Fudge:
'odi profanum vulgus 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, 1854, 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, Tuesday, October 2nd.
Messrs. Ryce and Wall having addressed the meeting in their usual honest,
matter-of-fact way:-
"Great Works" was shouted and immediately appeared
C. Raffaello, member of the Local Court. He hoped,
that if there were any Goodenough present that they
would see and not mislay their notes while he briefly
brought three things before the meeting; the first
concerned the meeting and himself, the second concerned
himself, and the third concerned those present. The
first was easily disposed of - have I, as I promised,
done my duty as member of the Local Court to your
satisfaction? (Yes, and cheers.) Very well, the second
matter concerns myself - personally he was under no
obligations to the lawyers - the services he received
at the trial was done to him as a state prisoner,
and not to Carboni Raffaello individually; when
individually, he requested to be supplied with six
pennyworth of snuff by Mr. Dunne, it was promised,
but it never came to him. It would not have cost much
to have supplied him, and it would have greatly obliged
him, as habit had rendered snuff-taking necessary to him.
With the permission of those present he would take
a pinch now. (He took a pinch amidst laughter and cheers.)
The admission of lawyers into the Local Court would give
rise to endless feuds, where valuable interests were
concerned, and so much time would be lost in useless
litigation. As he had no wish through any personal
obligation to see the lawyers in the Local Court,
and as he considered that it was for the advantage of
the miners that they should not be admitted, he opposed
their entrance.
The third matter concerned those present. What did they
come to Australia for? Why, to improve their prospects
in reality, though on shipboard they might say it was to
get rid of the 'governor,' or to get clear of an ugly wife,
and now that you are here are you to allow the Ballaarat
lawyers to fleece you of your hard earnings? Not being
fond of yabber-yabber he would simply ask: are you fairly
represented by us? (Yes, yes.) If so then support us,
and if we do not represent you we will resign. Don't say
yes if you 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. Some
five hundred diggers were present. Now for the perversion from the reporter
of 'The Argus', Melbourne, Tuesday, October 2.
"Carboni Raffaello, a foreigner [a foreign anarchist, if you please,
Mr. Editor], then spoke in his usual style [that is, sedition, revolution,
and rebellion, that's it], the principal (sic) points of his remarks being,
that while incarcerated in the Melbourne gaol [was it for common felony,
or high treason?] he was not supplied with snuff, though he had entreated
his learned counsel, Mr. J. H. Dunne, for sixpenny worth. He [Please,
Raffaello or Dunne? fine pair together] did not consider himself under
any obligation to the lawyers: he [but who? Dunne or Raffaello?] was not fond
of yabber-yabber."
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 sake 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 hemisphere
will be brought to shame, and Victoria cannot possibly derive any benefit
from it.
Let the above observation stand good, I proceed with my work.
'The Age' was then just budding, and was considered, on the diggings the organ
of the new chum Governor. 'The Age' soon mustered a Roman courage in the cause
of the diggers, and jumped the claims both of The Herald and 'The Argus';
and though the 'own correspondent,' under the head of Ballaarat, be such a dry,
soapy 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'.
Chapter XVII.
Arcane, Impenetrabili, Profunde,
Son Le Vie Di Chi Die L'Esser Al Niente.
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 manner of rottenness.
