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But is is stated further in the reply, that 'no exception
had been made in favour of any person against whom a charge
was preferred.' With all becoming deference to His Excellency,
we think this does not meet the point. If the gentleman
were innocent, why guarantee him against arrest? And if
his friends (and we give them credit for good tact) anticipated
the 'preferment of a charge,' it does not create any special
grounds for an amnesty in contradistinction to a general amnesty.

Again, upon whom lies the onus of 'preferring charge?'
500 pounds was offered for Vern, 'DEAD OR ALIVE' and
400 pounds for Lalor and Black; and yet we presume there
was no charge, or charges, 'preferred' against them any
more than the gentleman alluded to. We yet trust that
the same good feeling that induced His Excellency to give
James M`Gill his liberty will increase sufficiently strong
to unbar the prison-doors, and set the state captives free,
that they may be restored to their homes, their sorrowing
families, and sympathising countrymen. By such an act,
the Lieutenant-Governor will secure the peace of society,
and the respect and support of the people, and be carrying
out the glorious principle he has proclaimed of 'Equal
Justice to All.'

J. BASSON HUMFFRAY,
C. F. NICHOLLS,
(of Ballaarat.)
Melbourne, 23rd January, 1855.




Chapter LXXVI.



Quid Sum Miser, Nunc Dicturus.


At Bacchus Marsh we were thrown into a dark lockup, by far cleaner than
the lousy one of Ballaarat. Captain Thomas, who must have acknowledged
that we had behaved as men, sent us a gallon of porter, and plenty of
damper; he had no occasion to shoot down any of us. I write now this his
kindness with thanks.

At last, after a long, long day, smothered with dust, burning with thirst,
such that the man in the garb of a digger had compassion on us, and
shouted a welcome glass of ale to all of us--we arrived before the
Melbourne gaol at eight o'clock at night.

From the tender mercies of our troopers, we were given up to the gentle
grasp of the turnkeys. The man in the garb of a digger introduced us to
the governor, giving such a good account of us all, that said governor,
on hearing we had had nothing to eat since mid-day, was moved to let us
have some bread and cheese.

We were commanded to strip to the bare shirt--the usual ignomy to begin a
prison life with--and then we were shown our cell--a board to lie down on,
a blanket--and the heavy door was bolted on us.

Within the darkness of our cell, we now gave vent to our grief, each in
his own way.

Sleep is not a friend to prisoners, and so my mind naturally wandered back
to the old spot on the Eureka.




Chapter LXXVII.



Requiescant In Pace.


Lalor's Report of the Killed and Wounded at the Eureka Massacre, on the
morning of the memorable Third of December, 1854:-


The following lists are as complete as I can make them. The numbers are
well known, but there is a want of names. I trust that the friends or
acquaintances of these parties may forward particulars to 'The Times'
office, Ballaarat, to be made available in a more lengthened narrative.


KILLED.

1 JOHN HYNES, County Clare, Ireland.
2 PATRICK GITTINS, Kilkenny, do.
3---- MULLINS, Kilkenny, Limerick, Ireland.
4 SAMUEL GREEN, England.
5 JOHN ROBERTSON, Scotland.
6 EDWARD THONEN (lemonade man), Elbertfeldt, Prussia.
7 JOHN HAFELE, Wurtemberg.
8 JOHN DIAMOND, County Clare, Ireland.
9 THOMAS O'NEIL, Kilkenny, do.
10 GEORGE DONAGHEY, Muff, County Donegal, do.
11 EDWARD QUIN, County Cavan, do.
12 WILLIAM QUINLAN, Goulbourn, N.S.W.
13 and 14 Names unknown. One was usually known on Eureka as 'Happy Jack.'


WOUNDED AND SINCE DEAD.

1 LIEUTENANT ROSS, Canada.
2 THADDEUS MOORE, County Clare, Ireland.
3 JAMES BROWN, Newry, do.
4 ROBERT JULIEN, Nova Scotia.
5 ----CROWE, unknown.
6 ----FENTON, do.
7 EDWARD M`GLYN, Ireland.
8 No particulars.


WOUNDED AND SINCE RECOVERED.

1 PETER LALOR, Queen's County, Ireland.
2 Name unknown, England.
3 PATRICK HANAFIN, County Kerry, Ireland.
4 MICHAEL HANLY, County Tipperary, do.
5 MICHAL O'NEIL, County Clare, do.
6 THOMAS CALLANAN, do. do.
7 PATRICK CALLANAN, do. do.
8 FRANK SYMMONs, England.
9 JAMES WARNER, County Cork, Ireland.
10 LUKE SHEEHAN, County Galway, do.
11 MICHAEL MORRISON, County Galway, do.
12 DENNIS DYNAN, County Clare, do.


(Signed) PETER LALOR,
Commander-in-Chief.


What has become of GEORGE BLACK, was, and is still, a MYSTERY to me.
I lost sight of him since his leaving for Creswick-creek, on
December 1, 1854.




Chapter LXXVIII.



Homo Natus De Muliere, Brevi Vivens Tempore Repletur Multis Miseriis.
Qui Quasi Flos Conterritur Et Egreditur; Postea Velut Umbra Disperditur.


It is not the purpose of this book, to begin a lamentation about my four
long, long months in the gaol. My health was ruined for ever: if that be
a consolation to any one; let him enjoy it. To say more is disgusting to
me and would prove so to any one, whose motto is 'Fair-play.'

A dish of 'hominy' (Indian meal), now and then fattened with grubs,
was my breakfast.

A dish of scalding water, with half a dozen grains of rice, called soup,
a morsel of dry bullock's flesh, now and then high-flavoured, a bit of
bread eternally sour--any how the cause of my suffering so much of
dysentery, and a couple of black murphies were my dinner.

For tea, a similar dish of hominy as in the morning, with the privilege
of having now and then a bushranger or a horse-stealer for my mess-mate,
and often I enjoyed the company of the famous robbers of the Victoria Bank.

But the Sunday! Oh the Sunday! was the most trying day. The turnkeys,
of course, must enjoy the benefit of the sabbath cant, let the prisoners
pray or curse in their cells. I was let out along with the catholics,
to hear mass. I really felt the want of Christian consolation. Our
priest was always in a hurry, twice did not come, once said half the mass
without any assistant; never could I hear two words together out of his
short sermon. Not once ever came to see us prisoners.

After mass, I returned to my cell, and was let out again for half an hour
among all sorts of criminals, some convicted, some waiting their trial,
in the large yard, to eat our dinner, and again shut up in the cell till
the following Monday.




Chapter LXXIX.



'Souvenirs' De Melbourne.


Five things I wish to register: the first for shame; the second for
encouragement; the third for duty; the fourth for information; the fifth
for record.

1. We were one afternoon taken by surprise by the whole gang of turnkeys,
ordered to strip, and subjected to an ignominious search. The very
private parts were discovered and touched. 'Veritatem dico, non mentior.'

2. Manning felt very much the want of a chew of tobacco. He and Tuhey
would make me strike up some favourite piece out of the Italian opera,
and the charm succeeded. A gentle tap at the door of our cell was the
signal to get from a crack below a stick of tobacco, and then we were all
jolly. We decreed and proclaimed that even in hell there must be some
good devils.

3. Mr. Wintle, the governor, inclining to the John Bull in corporation,
had preserved even in a Melbourne gaol, crammed as it is at the end of
each month with the worst class of confirmed criminals, his good, kind
heart. With us state prisoners, without relaxing discipline, he used no
cruelty--spoke always kindly to us--was sorry at our position, and wished
us well. He had regard for me, on account of my bad health; that I shall
always remember.

4. Some day in January we received a New-Year's Present--that is a copy
of the indictment. I protest at once against recording it here: it is
the coarsest fustian ever spun by Toorak Spiders. I solemnly declare that
to my knowledge the name of Her Most Gracious Majesty was never mentioned
in any way, shape, or form whatever, during the whole of the late
transactions on Ballaarat. I devoured the whole of the indictment with
both my eyes, expecting to meet with some count charging us with riot.
The disappointment was welcome, and I considered myself safe. Not so,
however, by a parcel of shabby solicitors. They said it would go hard
with any one if found guilty. The government meant to make an example of
some of of us, as a lesson to the ill-affected, in the shape of some
fifteen years in the hulks. They had learned from Lynn of Ballaarat that
there were no funds collected from the diggers for the defence. 'Cetera
quando rursum scribam'--and thus they won some 200 pounds out of the
frightened state prisoners, who possessed ready cash.

"What will be the end of us, Joe?" was my question to the nigger-rebel.

"Why, if the jury lets us go, I guess we'll jump our holes again on the
diggings. If the jury won't let us go, then"--and bowing his head over
the left shoulder, poking his thumb between the windpipe and the
collarbone, opened wide his eyes, and gave such an unearthly whistle,
that 1 understood perfectly well what he meant.




Chapter LXXX.



The State Prisoners.
(From 'The Age', February 14th, 1855.)


The following is the copy of a letter addressed by the state prisoners now
awaiting their trial in the Melbourne Gaol, to the Sheriff, complaining
of the treatment they have received:-


Her Majesty's Gaol, Melbourne,
February 6th, 1855.
To the Sheriff of the Colony of Victoria:-

Sir--As the chief officer of the government, regulating
prison discipline in Victoria, we, the undersigned Ballaarat
state prisoners, respectfully beg to acquaint you with
the mode of our treatment since our imprisonment in this
gaol, in the hope that you will be pleased to make some
alteration for the better.

At seven o'clock in the morning we are led into a small
yard of about thirty yards long and eight wide, where
we must either stand, walk or seat ourselves upon the
cold earth (no seats or benches being afforded us), and
which at meal times serves as chair, table, etc., with
the additional consequence of having our food saturated
with sand, dust, and with every kind of disgusting filth
which the wind may happen to stir up within the yard.

We are locked in, about three o'clock in the afternoon,
four or five of us together, in a cell whose dimensions
are three feet by twelve, being thus debarred from the
free air of heaven for sixteen hours out of the twenty-four.
The food is of the very worst description ever used by
civilized beings. We are debarred the use of writing
materials, except for purposes of pressing necessity; are
never permitted to see a newspaper; and strictly prohibited
the use of tobacco and snuff. We have been subjected to
the annoyance of being stripped naked, a dozen men together,
when a process of 'searching' takes place that is debasing
to any human being, but perfectly revolting to men whose
sensibilities have never been blunted by familiarity with
crime--an ordeal of examination, and the coarse audacity
with which it is perpetrated, as would make manhood blush,
and which it would assuredly resent, as an outrage upon
common decency, in any other place than a prison. And again,
when the visiting justice makes his rounds, we are made
to stand bareheaded before him, as if--etc.

We give the government the credit of believing that it is
not its wish we should be treated with such apparent malignity
and apparent malice; and also believe that if you, sir,
the representative of government in this department, had
been previously made acquainted with this mode of treatment,
you would have caused it to be altered. But we have hitherto
refrained from troubling the government on the subject,
in expectation of a speedy trial, which now appears to be
postponed sine die.

We, each of us, can look back with laudable pride upon
our lives, and not a page in the record of the past can
unfold a single transgression which would degrade us before
man, or for which we would be condemned before our Maker.
And we naturally ask why we should be treated as if our
lives had been one succession of crime, or as if society
breathed freely once more at being rid of our dangerous
and demoralising presence. Even the Sunday, that to all
men in Christendom is a day of relaxation and comparative
enjoyment, to us is one of gloom and weariness, being locked
up in a dreary cell from three o'clock Saturday evening
till seven on Monday morning (except for about an hour
and a half on Sunday); thus locked up in a narrow dungeon
for forty consecutive hours! We appeal to you, and ask,
was there ever worse treatment, in the worst days of the
Roman inquisition, for men whose reputation had never
been sullied with crime?

We therefore humbly submit, that, as the state looks only
at present to our being well secured, we ought to be treated
with every liberality consistent with our safe custody;
and that any unnecessary harshness, or arrogant display
of power, is nothing more or less than wanton cruelty.

Some of us, for instance, could wile away several hours
each day in writing, an occupation which, while it would
fill up the dreary vacuum of a prison life, as would the
moderate use of snuff and tobacco cheer it, and soothe
that mental irritation consequent upon seclusion. But that
system of discipline which would paralyse the mind and
debilitate the body--that would destroy intellectual as
well as physical energy and vigour, cannot certainly be
of human origin.

Trusting you will remove these sources of annoyance and
complaint,

We beg to subscribe ourselves,
Sir
Your obedient servants.
[Here follow the names.]

-----

Sheriff CLAUDE FARIE, Inspector PRICE, Turnkey HACKETT, they will praise
your names in hell!




Chapter LXXXI.



Quem Patronem Rogaturus.


The brave people of Melbourne remembered the state prisoners, forgotten by
the Ballaarat diggers, who now that the storm was over, considered
themselves luckily cunning to have got off safe; and therefore could
afford to 'joe' again; the red-streak near Golden-point, having put every
one in the good old spirits of the good old times.


Yourself devoting to the public cause,
You ask the people if they be 'there' to die:
Yes, yes hurrah the thund'ring applause,
Too soon, alas! you find out the lie!
Cast in a gaol, at best you are thought a fool,
Red hot grows your foe; your friend too cool.

An angel, however, was sent to the undefended state prisoners. Hayes and
myself were the first, who since our being in trouble, did grasp the hand
of a gentleman, volunteering to be our friend.

JAMES MACPHERSON GRANT, solicitor, is a Scotchman of middle-size,
middle-height; and the whole makes the man, an active man of business,
a shrewd lawyer, and up to all the dodges of his profession. His forehead
announces that all is sound within; his benevolent countenance assures
that his heart is for man or woman in trouble. He hates oppression; so
say his eyes. He scorns humbug; so says his nose. His manners declare
that he was born a gentleman.

I very soon gave him hints for my defence, quite in accordance with what
I have been stating above, and his clerk took the whole down in short-hand.
He encouraged me to be of good cheer, "You need not fear," said he,
"you will soon be out, all of you."

God bless you, Mr. Grant! For the sake of you and Mr. Aspinall, the
barrister, I smother now my bitterness, and pass over all that I suffered
on account of so many postponements.

Timothy Hayes, when we returned broken-hearted for the FIFTH(!) time to
our gaol, did we not curse the lawyers!

A wild turn of mind now launched my soul to the old beloved spot on the
Eureka, and there I struck out the following anthem.




Chapter LXXXII.



Victoria's 'Southern Cross'.
Tune--The 'Standard Bearer'

I.

WHEN Ballaarat unfurled the 'Southern Cross,'
Of joy a shout ascended to the heavens;
The bearer was Toronto's Captain Ross;
And frightened into fits red-taped ravens.


Chorus. For brave Lalor--
Was found 'all there,'
With dauntless dare:
His men inspiring:
To wolf or bear,
Defiance bidding,
He made them swear--
Be faithful to the Standard, for victory or death. (Bis.)

II.

Blood-hounds were soon let loose, with grog imbued,
And murder stained that Sunday! Sunday morning;
The Southern Cross in digger's gore imbrued,
Was torn away, and left the diggers mourning!

Chorus.

Victoria men, to scare, stifle, or tame,
Ye quarter-deck monsters are too impotent;
The Southern Cross will float again the same,
UNITED Britons, ye are OMNIPOTENT.

Chorus.


Thus I had spanned the strings of my harp, but the strain broke them
asunder in the gaol.




Chapter LXXXIII.


Initium Sapientie Est Timor Domini.


There are circumstances in life, so inexplicable for the understanding;
so intricate for the counsel; so overwhelming for the judgment; so
tempting for the soul; so clashing with common sense; so bewildering for
the mind; so crushing for the heart; that even the honest man cannot help
at moments to believe in FATE. Hence the 'sic sinuerunt Fata,' will dash
the fatalist a-head, and embolden him to knock down friend or foe, so as
to carry out his conceit. If successful, he is a Caesar; if unsuccessful,
ignominy and a violent grave are the reward of his worry.

If this be true, as far is it goes, whilst

Through living hosts and changing scenes we rove,
The mart, the court, the sea, the battle-plain,
As passions sway, or accident may move;

it holds not true in a gaol. There you must meet yourself, and you find
that you are not your God. Hence these new strings in my harp.


TO THE POINT.

I.

Gay is the early bloom of life's first dawn,
But darker colours tinge maturer years;
Our days as they advance grow more forlorn,
Hope's brightest dreams dissolve away in tears
Which were the best, to be or not to have been?
The question may be asked, no answer can be seen.

II.

On earth we live, within our thoughts--the slaves,
Of our conceptions in each varied mood,
Gay or melancholy;--it is the waves
Of our imaginings, become the food
The spirit preys upon; and laughs or raves
With madness or with pleasure, as it would
If drunk with liquids. WE EXIST AND DWELL
AS THE MIND MAY DISPOSE, IN HEAVEN OR IN HELL.

THEME.

Death which we dread so much, is but a name.


SONNET.

He who never did eat his bread in tears;
Who never passed a dreary bitter night,
And in his bed of sorrow, the hard fight
Of pending troubles saw, with anxious fears:
Who never an exile forlorn for years,
And never wept with Israel 'at the sight
Of the waters of Babylon' (Psalm 137), the might
Of Heaven's word is unknown to his ears.
IS THERE A MORTAL EYE THAT NEVER WEPT?
WITH tears the child begins his wants to show
In tears the man out of the earth is swept.
Whether we bless or grumble here below,
HIM who ever in His hand the world has kept
In dark affliction's school we learn to know.

(Of course my original is in Italian.)




Chapter LXXXIV.



Judica Me Deus, Et Discarne Causam Meam De Gente Non Sancta;
Ab Homine Iniquo Et Doloso Erue Me.


SUPREME COURT
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Felix,
Wednesday, March 21st, 1855.

(Before his Honour Mr. Justice Barry.)


MY STATE TRIAL His HONOUR took his seat shortly after ten o'clock.
The prisoner, that is myself, was placed in the dock, and the following
Jury sworn (after the usual challenging):-

PHILLIP BRAGG, Gore-street, Farmer,
ALEXANDER BARTHOLOMEW, Brighton-road, Joiner,
JAMES BLACK, Greville-street, Butcher,
CHARLES BUTT, Lennox-street, Carpenter,
THOMAS BELL, Lennox-street, Carpenter,
FREDERICK BAINES, Richmond-road, Painter,
CHARLES BELFORD, Kew, Gardener,
WILLIAM BROADHURST, Wellington-street, Grocer,
JOSEPH BERRY, Hawthorne, Farmer,
DAVID BOYLE, Kew, Gardener,
WILLIAM BARNETT, Heidelberg, Gardener,
JOHN BATES, Rowena-street, Baker.

'Brava gente. Dio vi benedica. Mio Fratello desidera veder ciascuno
di Voi, nella nostra Bella Itallia.'

For the first time in my life (37 years old), I was placed in a felon's
dock, and before a British jury.

The first glance I gave to the foreman made me all serene. I was sure
that the right man was in the right place.

JAMES MACPHERSON GRANT, my attorney for the defence, was 'all there.'

RICHARD DAVIS IRELAND, barrister, my counsel, was heavy with thunder.
Thick, sound, robust, round-headed as he is, the glance of his eyes is
irresistible. A pair of bushy whiskers frame in such a shrewd forehead,
astute nose, thundering mouth; that one had better keep at a respectful
distance from drakes. His whole head and strong-built frame tell that he
is ready to settle at once with anybody; either with the tongue or with
the fist. His eloquence savours pretty strongly of Daniel O'Connell,
and is flavoured with colonial pepper; hence Mr. Ireland will always
exercise a potent spell over a jury. If he were the Attorney-General,
the colony would breath freer from knaves, rogues, and vagabonds. The
'sweeps,' especially, could not possibly prosper with Ireland's pepper.

According to promise, another lawyer, a man of flesh, had to be present:
but, as he was not there, so he is not here.

Mr. ASPINALL, barrister, totally unknown to me before, volunteered his
services as my counsel to assist Mr. Ireland.

'In memoria eterna manet amicus' BUTLER COLE ASPINALL. The print of
generous frankness in your forehead, of benevolence in your eyes, of
having no-two-ways in your nose, of sincere boldness in your mouth;
your height, fine complexion, noble deportment, indicate in you the
gentleman and the scholar. If now and then you fumble among papers,
whilst addressing the jury, that is perhaps for fear it should be observed
that you have no beard; in order that proper attention may be paid to your
learning, which is that of a grey-headed man; and though it may be said,
that the Eureka Stockade was hoggledy enough, yet your pop, pop, pop, was
also doggledy.

You know a tree by its fruits; and so you may know, if you like, the
Attorney-General by his High-Treason Indictment. I have not the patience
to go through it a second time. There are too many Fosters, fostering and
festering in this Victorian land.

JUDGE BARRY presided; a man of the old-gentleman John Bull's stamp.
Nothing in his face of the cast of a Jefferies. He can manage his temper,
even among the vexations of law.

His Honour addressed me always with kindness. If he shampooed his
summing-up, with parson's solemnity, indicating not little
self-congratulation, His Honour had reason to be proud of the following
remarks, which I here record for that purpose:-


"They had been told (said His Honour to the jury), that the
prisoner in the dock had come sixteen thousand miles to
get off from the Austrian rule--from the land of tyranny
to that of liberty; and so he had, in the truest sense of
the word, and that liberty which he enjoyed imposed upon
him a local respect for Her Majesty, and a respect for her
laws. He had the privilege of being tried by a jury, who
would form their verdict solely from the facts adduced
on the trial."


A fair hint; equal to saying, that under the British flag I was not going
to be tried before the Holy (read, Infernal) Inquisition.




Chapter LXXXV.



Sunt Miserie In Vita Hominus, Viro Probo Dolosis Circumdari!
Nulla Miseria Pejor.


MY TRIAL proceeded, before the British Jury aforesaid.

Vandemonians:
HENRY GOODENOUGH, Spy-Major.
ANDREW PETERS, Sub-Spy.

As an honest man, I scorn to say anything of either of you; but address
myself to my God, the Lord God of Israel, in the words of Solomon:-

'If any man trespass against his neighbour, and an oath be laid upon him
to cause him to swear, and the oath come before thine altar in this house:

'Then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the
wicked to bring his way upon his head.'--(1 Kings viii. 31, 32.)

GEORGE WEBSTER examined:-
"I attended the meeting at Bakery-hill on the afternoon of the 29th
November, Mr. Hayes was chairman, and the prisoner was on the platform.
He made a speech to the effect, that he had come 16,000 miles to escape
tyranny, and they (THE DIGGERS) should put down the tyrants here (POINTING
TO THE CAMP). PRISONER ALSO TORE UP HIS LICENCE and threw it towards the
fire recommending the others to do as he did."

N.B.--At the next state trial of Jamas Beattie, and Michael Tuhey, said
witness George Webster, on his oath, was cross examined by Mr. Ireland,
and stated:-

"Mr. RAFFAELLO, was at the meeting on the 29th November.--(A gold licence
was here handed to the witness.)--This licence is in the name of
CARBONI RAFFAELLO, and the date covers the period at which the licences
were burned."--(Sensation in the Court!)

I was present in person, and a free man. 'AB UNO DISCE OMNES: JAM SATIS
DIXI.' I hereby assert that I did not burn any paper or anything at all
at the monster meeting; I challenge contradiction from any bona fide
miner, who was present at said meeting. I paid two pounds for my licence
on the 15th of October, 1854, to Commissioner Amos, and I have it still
in my possession.*

[* The original document of the following Gold-license, as well as the
documents from Davis Burwash, Esq., the eminent notary-public, of
4, Castlecourt, Birchin-lane, City, London; and Signor Carboni Raffaello's
College Diploma, and Certificate as sworn interpreter in said City of
London; together with the Originals of all other Documents, especially
the letters from C Raffaello to H. W. Archer, inserted in this book,
are now in the hands of J MacPherson Grant, Esq., M.L.C., Solicitor,
and will remain in his office, Collins-street, Melbourne, till Christmas
for inspection.--The Printers]

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