Page:Victoria, with a description of its principal cities, Melbourne and Geelong.djvu/27

 the original one almost unanimously carried, but only to meet with its former fate. To meet this exigency the Home Government passed two Bills, both of which were obstinately rejected by the Local Legislature. Eventually another was brought before the Council by one of its members, and in passing through Committee became so modified as to compromise in some degree the differences at issue. But the conduct of the home authorities throughout the whole of the business was so repugnant to the general feeling of the colonists as to lead to the formation of a strong anti-government party, who were but too readily supported by the democratic spirit pervading the diggings, and the hue and cry was raised against every measure of ministerial origin. Thus a spirit of disaffection got abroad, which wily demagogues were industrious in keeping alive, snatching at every opportunity the discord of opinions afforded, until it assumed a shape unmistakably at variance with all order and constituted authority.

We are no politicians, and speak only from what came under our own immediate notice. As to the information transmitted through the journals and newspapers of the day, but little reliance can be placed on their accuracy. Party spirit was carried to such a height that truth and even moderation were banished from their columns, and none were found sufficiently courageous to stem the torrent or thwart the course of the crisis. Such a state of things could not long exist. The evil had reached