Page:Victoria, with a description of its principal cities, Melbourne and Geelong.djvu/29

 too prematurely and dictatorially adopted), and the tide of popular feeling turned. At first his officers were attacked in the House, and the Colonial Secretary, finding the pleasures of office no longer agreeable, resigned, A more moderate style was then adopted; but the emeute had too far advanced, in fact was over, previous to his retirement. That Sir Charles Hotham was a man of talent and diplomatic skill no one will deny; yet no one could be more ill fitted for the post he held; and though the active and energetic measures he sanctioned were, in most instances, called for, yet the manner of carrying them out was hasty and injudicious, and considered by the free and independent colonists as savouring too much of the quarter-deck.

In calmly looking over the events of the past year, it is easy to perceive that the state of the colony was but little understood by the Home Government; perchance, distracted as they were by the then all-engrossing subject of the war, the legislature and rising importance of Victoria became of secondary consideration.

Those who have watched the growth of the colony cannot fail to have been struck with the wonderful and rapid strides it made during the three years preceding the era of which we write. It is a proud triumph of the Anglo-Saxon race, and affords another proof of their singular aptitude for colonization. Three years ago the population of the colony was 80,000. The number is now nearly 300,000, so