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

The date of Victoria's Independence day
remains a blank on the calendar of politi-
Cal events for reasons to be developed later
ON, but on Nov. 30, 1854, the Instruction
airy movement eliminated in grand mass
meeting at Ballarat, where 1900 miners
assembled and hoisted the flag of rebellion.
1t was a noisy meeting, not to say an en-
thuslastlc one. The moderates were hooted
down, signal shots of defaSe were fired
in direction of colonial headquarters and a
blazing bonfire was fed from time to time
by the duly stamped and sealed licenses
that had caused the trouble The occa-
sion was another tea party in its way. The
governor, not to be outdone in demonstra-
tiveness, promptly ordered a more rigid
enforcement than ever of the odious laws,
and the very next day after the mass meet
ing and bonfire the royal commissioner
and his police went to the diggings to de-
mand show Of licenses. The first party
was stoned; a second that hurried to the
scene of trouble Jared no better, the riot
act was read and the soldiers marched up
and opened fire. Nobody was hurt and
the mob dispersed, while a few miners VINO
had not been at the bonfire or had played a
shrewd Ananias game displayed their pa
pers at the supreme moment, and the COM
missioner and his police and armed sol
diery marched back to camp rejoicing.
The miners lost no time in replying to
this raid by declaration of war. The
lone Exile of Erin, whom fate had made
the John Hancock of the Declaration of In
dependence, was elected military dictator,
and for the space of forty eight hours, more
or less, signed himself t'Peter Labor, Com
mander in Chief of the Diggers Under
Arms" An insurgent camp was pitched
on a height overlooking Ballarat, known
as Eureka Hill. Horses, weapons, ammu
milton, provisions and even recruits were
impressed by the simple edict of t'Peter
Lalor," ETC., and the hill was fortified by
means of a barricade and stockade COM
bined. The work of intrenching was under
taken in a hurry and every hour added
some new device for obstructing and harass-
ing the enemy's approach. AS fast as they
could be procured slabs were imbedded at
one end, stakes were driven, ropes were
stretched, carts and other bulky obstacles
were overturned and to all was added earth
embankments, for the diggers hadn't for
gotten their trade. The strangely COM
posite intrenchment enjoyed ephemeral no.
toriety as the Eureka Stockade''
The warlike preparations of the insur-
gents went on for two days and three
nights undisturbed by the government
The miners gave out that they would as
sault the governors camp, but didn't do
it. Their equipment was the weakest part
of the insurrection. Many hundreds pre-
tended to bear arms, but shooting pieces
were scarce, and the majority had to take
up with rude pixies, made at a common
forge and mounted on slaves green from
the bush.
After four days of the widest excite
ment and fatiguing labor-counting from
the mass meeting Of Nov. 29-everything
being ready for the grand struggle, Peter
Lalor's army took notion about mid
night of Dec. to go to sleep. And it was
not a sleeping on arms, either. The men
stood valiantly to the barricade until mid
night, then made off to town, to their
huts, to wherever inviting and comfortable
berths could be had. Of course not all
were so suddenly overcome by drowsiness
The Commander in chief' and a handful
of trusty fellows, chiefly pikemen, how
ever, remained to guard the stockade and
perhaps give an alarm of impending danger.
Now the governors troops were real sol
diers-regulars at that, barring few po-
Hcemen, which is the same thing-and at
half past o'clock on Dec. 3, when the
great army of "Diggers Under Arms"
were also under their blankets, the gov
ernor's military underling led out de-
tachment of not quite 300 men and noise
lessly stormed the stockade on Eureka
Hill. "General' Lalor and his old guard
were alert, and began to shoot with such
irons as they possessed. The British bugle
sang out, Commence fringI' and the SOL
diers rushed upon and over the barricade,
dropping score or more of pikemen be-
fore the recall was sounded. The flag of
defiance to colonial tyranny was quickly
hauled down, over 100 prisoners, wounded
and unwounded, were taken, and between
30 and 40 dead miners showed what might
have been had not the bulk of the diggers
gone to sleep at time SO inopportune for
the future of the Victorian league
Lalor escaped, but carried bullet in his
person that cost him an arm and so marked
him for life as the leader of the Victorian
gold field rebellion. There were prosecu-
lions for high treason and all that sort of
thing but no conviction, and general
amnesty resulted. The leader remained
in hiding until the affair cooled down, all
the time unrepentant and bewailing the
unfortunate drowsiness of his army on that
momentous morning. The miners eventu-
ally sent their hero with the empty sleeve
to parliament and he served term after
term, landing ~ last in the speakers chair
of the Victorian commons. So much for
sentiment and that brief night tussle in
defense OF the Eureka Stockade."
GEORGE l.. KILMER
The Barrel Coop.
Everybody knows what nuisance it