230 A. HISTOKY OF THE COLONY OF VICTORIA 



convictism might have penetrated. The meteoric display of suc- 

 cessful bravado acted injuriously in many respects. It inflamed a 

 lot of half-taught youths with wild ideas of the heroism of a 

 freebooter's life, and with sickly sentimentality placed Kelly on a 

 pedestal beside the buccaneering celebrities of the Elizabethan age. 

 They pictured a man of abundant resources, riding the noblest of 

 steeds, wearing the armour of Ivanhoe, greeted by the smiles of 

 maidens and the applause of comrades ; robbing only those who 

 could well afford to lose and generously sharing his booty with 

 the poor. The creature that was so idealised was for most of his 

 time a poor shabby skulker, hiding from decent people, distrustful 

 of his own comrades and relations, gorged and intoxicated one day, 

 to go hungry for many others, sleeping in his clothes for weeks 

 together, with no peace of mind, and no rest from the haunting 

 dread of capture. 



That such a gang could lord it over authority so long was a 

 blot on civilisation, and their extermination, slow and costly as it 

 was, relieved the colony of a stigma, and finally closed the episode 

 of bushranging in Victoria. In its expiring flutter it revealed one 

 regrettable trait hi the character of a Victorian crowd, an ingrained 

 sympathy with defiance of the law, in which it must be admitted 

 that the chosen legislators of the people had set a bad example. At 

 a meeting of fully 5,000 persons held in Melbourne, whereat one of 

 the most passionate speakers was a prominent politician who once 

 held Ministerial office, resolutions were unanimously carried urging 

 the Government to spare Ned Kelly from the extreme sentence of 

 the law. Foolish and treasonable speeches were tumultuously 

 applauded and much maudlin sympathy paraded. But although 

 similar gatherings were held in several other towns in the colony, 

 and many petitions were received, the Executive, representing the 

 opinions of the sane majority, refused to palter so grievously with 

 the claims of justice. 



The reign of Sir Bryan O'Loghlen, Bart., from July, 1881, to 

 1883, was nearly colourless in its legislative aspect, for he was 

 practically without a Parliamentary majority. It was an epoch of 

 marking time, varied by occasional feints at the overthrow of the 

 Administration. Peace, in the political sense, had been to a large 



