Epistolam Hanc Misi, Tunc Bene, Nunc Valde Ad Opus.
Prepaid.
To W. H. ARCHER, Esq.
Acting Registrar General,
Melbourne.
Ballaarat Gold-fields,
Eureka, November 30, 1854.
My dear Mr. Archer,
I was in some 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, through
Messrs. Muir Brothers, your letter of the 20th October. I am heartily glad
to learn that you are well, and now I suppose a few lines from me are
as welcome to you as ever.
Somehow or other, verging towards the fortieth year of my age, having
witnessed strange scenes in this strange world, very, very different from
my dream of youth, I feel now more disposed to the sober reality of the things
of this life.
However desponding and humiliating may be, as it really is, the sad
reflection, 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 for any special mercy, or rejoice over the first
good harvest or vintage on this golden land; but melancholy is it to say,
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-hill, 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 may judge of the conduct of some officers sent to protect the Camp
by the following: -
On Tuesday Evening (November 28th), about eight o'clock, the Twelfth Regiment
arrived from Melbourne. The expert cleverness of the officer in command,
made the soldiers, riding in carts drawn by three horses each, cross the line
exactly at the going-a-head end of the Eureka. An 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 vehemence
at each second. The poor soldiers were pelted with mud, stones, old stumps,
and broken bottles. The hubbub was going on pretty desperate westward
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 for 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 of 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
of scoundrels. He was, however, 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.
Chapter XXVI.
The Monster Meeting.
Bakery-hill, Wednesday, November 29th.
(Letter continued.)
"All the diggings round about were deserted, and swelled the meeting,
the greatest I ever witnessed in this Colony. At two o'clock there were
about ten thousand men present! The Report of the Deputation appointed
by the League to wait upon his Excellency, relative to the release
of the three prisoners, M`Intyre, Fletcher, and Yorkie, was listened to
with great anxiety."
George Black was the man of the day, and was received by the people
with three hearty 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 phraseology. His reading must have been
sober from his youth, for in conversation he indulges in neither cant
nor romance; though, in addressing the people, he may use a touch
of declamation stronger than argument. From the paleness of his cheeks,
and the dryness of his 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, not so much because that is required
for the happiness of a good conscience, but because the old serpent
has crammed the ways of man with so many deceits in this world of vanity
and vexation of spirit, that a heart of the honesty of George Black,
cannot possibly have any sympathy 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, his benevolent 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 gold-diggers interested themselves with true religion, as laid down
in Saint James' Catholic Epistle; but he made a greater mistake in not taking
into consideration that men, though digging for gold, do still pretend
to some religious denomination or other. However, let him now address
the Monster Meeting.
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