Page:Victoria, with a description of its principal cities, Melbourne and Geelong.djvu/139

 How far this estimate of the character of the diggers is correct, it is impossible to say; there is no doubt but that there were many faults on both sides; but even if the diggers were in error, or, if this opinion of them is greatly exaggerated, the circumstance that they, holding the police force in abhorrence, were constantly brought in contact with its members, might account for the increasing irritation that prevailed; for the effect of the license system exposed nearly the whole people to this contact, and they, feeling that they were unjustly detested for doing their duty, became more strict in the discharge of it. In many places the tone and feeling were very different, and the quiet and respectable part of the population suffered little personal inconvenience from their presence. The people and their protectors were thus, generally speaking, in a state of constant though seldom open warfare. Now and again the chronic feeling of irritation broke out; and the famous cry of "Joe"—a name given to the police, and the use of which, at length, from the excitement it caused, was looked upon as almost treasonable—had the effect of widening the breach, and augmenting still further the strictness and severity of the officials.

Although in a former chapter we alluded to the anti-convict question, as a principal cause of disaffection amongst the community at large, and the system of compelling all the diggers to have licenses, and to produce them at any moment when