22 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



the centres of population, glib, plausible fellows, with whom the 

 tongue was mightier than the pick, whose labours had not been 

 crowned with success, and to whom any drastic changes might 

 bring the chance of power. They were quick to see that an 

 inflammatory condition of feeling was spreading abroad, which 

 at any suitable moment could be fanned into a blaze that would 

 not easily be extinguished. The culminating trouble to which 

 these conditions led up began to oppress Sir Charles Hotham 

 early hi October, 1854. Though he surmounted the greatest of 

 the perils threatened, he found himself, six months later, with his 

 ideals defeated, his temper soured, his spirit broken, and carrying 

 a reputation for obstinacy that alienated alike his Executive and 

 the main body of the colonists. The story of the bloodshed at 

 Ballaarat, the only instance in the placid annals of Victoria of 

 the clash of arms in which disciplined troops took part, must 

 be told in another chapter. It is worth some detail, not only 

 because it represents the culmination of the years of disorganisation 

 in Government control, but also because the treatment of the 

 episode, in published accounts, has been generally coloured by 

 partisan statements, alike by the champions of authority and 

 the defenders of the diggers. 



