150 A HISTOKY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



municipal corporations, public bodies and the representative institu- 

 tions of commerce and banking, the total did not fall short of a 

 quarter of a million sterling. But if the jubilation was somewhat 

 extravagant, it must be remembered that the occasion was unpre- 

 cedented ; the colonists as a rule were prospering ; the season was 

 good, the weather superb, and enthusiasm was the order of the day. 

 The visit came at an opportune time, at an acute crisis in the dead- 

 lock, when the Assembly had just been dissolved for an appeal to 

 the country. The ugly mutterings about separation received a 

 check. The fickle mob, which had been unsparing in the use of 

 invective and threats against the Colonial Secretary of State, now 

 rent the air with cheers behind the carriage of the representative of 

 that authority they had but yesterday so fiercely denounced. The 

 order-loving citizens were glad of the opportunity to show the 

 hollowness of disloyal talk, and they grudged neither trouble nor 

 expense in doing so. For a week Melbourne was delirious with 

 excitement. The streets were spanned with numerous theatrical 

 arches ; by day they were gay with bunting and at night ablaze 

 with illuminations. Balls, garden-parties and picnics ; special race 

 meetings and cricket matches ; firework displays in the public parks, 

 al fresco banquets and torchlight processions filled up the hours. 

 Business was left to take care of itself, and the streets were 

 thronged continuously with a pleasure-seeking crowd. There was 

 only one deplorable fiasco. It had been proposed to mark the 

 occasion by giving a free feast to the poor, but the liberality of the 

 donors was so excessive that the tons of provisions sent in would 

 have provided for twenty times the number who could properly 

 come under that designation. The consequence was that the feast 

 was thrown open to all who chose to come, and a surging crowd of 

 50,000 people gathered around the reserve in Richmond Park early 

 in the day. Arrangements had been made by which about one- 

 third of this number might with reasonable patience have ob- 

 tained some sort of accommodation. But the Prince did not arrive, 

 the day was oppressively hot, and when the hour for the banquet 

 was long past, the crowd got out of hand, broke down the 

 barriers and rushed the provisions. As the hogsheads of ale got 

 broached, and the fountain of colonial wine was invaded by the 



