32 A HISTORY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



J. B. Humffray, the Secretary of the League, was already in Mel- 

 bourne in connection with the trial ; to him were despatched Messrs. 

 Black and Kennedy, armed with the resolutions of the meeting, and 

 with instructions to bring the prisoners back with them. 



They arrived in Melbourne on the 25th of November, and as soon 

 as the Governor got a hint of their mission he inferred trouble. 

 Before according them a reception, he made arrangements for the 

 transit to Ballaarat on the following day of eighty men of the 12th 

 Eegiment under Captain Atkinson, and fifty of the 40th Eegiment 

 under Captain Wise. Later on he directed that they should be 

 accompanied by all the mounted police that could be spared, and two 

 pieces of artillery. 



On the morning of the 27th of November the Governor, having 

 cleared the decks for action, supported by Mr. Stawell, the Attorney- 

 General, and Mr. Foster, the unpopular head of the Cabinet, received 

 the deputation. The delegates did not shirk their instructions, and 

 the word "demand" jarred upon the sensitiveness of the quarter- 

 deck martinet. He said, as the representative of Her Majesty, he 

 could not allow the word to be used, but a properly worded memo- 

 rial on behalf of the prisoners would receive every consideration. 

 Mr. Humffray, who showed great moderation and tact, would fain 

 have embraced this suggestion, but Mr. Black was emphatic that 

 they had no power to vary the instructions given to them so explicitly 

 by the meeting. The demand was consequently refused, though the 

 delegates were told that important reforms in the management of 

 the goldfields were even then under consideration, and would soon 

 be promulgated. As a parting shot Kennedy implored the Governor 

 to allow the men to return with them as the only means of avoiding 

 bloodshed. This covert threat roused His Excellency to say that, 

 whatever the consequences, he could not be a party to the destruction 

 of the authority of the Government, or lightly set aside the most 

 important principle of the British Constitution, the verdict of a 

 jury. 



Meanwhile, all over the Ballaarat district the trees were placarded 

 with a summons to a mass meeting to be held on 29th November to 

 receive the answer which the delegates would bring. The wording 

 of the placards was very inflammatory, and after setting forth the 



