grog sellers, and five pounds fine on unlicensed diggers, raised on Ballaarat at ibis time, I think my fellow-colonists would bow their heads before me. Great works !
Thirdly : An act of silver and gold lace humanity was going the rounds of our holes, above and below.
A person is found in an insensible state, caused by loss of blood, having fallen, by accident, on a broken bottle and cut an artery in his head. He is conveyed to the Camp hospital.
After some few hours, because he raves from loss of blood, and at a time when he requires the closest attention, he is uncere-, moniously carried into the common lock-up, and there left, it is said, for ten hours, lying on the floor, without any attention being paid to his condition by the hospital authorities, and then it was only by repeated representations of his sinking state, to other officials, that he was conveyed to the hospital, where he expired vi two hours afterioards
•'Below!"
•* Haloo !"
" Jim ; the mitiers of Ballaarat demand an jnyestigation."
** And they must have it^ Joe."
Such was the scene in those days, performed at every .shafts iu liravel-pits, as well as on the Eureka.
JO XIV.
rLAGITATUB TULCANO 81 PULMINA PA^ATA.
Here is a short resume of events ^Th^ch led to the popular demonstration on Tuesday, October, 17th, 1854.
Two men, old friends, named Scobie and Martin, after many years* separation, happened to meet each other in BalUiarat. Joy at the meeting, led them .to indulge in a wee drop for '• Auld lang Syne." In this state of happy feeling, they call at the Eureka Hotel, on their way home, intending to have a finishing glass. They knock at the door, and are refused admittance, very properly, on account of their drtinkenness. They leave, and proceed on their way, not, perhaps, without the usual colonial salutations. At about fifty, yards from the hotel, they hear a noise behind them» and retrace their steps. They are met by persons,' unknown, who inflict blows on them, which render one insensible and the other lifeless.
A coroner's inquest was held on the body, the v:rdict of which was,"" that deceased had died from injuries inflicted by persons, unknown ;" but public feeling seemed to point to Mr. Bentley, the propr'etm- of the Eureka Hotel ; who, together with his wife and another party, were charged with the mrurder, tried at the police court, and acquitted,
- The friends of deceased, considering that both the inquest and the trial were unfairly conducted, Agreed' to 'meet on Tuesday, October 17th, on the spot where the man was murdered, and devise measur*?s to discover the guilty parties, and to bring thejn to justice. ^,
-Accordingly, at an earl) nour, the hill on which is situated the Eureka' Hotel was thronged by thousands; so great was the exci:ement.
Thomas Kennedy, ^-as naturally enough the lion of the day. A thick head, bold, but bald, the consequence perhaps not of his diss'pit'on; but of his worrj' in by gone days. His merit consists in the possession of the chartist slang ; hence his cleverness in spinning a yarn, never to the purpose, but blathered witn long phrases and bubbling with cant. He took up the cause of the diggers, not so much for the evaporation of his gaseous heroism, as eternally to hammer on the unfortunate death of his country- *man Sccbie. for the sake of *' auld lang syne."
When pressed by the example of others to bum his license, at the subsequent monster meetirg, he had none to burn, because he Jiad a wife and four children dependent on him for support, and, ^ersfoie I do iiot know what to say further.
21
Th*«e and other resolutions were carried unanimoosly : —
** Thftt this me<*iin;r, not bting satisRed with the maoDerfin which the proceed, tngt cooaected with the death of the Ute James Scob'e, have been couducifd, either bv the roagi»'ratet ur iy the conmer, plodget itself to ds« <}\*Ty lawful means tnhHr« the cose bruuKht before other, and more competent outhuriiiiss.
** That this meeting deems it necessart to collect xabscriptiims fur the purpose of offeiing a reward for the conviction of the murderers, and d::fia}'ing ail uiher «zpenses coiiDecteu with the prosecution ot the casa.*^
XV.
ITAM TUk BES AOITTTB, PARIES CTTM PB0XIHT78 • AHDET.
Thb one pfirradinj^ opinion amon<» the multitude of miners and others who had been attracted thither^ appeared to be. that Bentley was the murderer ; and loud wei6 the cries, the hooting, and groans Ugainst him. It would appear that the Camp authoiities contcm- plated some little disturbance, and consequently, all the available force of police and mounted troopers were on guard at the hotel and made a rcry injudicious display of their strength. Not .only did they follow, but ride through, the crowd of people at the meeting; and it is to this display of their strength that must be atttibutcd the fire, end other outbuists of indignation. Miners ^ho have stood the working of a Canadian or Oravel-pit shicer, scorn danger in any form.
The crowd, excessively irritated on seeing the large display of the hated police force, now began to shoul and yell. Presently, a stone came from the mass, and passing near the head of one of the officials, broke a pane of glass in one of the windows of the hotel. l*he sound of the falling glass appeared to act like magic on the multitude; and bottles, stones, sticks, and other missiles. Mere speedily put in requisition to demolish the windows, until not a single pane was left entire, while every one that was broken drew a cheer from l-he crowd. The police, all this time, were riding round and round the hotel, but did not take any vigorous measures to deter the people from the sport they appeared to enjoy so much. The crowd advance nearer — near enough to use sticks to beat in the casements. They make an entrance, and, in a moment, fur- niture, wearing apparel, bedding, drapery, are tossed out of the windows ; curtains, sheets, etc., are thrown in the air, frightening the hor»(es of the troopers,* who have enough to do to keep their saddles ; the' weather-boards are ripped off the side of the* hotise, and sent spinning in the air. A real Californian takes particular. care of, and delights in smashing the crockery.
22
Mr. Rede, the resident Commissioner, arrives, and endeavours to pacify the people by speechifying ; but it will not do. He mounts the sill of where was once a window, and gesticulates to the crowd to hear him. An egg is thrown from behind a tent opposite, and narrowly misses his face, but breaks on the wall of the house close to hira The Commissioner lecomes excited, and orders the troopers to take the man in charge ; but no trooper appears to relish the business. ■
A cry of •' Fire ! " is raised ; a horse shies and causes commotion. Smoke is seen to issue from one of the rooms of the ground-floor. The police extinguish it ;. and an attempt is made to form a cordon round the building. But it is too late. Whilst the front of the hoi el occupies the attention of the majority of the crowd, a few are pulling down the back premises
Mr. Rede sends for the detach dient of the gallant. 40th, now stationed on Ballaarat.
A shout is raised : — "The 40th are coming."
'• Don't iliuminate till they come."
''They shall see the sight.'"
'• Wait till they come."
Smash goes the large lamps in front of the Lotel. The tr ers ride round and caracole their horses.
" Where"s the red-coats ? "
'* There they come, yonder up the hill ! "
-' Hurrah ! three cheers."
The 40th arrive; they form into line in iiont of ,the otel, swords drawn, "Hurrah! boys! no use waiting any ' long .'' — " Doitvn she comes." The bowling alley is on fire. — Police try to extinguish the flames — rather too warm. — It's too late. — The hotel is on fire at the back corner; nothing can save it. — *'Hip. hip hurrah !" is the universal shout.
I had opportunities enough to observe in London, that a characteristic of the British race is to make fun of. the calamity of fire, hence I did not wonder, how they enjoyed this, their real ^port on the occasion.
A gale of wind, which bio wed at this exact time, Announcing the hurricane that soon followed, wa.s the principal helper to the devouring of the building, by blowing in the direction most favour- able to the purpose.
The red-coats wheel about, and return to the Camp. Look out,! the roof of the back part of the^ hotel, falls in ! " Hurrah ! boys, here's the porter and ale with the chill off."
'Bottles are handed out burning hot — the necks of two bottles are knocked together ! — Contents drunk in colonial style. — Look out ! the roof, sides and all fall in ! — An enormous mass of flame and smoke arises with a roaring sound. — Sparks are earned far, far into the air, aixd what was once the Eureka Hotel, ir embers !
23
The entire digginga, in a stiite of extreme excitement. — The diggers are lords and masters of Ballaarat ; and the prestige of the Camp is gone for ever.
XVI.
LOQUAR IV AWAJLITUDIKE ANIMO: MECE.
Now my peace of mind being destroyed, I had recourse to the free British press, for information, wishing to hear what they said in Mel- bourne/ At this time the Morning Herald was in good demand ; but the Geelong Advertiser had the sway on the gold-fields. Geelong had a rattling correspondent on Ballaarat, who helped to hasten the move- ment fast enough. As I did not know this correspondent of the Gee- long. Advertiser personally, so I can only guess at his frame of mind. I should say the following ingredients entered into the factory of his ideas : —
Ist. The land is the Lord's and all therein ; but man must earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. Therefore, in the battle of life, every man must fight his way^ on the old ground, " help yourself and Gcd will help you."
2nd. In olden times, wherever there was a Roman there was life. In our times, wherever there is a Briton there is trade, and trade is life. But with the lazy, — who, either proud or mean, is always -an incapable, because generally he is a drunkard, and therefore a beggar, there is no possible barter ; and, inasmuch as man does not live on bread alone, for a fried sole is a nice thing for breakfast, so also it must be confessed that the loaves and fishes do not condescend to jump into one's mouth all dressed as they ought to be. Therefore — and this is the zenith of the Geelong Advertiser's practical correspondent — be not perplexed, if the loaves and fishes ^ont pop fast enough into your mouth particularly ; let Mahonjed's example be instantly followed : go yourself to the loaves and fishes, and you will actually find that they are subject to the same laws of matter and motion as everything else on earth.
3rd. The application. For what did any one emigrate to this colony ? To sweat more? Well, times were hard enough for the poor in old Europe. Let him sweat more, but for whonr ? For himself of course, and good lock to him. Is there not plenty of Victoria land for <»very white man or black man that intends to grow his potatoes ? Oh! ieavfi the greens-growing to the well-disposed, to the well-affected, ye
Btordy sons who pant after the yellow-boy. "Take your chance, <mt of a score of shicers, there is one * dead on it,* ** says old Mother Earth from the deep.
Sum total. — With the hard-working gold-digger, there is a solid bar- ter possible. Hurrah ! for the diggers.
The Argus persisting in ** our own conceit," and misrepresenting, perverting, and slandering the cause of the diggers, ran foul, and went fast to leeward- Experience having instructed me at my own costs, that there cannot possibly exist much sympathy between flunkies and blue-shirts, I can only guess at the compound materials hammered in ihc mortar of The Argus reporter on Ballaarat :— -
1st. The land is the Queen's, and the inheritance of the Crown.
2nd. W^o dares to* teach the golden-lace the idea how to shoot ?
3rd. Let learning, commerce, even manners die, But leave us our old nobility.
4tl». Sotto voce.: — Iii this colony, however, make money ; honestly }f possible, of course, but make money ; or else the " vagabonds " here would humble down a gentleman to curry-powder diet.
5th. To put on a blue shirt, and rush in with the Eureka mob ! fudge : " odi profanum vvlgus et arceo." There are millions of tons of gold dug out already, as much anyhow, as anyone can carry to Old England, and live as a lord, with an occasional trip to Paris and Naples, to make up for the time wasted in this colony.
Sum total. — Screw out of the diggers as much as circumstances will admit ; they have plenty of money for getting, drunk, and making beasts of themselves, the brutes !
To be serious; should a copy of this book be forgotten somewhere, and thereby be spared for the use of some southern Tacitus,^ let him bewail the perfidious mendacity of our times, whose characteristic is Slander, which proceeds from devil Grog \ and the pair generate THE PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED. Here is a sample: —
On Saturday, September 29th, 1655, the members of the Local -•Court, Ballaarat, held a public meeting on the usual spot. Bakery-hill, for the purpose of taking the sense of their fellow miners, respecting the admittance or nonadmittance of the legal profession to advise or plead in said court. — See report in The Star, a new local paper, No, V, Tues^y, October 2nd.
Messrs. Ryce and Wall having aadressed the meeting in their usual honest,. matter-of-fact way :-—
"Great works" \ras shouted and immediately appean^d 0. Haffaello, member uf the Local Court He. hopeil, that if there were any (»ood»;noiigh present that they wnald $fee and hot roislav their notes whilo he briedy brought three things before the meeVing ; the tirst concerned the meeting and himself, the second eoaceraed himself, atul the third concerned those present. The first tras easily ' dispost;d of — bavel, as f promised, done my duty as member of the Local Court to joar sadsfactioo ? (Yet, and cheers.^ Very well, the second matter concems- Bijself — personally he wm under no ofa4igatioos to the lawyert-!-th« wrvioM ha-
15
iTorlvfd at the tHal was don« to htm a> & ctnte prisoner, tnj not to Carboirf RaffWello individually ; when individoallr, be reqae&ted to he rapplied with tix
fennytrorlh of snuff by Mr. Dunne, it was prom i»ed, hut it nevor came to him. t would not have cost much to hare supplied him, -and it would have cri^atlj obliged him, as habit had rendered siintr-taliing necessary to him. Wiih the permiMi'on of those pres'-nt be would take a pinch now< {lit took a pinch amidstlMUghterat4d cheers.)
Tlie a iiiiission of lawyt^s into the Local Court would give rise to endless feuds, wliere vuluuble interests were concerned, und so much lime woul-l be lokt in useless litigiitinn. As he hud no wish thron^h any personal obligniion to se« the lawyers in the f.ociil Court, an I as he considered iliat it was tor the ^dT;iQ> ta^e of the iniui^rs that they should not he admitted, he Apposed their entraiicb.
The thiid matter concerned tlione present. Wliat did they rorae to Australia for ? Why, to improve llicir prospects in rrality. though on shipboard ihey might say it was to get riJ of the ** governor," or to get clear.of an uj^ly wire, and uyw that you are here are you to allow the BiUaarat luwvenj to flpCTe you^^ff^-rfur hard earnings ? Not being f-uid of yabber-yabber he wnuld siptQJjrii^k '^^ri you fairly repr^stifiited by us? (Yes, ves ) If so then supnort us;"audif we do not represent you we will resign. Dun't say ves if y<m don't mean it, for I do not like yabber-yabber.
I beg to assert, that the above report is correct, as far as it goes. Spme five hundred dij^gers were present. Now for th3 perversion from the reporter of The Argus^ Melbourne, .Tuesday*. October 2.
**Carboni Raffaello, a foreigner \ji foreign anarchist^ if you please, Mr. Editor\ then spoke in his usual style \^that is, aedilion^ 1 evolution^ and rebellion, that's il'j, the principal (a«c) points of his remarks hiding, that while incarcerated in the Melbourne gaol [?rai it for common felony, or high treason ?J he was not supplied witlv snuff, though he had entreated his learned counsel, Mr. J. H. Dunne, for sixpenny worth. He [^Please, Roffaello or Dunne f fne pair together"^ did not consider himself under any obligation to the lawyers : he l_but who y Dunne or Raffaello P] was not fond of yabbcr-yabbcr."
Thus an honest man is brayed at by asses in this colony ! The fun is odious and ridiculous enough.
When such reporters of the British press prostitute British ink,, the only ink that dares to register black on white the name, word, and deed of any tyrant through the whole face of the earth, and for the .«5ake of a pair of Yankee boots, lower themselves to the level of a scribbler, thus affording to be audacious because anonymous, the British press in the southern hemisphee will be brought to shame, and Victoria cannot possibly derive any benefit from it.
Let the above observation stand good. I proceed wiih my work.
The Age was then just budding, and was consir'ered, on the diggings the organ of the new chum Governor. The Aje soon mustered a Roman courage in the cause of the diggers, and jumped the claims both of Ths Herald and The Argue ; and thoagh the
26
*" own correspondent," under the head of Ballaarat, he such a dry, «oapy concern that will neither - blubber nor blather, yet The Age remained the diggers' paper.
The Ballaarat Times was all the go, on the whole extent of the diggings. Soon enough the reporter, aye, the editor himself, will both appear in propria persona.
XVII.
ARCANE, IMPENETRABILI, PROFONPE,
SON - LE TIE DI CHI DIE l'eSSEB AL NIEKTE.
When our southern sky is overloaded with huge, thick, dark masses, and claps, of thunder warn us of the pending storm, then a gale of wind is roaring in space, doing battle with the bush, cowing down man and beast, sweeping away all mannei' of rotten- ness. This fury spares not, and desolation is the threat of the thunder.
A kind Providence must be blessed even in the whirlwind. Big, big drops of rain fight their way through the gale'; soon the drops muster in legions, and the stronger the storm, the stronger those legions. At last they conquer ; then it pours down — that is, the flood is* made up of legions of twrents.
Is the end of the world now at hand ? Look at the victorious rainbow ! it reminds man of the coveiiant of our God with Noah, not far from this southern land. The sun restores confidence that all is right again as before, and nature, refreshed and bolder, returns again to her work.
Hence, the storm is life.
Npt so is the c?se with fire. Devouring everj'thing, devouring itself, fire seems to leave off its frenzy, only to devour the sooner any mortal thing that comes in the way to retard destruction. A few embers, then a handful of ashes, are the sole evidence df what was onee kingly of beggarly.
Fire may destroy, consume, devour, but has no power to reduce to ** nothing."
Hence the calamity of fire is death.
The handful of ashes lie lifeless until a storm forces them into the living order of nature, which, when refreshed, has the power to ingraft those ashes to, and make them prosper with, the grain of mustard seed. -
Hence death is life.
Such is the order of Providence. Now* good reader, watch the landful of ashes of what was once Bentley's Eureka Hotel.
47
XVUl.
P£CUN'IA OMNIA TINCIT.
Ix the dead of the night after the hurning of the Eureka Hotel, three men had been taken into custody, charged with riot, and subsequently committed to take their trial in Melbourne.
I think the diggers at this time seriously contemplated to 'bum dovm the Camp, and thus get tid in a blaze of all their grievances.
A committee for the defence of these men, met at the Star Hotel, and sent round to all the tents on Balluarat for subscrip- tions. I contributed my mite, and then learned tbiit Verx. Kennedy, and Humffray ^tre the triuinTirale of said committee.
The following placard was posted throu^liout the gold-fields : —
" £500 REWARD
for the discovery, apprehension and conviction of the murderer of James Scobie, found dead neur the late Eureka Hotel,
etc. etc." At one and at the same time, also, the following placards were posted at each prominent gum-tree ou the gold-field : —
"£500 REWARD increased by Govemmeni to
£i,"600.n
for the apprehension and conviction of the robbers of the Bdnk of Victoria."
A desperate deed was committed in broad mid-day ; Monday, Jctobc-r Idth, in the Ballaarat township.
Four men in the garb of diggers, wearing sou -wester hats, and laving crape over their faces, entered the Bank of Mctoria, and .succeeded in carrying off property in notes and gold, to tne jimouiit of about £15,000.
Who would have told me then, thai soon I should be messmate (o. tnose unknown audacious robbers, in the same gaol ! !
Let 's go to the public meeting in the next chapter.
2S
XIX.
UNA SCITCTILLI, 8PABAS1 LA BOMBA» 5PALANCA A MULTITUDINI LA TOMBA.
The foUowing story was going the rounds of the Eureka. There was a license-hnnt; the servant of the Rev. P. Smyth, the priest of the Catholic church. Bakery-hill, went to a neighbouring tent to visit a sick man. While inside, a trooper comes galloping up at
the tent-door, and shouts, out, "Come out here, you d d
wretches ! there 's a good many like you on the diggings." The man came outside, and was asked if ** he 's got a licence?" The servant, who is a native of Armenia, answers, in imperfect English, that'he is a servant to the priest. The trooper says, *' Damn you and the priest;" and forthwith dismounts for the purpose of drug- ging Johannes M*Gregorius, the servant, along with him. The servant remonstrates by saying he is a disabled man, unable to walkover the diggings. This infuriates the trooper ; he strikes and knocks down the poor disabled foreigner, dra-gs him about, tears his shirt — -in short, inflicting such injuries on the poor fellow, that all the diggers present cried out "shame ! shame !'
Commissioner Johnson rides up, and says to the crowd about him, that he should not be interrupted in the execution of his " dooty^" The priest hears of his ser\ ant's predicament, comes to the spot, hands a five-pound note to Johnson as bail for nis servant's appearance the next day at the police-office.
-The following morning, Johannes M'Gregorins is charged with being on the gold-fields without a lifence. The poor foreigner tries to make a defence, "but was fined five pounds. Commissioner Johnson now . comes in and says, M'Gregorius is not charged with being without a licence, but with assaulting the trooper Lord — ridiculous ! This alters the case. The trooper is called, and says the old story about the execution of *• dooty,'* that is, licence- hunting.
A. respectable witness takes his oath that he saw the trooper strike the foreigner with his clenched fist, and knock him down.
The end of the story is in the BuUaarat tune, then in vogue : •* Fined £5 ; take him away."
XX.
PUBLIC MEKTIirO,
Held at the Catholic Chapel, Bakery-hill, Wednesday, October 25th.
After a pood deal of pretty intelligible talk about the •* helpless Armenian," the trooper Lord, and our respected priest ; Thomas Kennedy, pouncng on the thin;? of the day proposed : —
*• That it is the opinion of this meeting that the conduct of Mr Commissioner Johnson towards the llev. Mr. fcimytU has been calculated to awaken the hij^hcst feeling of indignation on the i^art of his devoted flock : and to call upon the government, to institute an inquiry into his (f/old-lace) character, and to desire to have him at once removed from Ballaarau"
Carried unanimously.
The priest was requested to address the m?etinjr.
Father Patricius S.mytii, a native of Mayo, looks some thirty- five years old. and belongs to the unadulterated Irish caste — half- curled hair, not abundant, anxious semicircular forehead, keen and fiery eyes, altogether a lively interesting head. Ke is a Latin and Celtic scholar ; and that excuses him for his raodcrate proficiency in modern languages. He was educated at Maynoolh, the eye-sore of Sabbatarians, and therefore believes it incontestable that the authority coiiferred on him by the Bishop must needs be derived from God ; because the Bishop had been consqcrated by the Pope, who — inasmuch as a second branch of the Prince of the Apostles never was heard of at the time of St. Augustin — is the successor of St. Peter, the corner stone on which our Lord did build the Christian church, and our Lord's warrant is written in St. John, chapter . xiv, 24 : '* Sermo quern aiiditia non est meus, sed ejus qui misit me, nempe Pain's." And so Father Smyth feels himself en- titled to adopt what was said of the Divine Master, ** Docehat enimeos ui habens auctorita tern, non autem ut scribae.'''' St Matthew, chap. vii. 29. Hence his preaching, though not remarkable for mueh eloquence, does not lull to olcep. There is no cant, and Rtrange as it may appear, there is little . argument in his short- framed sentences, because they are the decided opinion of his mind and the warm expression of his heart, anxious for the salvation of his flock, as he believes he will be called to account if any be lost. He, out of civility, may not object to hear what Paley or Butler has to say. but he scorns s^ny conversation with Voltaire, and would see the fellow burnt, as in the times of old. His character was never impeached, because his conduct is an example to all of the strength of bis faith. Either at the altar or at the table he forgets not that he belongs to the priesthood of Ireland, the " proved gold " of the Catholic church. His Aong ui;
30
*" Erin, my country,'* and "/ love thy green bowers," h the end of his story ; which is a hint to me that this is not the place to .say more for the peace of John Bull. Hence Ireland produced a Daniel O'Gonnell, but has not yet ^ot the repeal.
Father Smyth, in addressing the meeting, spoke with coolness and forbearance, yet commendatory of the constitutional manner in which his congregation sought redress from the government, for the -insult offered them, . through his person, in the abuse of his servant by. the trooper Lord. On concluding his address, he was warmly cheered, when the roveiend gentleman and his friends ad* journed to the pcirsonage, to partake of some refreshments.
XXI.
PUBLIC MEETING
Held on Bakery-hill, November 1 Jtli. Political changes contemplated by
THE REFORM LEAGUE.
1. A full and fair representation. — Dont you wish you may yet it ?
^. Monhood suffrage. — Thanks to the Eureka-boys, it costs now one pound. Cheap!
3. No property qnalification of members for the Legislative Council. — The identical thing for ''''starring'' on stumps to a felloxcs heart's conte7it.
4. Payment of members. — That's the accommodation!
5. Short' duration of Parliament. — Increase the chances of accommodation^ thafs it.
What was the freight per ton, of this sort of worn out twaddle imported from old England ?
How much does this new chum's bosh fetch in the southern markets, and in the Victoiian market particularly ?
For my part I decline to answer, because I want to attend at the meeting. J. B. Huraffray, is the Secretary of the League j bis name is going now the round of the diggings j I wish t.j see the man in person ; is he a great, grand, or big man ? that's the question .
1\ben you see John B.\ssoy Humfpray, 70U have at once before you a gentleman, born of a good old family ; his manners confirm it. and his iwofds indicate an honest benevolent heart, directed by a liberal mind, entangled perhaps by too much reading of all sorts, perplexed at the prosperity of the vicious,
31
aad thedisappbintmfnt of the virtuous in this mysterious worM of ours, but could never turn wicked, because he believes in the rcs^urrcction of life. He is looking 3o»ne thirty five years :»l(l, his person is well proportioned, but inclining to John Bull's, His prepossessing countenance is made "up of a fine forehead, de- noting astuteness, oot so much as shrewdness, how, when and whither to shift his pegs in the battle of life ; of rv^pnir: 'Jt* ^'es. which work the spell ; of a Grecian nose j of a pr.pujth temart^bj^ for the elasticity of the lips, that make him' a ^t)riel in he pro- nunciation of the F.ngliiih lan^uoge. His vil^e, that of a teno/,! undulating and clear, never obstreperous, ew^bks his tongue tv work the intended charm, when his head pHt^tli^TnBfnbe^. mto motion ; but the semi-earnestness of his ad'iresV, 1*18 cotilsort of John Bull smile, betray that his heart does not go always -^ith his head. Hence he has many enemies, and yet not one ever dared to substantiate a charge against his character j he his as many friends, but not one friend, because it is his policy ever iu keep, friendly, with red -coats and gold-lace, at one and the same time as with Wueshirts and sou'-westers.
As I cannot po-sil>ly mean any thiii;^ <lishonourable to our old mate, John Basson Humffray, I may here relate what hi* foes do say of him.
Suppose any given square and the four C,' D
pegs to be : I
C. that is, the Camp , E., that is, the • Eureka; D., that is, the doodledora of red- W
tape J and B., that is, blue-shirts.
Let W., that is work, be the central point of C, E, and D, B. Now: John is sinking at B Eureka with the red cap ; and Basson cracks some yabber-yabber at D, that is, getting a sip of Toorak small-beer, as aforesaid. Again: when Basson puts on a sou'-wester to go through the main- drift with blue-shirts, then John feels entitled to tramp up to Camp, and there, somewhere not far oflf, toast on the fourth of July a Doctor Kenworthy ; soon after, however, said Johnny bends his way to shake hands with Signer Raflfaello, at the old peg, Eureka, and helps him to rock the cradle. Further, to give evidence of his consistency, Humffray himself will express his sorrow to Peter Lalor for his less of the left arm at same peg Eureka ; and, to atone for past transgressions, he vi'iW soon after call in both the prodigal John and yabbering Basson, and with his whole heart and voice, strike up, " God Save the Queen," at peg Camp. As for bottoming his shaft at the central point Work, that 's a different thing altogether ; and yet it^ must be admitted that he is " all tiiere " in his claim, when the hole is bottomed^ especially if a drive is to be put in with his quill. Sum total : — He was, is, and ever will be, John Bosson Humffray, Esquire, of Ballaarat ; Honi soi qui inal y pensCy because his friends want him in St. Patrick's Hall,
E
n
xxn.
ITKIKE OFF A MEDAL IN COMMEMOEATION.
We are on Baker}' -hill, though, attention. Immediate objects of the Beform League.
I. An immediate change in the mana:*ement of the gold-fields, by disbanding tlie Commissioner:^ {tindouhtedly the unanimous demand, or ** desire ''^-if the lourd siiit better ihe well-effected — of all blue- shirts). Three cheers for Vern ! Go it hearty ! Fine fellow ! Legs rather too long ! never mind.
IL The total abolition of the diggers' and storekeeper's license tax. (Ah ! ah ! prick John Bull at his £. s. d.y that *s the dodge to make him stir.)
Three cheers for Humffray ! Hurrah!
The whole of the grand talk of these Bakery reformers leagued together on its hill, can properly be framed iu, on a ".copper ; " thus <loing justice to alL
a course, of
cction be decided on
and carried out unswervingly /
until the heel of our oppressors
be removed from our necks.
DON'T LET THE THING DROP THROUGH/
lor want of co-operation and support,
NoTA Bene.
2s. 6d. gentleman's ticket.
No admittance for ladies at present.
Durum sed levius fit patientia.
'Remembkr !
GOD HELPS HIM WHO HELPS HIMSELF (to the 2s. 6d.)
DO KOT LET the word ** British" become a bye- word.
AND ABOVE ALL LEAVE OFF SINGING
** Britons never, never shall be slaves,'*
until you leave fondling
the chains which
prove the song
a lie,
a mockery,
a delusion,
a snara.
Great works!
sa
XXIII.
OETICA BALLAAaATEKSIS : PRIMA.
Here is a plant of Cayenne pepper, growing in those days on Bal-
laarat : it withered some three months in limbo, but oh
yes, butt at it again.
BaOaarat TtmM,. November 18, 1854.
**Tbe Reform Leaotjb.
•* There is something strange, and to the government of this country, iomething not quite comprehensible, in this League. For the first time in the southern hemisphere, a Reform League is to be inaugurated. There is something ominous in this ; the word " League," in a time of such feverish excitement as the present, is big with immense pur- port (indeed !) Indeed, it would ill become the Times to mince in matter of such weighty importance. This League is not more or less than the germ of Australian independence {sic). The die is cast, and fate has stamped upon the movement its indelible signature. No power on earth can restrain the united might and headlong strides for freedom of the people of this country, and we are lost in amazement while contemplating the dazzling panorama of the Australian future (Great works). We salute the League [but not the trio. Vent, Ken- nedy, Humffray], and tender our hopes and prayers for its prosperity [in the shape of a goodly pile of half-croicns']. The League has un- j ertaiten a mighty task [the trio 'U shirk it though'], fit orly for a great people — that of changing the dynasty ot the country {Great works). The League does not exactly propose, nor adopt such a scheme, but we know what it means, the principles it would inculcate, and that >ventrallv it will resolve itself into an Australian Congress." {Great Works /'/)
{
HuMFFRAY to be Auctioncer, ^ of the
JPutefcr^ Kennedy „ Bellman, ).*' Starring *
Vbrw „ Rnnner,
u
XXIV.
ORTICA BALLAARATENSIS : SECUNDA.
Out came the Ballaarat Times, Saturday, November 25, 18S4. Work was stopped at every hole : the miners left the deep and mobbed together round any reader of the fall report of the —
MR. AND MRS. BENTLEY,
Hanse, and Farrel,
for the murder of
James Scobie.
Supreme Court, Melbourne.
GUILTY ! of Manslaughter. Mrs. Bentlev scot-free. His Honour considered their conduct was wanton and reckless. He should mark his'sense of the outrage of which they have been found guilty, by pass- ing on each of them a sentence of THREE (!) YEARS' IMPRISON- MENT WITH HARD LABOUR ON THE ROADS.
«gaat Max\iS I
trial 0f
Fletcher, M'Inty re, and Westerby, for
BUKMINO THE EORSKA HOTBU
Supreme Court, Melbourne. Criminal Sittings.
GUILTY, with a recommendation to mercy ! !
The Foreman of the Jury appended the following rider to the verdict :—
" The jury feel, in giving their ver- dict against the prisoners at the bar, that in all probability, they (the jury) should never have had that painful duty to perform, if those entrusted with the government offices at Ballaa- rat had done theirs properly."
His Honour -said: THE SEN- TENCE of the Court is, that you, M'Intyre, be <ionfined in H. M. gaol^ at Melbourne, for THREE MONTHS', but I shall not subject you to labour, (Great works !) You, Fletcher, to four months' ; and you, Westerby, to six
months' confinement '. .
.... The Executive was sufficiently strung to punish thosis who outrage tho law! ' (Great works at Toorak I)
La vita in grammatica,
Facil declinazione ; La vita poi in pratica, Storta congiuga2ione : DeUa vita lo spello dal mondo sciolto, Al mondo vivi, poiche non sei sepolto.
XXV.
IPISTOLAM HANC MISI, TUNC BENE, NDNC VALDE AD OPUS.
" Prepaid.
" To W. H. ARCHER, Esq.
" Acting Registrar General, " Melbourne."
** Ballaarat Gold-fields,
'* Eureka, Noxember 30, 1864. ** My dear Mr. Archer,
*' I was in tome anxiety about you ; not receiving any answer to my letter of the 17th October, and especially to that of the 22nd ditto. I was at Creswick's Creek, when I was informed that Father Smyth had a letter for me, and last Monday I returned to Ballaarat, where I received, throngh Messrs. Muir Bro. thers, year )etter of the 20tb October. I am heartily glad to learn that you are well, and now I suppose a few lines froiV me are as welcome to you as ever.
" Somehow or other, verging towards the fortieth year of my age, having wit- nessed strange scenes in this strange world, very, very different from my dream of youth, I feel now more disposed to the S4>ber reality of the things of this life.
^ However tlesponding and humiliating may be, as it really is, the sad reflec- tion, that at the enormous distance of sixteen thousand miles from dear homes and dearer friends, people should be called upon to assemble, NOT to thank God Almighty fur any spedal mercy, or rejoice over the first good harvest or vin- tage on this golden land; but melancholy is it to sav, for the old purpose, as in olden times in the old country, " FOR THE REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES ;'* and so yesterday we had a monster meeting on Bakery-bill, and I was the delegate of upwards of one thousand foreigners, or ' aliens,' according to the superlative wisdom of your Legislative Council.
•* The Camp was prepared to stand for the Colonial Secretary Foster ! Yes; you mar judge of the conduct of some officers sent to protect the Camp by the following : —
** On Tuesday Evening (November 28tb), about eight o'clock, the Twelfth Regiment arrived from Melbourne. The expert clevemesx of the officer in com- mand, made the soldiers, riding in carts drawn by three horses each, cross the line exactly at the going-a-head end of the Eureka, .^n injudicious triumphant riding, that by God's mercy alone, was not turned into a vast funeraL
** From my tent, I soon heard the distant cries of " Joe ! " increasing in vehe- mence at each second. The poor soldiers were pelted with mud, stones, old stumps, and broken bottles. "The hubbub was going on pretty desperate west- ward of the Hill, and WE had hard work to preserve the peace ; but at the upper end of the Hill, the game was going on upon a far more desperate scale. It appears that a party of Gravel-pits men had been in the bush foT the purpose. They stopped a cart, pulled the soldiers out, robbed them of their ammunition and bayonets ; in short, it was a hell of a row. All of us camping on the Hill were talking about this cowardly attack, when a detachment uf said soldiers came up again, and the officer, a regular incapable, that is, a bully, with drawn sword began to swear at us, and called all of us a pack o( scoundrels. He was, how- ever, soon put to rights, by the whole of us then present offering ourselves to look out for the missing soldiers; and eventually, one of them was discovered in a deserted tent, another was found in a hole lower down the Warrenheip Gully. and so on. This disgraceful occurrence, coupled with the firing of guns and pistols, kept up the whole of the night, did not give us cheering hopes for the next day.''
XIVI. THE MONSTER MEETING.
Bakery-biil, Wednesday, November 29tb
L
(Letter eontinaed.)
* All the diggings ronnd abuut were deserted, and swelled the meeting, the greatest I evyf witnessed in this Colony. At. two o'clock there were about ten thousand men present! The Report of the Deputation appointed by the lieagae to wait upon his Excellency, relative to the release of the three prisoners, M'lntyre, Fletcher, and Yorkie, was lis4i:ned to with great anxiety.**
George Black was the man of the day, and was received by the people with tHree liearty cheers.
From his outward appearance, one would take him for a parson, a Christian one, I mean ; not a prebendary or a bishop. His English is elegant, and conscious of having received an education, and being born a gentleman, he never prostitutes his tongue to colonial phraseo- logy. His reading must have been sober from his youth, for in con- versation he indulges in neither cant nor romance ; though, in addres- sing the people, he may use a touch of declamation- stronger than argument. From the paleness of his cheeks, and the dryness- of hi» lips, you might see that the spirit was indeed willing, though the flesh was weak. The clearness of his eyes, the sharpness of his nose, the liveliness of his forehead, lend to his countenance a decided expression of his belief in the resurrection of life. His principles are settled, Hot so much because that is required for the ha]>piness of ^ good con* science, but because the old serpent has crammed the ways of man with so many deceits in this world of vanify and vexation of spirit, that a heart of the honesty of George Black, cannot possibly have any sym- pathy with the crooked ways of rogues and vagabonds ; and so he is afflicted at their number and audacity, especially in this Colony. His -disposition of mind makes him enthusiastic for the virtuous. Lis bene- volent heart prevents him from proceeding to extremities with the vicious. Hence the Diggers' Advocate^ of which he was the editor, though conducted with ability, failed, because he thought that goid- diggers interested themselves with true religion, as laid down in Saint James's Catholic Epistle ; but he made a greater mistake in not taking into consideration that men, though digging for gold, do still pretend to some religions denomination or other. However, let him now address the Monster Meeting.
ST
XXTII.
KTIDX IT IMPZftA.
(Letter continued.)
'" Mr. Black explained tire results of >iis mission bj stating, that the Depnta. lion was received by the Governor with much courtesy and urbanity, and that personally his Excellency had no objection to jcrant the public prttyer. He fur- ther stated, that Sn fir tis he had an upportuntly ol' judging of the (iovem«>r'» dis- p^isitiun, hi& Excellency va.s iu favour o( the. people, but that he was so sur- Tounded by injudicious advisers, as to leave him entirely impotent in state mat- ten*. The gn^at objection his Excellency seemed to entertain against the Depu- tation'" claim, wm what is termed want of courtesy in wording — for it must b« understood that the Committee sent, not to peiiiion and pray, but dcmnnd^ the release of the state prisoners; and the word (/r7n/i<«/ was said to operate Tnore against the Deputation than the very object of their mission. Upon bearing all these reasons, it was proposed Ic adopt the form of a memorial, and petition ihe Oovemor; but this proposition was furiously sc«>uted, on the ground that it did not comport «ith thb dignity of the League, fir^t to demand, and afterwards to pray.
** Kennedy, along, with the music of his rubbin^ the nails of the right hand «(piinst those of the left, blathered •away in a masterly style (or the benefit of the I.eagiie.
** It was evident that there was a 'split* among the three Delegates; yet Mr. Humffray, who had been received by Bis Kxcellendy, in an interview as a private digger, fimnd favour among the assembly. J B. Uumffray plain'y ex- plained, and calmly made us understand, that Sir Charles was with us, and was determined to put an end to our grievances; and that he had appointed to tliis effect, a Commission of Inquiry, of popular men well known to us, and hit Excellency had made up his mind to * act accordingly.' The feverish excita
m'-ot was subdued, and three hearty cheers were given for the New Chum Oovemor, amid the discharging of several guus and pistols.'*
I must here interrnpt the meeting, drop the letter, and hereby •sscrt : —
]st. Peter Lalor and myself, had never addressed any of the meet- ings, before this monster one.
2nd. Having made up my mind to return to Home, the following Christmas; in accordance with my brother's desire ; I had to actend to my work ; hence, I had never taken any part in the agitation aud to my knowledge, Peter Lalor neither.
3rd. I never was present at tbe Star Hotel,- and therefore, personally I know nothing of the boisterous Committee of the vaunting Beform League held there.
Cbro/arrtMs.— I am not deud yet!
xxvin.
L'uNION fait la £0&CJ£.
Wjt had better proceed with the meeting first; and with the letter afterwards.
Peter Lalor proposed the following resolution : —
•* That a meeting of the members of the Reform League be called at the Adelphi Theatre, on next Sunday, at 2 o'clock, to elect a Central Comn»ittee • and that each forty members hare the power to elect one member for the Central Committee."
Being an old acquaintance of , Peter, I supported the ahoye resolution. He gave me his hand and pulled me up on the platform, from among the multitude. The whole of that "Wednesday morning, my tent on the Eureka had been a regular Babel. Foreigners from all quarters of the globe and of the diggings, came to inquire from me what was the matter concerning so much excitement as then prevailed on Ballaarat. T trans- lated for them the news from our Ballaarat TimeSy or from The Gee- long Advertiser's clever correspondent. Thus, and thus alone, I be- came honourably their delegate, and subsequently interpreter to Lalor, the Commander-in-Chief ; and I hereby express the hope that in time, Peter Lalor, though mutilated, may find at Toorak, a little more credit for his testimony than 'did that infernal spy, Goodenough. Any- how, for the present, Le Pere Duprat, a well known old hand, and respected French miner on Ballaarat, who was with me within the Eureka- Stockade j and whose proposed plan for the defence, I inter- preted to Lalor, is a living witness to the above. We must, however, attend to our Monster Meeting.
XXIX.
HSU MIHI ! SERMO MIUS, VERITAS.
My friends had requested me to come forward at the meeting, and here is my speech according to notes I had previously taken in my tent.
Gold-laced. Webster, / challenge contradiction.
"I came from old Europe, 16,000 miles across two oceans, and I thought it a respectable distance from the hated Austrian rule. Why,
99
then, this monster meeting to-day, at the antipodes ? We wrote peti' tions, signed memorials, made remonstrances by dozens ; no go : we are compelled to demand^ and must prepare for the consequences.
" The old style : oppressors and oppressed. A sad reflection, very sad reflection, for any educated and honest man.
" For what did we come into this colony ? Chi sta bene non si movCf is an old Roman proverb. If then in old Europe, we had a bird in hand, what silly fools we were to venture across two oceans, and try to catch two jackasses in the bush of Australia !
" I had a dream, a- happy dream. I dreamed that we had met here together to render thanks unto our Father in heaven for a plentiful harvest, such that for the first time in this, our adopted land, we had our own food for the year ; and so each of us holding in our hands a tumbler of Victorian wine, you called on me for a song. My harp was tuned and in good order : I cheerfully struck up,
•Oh, let us be happy together.' Not so, Britons, not so ! We must meet as in old Europe — old style — improved by far in the south — for the redress of grievances in- flicted on us, not by crowned heads, but blockheads, aristocratical inca- pables, who never did a day's work in their life. I hate the oppressor, let him wear a red, blue, white, or black coat." — And here certainly, I tackled in right earnest with our silver and gold lace on Ballaarat, and called on all my fellow-diggers, irrespective of nationality, religion, and colour, to salute the ' Southern Cross ' as the refuge of all the oppressed from all countries on earth. — ^The applause was universal, and accordingly I received my full reward :
Prison and Chains ! Old style.
XXX.
THE REFORM LEAGUE, GRAPPLIKG WITH THE RIGHT " STARS."
Monster Meeting continued : —
Proposed and seconded by blather reformers ; of course, Vem had his go i —
** That this meeting being courinced that the obnoxious licence^fee is an im- potition and an unjustifiable tax un free labour, pledges itself to take immediate steps to abolish the same bj a/ once burning all their licences j that in the event of any party being arrested for having no licence, tha( the united people will, under all circumstances, defend and protect them.''
40
** That tbU meeting will not feel bound U> protect any man after the l*'^th of December who shall not be a member of the Reform League by that day."
The Rev. Mr. Downing proposed as an amendment, that the licences should not be burned. Although the rev. gentleman was heard with patience and respect, a sullen excitement^ pervaded the whole assemb- lage while he spoke. Those even of his most devoted followers were of the opinion that his sentiments did not accord with the spirit of the times, and the result was that the rev. gentleman's amendment fell to the ground.
Here must not be forgotten a peculiar colonial habit. There was on the platform a sly-grog seller, who plied with the black -bottle all the folks there, and the da.y was very hot, the sun was almost burning.
XXXI.
81 CESSI IL PIANTO, I* IRA 61 6USTI. LO SCHIAVO CHE VUOL FINI& LE SUB PENl, VENDETTA GRIDANDO AL DIO DE GIUSTI, DEVE SCHIANTAR LE 1»R0PRIE CATENE. CUORE ! SI VADA, YEDASI, SI VINCA. (bis.)
In Spite of all that, however, Timothy Hayes, the chairman — who by- the-bye, discharged the duties of the chair in that vast assemblage, with ability and tact, spoke like a man, as follows : —
" Gentlemen, many a time I have seen large public meetings pass resolutions with as much earnestness and imanimity as you show this day; and yet, when the time came to test the sincerity, and prove, the determination necessary for carrying out those resolutions, jt was found then that * the spirit, indeed, is willing, hut the flesh is weak.* Now, then, before I put this resolution from the chair, let me point out to you the responsibility it will lay upon you (hear, hear). And so I feel bound to ask you, gentlemen, to speak out your mind. Should any member of the League be dragged to the lock-up for not having the licence, will a thousand of you volunteer to liberate the man?"
"Yes! Yes!"
" WiH two thousand of you come forwaid ? "
"Yes! Yes-! Yes!"
41
" Will four thousand of you volunteer to march up to the Canip, and- open the lock-up to liberate the man ?"
" Yes! yes! " (the clamour was really deafening.)
" Are you ready to die ?•* shouted out our worthy chairman, stretch- ing forth his right hand, clenched all the w^ile; ">^p' you ready to die ?"
" Yes, Yes ! Hurrah !*'
This general decided clamour put oui Tim in such good spirits, that, in spite of the heat of the sun and the excitement of tfw day, he launched in the realm of crowned poets, an«^ bawjt"* "" 1« c^nn if he wanted the head-butler at Toorak to take him a qwH^^fli oi small- beer —
^ On to the field, our doom is sealed. To conquer or be slaves; The sun shall see our country free. Or set upon our puves."
(Great works!)
No one who was not present at that monster meeting, or never saw any Chartist meeting in Copenhagen-fields, London, can possibly form an idea of the enthusiasm of the miners of Ballaarat on that 29th of November. A regular volley of revolvers and other pistols now took place, and a good blazing up of gold-licences. JVTien the original resolutions had all been passed, My. Humflfray moved a vote of thanks to Mr. Ireland, for his free advocacy of the state prisoners. The meeting then dissolved, many of them having previously burned their licences, and thus virtually pledging themselves to the resolution adopted, which might be said to have been the business of the day. Nothing could exceed the order and regularity with which the people, some fifteen thousand in number, retired.
XXXII.
ECCO TRONCAIO ]L CANTO PER RITORNARE AL PIANTO.
My letter to Mr. Archer continued : —
'* Thanks be to God, the day passed ' unstained,* a glorious t^ay Tor Victoria when tbe SOUTHERN CROSS was first unfolded on Ballaarat; gathering round itself all the oppressed of the world.
" The whole purpose of the meeting was, that a Retorm League be formed and fully organised to carry out the clearance of all our grievances, on the old style of the Com Law League in Great Britain.
1
42
*' Next Sandaj, we leaguers — (/ took out a ticket ofmemberthipfrom MeynoUa, ant of the treasurerSf gndjxiid my 2s. dd. on thai very day^ November 29/A, pre- cisely, on the platform of the meeting) — have a meeting at two o'clock at the Adelpbi to organise the people and appoint a responsible executive committee. I am the old delei^ate to it, and therefore I. shall be able to give jou, Mr. Archer, a full answer to your letter of the 24th instant.'''
Mark this, good reader /
•* I. Meanwhile, privately, as an old Ballaarac hand, I beg respectfully to convey to you, to employ your influence and reach the ears of the Lieutenant- Governor. The licence-fee, as a tax, is perhaps a cause of growling like any other toxin Great Britain or elsewhere in the \vt«<ld; but, on the gold-fields, has become an * abomination.' The inconvenience in, the Camp-insolence at, our getting it, the annoyance and bore for showing it, when asked by some * pup' of a trap whilst at our work ; the imbeciiily and arrogance of so mao^v commissioners and troopers uselt.-ssly employed for the purpose, etc., etc.; make the gold-licence an abomination to tie honest digger. The Vandemonian, you know, never dreamt of taking ont u licence, of course not.
*' Paramount is this grand consideration: John Bull, rather of a doggish nature, will growl to himself if left alone: picking his bone : the passport system is a bone that he will not pick; no, no ways and under no shape wLatover — / know it by experience.
'• 2. A memoriul to his Excellency for the release of the three prisoners under sentence for burning the Eurtka Hotel, is, through Kumfiruy, in course of signature. It is our earnest desire that his Excellency may show mercy; though it may appear, that he wouM do thus an act o( justice to the diggers, con>idering how rightly they guesst-d the Beniley affair.
*' 3. The whole pack, commissioners, troopers and traps on the Ballaarat Camp, with the exroptJon of»magistrate Llackett, are detestrd by the diggers: there wi^l be eternal discontent as lung as Rede and fraternity are lodging over that way. The whole Catnp had beirtr be changed at once, and entrusted to good experienced hands and honest men. Perhaps Sir Charles may tuna into a Diogenes in vain — ' nil desperandum.^ There are now and then honest men to be found even in this colony."
Good reader, listen to me ; I shall tell you no lie : do not' lose fight of the above letter : I intend to give the end in the next chapter: meanwhile, fill the pipe, let 's have a * blow ' together.
XXXCII.
MISTERO ! s'aPKE MENDACIA, VIOLENTE STRADA MAESTRA IN CITTA E CAMPAGNi LA VRRITA, SE DOCILE, QUADAGNA A PASSU LO STRADELLO LENTAMENTE.
(Translated in the text of my first chapter.)
On Thursday moming, November 30th, at sunrise, I was at ny wuik, as usuah
I assert, as an eye-witness, that most of the hands on the Eureka came to their work, and worked as usual.
Whilst having a ' blow, we wonld talk over again about the monster meeting of yesterday, thas spinning a yarn in the nsnal colonial style.
The general impression was, that as sooQ as government knew in Melbourne the real state ot the excited feelings of the diggers, the licence-hunt would be put a step to.
Towards ten o'clock was my hour for a working-man's break- fast. I used to retire to my tent from the heat of the mid-day, and on that same Thursday I set about, at once, to end my letter to Mr. Archer, because I was anxious to forward it immediately to Melbourne.
Good reader, I copy now^ word for word, the scrawl then penned, in great haste and excitement.
•* Thursday^ Xocembtr 20th, IS-M. ** Jitst on my prajmriittf to go »tnd post this leiLr, wr are. worrinl by the tutual Irish cTjfJoriiM to Grave/ pits. The tra/tn are out fur licences, and plnyiny hell Kith the digyers. 7/ that be the case, I am not inclined to give hatf-a-crown, for tht tchvlejixturrs at the Camp. ** / must go and see * what *s vp*
♦* Always Tonr affectionate,
(Signed) " CAUBONI RAFFAELLO.*'
"W. H. ARCHER, Ejq.,
** Acting Registrar- iieufrral, Melboame.'*
WHY this identical letter of mtne — now in the hands of James Macph'.'rson Grant, M.L.C., Solicitor, Collins-street, where it will remain till Christmas for inspection, to be then returned to the owner — was not produced at my state trial, was, and is still, a MYSTERY to me I
Let 's run to Bakery-hilL
XXXIV.
QUOS TULT PEROIRB OIUS DEMKITTAT.
liV^BAT*8 up? a licence hunt; old game. What's to be done? Peter Lalor was on the stump, his rifle in his band, calling on volunteers to "fall in" into ranks as fast as they rushed to Bakery-hill, from all quarters, with arms in their haiids^ just fetched from their tents. Alfred, George Black's brother, was taking down in a book the names of divisions in coarse of formatiuB, mud of their captains.
I went up to Lalor, and the moment he saw me, he took me hy the hand saying, "I want you, Signore : tell these gentlemen, pointing to old acquaintances of ours, who were foreigners ; that, if they cannot provide themselves with fire-arms, let each of them procure a piece of steel, five or six inches long, attached to a pole, and that ',will pierce the tyrants' hearts." Peter of course spoke thus in his friendly way as usual towards me. He was in earnest though. The few words of French he knows, he can pronounce them tolerably well, but Peter is no scholar in modern languages j therefore he then appointed me his aide-de-camp, or better to say his interpreter, and hoio I am proud to he his historian.
Very soon after this, all the diggers "fell in" in file of two-a- breast, and marched to the Eureka.
Captain Ross of Toronto, was our standard-bearer. He hoisted down the Southern Cross from the flag-staflf, and headed the march.
Patrick Curtain, the chosen captain of the pikemen, gave me his iron pike and took my sword to head his division j I "fell in " with John Manning who also had a pike, and all of us marched in order to the £ureka.
I assert as an eye-witness, that we were within one thousand in the rank with all sort of arms, down to the pick and shovel.
We turned by the Catholic church, and went across the gully. Of this I have perfect recollection : when the " Southern Cross '* reached the road, leading to the Eureka on the opposite hill, the file of two-a-breast crossing the gully, extended back- wards up to the hill where the Catholic church stands. I took notice of the circumstance at the time.
Wejreached the hill where was my tenl. How little did we know that some of the best among us had reached the place of their grave ! Lalor gave the proper orders to defend ourselves among the holes in case the hunt should be atteippted in our quarters.
The red-tape was by far too cunning this time j red-coats traps, and troopers had retired to the Ballaarat Camp, and wanted a " spell."
We determined, however, to put an end to their accursed licence-hunting, mock riot-act chopping, Vandemonian shooting down our tnates in Gravel -pits.
46 XXXV.
AD OPUS CONCILIUM STATUTUM.
Peter Lalor, at oar request, called in all the captains of division* then present, and the chief persons who had taken part in the movement. We entered a room some twelve feet square, in Diamond's store. An old European fox for such occasions, I took the right sort of precautions, that no spy might creep in among us. Black bottles and tumblers were placed on the table, as a blind to any intruder ; " et nunc satitt^ profani vulgus causa^** we proceeded to business.
Present —
1. There was one, whom it is not prudent to mention just now,
3. Near him was a thick, short-necked, burly individual ; his phisiog indicated at once that he was a priest-ridden. I won't trouble myself about his name.
». I 'U begin with Timothy Hayes. He was bom in Ireland, but his outward appearance is that of a noble fellow — tall, stout, healthy-looking man, giving himself the airs of a high-born gentleman, fit to rule, direct, superintend, not to work x that *s quite another thing. Of a liberal mind, however, and, above all, of a kind heart, and that covers a multitude of sins.
4. Edward Thonen, a native of Elbertfeld, Prussia, five feet high, some thirty years old, thin, but robust, of vigorous health, used no razor. His eyes spoke determination and independence of character. One day in November, 1853, he called with his lemonade kegs at my hole in ^Sailors' Gully. A mate was served with a glass of lemonade — halloo ! he must help at the windlass just at the moment he was tendering payment, and tht shilling fell to the ground. Some words passed to the effect that six- pence a glass should be enough for lemonade. Thonen asked for his shilling ; my mate directed him where the shilling lay ;
Thonen would see him d d first before picking up his mouey
like a dustman, and went away. I sent that identical shilling (stamped 1 844), along with my little gold, to Rome ; most astonishing ! I had the presentiment at the time that I should have bad occasion to relate the story. There was no mate on the gold-fields to match Thonen at chess-playing. He would turn his head, allow his opponent the move, and then be would give such a glance on the chess board, that the right piece would jump to the right place, as it were of its own accord. Shrewd" yet honest j benevolent, but scorning the knave j of deeD thought, though prompt in action 5 Thonen possessed the head belonging to that cast of men whose word is their bond.
46
5 John Manning, born in Ireland, and an Irishman to the- back-bone, appeared above forty years of age. His head was bald, perhaps from thinking three times more than he ought y his forehead showed intelligence, but care was there with the plough — the plough of dreaming too much ot virtue, believing the knaves are not the majority on earth. He had come young to this colony, had passed hard days, and so he had got the colonial habit, now and. then, ** Divo jucundo Baccho cultum preS' tare ;" hence his hair was fast turning grey. He was a self- educated man, but wanted judgment to discipline his fermenting brain,, for the control of his heart, which was good, honest, always warm, affectionate to man, woman, and child. When he took his quill he was " all there,*' but soon manifested the sort of reading of his yonth ; ^nd experience, however hard, had not yet taught him the sober reality of the things of the world — that is, he had remained an Irishman, not John Bullised.
6. Oh I you long-legged Vern ! with the eyes of an opossum, a common nose, healthy looking cheeks, not very small mouth, no beard, lonj; neck for Jack Ketch, broad shoulders, nex'er broken down by too much work, splendid chest, long arms — the whole of your appearance makes you a lion amongst the fair sex, in spite of your bad English, worse German, abominable French. They say you come from Hanover, but your friends have seen too much in you of the Mexico-Peruvian. You belong to the school of the " Illuminated Cosmopolitans ;" you have not A dishonest heart, but yon believe in nothing except the gratification of your silly vanity, or ambition, as you call it.
i . The next was a skinny bouncing cqrl who affected the tone and manners of a Califoruian ; he acted throughout the part of a coward, I scorn to mention his name.
S. Thank God there is am.ong U3 a man ; not so tall as thick, of a strong frame, some thirty five years rid, honest countenance sober forehead, penetrating look, fine dark whiskers. His mouth and complexion denote the Irish, and he is the earnest, well-mean- ing, no-two-ways, non-John-BuUised Irishman, Peter Lalor, in whose eyes, the gaseous heroism of demagogues, or the knavery of peg-shifters is an abomination, because his height of ■impudence consisted in giving the diggers his hand, and leaving with them his arm in pawn, for to jump the Ballaarat claim in St. Patrick's Hall.. More power to you Peter! Old chummy, smother the knaves ! they breed^too fast in this colony.
9. Myself, Carboni Raffaello, da Roma, Member of the College of Preceptors (1850), Bloomsbury-square, professor, interpreter and translator of the It aliart, French. Spanish and German Language into English or vice versa late of 4, Castle- court, Birchin-lane, Cornhill, London j now, gold-digger of Bttllaarat, was present.
47
10. Patrick Cubtain, an old digger, well known among ns ; «t the time a storekeeper ; husband and father of a beloved family. His caste is that of the Irishman — John-buli } tall, robust, some forty years old ; he is no friend to much yabber-yabber j of deep thinking, though very few can guess what he is thinking of. He smiles but never laughs to his heart's cijntent. Curtain was captain, and subsequently lieutenatvt of the p]lke{|ieu division, when they chose Hanraban, t^ their captatir. Bmd pikemen division was among the fiVst that took up ariuu on Thursday, November 30th, imraediia^ejy after the licence* hunt. It was formed on Bakery-hill, cSud r^^^'^iveil La,ur on the stump with acclamation. It increaste4 A<i)ii^js^i^ per- manently ; was the strongest division in the Eureka stocKade : in comparison to others, it stood the most true to the " Southern Cross.*' ami consequently suffered the greatest loss on the morning of the massacre. Now, to explain how both its gallant leaders escaped unhurt, sale as the Bank, so that a few weeks afterwards, both were v/orking happy *and jolly in broad day- light on Gravel-pits, within a rifle shot from the Camp, that Would be a job of a quite different kind just at present: siilficient the trouble to mention ; that when I came out of gaol, I met them both in a remunerative hole in Gravel-pits, as aforesaid.
11. 1^. There were two other individuals of the John-ball -caste, perhaps cross-breed, who had taken up arms in the cause of the diggers, because their sly-trade was flagging j but, as a rotten case abides no handling, I will let them pass.
Manning, handed over to Lalor the motion drawn up in my tent. Here it is : —
Proposed by John Manning, Seconded by Carboni Raffaello,
** I. That Peter J.alor has acted worthy of the miners of Ballaarat, in organising the amied men un Bakerj.hill, against tba wanton aggression from the Camp Ibis -morning.
** II. Thai he be desired to call in all captains oC division now present on the spot, as Wtfll a<i other persons of importance, well-known good -wishers to tha caus% of the diggers.
^ 11 1. That Siiid parties constitute the coancil-of-war for the defence.
** IV Lalor to be the president pro. tern.
<* y. That he proceed at once to the election uf the Commander-in-Chief, by the majority of rotes."
Lalor tore up immediately the slip of paper containing the above motion, because be did not think it prudent to leave written things about in a public store. I transcribe it from the scrap left among the papers in ir.y tent
48
XXXVI.
QUOUSaUE TANDEM ABUTERE, TOORAK, PATIENTIA NOSTRA?
Lalor rose, dnd said . —
'* Gentlemen, I find myself in the responsible position I now occupy, /or this reason. The diggers, outraged at the unaccountable conduct of the Camp offi- cials in such a wicked licence-hunt at the point of the bayonet, as the one of this morning, took it as an insult to their manhood, and a challenge to the deter- mination come to at the monster meeting of yesterday. The diggers rushed to their tents for arms, and crowded on Bakery-hill. They wanted a leader. No one came forward, and confusion was the consequence. I mounted the stump, where you saw me, and called on the'people to * fall in * into divisions, according to the fire-arms they had got, and to chose their own captains out pf the best men they had among themselves. My call was answered with unanimous acclamation, and complied to with willing obedience. The result is, that I have been able to bring about that order, without which it would be folly to face the pending struggle like men. I make no preteu^ons to military knowledge. I have not the presumption to assume the chief command, no more than any other man who means well in the cause of the diggers. I shall be glad to see the best among us take the lead. In fact, gentlemen, I expected some one who is really well known (X B. Humffray ?) to come forward and direct our movement ! How- 'ever, if you appoint' me your commander-in-chief, I shall not shrink ; I mean to do my duty as a man. I tell you, gentlemen, if once I pledge my hand to the diggers, I will neither defile tt with treachery, nor render it contemptible by cowardice"
Brave Peter, yon gave us your hand on the Eureka, and left there your arm : an incontestible evidence of Lalor's Pledge.
Manning then proposed Raflfaello, and pointed at his scars as an evidence of his tiger-pluck against the hated Austrian rule, which was now attempted, in defiance of God and man, to be transplanted into this colony.
I declined, because, during the past winter, I had overtasked my physical strength, and did not possess that vigour essential to such an emergency. Confidence is the bond necessary between the soldier and his officer. It was my decided opinion, however much a foreigner may be respected on the gold-fields, that the right man should be taken from among Britons.
Vern herfe began a portentous lecture on military science military discipline, military tactics, and other sorts of military- ism, but his English was so wretched, his ideas so sky-blather- ing, his martial ardour so knocking down, that no one could make anything out of his blabberdom.
Of this I have perfect recollection. He was boasting eternally of his German rifle-brigade ! 500 strong. That he had this brigade he urgently asserted j but where it was, that's the rub !
49
No possible inquiry from Lalor could get at the bottom of Vern's prodigal brigade. Is, then, the grand secret buried within Vern's splendid chest ? No j I mean to reveal it. at four o'clock, Saturday, December 2nd.
Carboni Raffaello, who had heard heaps of cant in old Europe, did count for nothing the oceanic military knowledge of Vero, in spite of his big trail^sword, that made more jingling than enough.
I commended, in high terms, the conduct of Lalor during he morning, and it was my impression .that he possessed the confidence of the diggers and should be their Commander-in> chief.
Thonen seconded the motion. The first " unnamed," sshewed app'robation, and the aopointment was carried by a majority of eleven to one.
Peter Lalor thanked the council for the honour conferred on him, assured the members that he was determined to prepare the diggers to resist force by force.
It was perfectly understood, and openly declared^ in this first council-of-war, that we meant to organise for defence, and that we had taken up arms for no other purpose.
The council adjourned to five o'clock in the evening.
XXXVII.
LALOR STUMP, BAKERY-HILL,
Brave LALOR—
Was found '* all there," With dauntless dare. His men Inspiring ; To wolf or bear. Defiance bidding. He made us swear. Be faithful to the Standard, \ ,, . v For Victory or Death ! j ^^^
On that Thursday, November 30th, more memorable than the disgraced Sunday, December 3rd, the SUN was on its way towards the west : in vain some scattered clouds would hamper its splendour-^the god in the firmament generously ornamented
60
them with golden fringes, and thus patches of blue sky far off were allowed to the sight, through the gilded openings among the clouds.
The " SOUTHERN CROSS " was hoisted up the flagstaff— a very splendid pole, eighty feet in length, and straight as an arrow. This maiden appearance of our standard, in the midst of armed men,, sturdy, self-overworking gold-diggers of all languages and colours, was a fascinating object to behold. There is no flag in old Europe half so beautiful as the " Southern Cross'* of the Ballaarat miners, first hoisted on the old spot. Bakery-hill. The flag is silk,, blue ground, with a large silver cross,. similar to the orie in our southern firmament ; no device or arms, but all exceedingly chaste and natural.
Captain Ross, of Toronto, was the bridegroom of our flag, and sword in hand, he had posted himself at the foot of the flag-staff, surrounded by his rifle division.
Peter Lalor, our Commander-in-chief, was on the stump, holding with his left hand the muzzle of his rifle, whose but- end rested on his foot. A gesture of his right hand, signified what he meant when he said, " It is my duty now to swear you in, and to take with you the oath to be faithful to the South- ern (3ross. Hear me wilh attention. The man who, after this solemn oath does not stand by our standard, is a coward in heart.
"I order all persons who do not intend to take the oath, to leave the meeting at once.
" Let all divisions under arms * fall in * in their order round the flag-staff.
The movement was made accordingly. Some five hundred armed diggers advanced in real sober earnestness, the captains of each division making the military salute to Lalor, who now knelt down, the head uncovered, and with the right hand pointing to the standard exclaimed in a firm measured tone : —
"We swear By the Southern Cross to stand truly
BY EACH other, AND FIGHT TO DEFEND OUR RIGHTS AND
liberties."
An universal well rounded amen, was the determined reply j some five hundred right hands stretched towards our flag.
The earnestness ot so many faces of all kinds of shape and colour J ^he motley heads of all sorts of size and hair; the shagginess of so many beards of all lengths and thicknesses j the vividness of double the number of eyes electrified by the magnetism of the southern cross; was one of those grand sights, such as are recorded only in the history of " the Crusaders in Palestine."
41
XXXVHI.
UN BON CALCIO. E LA CANAGLIA, 8TRONCA VA COME LA PAGLIA.
The drill afterwards was gone through with esKierness.
Another scene, though of a different kind tiif Hlgether wgs going on at a corrier of the above picture.
Judas Iscariot, '* Goodenough," was among us, in the garh of a fossiker j he appeared to me, then, to be under the influence of drink j so Vandemonian-Iike were his shouts about standing up and fighting for rights and liberties ; and burning down the camp in a blaze like the late Kureka Hotel.
Mind good reader, I tell you no joke, I am not in humour just now to spin a yarn. — I wished to shame the fellow for his villany on such a solemn occasion. The fellow persisted in his drunken shouts. I lost my temper, and gave the scoundrel such a respectable kick, in a less respectable region, with a most respectable boot of mine, that it served me right when both my new watertight boots were robbed from my shins by Good- enough's satellites on the subsequent Sunday, at the Ballaarat Camp.
The Thursday's sun is setting : we returned ,to the Eureka. I had to attend the " Council for the Defence."
XXXIX.
DISCIPLINA, SUPREMA LEX IN BSLLO.
In the afternoon, our camp on the £nreka was enclosed in by slabs, near-handy thrown down at random. All diggers who had been able to procure fire-arms kept coming in, in right earnest, and formed new divisions. The pikemen grew stronger and stronger. Drilling was tolerably prbgressing. We were of all nations and colours. Lalor gave me his consent and order to direct all foreigners in their respective language, however little they knew of the English, to fail in in divisions according to the arms they had got ; and here I solemnly declare, to whomsoever it may concern, that up to four o'clock of Saturday there was not one single division distinguished by nationality or religion.
52
The armed men numbered now (six o'clock) above five Jiundred.
Vern's gall was fermenting, but on Peter Lalor being proclaimed Commander-in-chief, the appointment was ratified by hurrah Ifrom the diggers.
There was such a decided intention to do " sometfifng/* wfth the strong arm, and at ojice, tjiat I was called on the stump. I requested the diggers-iio give us time for deliberation, and pledged my word that I would inform them of the result. "Go a-head! Great works!" was the shout.
XL.
BEATI QUI SUNT PACIFICI, QUOMAM FILII DEI VOCABUNTUR.
It was dark : myself took the light in the council room.
Father P. Smyth and Mr. George Black_were present ; both looking serious and anxious.
All of us were much concerned, and felt the responsibility of our position. By this time the diggers from all parts had swelled to the number of eight hundred. They were not clamorous, they wanted to "know what was determined on by the leaders.
Proposed by Black, seconded by Manning, " That a deputation from the armed diggers, should be forthwith sent to the Camp —
" 1 . To demand — that was our temper in those days — the immediate release of those diggers who had been dragged to the lock-up in the morning hunt, for want of the licence.
"2. To demand from Commissioner Rede ajpledge not to come out any more for liceuce-hunting."
Two of us were to form the deputation, and proceed at once. Father Smyth proposed Mr. Black, Lalor proposed Signor RaflFaello : agreed to unanimously. This news, being made public to the diggers, was well received by all; and the council kept si tiling until our return.
The deputation was accompanied by Father Smyth. It was a starry night, and rather cold ; the moon shone in all its southern splendour. On approaching the main road, the noisy band of Row's Circus, and the colonial cursing and shouting from inveterate grog-bibberss, forced into my mind the meditation, *' Unde Bella et pugna inter vos f etc. — James, chap. iv.
We met here and there several groups, who were anxiously
53
discussing the events of the day, and the probable consequences. Mr. Black kindly and plainly informed them of our mission. On reaching the bridge, we found it guarded by the police. Father Smyth had an easy pass, and went by himself to speak first at head-quarters, for the safety of our persons.
XLI.
THE EUREKA STOCKADE.
THE CONSEQUEICCB OF SOME PIBATES WANTING ON QUAETEB-
DECK A REBELLION.
At last the deptitation was before King: Rede, whose shadow by moonshine, as he held his arm a la Napoleon^ actually inspired me with reverence ; but behold ! only a marionette was before us. Each of his words, each of his movements, was the vibration of the telegraphic wires directed from Toorak. He had not a wicked heart 5 some knew him for his benevolence, and he helped many an honest digger out of trouble. Once I had seen him with my mate, Paul Brentani, about manufacturing bricks trom the splendid clay of Gravel-pits. Mr. Rede received us as a gentleman, and, by way of encouragement, said to Paul, " Je veux Men votes aider^ car tout est encore a batir a Ballaaratj et il nousfaut des hriqiies — revenez me voir.'* And yet, on the gold- field, this man was feared by the few who could not help it, respected by the many — detested by all, because he was the Resident Commissioner — that is, all the iniquities of officialdom at the time were indiscriminately visited on his gold-lace cap, which fact so infatuated his otherwise not ordinary brains, that they protruded through his eyes, whenever he was sure he had to peribrm a dooty. I would willingly turn burglar to get hold of the whole of the correspondence between him and Toorak* I feel satisfied I would therein unravel the MYSTERY of the Eureka massacre.
Rede, after all, was neither the right man, nor in the right place, for Sir Charles Hotham.
Sub-inspector Taylor, with his silver-lace cap, blue frock, and jingling sword, so precise in his movement, so Frenchman-hke in bis manners, such a puss-in-boots, after introducing the deputation, placed himself at the right of the Commissioner,
54
and never spoke j though, on accompanying us from the bridge, having recognised m^, he said, ** We have been always on good terms with the diggers, and I hope we may keep friends still ;" — and gave a smile of sincerity. He, perhaps, was ignorant, as well as the deputation, that, on quarter-deck, some pirates wanted a rebellion.
At the left of Mr. Rede, there was a gentleman who inspired us with confidence. His amiable countenance is of the cast that commands respect, not fear. The ugliness of his eyes prejudices you against him at first ; let him, however, turn them upon you, in his own benevolent way, you are sure they mean no harm : within, a pair of splendid whiskers, of the finest blond, there is such a genteel nose and mouth, such a fine semi-serious forehead, that the whole is the expression of his good sound heart, that loves truth, even from devils. It was Charles Henry Hackett, police magistrate.
The place of our palaver was exactly one yard down hill, near the old gum tree, in front of the present Local Court.
Mr. Rede asked our names, and cautioned us that our message would be reported at head-quarters. He who had a gang of the vilest spies at his bidding, perhaps, indeed, forced upon him, now suspected us as such, and told us pretty plainly^ that he thought it no^ prudent to take us to his resi- dence, the camp being prepared against a supposed attack from the diggers.
XLII.
INVANUM L.V^ORAVlMtJS.
Mr. Black began, in plain and straightforward language; to make a truthfijil statement of the exasperated feelings of the diggers, courageously censuring the conduct of the Commissioner in his lioence-hunt of the morning, reminding him of the deter- mination with which ' the diggers had passed the resolutions at the monster meeting of yesterday. ** To say the least, it was very mprudent of you, Mr. Rede, to challenge the diggers at the point of the bayonet. Englishmen will not put up with your shooting down any of oar mates, because he has not got a' licence."
Mr. R6de : " Now Mr Black, how can you say that I ever
56
jg;ave such an order as to shoot dow-u any digger fur his not hav. ing a licence?" and he proceeded to give his version of the oc- currence. Master Johnson wanted a httle play, and rode licence- huntingj ; was met with impertinent shouts of "Joe, Joe," and reported a riot. Daddy Rede must share in the favourite game, and rode to crack the riot act. The red-coats turned out. The diggers mobbed together among the holes, and several shots were fired at the traps. The conclusion : Three of the ring- leaders of the mob had been pounced upon, and were safe in chokey. - — \
Mr. Black manfully vindicated the diggers, by observing how \ they had been insulted j that Britons hated to be bullied by the soldiery, and concluded by stating our first " demand."
Mr. Rede, startled at our presumption, breathed out- '* Demand ! — First of all, I object to the word, because, myself I am only responsible to goveinraent, and must obey them only : and secondly, were those men taken prisoners because they had not licences ? Not at all. This is the way in which the honest among the diggers are misled. Any bad character gets up a false report : it soon finds its way in certain news- papers, and the Camp officials are held up as the cause of all the mischief."
Mr. Black would not swallow such a perfidious insinuation.
Mr. Rede continued : " Now, Mr. Black, look at the case how it really stands. Those men are charged with rioting ; they will be brought before the magistrate, and it is out of my power to interfere with the course of justice.
Mr. Hackett spoke his approbation to the Commissioner.
Mr. Black : " Will you accept bail for them to any amount you please to mention r "
A consultation ensued between Rede and Hackett. Bail would be accepted for two of the prisoners. Father Smyth would bring the required sureties to-morrow morning.
Mr. Black proceeded to our second demand.
Mr. Rede took that for a full stop ; and launched into decla- mation : '* What do you think, gentlemen. Sir Charles Hotham, would say to me, if I were to give such a pledge? Why Sir Charles Hotham would have at once to appoint another Resident Commissioner in my place ! " and concluded with the eternal cant of all silver and gold lace, "I have a dooti/ to perform, I know my duty, I must nolens volens adhere to it."
In vain Mr. Black entered the pathetic ; and expostulated with the Commissioner, who had it in his power to prevent bloodshed.
Mr. Rede ** It is all nonsense to make me believe that the pres«Dt agitation is intended solely to abolish the hcence. Do
66 -
you really wish to make me believe that the diggers of Ballaarat won't pay aay longer two pounds for three months ? The licence is a mere cloak to cover a democratic revolution."
Mr. Black acknowledged, that the licence fee, and especially the disreputable mode of collecting it at the point of the bayonet, were not the only grievances the diggers camplained of. They wanted to be represented in the Legislative Council 5 they wanted to "unlock the lands."
Carboni Raffaello, who had yet not opened his mouth, said: **Mr. Rede, I beg you would allow me to state, that the im- mediate object of the diggers taking up arms, was to resist any further licence-hunting. T speak for the foreign diggers whom I here represent. We object to the Austrian rule under the British flag. If you would pledge yourself not to come out any more for the licence, until you have communicated with Son Excellence ^ I would give you my pledge. . . . — (I meant to say, that I was willing to pledge myself, and try if possible to assuage the ex- citement, and wait till * our Charley ' had sent up a decided answer. . . . **) — but I was instantly interrupted by Father Smyth, who addressed me imperatively : ** Give no pledge : sir, you have no -power to do so."
This interruption, which I perfectly recollect, and the circumstance that on our going and returning, the said Father Smyth continually kept on a soUo voce conversation with Mr. Black only, were, and are still, mysteries to me.
Mr. Rede, who had not failed to remark the abruptness with which Father Smyth had cut me short ; joined both his hands, and with the stretched fore-finger tapping me on both hands, which were clenched as in prayer, addressed to me these identical remarkable words, '* My dear fellow, the licence is a mere watchword of the day, and they make a cat's-paw of you."
Mr. Black undertook my defence : the words above stuck in my throaty though.
Mr. Hackett, on being consulted, assented that Mr. Rede could promise us to take into consideration the present excited feelings of the diggers, and use his best judgment as to a further, search for licences on the morrow.
Mr. Rede : ' " Yes, yes ; but, understand me, gentlemen, I give no pledge."
The usual ceremonies being over. Sub-inspector Taylor kindly escorted us to the bridge, gave the pass- word, and we were allowed to go—just as any one else will go in this land, who puts his con- fidence in red-tape — disappointed.
XLIII.
LA VOLPE GAMBIA IL PELO, MA NON LA PELLI ; GAMBIA LA PELLE IL SERPE, NON IL VELENO : IL CANE NON ABBAJA COL TCNTRE PIENO ; YESTESI IL LUPO IN PECORA TRA l'aONELLE.
ANTICA STORIA ;
XA SEN 2 A ffECnCtA.
Bt this time, the main road was Crowded. The men were anxiouslj waiting to know our siKcess. Mr. Black calmed their excitement ai kindly as circumstances admitted. We returned to our camp at the £ureka. Mr. Black rendered an account of our mission with that candour which characterises him as a gentleman. I wished ■ to correct .him in one point only, and said, my impression was, that the Camp, choked with red-coats, would quash Mr. Rede's " good judg- ment," get the better of his sense, if he had any of either, and that he would come out licence-hunting on an improved style.
Peter Lalor adjourned the meeting to five o'clock in the morning.
XLIV.
ACGINOERE OLADIO TUO SUPER FEMUR TUUM.
On Friday, December 1st, the sun rose as usual. The diggers came in armed, voluntarily, and from all directions : and soon they were under drill, as the day before. So far as I know, not one digger had tamed to work. It may have happened, that certain Comishmen, well known for their peculiar propensity, of which they make a boast to themselves, to pounce within an inch of their neighbour's shaft, were not allowed to indulge in ** encroaching." This, iiowever, I assert ts a matter of fact, that the Council of the Eureka Stockade never ^ve or hinted at any order to stop the usual work on the gold-field.
Towards ten o'clock, news reached our camp that the red coats were under arms, and there would be another licence-hunting.
The flames did not devour the Eureka Hotel with the same impctousity as we got up our stockade. Peter Lalor gave the order : Vem had the charge, and was all therewith his tremendous sword. " JVo istder
58 -
Raffaetlo ! Du^ Baricaden hduen^'^ and all heaps of slabs, all avail- able timber was soon higgledy-piggledy thrown all round our ca.np. Lalor then gare directions as to the position each division should take round the holes, and soon all was on the " quivive."
Had Commissioner Rede dared to rehearse the farce of the riot- act cracking as on Gravel-pits, he would have met with a warm reception from the Eureka boys. It was all the go that morning.
No blue or red coat appeared. — It was past one o'clock : John Bull must have his dinner. Lalor spoke of the want of arms and ammumi- tion; requested that every one should endeavour to procure of both as much as possible; but did certainly noi counsel or even hint that stores should be pressed for it.
A German blacksmith, within the stockade was blazing, hammering and pointing pikes as fast as his thick strong arms allowed him : praising the while his past valour in the wars of Mexico, and swearing that his pikes would fix red-toads and l?lue pissants especially. He was making money as fast as any Yankee is apt on such occasions, and it was a Y^onder to look at his coarse workmanship, that would hardly stick an opossum, though his pikes were meant, for kangaroos and wild dosrs.
XLV.
POPULUS EX TERRA CRESCIT : MULTITUDO HOMINCM EST POPULVS J ERGO, MULTITUDO IIOMINUM EX TER&A CRESCIf.
Between four and five o'clock of same afternoon, we became aware of the silly blunder, which proved fatal to our cause^ Some three or four hundred diggers arrived from Creswick-creek, a gold-field famous for its pennyweight fortunes- — ^grubbed up through hard work, and squandered in dissipation among the swarm of sly- grog -sellers in the district.
We learned from this Creswick legion that two demagogues had been stumping at Creswick, and called the diggers there to arms to help their brothers on Ballaarat, who were worried by scores, by the perfi- dious hounds of the Camp. They were assured that on Ballaarat there was plenty of arms, ammunitions, forage, and provisions, and that preparations on a grand scale were making to redress once for all the whole jstring of grievances. They had only to march to Ballaarat, and would find there plenty of work, honour, and glory.
I wonder bow honest Mr. Black could sajiction with his presence,
59
such suicidal rant, such absurd bosh of that pair of demagogues, who hurried down these four hundred diggers from Creswick, helpless, grog-worn, that is, more or less dirty and ragged, and proved the greatest nuisance. One of thera, Michael Tuehy, behaved valiantls', and so I shall say no more.
Of course something must be done. Thonen was the purveyor. The Eureka butcher on the hill gave plenty of meat, and plenty of bread was got from all the neighbouring stores, and paid for. A large lire was lit in the middle of the stockade, and thus some were made as comfortable as circumstances admitted ; others were quartered at the tents of friends; the greater part, soon guessing how they had beeu humbugged, returned to their old quarters.
Arms and ammunition were our want. Men were there enough ; «ach and all ready to fight : such was the present excitement; but blue and red coats cannot be driven off with 'fists alone. Lalor gave all his attention to the subject, but would not consent yet to press stores for it.
Vern was perpetually expecting every moment his German Rifie Brigade. Have patience till to-morrow.
In the evening a report was made to the Council, that a reinforce- ment of soldiers from Melbourne was on the road. Captains Ross and Nealson hastened with their divisions across the bush to intercept the expected troops, so as to get at their arms and ammunition. All proved in vain.
When a revolution explodes as conspired and planned by able leaders, it is usually seen that it was their care from the very begin- ning, that arras and ammunition should be at hand when and where- ever required; while usury, ambition, or vengeance lavishly provide the money to render the revolution popular : but we had never, dreamed of making any preparation, because we diggers had .taken up arms solely in self-defence ; and as up to Saturday the Council of the Eureka Stockade counted in the majority honest men, themselves hard- working diggers, they would not turn burglars or permit anybody to do so in their name.
Truly, I heard from Manning, that a certain committee kept on their hallucinated yabber-yabber at the Star Hotel. I never was there, and know nothing about Star blabs. They, with the exception of Vem, were not with us, thank God ; up to Saturday four o'clock any how.
60
XLVI.
KON IKASCIHINI.
Saturday morning. The night had been very cold, we had kept watch for fear of being surprised ; every hour the cry, was ** The military are coming."
Vem had enlarged the stockade across the Melbourne road, and down the Warrenheip Gully.
Suppose, even that a^ diggers who had fire arms had been present and plucky, yrt no man in his right senses will ever give Vem the credit for military tactics, if that gallant officer had thought that an acre of grpund on the surface of a hill accessible with the greatest ease on every side, simply fenced in by a few slabs placed at random, could be defended by a handful of men, for the most part totally destitute of military knowledge, against a disciplined soldiery, backed by swarms of traps and troopers.
Such, however, was our infatuation, that now we considered the stockade stronger, because it looked more higgledy-piggledy.
XLVII.
irON NOBIS, NON NOBIS, SED PAX VOBISCTTM.
It was eight o'clock. Drilling was going on as on the previous day. Father Smyth came inside the stockade : it was my watch. He looked very earnest, a deep anxiety about the hopelessness of our struggle, must have grieved his Irish heart. He obtained' permis- sion from Lalor to speak to those under arms, who belonged to his Congregation. Vem consented, and Manning announced it to the men. Father Smyth told them, that the government Camp was under arms, some seven or eight hundred strong ; that he had received positive information, that government had sent other reinforcements from Melbourne, which would soon reach Ballaarat ; warned them against useless bloodshed ; reminded them that they were Christians ; and expressed his earnest desire to see all of them at Mass on the following (Sunday) morning.
Father Smyth, your advice was kindly received ; if it di4 not thrive, was it because you sowed it on barren ground ?
61
The following document may in time help to bring forth truth to
light:—
^Colonial Secretary'i.Offlco^
** Melboorne, Ut Dec«aib<^ 1854 •* Her. Sir,— " In acknowledging the receipt of your letter of yeisteiyuy'ft dat«, I am desu^ by his Excellency to thank jou for the earnest efforts wti^ch,in jonr professional calling, yon are making to allay the disturbances; Unless the govemmecu enforce tixe laws which may be in operation, disordei: 40d l}c«ntiQU£ue«8 moyc prevail.
** Yon know a commission is isdued for the purpose ot inqutnfi^f-tliC&^ihe stale and condition of the digging population : until they make their report, the law* hit Excellency found in force must be obeyed.
** I hare the honour to be, Rer. Sir,
** Your most obedient senrant,
"J. MOORE.A.CS. •• The ReT. Patrick Smyth,
** Catholic Priest, BallaaraL"
XLvin.
THE THINGS WE ARDENTLY WISH FOR IN THIS LIFE, EITHER NETER
COME TO PASS, OR IF YHET DO IT IS TOO LATE. HENCE,
" BETTER LATE THAN NEVER."
The whole of the morning passed off as quietly as any well wisher to our cause could desire. Towards twelve o'clock it was our decision that licence-hunting was over, for the day any how, since no digger recollected a search for licence taking place on a Saturday afternoon. Our talk was of the coming meeting of the reform league at two o'clock on Sunday, at the Adelphi, as announced at the monster meeting on Wednesday.
The impression was almost general, that " Charley " would soon dismiss the hated brood of our commissioners, and things would then be " all right." " Off to get a bite," was the pass-word.
T aseert as a matter of fact, and a living eye-witness, that between one and two o'clock on Saturday, December 2nd, 1854, the Eureka stockade was comparatively deserted. Those who remained (some one hundred) were such, as either had a long distance to go to reach their tents, and the day was very hot, or such as had no tent or friend on Ballaarat. I took notice of this very circumstance from my tent, the second from the stockade, on the hill, west, whilst frying a bit of steak on the fire of my tent chimney, facing said stockade : Manning was pealing an onion. I transcribe the above from the identical note I had taken down on my diary, at the identical hour aforesaid, and can afford to challenge co&tradiction.
69
XLVIX.
TAEDET ANIMAM MEAM YITJE HEM,
The Dews of our private, though never acknowledged, dishandment must soon have reached the Camp.
The Lord God op Iseael. unravel the Mystery.
What a nonsense of mine to endeavour to swell up the Eureka stockade to the level of a Sehastopol ! !
Good reader, I have to relate the story of a shocking murder, a disgrace to the Christain name.
I am a Catholic, and helieve in the life everlasting. On the day of judgment it will go milder with the Emperor Nicholas, than with the man, whoever he may he, that prompted and counted on the Eureka massacre on the Sunday morning, Decemher 3rd, 1854.
Ajt four o'clock, the diggers crowded again towards the stockade. The divisions of Boss aud Nealson had returned from their excursions and were under arms. The scene hecame soon animated, and the usual drilling was pushed on with more ardour than ever.
John Basson Humffray, of whom nothing was seen or heard since the previous Wednesday, now introduced, through a letter in Ms oion handwriting ; addressed — " To the Commander-in-Chief of the armed diggers. Eureka," a Doctor Kenworthy, as surgeon, hecause he (Humffray) feared that a collision hetween the diggers and the mili- tary would soon take place.
Peters, the spy, was at the same time within the stockade.
The " surgeon " had his Yankee face under a hell-top (French hat): he entered into conversation with me in person. I had my sword in hand, and was on watch. We hegan to talk ahout Mazzini and Captain Forbes : this latter, a hrave American officer, fought in the late struggle at Borne (1848). I perfectly recollect, that, pointing with a smile to our harricade, I told this Kenworthy, we had thrown them up for our defence against licence-hunting. There is a living witness to the above circumstance, a countryman of mine, whose name I do not rememher just now, hut he wore at the time a red shirt, with picks and shovels all over it.
Previous to this, Yem, whose silly vanity would by no means allow him to put up with his not having been elected Commander-in-Chief, all on a sudden cried out in his sort of bombast, " Here they are coming, the boys : now I will lead you to death or victory ! " — actually a band of men was tramping, full speed towards the stockade.
6S
L.
NARRATERE PATRES NOSTRt ET NOS NARRAVIMUS OMNES.
Was it then the long, long-looked for German Rifle Brigade ? Here is it's four-horned name — I copy from a slip of paper I wrote in pencil on that very Saturday, as the name was too long and difficult for me to remember — " The Independent Californian Rangers' Revolver l^rigade."
I should say they nurahered a couple of hundred, looking Californian enough, armed with a Colt's revolver of large size, and many had a 3Iexican knife at the hip.
Here is the very circumstance when M'Gill madt his appearance for the first time within the stockade ; L recollect perfectly well the cir- cumstance when a Mr. Smith, of the American Adams's Express, was holding the bridle of the horse, from which said M'Gill dismounted.
James M'Gill is of the breed on the other side of the Pacific. He is thought to have been educated in a military academy, and certainly, he has the manners of a young gentlenjan of our days. He is rather short, not so much healthy-looking as wide awake. " What 's up?" is his motto. This colony will sober him down, and then he will attend more to "^^hat's to be done." His complexion bears the stamp of one born of a good family, but you can read in the white of his eyes, in the colouring of his cheeks, in the paleness of his lips, that his heart is for violence. When he gets a pair of solid whiskers, he may pass for a Scotchman, for he has already a nose as if moulded in Scotland. He speaks the English language correctly, and when not prompted by the audacity of his heart, shows good sense, delicate feelings, a pleasing way of conversation. His honour was impeached by Vern, who never came up to the scratch, though ; witness, Mr. John Campbell, of The Age office.
When a man is dead, there and then he is himself the horrible evi- dence of corruption ; but, as long as he lives there is hopes for fair play, and hear his evidence on the resurrection of life : hence the moral courage to assert the truth, shuts out the physical strength for blather to shampoo the lie ; and an honest upright man of education and a Christian leaves duelering to fools.
M'Gill is not wicked in heart, though he may not yet have settled- principles. If this world be such a puzzle even for grey-heads, who have seen enough of it, what then must it be for ©ne, come out of Col- lege and learning life on the gold-fields ? Hence, if I say that he helped with others to draw the chestnuts out of the Eureka Stockade, for some old Fox, I cannot offend him, — Who was the accursed oid
Fox ? Patience, there is a God. — ^When I was in gaol, I was not Texed at hearing him at liberty and happy : I could not possibly wish my misery ^o any one ; but his boast on Ballaarat that his friend Dir. Kenworthy. had procured him a ** written free pardon" did smother me with bitterness.
LI.
TOtA DOMUS DUO SUNT, IIDEM PARENTQUE JUBENTQUE !
A CONFUSION ensoed which baffles description; marching, counter* marching, orders given by everybody, attended to by nobody. This blustering concern, when brought forward on the stage at the State Trials, appeared so much to the heart's content of his Honour, of his and my learned friend Mr. Ireland, that I must offer it here, nolent volenSf for the confirmation of the Cracker-of-high-treason- indict- ments' approbation.
Thomas Allen examined. — (See Report of the Nigger-Rebel State Trial, in The Age, Februar^ 24th, 1855.)
" This witness was so very deaf that the Attorney. General had actually to hawl out {oh! pity the lungs !) the questions necessary to his' examination. He stated, he kept the Waterloo coffee-house and store at the Eureka. He had just returned from Melhourne on the Saturday, December 2nd. He heard inside the stockade the word to " fall in " for drilL Saw them go through several military evolutions. They did not exactly go through them in a military manner, but in the way in which what call an " awkward squad *' might do. — (I believe you. Old Waterloo^; go a-head.) He had been at the battle of Waterloo, and knew -what military evolutions were. Saw one squad with pikes and another with rifles. He heard one of them say, " Shoulder poles," then he said, " Order poles," " Ground arms," « Stand at ease," ♦* Pick up poles," " Shoulder arms,'' " Right face," " Quick march," " Right counter march," and they were then marched for more than two hours. After that he saw them ** fall in three deep,** and were then told (by Captain Hanrahan) to prepare to " receive cavalry,'' and " charge cavalry " — Poke your pike into the guts of the horses, and draw it out Arom under their tail.
**. After that, in the evening, he, saw the man who was in command again form hi$ men around him, and he seemed to he reading a general order for the night. After it got night, one of them came up to him and said, ** Now, Old Waterloo, you must come and join us," and he threw down a pike which he told him to take
He said, "No; it is such a d-: d ugly one, I'll hav« nothing to do with it.
Another came, and witness asked what bounty he gave, saying £50 was little enough for an old Waterloo man. Because he would not join them he was taken into custody by them, and was guarded by three men with pikes at his door. (Great works !) All this was on Saturday, His tent was the second insidethe stockade. His tent and all his property was idestroyed by fire : it all amounted to £200. He believed it was set fire to by the police." (And so it was, old Waterloo-no-bolter, good-hearted old man as ever lived ia the world. If yon wish call (or a copy of this book ; do.)
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NOTICE.
ORBAT WORKS ! f
This day, Saturday, November lOA, 1855. A glorious day for Ballaarat : Peter Laior, our late Commandtr-iQ-Chief, beitg elected by unanimous acclamation. Member of the LegislatiTt Council for this ** £1 Dorado." I spoke at the Camp face to fac« with James M*Gill. We shook hands with mutual respect and friendship.
l^'Glll, at my request, looked full in my eyes, and assured me, that the order old Waterloo speaks of, was to the effect of appointing officers for watch at the stockade, for " out-posts " to keep a sharp look-out, for march to intercept reinforcements ; in short, an order for military discipline, very necessary under the prevailing excitement. Said order for the night (Saturday, December 2nd) was drawn up by his command, and written black on white by Alfred, the brother of George Black.
M*Gill further stated that the supposed " D claration of Indepen- dence," on the model of the American one, is a gratuitous falsehood, which must have originated from some well-disposed for, or well- affected to, Toorak small-beer. Hence,
James M'Gill hereby directs me to challenge the production of the document in question^ either the original or copy- of it, of course with satisfactory evidence of its being a genuine article.
I express the hope that H. R. NichoUs, ex-member of the Locid Court, Ballaarat, will take notice of the above.
Let us return to the Eureka stockade.
LII.
QUADRUPEDANTB PCTRXM iONITU QUATIT UNGULA CAHPUM.
The excitement was of Satan. It was reported, the whole of the Kelbourne road was swarming with fresh reinforcements. The military would soon attack the stockade, but Yem would lead the diggers to 4eath or glory.
I went out to get positive information, and I did see some two hundred red-coats stationed under arms at the foot of Black hill. The general impression spread like wild-fire that the diggers would now all be slaughtered. I retumed« and was anxious' to commumcate witlt
Lalor. The council room was guarded by Caljfornian faces, perfect strangers to me. The " pass-word " had been changed, and I was refused admittance.
Old colonial-looking fellows rode to and fro from all parts : some brought canisters of gunpowder and bags of shot ; others, fire-anns and boxes of caps. They had been pressing stores.
All at onc« burst out a clamorous shouting. Captain Ross was entering the stockade in triumph with some old fire-arms and a splendid horse. . They had been slicking up some three or four tents, called tht Eureka government Camp. Great Works ! that could have been done long before, without so much fuss about it ; and, forsooth, what a benefit to mankind in general, that Commissioner Amos, ever since, was so frightened as t6 get his large eyes involuntary squinting after his mare* ! I
Sly-grog sellers got also a little profit out of the Eureka Stockade. A fellow was selling nobblers out of a keg of brandy hanging from hit neck. It required Peter Lalor in person to order this devil-send out of the stockade.
" Press for," was the order of the hour. Two men on horseback were crossing the gully below. Young Black — the identical one with a red shirt and blue cap, wko took down the names round Lalor's stump, on Bakery-hiil on Thursday morning, and vrho to the best of my knowledge never had yet been within the stockade — came out of the committee-room, and hastened up to me with the order to pick out some men and press those two horses in.
I gave him a violent look, and made him understand that " I won't do the bushranger yet." The order was however executed by fresh hands entirely unknown to me, who rushed towards the horsemen, shouted to both of them to stop, and with the threat of the revolver compeUed them to ride their horses within the stockade. I felt disgusted at the violence.
The reign of terror will not strike root among Britons, because the Austrian rule does not thrive under the British flag ; and so here is a Crab-hole that Brave Lalor alone can properly log up..
I asked in German from Vem the " pass-word, and on whispering ** Vineger-hill" to the sentinels, I was allowed to get out of the Stockade.
" Neiriy sagte ich mirselbsij nein^ eine solche eeklxche Wirihschaft hahe. ich noch nie gesek'n.
** Nom ^un nom! c'est affreux.Ces malheureux soni-^ils done possedes ?
" Odi profanum vulgus et arceo.
*' Por vida deDios ! par supuesto jo fuera el' Duke de Alha^ esos GavachoSf carqfo, yo los pegaria de bueno.
" Che casa del diavolo^ per Dio ! Che ti pare ! ntente meno si spalanca t inferno. Alia larga ! Sor Fattorone : Pronti denari, Fanpatii chiari. Minca coglione /"
Such were more or less the expressions to give vent to my feelings on my way to the Prince Albert Hotel, Bakery-hiU, to meet there a friend or two, especially my old mate, Adolphus Lessmaiif Lieutenant of the Riflemen.
LIII.
TTTKBilTUS EST 1. FUKORE 0CULU8 MEUS.
THt following is the scene, so characteristic of the times, ts it was going on at the Prince Albert : —
" Who 's the landlord here?" was the growl from a sulky ruffian, some fiye feet high, with the head of a bull-dog, the eyes of a vulture, sunken in a mass of bones, neglected beard, sun-burnt, grog- worn, as dirty as a brute, — the known cast, as called here in tnis colony, of a " Vandemonian," made up of low, vulgar manners and hard talk, spiked at each word, with their characteristic B, and infamous B again; whilst a vile oath begins and ends any of their foul conceits. Their glory to stand oceans of grog, joined to their benevolence of ** shouting," for all hands, and their boast of black-eye giving, nose-smashing, knocking in of teeth, are the three marks of their aristocracy. Naturally cowards, they have learned the secret that ** pluck," does just as well for their foul jobs. Grog is pluck, and the more grog they swallow, the more they count on success. Hence their frame, however robust by nature, wears out thteugh hard drink, and goes the way of all flesh, rarely with grey hairs. It is dangeroui to approach them ; they know the dodge how to pick up a quarrel for the sake of gratifying their appetite for fighting. You cannot avoid them in this colony ; they are too numerous. I saw hundreds of these Vandemonians, during my four months in gaol. Their heart must be of the same stuff as that of vultures, because they are of the same trade. In a word, they are the living witnesses among us, of the terrible saying of Isaiah, ** The heart of man is desperately wicked."
Through such did Satan plant his standard to rule this southern land, before Christ could show his Cross ; hence, before famous Ballaarat could point at a barn, and call it a church, on the town- ship, old Satan had three palaces to boast of, the first of which — a match for any in the world — has made the landlord as wealthy and proud as a merchant-prince of the City of London. |" Non ex illis Mec(Bnates" — that 's the secret how this land hat produced so many first-rate bullock-drivers.
The scene at the Prince Albert is now more interesting.
68
MV.
IN VINO VERITAS.
The Vandemonian was, of course, accompanied by nine more of his pals, all of them armed to the tee*th with revolvers, swords, pikes, and knives.
Carl Wxesenhavem, a man of noble character, and therefore a man who hates knavery, and has no fear of a knavo, answered with his peculiar Q^rman coolness, " Here I am, what do you, want ?"
" Nobblers round," was the eager reply.
** If that 's what you want," replied Wiesenhavem, "you shall have it with pleasure."
" We got no money."
" I did not ask you for any : understand me well, though ;" pointing at each of them with the forefinger of his clenched right hand, ^ you will have a nobbier a-piece, and no more : afterwards you will go your way. Are you satisfied with my conditions ?"
" Yes, yes ! we agree to that : go on you b ."
Wiesenhavern scorned to notice the fellow, and, according to the old custom of the house, placed, two decanters of brandy, together with the tumblers, on the bar, saying, " Help yourselves, gentlemen."
They fell at once upon the brandy, and their mean rascality was shown by some seizing the glass and covering it with the full hand to conceal their greediness.
Nobbier-drinking is an old colonial habit ; it gives pluck to the coward when he is '* up to something ;" so happened it with these" fellows.
" Well; landlord, your brandy is d— d good — tht real sort of
stuff, and no b ^y mistake. You shouted nobblers round for
all hands — that 's all right ; it 's no more than fair and square mow for the boys to shout for you :" and, with a horrible curse, " Fill up the bottles ; let 's have another round."
Wiesenhavem kept himself quiet. One of the ruffians showed his intention to enter the bar, and play the landlord within. "Wiesenhavem coolly persuaded him back by the promise he would fetch from his room, " something rowdy, the right old sort of iluff — Champagne Cognac^ ires vieux.*' The fellows presumed their " bouncing" was all the go now, and laughed and cursed in old colonial style. Wiesenhavem fetched his pbtols, and his partner, Johan Brandt, a double-barrelled gun. Now Mr. Brandt is one of those short, broad-shouldered, sound, dog-headed Ger- mans, with such a determinate look when his otherwise slow wrath
is stirred up, that it is not advisable to tackle with his fists, and much less with his rifle. Wiesenhavern, with that precision of manners, which always gains the point on such occasions, placed a decanter full of brandy on the bar, and, with cocked pistols in both hands, said, " Touch it, if you dare ; if any one among you got the pluck to put in his tumbler one drop out of that bottle there ^ he is a dead man ;** and Mr. Brandt backed him by simply saying : —
" ril shoot the fellow, like a dog."
"What was the result ? Of course the same, whenever you deal with knaves — and you make them understand what you mean. They were cowed ; and as by this time, the high words had called in several old customers of the house who wished well to it, because they knew it deserved it, so the ruffians had to cut for fear of their own dear lives.
Then it was related with sorrow, that several similar hands were scouring the gold-fields in all directions, and in the name of the com- mittee of the Eureka stockade, under cover of pressing for fire-arms and amunition, plundered the most respectable stores of all they could lay their hands upon.
One instance, as reported there and then by parties who had just witnessed the transaction.
A similar gang, four strong, had entered the store of D. 0*Conner7~] on the Golden Point, and asked in the name of the committee, powder 1 and shot, but the vagabonds did not care so much for amunition for their guns, as for the stufi" for their guts, what tempted them most 1 was fine good Yorkshire hams, and coffee to wash it down. In short, \ they ransacked the whole store ; and each took care of " something^" \ the best of course, and therefore the cash-box, worth some twenty \ pounds was not forgotten. -^
The above are facts. I do not assert that such were the orders of the committee, got up after four o'clock of same Saturday at the Eureka stockade. I had no part or portion in the committee, and know nothing of it personally.
LV.
KON SIT NOBIS VANTM, MANE SURGERE ANTE LUCEM.
I RAN up to the stockade to remonstrate with Peter Lalor, for whom I had too much respect to think for one moment, that he had any hand, and much less that he had sanctioned, such suicidal proceedings. Thanks to the password ; I entered within the stockade. It must 'have been not far from midjjight. I found everything compara- tively quiet ; the majority w€te either asleep or warming themselves
ronnd the big fire. I spoke in German face to face, for the last time, "«7ith Thonen. M*Gill and two-thirds of the Independent Californian Rangers' Rifle Brigade, in accordance with the avocation expressed in the title, were out " starring" to intercept reinforpeinents reported on. the road from Melbourne. Nealson and his division were off for the same purpose. Was their lot that of Lot's wife ?
Sir Charles Hotham must have possessed the rod of Moses to convert the quartz of Victoria into red coats, as ntimerous as the locusts that plagued Pharaoh's land. The Local Court of Ballaarat should recommend His Excellency to carry out the " abolition of shep- herding at Sebastopol."
I asked Thonen to see Lalor. I was answered that Peter, from shear exhaustion, must rest for an hour or two, and was asleep. '
Myself not having closed an eye since Thursday, I felt severely the waiit of sleep. Is not sabbath-keeping oyr day's cant in the English language ? Anyhow it- must be admitted, in justice to both silver and gold lace, that they take it in good earnest : to keep the sabbath is a holy and wholesome thing for them. I do not remember what wa» my frame of mind at the time I wished Thonen good night ; very- probably, " Enough for the day, the morrow will have its own trouble* :" at any rate, Thonen gave word to the " putposts," chiefly Califomians tolet me pass to my tent : and having thrown myself on my stretcher, with every thing quiet round about, I soon fell asleep.
On the afternoon of Saturday, the following notice wait posted up :■ —
V. rflfSSmS^/^^ R.
NOTICE.
No light tyill be allowed to be kept burning in any tent within masket-shot of the line of sentries after 8 o'clock p.m. No discharge of fire-arms in the neighbourhood of the Camp will be permitted for dny purpose whatever.
The sentries hare orders to fire upon any person offending against these mles.
(By order), . T. BAILEY RICHARDS,
Eieat. 40lh Regt, Garrison Adjutant,
n
LVI.
HEMIMBEK THIS SABBATH DAT (DECEMBER THIRD), IO K1^"*
IT HOLT.
I AWOKE. Sunday morning. It was ftiU dawn, not daylight. A ■discharge of musketry — then a round from the bugle — the comraan'd •' forward'* — and another discharge of musketry was sharply kept on hy the red-coats (some 300 strong) advancing on the gully west of the stockade, for a couple of minutes.
The shots whizzed by my tent. I jumped out of the stretcher and rushed to ray chimney facing the stockt^de. The forces within could not muster above 150 diggers.
Tbe shepherds' holes inside the lower part of the stockade had been turned into rifle-pits, and vrere now occupied by Californians of the 1. C. Rangers' Brigade, some twenty or thirty in all,- who had kept watch at the " outposts " during the night.
Ross and his division northward, Thoneq and his division southward, and both in front of the gully, under cover of the slabs, answered with such a smart fire, that the military who were now fully within range, did unmistakably appear to me to swerve from their ground : anyhow the command *' forward " from Sergeant Harris was put a stop to. Here a lad was really courageous with his bugle. He took up boldly his stand to the left of the gully and in front : the red-coats " fell in " in their ranks to the right of this lad. The wounded on the ground behind must have numbered a dozen.
Another scene was going on east of the stockade. Vem floundered across this stockade eastward, and I lost sight of him. Curtain whilst making coolly for the holes, appeared to me to give directions to shoot at Vem ; but a rush was instantly made in the same direction (Vem's) and a whole pack cut for Warrenbeip.*
• To chop tbe gaseons factory of the following electrifying blather, Toorak had oOiered £500 reward ! ! Great works.
VERNs LAST LETTER. (From The Age, Monday, January, 15th, 1855.) The following letter — ihe last written in these eoloniet by the now celebrated Vem — has been sent to us for pablicaiion. (Jur readers may rely on its alitbenticity.
Ship———, Sydney Heads, Dec. 24th, 1854.
Farewell to thee, Australia ! A few moments more, and then Australia, land of my adoption, a^eu ! adieu !
Thy rocky shores
Fade o'er the waters blue.
72
There was, liowever, a brave American officer, who had the command of the rifle-pit men ; he fotight like a tiger j was shot in his thigh ' as the very onset, and yet, though hopping all the while, stuck to Captain Boss like a man. Should this notice he the -means to ascertain hi» name, it should be written down in the margin at once.
The dragoons from south, the troopers from north, were trotting in full speed towards the stockade.
Peter Lalor, was now on the top of the first logged^up hole within the stockade, and by his decided gestures pointed to the men to retire among the holes. He was shot down in his left shoulder at this identical moment: it was a chance shot, I recollect it well.
A full discharge of musketry from the military, now mowed down all who had their heads above the barricades.
Boss was shot in the groin. Another shot struck Thonen exactly in the mouth, and felled him on the spot.
Those who suflfered the most were the score of pikemen, who stood their ground from the time the whole division had been posted at the top, facing the Melbourne road from Ballaarat, in double file under \ the slabs, to stick the cavalry with their pikes.
The old command, " Charge !" was distinctly heard, and the red-coats rushed with fixed bayonets to storm the stockade. A few cuts, kicks, and pulling down, and the job was done too quickly for their wonted ardour, for they actually thrust their bayonets on the body of the dead and wounded strewed about on the ground. A ^'^^^ " hurrah !" burst out.
The ship that bears me to exile has spread her wings ; but Australia, and yon my late companions in arms. I cannot leave you without bidding you (it may be my last) farewell. I part from you, perhaps for ever ; but wherever fickle fortune may banish me to, your memory will help to beguile the dreary hours of exile ; and I hope that a name once so familiar jlo you, now an outlaw from injustice and tyranny, may be kindly remembered by you.
Oh, that a kind fate had laid me low in the midst of you, and given me a final xcsting-place, Australia, in thy bosom. But no ! Fate denied me a warrior's 4^ath, a patriot's grave, and decreed that I should languish in banishment.
IFate ? be d d : the immoderate length of your legs was fatal to your not
getting a ** tnarrior's grave.^'^
, There was a'time when I fought for freedom's cause, nnder a banner made ami wrought by English ladies — \,J.hf ah^ I thoughtyou tcovld soon bring in tJie ladies * where, please?]
"Victoria ! thy future is bright — [sweet and smart if Tern he tli* operator.] I confidently predict a Bunker's Hill, or an Alma — [Great works !] as the issue ot your next insurrection. [No more truck with your legs^ though: let '$ see your sig- nature and be ojf.1
Farewell, Australians !
Yours, truly, and for ever, C harles H.otham's p.ootman DE LA VERN.
Hold hard, leave us the address where you got your soap last. 1 want to shampoo my red hair, so as to make my head worth £500, Yankee speculatioi) I guess.
7t
and •' the Southern Cross " was torn down, I should say, among their laughter, such as if it had been a prize from a May-pole.
Of the armed diggers, s»)me made off the best way they could, 'Others surrendered themselves prisoners, and were collected in groups and marched down the gully. The Indian dragoons, sword in hand, rifle-j)islols cocked, took charge of them all, and brought them in chains to the lock-up.
LVII.
DIRIOAT DOMIXUS REOINAU NOSTRAM.
The red-coats were now ordered to " fall in ;" their bloody work was over, and were marched off, dragging with them the " Southern Cross."
Their dead, as far as I did see, were four, and a dozen wounded, including Captain Wise, the identical one, I think whom I speak of in relating the events of Tuesday evening, November 28.
Dead and wounded had been fetched up in carts, waiting on the road, and all red-things hastened to Ballaarat.
The following is for the edification of all the well-affected and well- disposed of the present and future generation : —
R.
NOTICE.
Gorerament Camp,
Ballaarat, Dec. 3rd, 1854.
Her Majesty's forces were this momiog fired opnu by a large body of evil- disposed persons of varioos nations, who had entrenched themselves in a stockade on the Eureka, and some officers and men killed.
Several of the rioters have paid the penalty of their crime, and a Urge nnm- ber are in custody.
All well-disposed persons are earnestly requested to return to their orilnprg oeeupatioiiSy and to abstain from assembling in large grovps, and every protection will be sjQTorded to them by the aathorities.
ROBT. REDE,
Resident Commissioner. Qod save the Queen.
74
LYin.
TEEITATEM DICO NON MENTIOK.
Heke begins a foul deed, worthy of devils, and devils they were. The accursed troopers were now within the stockade. They dis- mounted, and pounced on firebrands from the large fire on the middle of the stockade, and deliberately set in a blaze all the tents round about. I did see with both my eyes one of those devils, a tall, thick-shouldered, long-legged, fast Vandemonian- looking trooper, purposely striking a bundle of matches, and setting fire at the comer end, north of the very store of Diamond, where we had kept the council for the defence.
The howling and yelling "was horrible. The wounded are now burnt to death; those who had laid down their arms, and taken refuge within the tents, were kicked like brutes, and' made prisoners,
At the burnijig of the Eureka Hotel, I expressed it to be my opinion that a characteristic of the British race is to delight in the calamity of a fire.
The troopers, enjoying the fun within the stockade, now spread it without. The tent next to mine (Quinn's) was soon in a bla^e. I collected in haste my most important ]iaper&, and rushed out to remonstrate against such a wanton cruelty. Sub-inspector Carter pointing with his pistol ordered me to fall in with a batch of pri- soners. There were no two ways : I obeyed. In the middle of the gully, I expostulated with Captain Thomas ; he asked me whether I had been made a prisoner within the stockade. '* No, sir,*' was my answer. He noticed my frankness, my anxiety and grief. After a few words more in explanation, he^ giving me a gentle stroke with his sword, told me ** If you really are an honest digger, I do not want you, sir ; you may return to your tent."
Mr. Gordon — of the store of Gordon and M'Callum, on the left of the guUy, near the stockade — who had been made prisoner, and was liberated in the same way, and at the same time as myself, was , and is a living witness to the above.
On crossing the gully to return to my tent, an infernal trooper trotting on the road to Ballaarat, took a deliberate aim at me, and fired his Minie rifle pistol with such a tolerable precision, that the shot whizzed and actually struck the brim of my cabbage-tree hat, and blew it off my head. Mrs. Davis, who was outside her tent close by, is a living witness to the above.
At this juncture I was called by name from Doctor Garr, and Father Smyth, directed me by signs to come and help the wounded within the stockade.
75
LIX.
QUIS DABIT CAPITI MEO, AQUAM ET OCULIS MEIS FONTEM LACRYMARDM ET PLORABO DIE AC NOCTE !
I HASTENED, and what a horrible sight ! Old acquaintances crippled with shots, the gore protruding from the bayonet wounds, their clothes and flesh burning all the while. Poor Thonen had his mouth literally choked with bullets ;* my neighbour and mate Teddy More, stretched on the ground, both his thjghs shot, asked me for a drop of water. Peter Lalor, who had been concealed under a heap of slabs, was in the agony of death, a stream of blood from under the slabs, heavily forcing its way down hill.
The tears choke my eyes, I cannot write any further.
Americans ! your Doctor Kenworthy was not there, as he should have been, according to Humffray's letter..
Catholics! Father Smyth was performing his sacred duty to the dying, in spite of the troopers who threatened his life, zfxdi forced him at last to desist.
Protestants ! spare us. in future with your sabbath cant. Not one of your ministers was there, helping the digger in the hour of need.
John Bull ! you wilfully bend your neck to any burden for palaver and war to protect you in your universal shopkeeping, and maintain your sacred rights of property ; but human life is to you as it was t» Napoleon : for him, fodder for the cannon ; for you, tools to make money. A dead man needs no further care, and human kind breeds fast enough everywhere after all. — ^Cetera quando rursum scribam.
On my reaching the stockade with a pannikin of water f9r Teddy, I was amazed at the apathy showed by the diggers, who now crowded from all directibus round the dead and wounded. None .would stir a finger.
All on a sudden a fresh swarm cf troopers cleared the stockade of all moving things with the mere threat of their pistols.
All the diggers scampered away and entered all available tents, crouching within the chimneys or under stretchers. The valorous, who had given such a proof of their ardour in smodiering with stones, bats, and broken bottles, the 12th Regiment on their orderly way from Mel- bourne on Tuesday, November 28, at the same identical spot on the Eureka, now allowed themselves to be chained by dozens, by a hand- ful of hated traps, who, a few days before, had been kept at bay on the whole of the diggings, by the mere shouting of " Joe !" A sad reflection, indeed ; a very sad reflection.
♦ Carl Wiesenhavem has one of the ballets in his possession.
7«
Myself and a few neighbours now procured some stretchers, and, at the direction of Doctor Carr, converted the London Hotel into an hospital, and took there the wounded.
Said Doctor Carr despatched me to fetch his box of >surgical instru- ments from Dr. Glendinning's hospital on Penny^^ight-hill, a distance of a full mile.
I hastened to return, with Dr. Glendinning himself, and I did ray best to assist the helpless, and dress their wounds.
IMPORTANT. — I must call the attention of my reader to the fol- lowing fact : — When I entered the stockade with Dr. Carr's surgical box, Mr. Binney, an old acquaintance since the times of Canadia,n Gully, took me warmly by the hand, and said, '* Old fellow, I am glad to see you alive ! everybody thinks (pointing to a dead digger among . the heap) that 's poor Great Works /''
The slate of mind in which T was, gave me no time to take much notice of the circumstance, and must have answered, *' Thank God, 1 am alive," and proceeded to my duty.
The identical Mr. Binney. of the firm of Binney and Gillbt, now storekeepers on the Ballaarat township, is a living witness to the above statement.
Solicitor Lynn told me, in propria persona^ in the Ballaarat prison,^ that he would take care to bring forward evidence of the above, as he' had heard it himself, that such was the case; but I forgot to fee this Lynn, and so he left me to the chance of being " lyn-ched."
LX.
THE SOUTHERN CROSS, IN DIGGER's GORE IMBRUED, WAS TORN AW AT, AND LEFT THE DIGGER MOURNING
The following Letter, from the able pen of the spirited corres- pondent of the Geelong Advertiser who most undoubtedly must be a digger — that is, one of ourselves, from among ourselves, — is here transcribed as- a document confirming the truths of this book : —
THE EUREKA MASSACRE.
[From a Correspondent] To the £ditor of the Oeelong Advertiser and InteV.igencer.
Bakery-hill, December 3rd, 1834.
• • •• •• •• •• •• •• ••
Friday you know all abont ; I will pass that oxqt^ and give you a faint out- lia<i of what paMeJ under my own eyes. During Saturday, there was a great
77
^eal of gloom among the most ordorlj, irbo complained much of the parage o( soldiery^ and the same cause excited a great deal of exasperatiun in the miuds of more enthusiastic persuus, who declared that all partien ought to show theni- seheSf atid declare whether they were for vr agaiust the diggeis. Then came a notice from the Camp, that all lights were to be extiuguighed after eight o'clock, within half-a-mile from the Camp. At this .time it was repurted that there were two thousand organised men at the Eureita barricade. I wa^iMltine in my tent, and several neighbouns dropped in to talk over affaij:dj^i\4^°^ Mt^(^*'H^^>ytea, when a musket ivas heard^tb go off, and the bullet jvBlv-^3^i'^os« by xre; -I tlai^flid the light, and we crept out on our hands and knees, a^u^Iooked about. Bet\v/e^ the Camp and the burricaile there was a fire w^ hld(not seen before, and oc^a< sionally lights appeared to be hoisted, like sigual9><<iOyvh attracted the attejiii^u of a good many, some of whom nals. It grew late. To-MORtiOyr,
ROW, IF THE AFFAIR BE NOT SETTLE!
d(>wn in our clothes, according to our prariice for -a week past; and worn out with perpetual alarms, excitement, and fatigue, fell fast asleep. I didn't wake up till six o'clock on Sunday muruing. The first thing that 1 saw was a num- ber of diggers euclosed in a sort of hnllow scjuare, many of them were wounded, the blood dripping from them as they walked; some were walking- lame, pricked on by the bayouets of the soldiers bringing up the rear. The soldiers were much excited, and the troopera ma<Ily so, flourishing their swords, and shouting out — ** We have waked up Joe ! ' and others replied, ** And sent Joe to sleep again ! ** The diggers' Standard was carried by in triumph to the Camp, waved about in the air, then pitched from one to another, thrown down and trampled on. The scene was awful-*- twos and threes gathered together, and all iVlt stupefied. I went with R— — to the barricade, the tents all aro'uud were in a blaze j I was about to go inside, when a cry was raisfd that the. tioopers were coming again.. They did come with carts to take away the bodies. I counted fifteen dead, one G — «— , a fine well-educated mau, and a great favou: ito. [Hirej I think, the Correspondent alluded to me. My friends, nick-named me — Carbonari Great- tror^.] I recognised two others, but the spectacle was so ghastly that I feel a loathing at the remembrance. They all lay in a small space with their faces upwards, looking like lead; several of them were still heaving, and at every rise «f their breasts, the bloud spouted out of their wounds, or just bubbled out and trickltnl away. One man, a stout-chested fine fellow, apparently about forty years old, lay with a pike beside him : he had three coutusious in the head, three strokes across the brow, a bayonet wound in the throat under the ear, and other wounds in the body •— I counted^ fifteen wounds in that single carcase. Some were bringing handkerchiefs, others bed furniture, and matting to cover up the faces of the dead. O God ! sir, it was a sight for a sabbath morn that, I humbly implore Heaven, may never be seen a^ain. Poor women crying for absent hus- bands, and childreu frightened into quietness. I, sir, write disinterestedly, and I hope my feelings an»< from a true principle ; but when I looked at that scene, my soul revolted at such means beiug so cruelly used by a government to sustain the law. A little terrier sat on the breast of the man I spoke of, and kept up a continuous howl : it was removed, but always returned to the sam^ spot ; and when his master's body was huddled, with Uie other corpses, into the cart, the little dog jumped in after him, and lying again on his dead master's breast, began
howling again. — was dead there also, and '■ , who escaped, had said,
that when he offered his sword, he was shot in the side by a trooper, as he was lying on the ground wounded. Re expired almost immediately. Another was lying dead just inside the barricade, where he seemed to have crawled. Sume of the bodies might have been removed — I counted fifteen. A poor woman and her children were standing outside a tent; she said that the troopers had sur- rounded the tent, and pierced it with their swords. She, her husband, and chil- dren, were onlered out by the tro«»pers, and were inspected in their night-clothes
7$
outside, whilst the troopers searched the tent Mr. Haslam was ronsed from sleep hy a volley of ballets fired through his tent; he rushed out, and was shot down by a trooper, and handcuiTed. He lay there for two hours bleeding from a wound in his breast, until his friends sent for a blacksmith, who forced off the handcuffs with a hammer and cold chisel. When I last hesird of Mr. Haslam,
a surgeon was attending him, and probing for the ball. R , from Canada,
[Captain ^os5, of Toronto, oncf my mate] escaped the carnage ; but is dead since,
from the wounds. R has effected his escape, i Johnny Rohertson, who
had a striking resembl^ince to me, not so much in size as in complexion and colour of the beard especially. Poor Johnny was shot down dead on the stockade ; and was the identical body ichich Mr. Binnev mistook for me. Hence the belief
by many, that I was dead."] V is reported to be amongst the
wounded [Oh! no. his legs were too long even for a Minie rifte'\. One man was seen yesterday trailing along the road : he said he could not last much longer, and that his brother was shot along-side of him. All whom I spoke to were of one opinion, that it was a- cowardly massacre. There were only about one hundred and seventy diggers, and they were opposed to nearly six hundred military. I hope all is over ; but I fear not: for amongst many, the feeling is not of intimidation, but a cry for vengeance, and an opportunity to meet the soldiers with equal numbers. There is an awful list oi casualties yet to come in ; and when uncerfainty is made certain, and relatives and friends know the worst, there will be gaps that cannot be filled up. I have little know- ledge of'the gold-fields; but I fear that the massacre at Eureka is only a skir- mish. I bid farewell to the^ gold-fields, and if what I have seen is a specimen of the government of Victoria, the sooner I am out of it the better for myself and family. Sir, I am horrified at what I witnessed, and I did not see the worst of it " I could not breathe the blood-tainted air of the diggings, and I have left them for ever. '
' You may rely upon this simple- statement, and submit it, if you approve of it, to your readers.
T am, Sir.
LXII. AB INITIO XrSQlTE AD FINEM HOEBIBILE DICTTT.
AYANTI IL TTTO COSPETTO, Dip POTENTE ! GRID A VENDETTA IL SANGFE INNOCENTE.
I. Document.
As T want to be believed, so I transcribe the following document from The Argus of Friday, December 15th, 1854. — Gordon Evans, one of H. M. Captains in the Eureka massacre, now acts in the capacity of magistrate ! —
DEPOSITION OF HENRY POWELL.
" The deceased deposed to the followin|» effect :— -My name is Henry Powell, i am a digger residing at Creswick-creek. 1 left- Creswick-creek about ntion
79
on Saturday, December 2ud. I said to my mates, ' You'll got the slabs ready. I will just go over to seo Cox aud his family at Ballaarat.' I arrived at Ballaa- rat alM>iU balf-pust four, or thereabouts. I san* armed men walking about in partitas of twenty or thirty ; wuut tu Cox's teut ; put on another pair of trowsers, and walked down the diggings. Looked in the riug (the stockade). After that, went home, went to bed in the tant at the back of Cox's tint, about half- past nine. On Sunday morning, about four,- or half-past, was awoke by the noiae of firing. Oot up soon after, aud walked about twenty yards, when some trooper rode up to me. The foremost one was a young man whom I knew as the Clerk of the Peace. He was of a light, fair com^)lexiau, with reddish hair. He told me CO ' stand in the Queen's name ! You are my prisoner ' I said, * Very good, Sir.' Up cume more troopers. I cannot say how many. Believe about twenty or thirty. I said, 'Very well, gentlemen (') don't be in a hurry, there are plenty of yoQ,' and then the young man struck me on the head with a crooked kuife, about three feet and. a half long, in a sheath. I fell to the ground. They then fired at me, and rode over me several times. I never bad any hand in the dis- turbanee. There, that 's alL
Ballaarat Dec. 11, 1854. First case of an inquest «'hich has taken place since the massacre on the memorable 3rd. The evidence as to the murder of Powell {writes The Argus express correspondent) is but a specimen of the recitals heard on every hand of the reckless brutality of the troupers that morning.
VERDICT OF THE JURY.
The death of deceas2d, Heury Powell, gold digger, was caused by sabre cuts and gun shot wounds, wiZ/'u/Zy and /tf/o/i/ou^/y, and of their malice a/ore- thouyhi indicted and fired by ARTHUR PURCELL AKEHURST, Clerk of the Peace, Ballaarat bench, and other persons unknown. 'The jury return a verdict of Wilful Murder against A. P. Jkehurst and other persons unknown.
The jury express their condemnation of the conduct of Captain Evans, in not swearing deceased at the time of taking hi's statement after hisiving been cautioned by Dr. Wills of his immediate danger. The jury view with extreme horror the brutal conduct of the mounted police in firing at and cutting down unarmed and innocent persons of both sexes, at a distance from tb« scene of disturbance, on December 3rd, 1854.
WILLIAMS, Coroner.
Mind, good reader, the above is a legal document.
After my trial, on my way to Ballaarat, I met in Geelong the identical Akehurst, cracking some nuts with (I mean, speaking to) some young ladies,
I DESPAIR OF THIS COLONY.
May it please Her Majesty to cause inquiry to be made into, the character of such that have branded the miners of Ballaarat as disloyal to their QUEEN.
so
LXir.
TEMPOBiL NOSTRA.
The following documents are put in here as evidence of "our times,"
IT Document.
BALLAARAT.
THE STATEMENT OF FRANK ARTHUR HASLEHA.M. (Now Ijing wounded at Ballaarat)
" Whereas I, Frank Arthur Hasleham, a native of the good town of Bedford, and son of a military officer, to wit, William Gale Hasleham, who bore His Majesty*s commission in the 48th Foot at Talavera, and afterwards retired from the 6th veteran battallion :
" Whereas I, the aforesaid, having, in my capacity of newspaper correspondent at Ballaarat, shown, on all proper occasions in general, so especially during the late insurrectionary movement here, a strong instinctive leaning to the side of law, authority, and loyalty, was, on the morning of the 3rd instant, fired at and wounded at a time when the affray was over, and the forces with their prisoners were on the point of reluming to the Camp, and in a place whence the scene of action was invisible, and when no other bloodshed had taken place ;
" On these considerations I desire to make on oath the following statements of facts, as they 'occurred, and as witnessed by others: —
** Shortly after daybreak in the morning meutioned, my three mates and myself were aroused from sleep by the fire of musketry, a great proportion of the balls whistling over our tents. The tent is pitched on a rising ground about 500 yards south of the stockade; the tent and stockade, each situated on an eminence, are separated by a large gully running east and west, and comprising in its breadth nearly the whole of the distance above specified. Considerably alarmed at the continuance of .the firing, we at last got up and went outside, thinkiag to find a place of shelter of comparative security. After I had gone outside the firing gradually fell off, the stockade was unoccupied, the insurgents' flag was stmck, and vrhatever fighting was then going on was confined to the further slope of the hill on. which the stockade was situated. , As some desultory firing was still going on, I advanced about fifty yards down the gully, in order to insure safety by getting upon lower ground; by this lime, with the exception of an occasional cheer from the military or police, everything was perfectly quiet, and from where I stood neither soldier nor trooper was to be seen. A few minutes after a small detachment of mounted police made its appearance on the hill, and drew up in a line on the either side of the stockade, the officer in command appeared to be haranguing Ihem. I was standing about three hun- dred yards from them, several other people being near at hand. I saw three troopers leave -the ranks and advance towards me; when one of them who rode considerably a-head of the ether two arrived within hailing distance, he hailed me as a friend. Having no reason to think otherwise of him, I walked forward to meet him. After he had lured me within safe distance, namely about four paces, he levelled his holster pistol at my breast and shot me. Previous to this, and while advancing towards each other, he asked me if I wished to join his fprce; I told him I was unarmed, and in a weak state of health, which must have been plain to him at the lime, but added that I hoped thU madfuu on the part tif the d^gtrt rxfouldsoon 6eVi*er ; apon tht Im ifrd.*'
81
The trooper be d d; but I congratulate poor Frank, of the
^pod town of Bedford, for " this madness on the part of the diggers " procuring him £400 sterling from Toorak ; so that he can afford to spare me the trouble of encroaching ahy further into his *' statement." Great works !
III. Document more important, by far.
On the 28th N^orember, wbea some military and ammunition came on the groQnd, the detachment was set on ut Eureka, near the site of the stock&de, and :u the hubbub consequent the troops were somewhat at fault, and the offict-r in command called at the London Hotel to inquire the way to the Caiup. The owner of the hotel, Mr. Hassall, on being asked, came out of his establishment to point out the way to the officer in command of the detachment, while so doing he received a ball in his leg, and was for a while laid up by the wound. After a long time of suflering, and a great .loss of money directly and indirectly, be applied for compensation — with what success raaj be seen from the following letter just come to hand; —
" Colonial Secretary's Office,
« Melbourne, 26th October, 1855. ** Gentlemen — The memorial of the miners on behalf of Mf. B. S. Hassall, wounded during the disturbances at Ballaarat, having been by the governor's directions referred to the board appointed tu investigate such claims, the board reported, thac from the evidence, ii appears impossible Mr. Hasiiall could have received his wound from the military, and that they could not see any- thing to justify their recommending any compt'nsation for him.- His Excellency cannot therefore entertain the petition as he has not power to award compensation except un the recommendation of the board.
" I have the honour to be, gentlemen,
** Your most obedient servant,
«J. MOORE, A-CS." **SAMt7EL Irwin, and A. C. Brunimo, Esqrs."
" Great works " this time at Toorak, eh! oh I dear. So far so good, for the present ; because spy " GoodenTDUgh " wants ^e in the next chapter.
LXIII.
ET SCIAS QUIA NIHIL IMPIUM FECERIM.
It was now between eight and nine o'clock. A patrol of troopers and traps stopped before the London Hotel. Spy Goodenough, entered panting, a cocked pistol in his hand, looking as wild as a raten. He instantly pounced on me as his prey, and poking the pistol at my face, said in his rage, " I want you." " What for ?"
$2
** l^one of your d d nonsense, or I shoot yon down like a rat.'*
" My good fellow dont you see ? I am assisting Dr. Carr to dress the wounds of my friends !" — I was actually helping to handage the thigh of an American digger, whose name, if I recollected it, I should now write down with pleasure, because he w^as a brave fellow. He )»ad on his body at least half-a-dozen shots, all in front, an evident pt^of, he had stood his ground like a man.
Spy Goodenough would not listen to me. Dr. Carr, spoke not a word in my behalf, though I naturally enough had appealed to liim, who knew me .these- two years, to do so. This circumstance, and his "being the very first to enter the stockade, after the military job was over, though he had never before been on the Eureka during the agitation, his appointment to attend the wounded diggers that were brought up to the Camp, and especially his absence at my trial, were and are still a mystery to me.
I was instantly dragged out, and hobbled to a dozen more of pnsoners outside, and we were marched to the Camp. The main road was clear, and the diggers crawled among the holes at the simple bidding of any of the troopers who rode at our side.
LXIV
SIC SINUERUNT FATA.
On reaching the Camp, I recognized there the identical American Kenworthy. I gave him a fearful look. I suspected my doom to be sealed.
The soldiers wei'e drinking ad libitum from a pannikin which they dipped into a pail-bucket full of brandy. I shall not prostitute my hand, and write down the vile exultations of a mob of drunkards. It was of the ordinary colonial sort, whenever in a fight the *' ring " is over.
Inspector Foster, commanded us to strip to the bare shirt. They did not know. how to spell my name I pulled out a little bag contain- ing some Eureka gold-dust, and. my licence ; Mr. Foster took care of my bag, and just as my name was copied from ray licence; afresh batch of prisoners had arrived, and Mr. Fostet was called outside the room where I was stripping. Now, some accursed trooper pretended to recognize me as one of the " spouts " at the monster meeting. I wanted to keep my waistcoat on account of some money, and papers I had in the breast pocket ; my clothes were literally torn info rags.
$3
I attempted to remonstrate, but I was kicked for my pains, knocked down in the bargain, and thrown naked and senseless into the lock-up.
The prison was crammed to suffoc.ation. We had not space enough to lie down, and so it was taken in turns to stand or lie down. Some kind friend sent me some clothes, and my good angel had directed him to bury my hand-writings he had found in my tent, n^der a tent in Gravel-pits.
Fleas, lice, horse-stealers, and low thievpj».^gi>!^''>ntnytiuc6f;,it'^- selves to my notice. This veVrain, and the li4'aV- of the season^ and\tli2 Stench of the place, and the horror at ri(iy<;]^kuation, had rende/^ life intolerable to me. Towards midnight "of tfcil;^^^tday I was d^litwiw. Our growls and howling reached the Coramissiorne//|{'ed"e^^ anJ^..iibout two o'clock in the mornini^ the doors were opened, and: alithe prisoners from the Eureka stockade, were removed between two files of soldiers to the Camp store-house a spacious room, well ventilated and clean. Commissioner Rede came in person to visit us. Far from any air of exultation, he appeared to me to feel for oiir situation. As he passed before me, I addressed him in French, to call his attention to my misery. He answered very kindly, and concluded thus : —
" Je ne manquerai pas deparler au Docteur Carr^ et si ce que vqu^ venez de me dire se trouve vrai^ je veux bien ra'interesser.pour vous."
" Vous etez bien bon^ Monsieur le Commissionaire t* repondis-je.
II faut done que fate eu des ennemis bien cruels an Camp !
Avaient-ils soif de mon sang, ou eiaientMs de mercenaires ? Voila
bien un secret, etje donnerai de coeur ma vie pour le percer. Dieu
ieur pardonne, moi\,je U voudrais bien ! mais je ne, saurai les p&rdonner
Jamais.
LXV.
ECCB HOMO.
On Monday morning, the fresh air had restored me a little strength. We had an important arrival among us. It was the Editor of TAe Times newspaper, arrested for sedition. All silver and gold lace, blue and red coats in the Camp rushed in to gaze on this wild elephant, whose trunk it was supposed, had stirred up the hell on Ballaarat.
Henky Seekamp is a short, thick, rare sort of man, of quick and precise movements, sardonic countenance ; and one look from his sharp round set of eyes, tells you at once that you must not trifle with him. Of a temper that must have cost him some pains to
keep under control, he hates humbug and all sort of yabber- Tabber. His round head of tolerable size, is of German mould, for the earnestness of his forehead is corrected by the fuUnesis of his cheeks, and a set of moustachios is- the padlock of his mouthy whose key is kept safe in his head, and his heart is the turn- key. When his breast is full, and he must make it clean, its gall will burn wherever it falls, and set the' place a blazing. Ta keep friends with such a cast of mind, whose motto is Nelson's, you must do your duty ; never mind if you sink a shicer, bottom your shaft any how. You are his enemy if you are or play the flunky; he will call you a ** thing," and has a decided contempt for " incapables." Hence, his energy was never abated, though the whole legion of Victorian red-tape wanted to dry his inkstand, and smother his lamp in gaol. That there are too many fools at large, he knows, because he has travelled half the woijd ; what he can- not put up with, is their royal cant, religious bosh, Toorak small- beer, and first and foremost, their money-grubbing expertness. Hence, 6ow and then, his ink turns sour, and thereby its vitriol burns stronger. The Times^ of which he is the founder, is the Overseer of Ballaarat, and the Dolce far niente will not prosper.
Our literary prisoner was literally insulted, and could not look with enough contempt on all those accursed asses braying (at him) ** The Times r " The Times T
I felt for him very much, and joined conversation with him in l?rench. I state it as a matter of fact, that there and then I had the presentiment that all the spies pointed me out there, and only there and then as his accomplice. Towards ten o'clock we were ordered to fall in, in four rows. Now the Camp officials and their myrmi- dons were in their glory. They came to number their prey, and mark out a score of heads to msdte an " example'' of,