CHAPTEE XIV. 



THE FIRST LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL THE MEN AND THEIR 

 MEASURES. 



IT might naturally have been supposed that the approaching re- 

 alisation of the desire of the Victorian colonists the election by 

 themselves of at least a dominant majority of their own Legislature 

 a privilege for which they had struggled for so many years, would 

 have been a period of delirious excitement and joyful anticipation. 

 Strange to say, so far from this being the case, politics almost ceased 

 to charm. The meteoric meetings and the stirring oratory that had 

 done so much to win separation were succeeded by a condition of 

 torpor that approached absolute indifference. 



A great disturbing factor had insinuated itself into the conditions 

 and prospects of the colony. The discovery by Mr. Hargraves of 

 rich deposits of gold at Bathurst occurred while the legal formalities 

 of separation were in course of completion, and the news, which 

 seemed to promise the mother-colony such an era of wealth and 

 prosperity, had at first a depressing effect in Melbourne. People 

 were not wanting who said that the Victorians had been too pre- 

 cipitate, that they had lost their share in the great fortune which 

 had come to their late partner, and that while New South Wales 

 would be attracting the enterprise of all the world Victoria would 

 have to be contented with the slow progress which wool-growing 

 and agriculture could command. And it seemed at first as though 

 the croakers were justified, for a considerable exodus set in, and 

 Melbourne was threatened with depopulation. While the small 

 coasting craft bound to Sydney were overcrowded with passengers, 

 a restless condition of nervous anxiety seized upon those who re- 

 mained. Half-forgotten stories of alleged gold-finding in the Porlj 



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