THE REVOLT OF THE DIGGERS 29 



vie ted of the manslaughter of Scobie, and sentenced to three years 

 on the roads. 



So far the result was hailed by the diggers as a full justification 

 of their riotous proceedings ; but when, a few days later, the news 

 reached Ballaarat that Mclntyre, Fletcher and Westerby had been 

 found guilty and sentenced to terms of imprisonment, they were 

 quick to see the injustice of inflicting a punishment on three men, 

 practically taken at random, for an offence hi respect of which 

 quite 500 were equally guilty. Their indignation was ,to some 

 extent justified by the rider which the jury appended to their 

 verdict, " that they would never have had their painful duty to 

 perform if those Government officials at Ballaarat had done theirs 

 properly ". The ever-growing hostility between the police and the 

 diggers strongly impressed the latter with the necessity for some 

 form of organisation, if they hoped to make their protests felt. 

 Hence, on the llth of November a meeting of some 3,000 miners 

 was held on Bakery Hill, where enthusiasm was stimulated by 

 much frothy oratory and selections of martial music. Actually the 

 multitude had been attracted by the stormy incidents arising out of 

 the burning of the Eureka Hotel, but the leaders amongst them saw 

 a means of bringing pressure to bear on the authorities to remedy 

 their grievances without having to resort to arms. Therefore, they 

 devised a combination of aggressive and defensive tactics, which 

 they christened " The Ballaarat Eeform League," and which the 

 Ballaarat Times, in a leader of hysterical jubilation, hailed as " the 

 germ of Australian Independence ". 



In addition to certain local demands connected with the Bentley 

 affair, the League proceeded to formulate a political creed, of which 

 the chief articles were : 



The right of all the people to Parliamentary representation. 



Manhood suffrage. 



No property qualification for candidates. 



Payment of members. 



Short duration of Parliaments. 



Immediate abolition of diggers' and storekeepers' licences. 

 Thus, what had hitherto been a personal matter, rankling in in- 

 dividuals with a sense of tyranny and injustice, was at this meeting 



