The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-06-25

daNSaaz@. OF every social
>sszasSS>>- - grade betook him
self; men from the
porder lana OF every country and men
with no country to boast their own-in
snort, fortune hunters the world over who
could by hook or crook get passage to the
new Ell Dorado hied there with the desper-
alton of spirits bound to make or break.
And they didn't go in driblets, giving
time for assimilation; there was flood, a
deluge, and the population jumped from
$4,000 souls to 100000 in a year from the
time the first Australian nuggets were dis
played on the Strand in London. The rich
diggings of the time were located in an in
significant strip of mountainous coast at
the extreme southern point of the island,
about 400 miles long by 200 wide
The country about that time became a
separate political division under the super
latively loyal title of Victoria, although, of
course, there is nothing in name.
The population of a mining camp is not
specially qualified to make any great sacri-
flee to uphold an attribute SO shadowy as
mere political dignity, and vast squatting
ground OF dlggers was what the British
queens young protege speedily became A
contemporary historian wrote of it's peoples
From California came wild men, the
waits of societies which had submitted to
or practiced lynch law. The social testers
of France, Italy and Germany shed exfolia-
tions upon Australia. The rebellious ele-
ment of Ireland was there. The disap-
pointed crew who thought to brighten the
British Isles from their propriety in 1S4S
were represented in some strength"
The convict element of Australia COM
pleted the vile ingredients. With ship
loads of such immigrants unloaded daily
at the Victorian ports the colonial authori-
ties-which means officials sent out by the
home ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS naturally find
| their rule holiday outing under the best
OF circumstances And circumstances
could not well be other than tough as
things were. The land was thousands of
/ miles from the worlds storehouses, and in
! itself produced nothing to make life worth
| living, for gold alone cannot do that. Pro-
| visions became so scant that the govern
ment could barely feed the convicts of it's
| penal colony. Freight from the seashore
/ 100 miles inland, rose to e100 ton And
all classes went gold mad; servants bolted,
ships crews, porters, drivers and even po-
licemen ran off to the diggings. The lucky
ones returned to the capital town and port
to display their wealth and incite the
cupidity of the conservative stay at homes,
and this thing going on for months pro-
duced fever that upset everything and
chaos was at no time far away. The best
thing and about the only good thing was
gold, gold in heaps at that, and this every
body couldn't pick up just to the liking.
Poverty will not abolish itself even in an
Ell Dorado.
After the boom had reached a state
bordering on permanence, the colonial off
GERS hit upon the clumsy idea of making
the camp pay it's own way in the matter of
administrative expenses through license
tax on individual miners that is, every
spade and pick, practically, must faunt it's
license stamped with the colonial seal.
The tax at first was 81 los month and
was soon doubled, and every delinquent
was torn from his pit and placed in chain
gang to work out the fee at hard labor.
The lucky fellows in the diggings didn't
mind such trifies as pound or two at all,
but the great unlucky majority couldn't
more than earn their bread as bread sold
then, and they resolved, after the manner
of outraged majorities everywhere, to
''kick." Kick they did, and the extra tax
was taken off,
struck out again. They complained of the
of the tax by EARNED men," and asked a
reduction from 81 los to los. The CON
Btabulary used in emergencies by the au-
thorities consisted of soldiers, and the gold
fields were soon ablaze with incendiary
placards setting forth the miners griev-
ances. ''Down with the Troopersl" "Down
with Oppressionp' "Diggers, Avenge Your
Wrongsp' Some of the Dennis Kearneys of
the diggings harangued crowds in Mel
bourne, talked of the black flag and threat
ened to sack the place if they didn't get
what theydemanded. These insurrection-
airy proceedings had the effect of causing
the colonial governor of Victoria to reduce
the tax and to promise that compulsory
measures for collecting it would be abol-
ished. The accommodating official was
soon relieved, however, by a successor who
instructed the police in the gold region to
stamp out unlicensed miners, and sent
regiment of regular soldiers to back up the
civil officers in their unpopular duty.
This was the last straw, and for many
months there was open war between the
diggers and the government. The head
quarters of the miners were at the town of
Bailarat, the centre of the mining indus
tries. A league was formed ''to resist and
If necessary remove the irresponsible power
which tyrannized over" the diggers. Due
notice was given to Queen Victoria that
she must either ignore or call off her "dis-
honest ministers" or the royal prerogative
would go down before that of the people,
''the most royal of all prerogatives." The
signers of this Victorian declaration of in
dependence included besides goodly rep
resentation Of Englishmen, German, an
Italian, a United States negro, an Irish
man-destined to win imperishable noto-
riety before the affair ended-and several
nondescripts either devoid of native land
or of any recollection about it, The miners
blood was up. The onerous tax which fell
light upon the rich and was burdensome
to the masses was not the sole grievance.
Favoritism was alleged against magis-
trates and other powerful officials Miners
who got in trouble with other classes were
severely punished by the law and other
offenders went free, while murders and
other offenses against them were I'M
avenged. The first governor had tried to
make show of reform by deposing j. cor
rupt justice, but his action only served to