The Chronicles of Early Melbourne/Volume 1/Chapter 25
CHAPTER XXV.
ELECTIONS TO THE LEGISLATURE OF NEW SOUTH WALES.
SYNOPSIS:— Qualification of Electors. —Rev. Dr. Lang. —His Religious Fanaticism. —The First District Election. —The Candidates. —The First Melbourne Election. —Party War Cries. —"Orange" and "Green." —Condell's Beer "Boycotted." —Judge Willis a Political Canvasser. —"See the Conquering Hero Comes." —The Polling Day. —Mayor Condell First Parliamentary Member. —Curr's Defeat. —Major St. John, Suaviter in modo, et Fortiter in re. —The "Riot Act" Read. —"Light-weight Davey." —Attack on the Imperial Inn. —Greene's Auction Mart Cannonaded. —The Mob Fired On. —Greene's Apprehension. —Greene, Greenaway and Martin, Discharged from Custody. —Mr. Edward Curr's Sectarianism. —Condell's Resignation. —Mr. Joseph Phelps Robinson his Successor. —Resignation of Messrs. Ebden and Thomson. —Election of Sir Thomas Mitchell and Mr. Adolphus William Young. —Resignation of Sir Thomas Mitchell. — Mr. Benjamin Boyd his Successor. —Resignation of Messrs. Walker and Young. —Captain O'Connell and Mr. T.E. Boyd their Successors. —Mr. Benjamin Boyd Resigns his Seat. —Mr. Edward Curr's Election. —Mr. T. E. Boyd Resigns his Seat. —Mr. E.J. Brewster's Return. —Mr. Edward Curr's Resignation. —Election of Mr. John Leslie Foster. —Resignation of Dr. Lang. —Mr. John Moore Airey's Election. —Mr. Brewster's Resignation. —Election of Mr. C. H. Ebden. —The General Elections of July, 1848. —A Political Coup de Maitre. —Memorial to the Secretary of State. —Election of Earl Grey as Member for Melbourne. —The Duke of Wellington, Lord Brougham, Lord John Russell, Lord Palmerston, and Sir Robert Peel, Nominated for the District. —Election of Messrs. McKinnon, Williamson, Dixon, Palmer, and Curr. —Mr. Williamson's Resignation in 1849. —Mr. William McArthur his Successor. —Nomination and Defeat of the Duke of Wellington. —Mr. Edward Curr's Resignation. —Mr. J. L. Foster his Successor. —Dr. Palmer's Resignation. —Mr. Henry Moor Succeeds to the Vacancy. —Mr. McKinnon's Resignation. —The "Iron Duke" again Defeated. —Mr. McKinnon Re-elected, 1849. —Messrs. Foster and McKinnon's Resignations in 1850. —Election of Messrs. Ebden and Mercer. —Resignation of Earl Grey. —Election of Mr. William Westgarth.
THE colony of New South Wales (including, of course, the district of Port Phillip) was governed by a Nominee Council until the enactment 5 and 6 Vict, C. 76 (30th July, 1842), when the first concession of anything approaching Representative Government was granted. By this it was ordained that a Legislative Council should be constituted, consisting of 36 members — 24 to be elective, and 12 nominated by the Crown. Of the former, Port Phillip was to return a fourth, i.e., one for the town of Melbourne, and five for the district. The qualification of electors was an estate of freehold in possession, of lands or tenements in own right within the district for which the vote was given, of the clear value of £200 at least, above all charges and incumbrances; or a householder occupying a dwelling of a clear annual value of £20 at least; the voter to be 21 years of age, either a natural born subject, or naturalized, or the holder of letters of denizenship according to law, and an occupier for six months prior to issue of the writ of election; but persons attainted or convicted of treason, felony or infamous offence, could not vote unless pardoned or had undergone sentence or punishment. No person was eligible to serve as a member unless a subject or naturalized, 21 years old, and possessing for his own use and benefit freehold estate in New South Wales, of lands or tenements, of the yearly value of £100 , or worth £2000, above all charges and incumbrances. The Council was to continue for five years; but the Governor had power to dissolve it sooner. The Act came into operation in 1843, and the people grew excited over the novelty, and determined that the first elections, at all events, should be carried on with no lack of public spirit. As a consequence there was a great deal of preliminary agitation and canvassing. Election meetings were held, money was melted, liquor drank, and bad blood engendered. It was announced that the Reverend Dr. Lang was coming from Sydney to offer himself as a candidate; and this intensified the excitement, because of his past writing and speaking against, and his extremely intolerant views respecting, the Irish Roman Catholics. A Papist was Dr. Lang's earthly abomination, and the mere name of one of that benighted creed had much the same quieting effect upon him as the shaking of a red blanket before a wild bull. He was a man of exceptional ability and untiring energy; but a kind of political church militant, never out of trouble with his own or some other sect. He invariably fanned the smouldering embers of religious fanaticism. For Melbourne, Mr. Edward Curr was a candidate, and his admitted talent and past public services led to a presumption that he would not be opposed; but this belief was unfounded. From the Civic Elections of the year before there survived a remnant of party feeling, which the presence of Dr. Lang (now arrived) roused to a wild frenzy; and thus the efficient representation of the town sank into a very secondary consideration, as compared with the gratification of sectarian intolerance. Much difficulty was experienced in getting a party of sufficient social standing to enter the lists against Mr. Curr, whose special fitness for the post was universally acknowledged; and but for Curr himself, the probability was that he would have had a "walk-over." Lang was at this time a declared candidate, and he, Curr and others, addressed various meetings of the constituencies. Mr. Curr was very dogmatic and overbearing, and at one of his gatherings he declared that if Dr. Lang were returned for the district, he (Curr) wrould not go to Sydney as member for Melbourne. This was crossing the line and no mistake. Many who appreciated Curr's ability rebelled against his bounce. Renewed efforts were made to get up an opposition, and a rival was finally found in Mr. Henry Condell, the brewer (who was also Mayor), a vain, empty-headed individual, and whose candidature, under ordinary circumstances, would have been resented as an impertinence.
There were six candidates for the five district seats, and the interest of the election was centred in the return or rejection of Dr. Lang. The candidates were:— Dr. Thomson (of Geelong), Mr. C. H. Ebden, Dr. Lang, Sir Thomas Mitchell (Surveyor-General), Dr. Nicholson, and Mr. Thomas Walker, a wealthy merchant. The reasons of there being only two "Port Phillipians" were the inconvenience and expense entailed by a Parliamentary attendance in Sydney. The most virulent opposition was directed against Lang, some of whose meetings were of the rowdiest kind, and he more than once narrowly escaped personal violence.
The First District Election
Was the first to take place, and the nomination was fixed for the 13th June. The hustings was erected at the Cattle Market, now the intersection of Elizabeth and Victoria Streets, and from an early hour its vicinity was garrisoned by all the available police force (cavalry and infantry), supplemented by a number of ticket-of-leave convicts, whom Major St. John, the Returning Officer, in some perverse freak of humour, had sworn in as special constables. He also issued cards of admittance to the stage, without which no person was permitted to ascend to the reserved circle. About 11 o'clock the Committee and supporters of Sir Thomas Mitchell made their appearance, wearing scraps of ribbon and waving small flags. Dr. Nicholson's partisans were followed by those of Messrs. Ebden and Walker, whoo chartered the Town Band, and the musicians wore white and red rosettes, having their instruments ribanded in similar finery. They also sported half-a-dozen banners inscribed with "Separation," "Independence," "Education," etc. The last to appear was the thoroughly hated, and thorough good hater—the Reverend Doctor, encircled by a cordon of backers, in a state of ultra-excitability. Each candidate was loudly cheered, but Dr. Lang was saluted with a hurricane of groaning and cheering, the groans preponderating, and the united discord of sounds echoing through the surrounding forest. Lang boldly confronted the bellowing human herd, with a peculiar physiognomical expression of half sneer worked into a mixture of smile and frown. In response, the vocabulary of back-slum slang was put under requisition for terms sufficiently opprobrious, and the vilest threats and most foul-mouthed epithets were hurled at him. Firm as a tower, and cool as a cucumber, he never quailed for a moment as he gazed on the sea of contorted faces surging below him. The spirit of the game-cock was now in his eye, though, as a rule, he preferred the distant war-whoop to a close quarter combat. During a temporary calm the following nominations were made:—
Dr. Alexander Thomson, proposed and seconded by Messrs. James Montgomery and Skene Craig.
The Rev. John Dunmore Lang, by Dr. Peter M'Arthur and Mr. George S. Brodie.
Sir Thomas Livingstone Mitchell, by Mr. J. L. Foster and Captain M'Crae. Mr. Charles Hotson Ebden, by Captain G. W. Cole and Mr. Alfred Langhorne.
Mr. Thomas Walker, by Messrs. Joseph Hawdon and Alexander Andrews.
Dr. Charles Nicholson, by Messrs. A. F. Mollison and Archibald Cunninghame.
It was arranged that each candidate, or representatives for the absentees, should address the assemblage in the order of nomination. They did so, and all obtained a fair hearing except Lang, who was subjected to such a storm of hooting and hissing that after several persistent ineffectual efforts to speak, he was obliged to give way, and submitted with a bad grace. A show of hands was next taken, and declared to be in favour of Ebden, Nicholson and Lang, whereupon Dr. Thomson demanded a poll, which was appointed for the 20th June.
The whole province was one electorate, with three polling places, viz., Melbourne, Geelong and Portland. On the polling day there was only one booth opened for Melbourne, viz., that at the Lamb Inn (now Scott's Hotel). The gross poll at the several localities named was:— For Ebden 228, Walker 217, Nicholson 205, Thomson 183, Lang 165, Mitchell 157. The first five were consequently elected.
The official declaration was made on the 24th June, in the same place as the nomination. Ebden had the Town band playing through the streets for some time before noon. He was the only successful candidate present, and returned thanks in a ponderous, inflated speech. Proxies appeared on behalf of Walker, Nicholson, and Mitchell. Thomson and Lang were both absent and unrepresented, the former having returned home to Geelong that morning and the latter started overland for Sydney. At the conclusion of the ceremonial, when Ebden, his brother, Edward Curr, and J. L. Foster, were about to be driven away in Ebden's carriage, their supporters unshafted the horses, relays of shouting volunteer bipeds took their places and the vehicle was hauled at a quick pace through the streets. But all the interest taken in the "chairing" was suddenly eclipsed if not extinguished by the welcome news that a mandate of the Executive suspending Judge Willis from office, had been received from Sydney.
The First Melbourne Election.
When a contest was known to be inevitable it evoked the fiercest feelings of political antagonism and religious acrimony. Every disturbing element was called into play, the exuviæ of the internecine feuds of the old country were re-heated, and the discordant party war-cries of "Orange" and "Green" were raised in the furore. Election meetings were held in the several Wards, where the tumultuous rows were most discreditable. House-to-house canvassing was made, and threats and intimidation of every kind freely interchanged. Exclusive dealing against the shopkeepers was vowed; the Irish publicans swore lustily they would never again buy a barrel of Condell's beer; and the Irish tipplers were as emphatic against ever drinking it. As a climax to these indecencies, the Resident Judge (Willis) dishonored the ermine of his high office by requesting the retailers, with whom he did business, to vote for Condell; and one day, whilst on a vote-touting expedition, Willis and Curr met face to face in the shop of Mr. Charles Williamson, a Collins Street draper (lately Alston and Brown's), where the Judge waxed so personally offensive that Curr's forbearance only prevented the public scandal of a pugilistic encounter between the judicial canvasser and the candidate.
The 15th June, 1843, was the period appointed for the Borough nomination, and a hustings was put up on a stretch of waste land where the Town Hall now stands. Alderman Russell was Returning Officer, in consequence of the disqualification of the Mayor, through his being a candidate. Curr was the people's favourite, and his Committee having secured the Town Band, the strains of "See the Conquering Hero Comes" were heard, accompanied by Curr and a numerous body-guard of friends. Condell arrived soon after with his principal supporters.
The writ was read by the Town Clerk, and the Returning Officer eulogised that high privilege, the pride and the boast of every loyal subject throughout the whole of Britain's Isles, namely, "The System of Representation," and concluded a brief though excellent address with a hope "that they fully appreciated the trust reposed in them—the first electors for the Borough of Melbourne—the capital of Australia Felix." Mr. Edward Curr was proposed by Mr. George Were, and seconded by Doctor Dixon; whilst Messrs. John Porter and James Brown acted as political sponsors for Mr. Henry Condell. The speeches of Messrs. Curr and Dixon were deliverances of marked ability. The Currites obtained fair play, but the Condellites, especially the Mayor himself, were subjected to much interruption. But, though not a justification, there was this difference, that Curr was probably the ablest public man in the province, and his opponent just the reverse. The show of hands was very much in favour of Curr, and on the demand of Condell, a poll was fixed for the 17th June.
The First Election Polling Day
Was an event to be long remembered in Melbourne, for never, in the election annals of the colony was there fiercer animosity, grosser provocation, or more riotous excesses. The opposition was an intensely factious one, started not so much to oust Curr as to glut the morbid appetite of national and religious malignity. To accomplish this the fierce flame of unholy bigotry was lit up alike in the public meeting and the tap-room, on the canvassing tour, and in the ranting conventicle. The two cliques of which the Corporation was composed, were answerable in no small degree for such a deplorable state of things; and the arch-disturber Lang was on the spot striring up the fires of fanaticism in something of the manner of a stoker raking his furnace. It was providential that the day passed over without loss of life, and miraculous that Lang was able to retire that night to his peaceful pillow without sustaining grievous bodily harm.
There was one polling place in each of the four Wards, opening at 9 a.m. and closing at 4 p.m. Then, and for years after, there was no such thing as vote by ballot—nothing but straight, outspoken, open voting in much the Corporation style. It was done in this way. Each elector on presenting himself received a card on which the names of the several candidates were printed. He erased the names for which he did not vote, and after signing returned the document to the Returning Officer, who thus read aloud "John Smith votes for Tom Jones," and if Tom Jones was a popular idol, John Smith was greeted with loud cheering; but if not, the voter, after performing a duty to his country, on leaving the room was pushed and knocked about, and getting into the street was lucky if he did not meet with even rougher treatment from a half drunken crowd loafing outside; and the hugging and hustling, cheering and groaning, blessing and cursing, according to the humour of the rabble, was a source of anything but amusement to the victim of them. Furthermore, the receptacles into which the cards were dropped, were repeatedly opened, the votes counted, and the state of the poll issued on slips every hour, sometimes oftener. These bulletins would be posted outside the door, and so far from allaying, only served to increase the excitement tenfold, and heated the bubbling passions of the populace to boiling point. The friends of the candidates were to be seen from cock-crow running about, buzzing and busying like bees, their fussiness encumbering their utility, and their verba embarassing their facta. Curr's adherents worked openly; Condell's to a great extent sub rosa; and yet, contrary to general expectation, the Mayor led from the start, was never collared during the race, and was landed at the winning post by a majority of 34, the numbers at the close ofthe poll being—Condell 295, Curr 261.
In the afternoon Curr was so far behind as to render his return hopeless. He was the favourite, and his backers were in a state of desperation. Some of Condell's voters were openly threatened, and, after voting, were not only abused in unmeasured terms, but in some instances assaulted. As the time for announcing the poll approached, the excitement giew almost uncontrollable. The towns-people congregated in thousands in front of the chief polling place, the Mechanics' Institution, in Collins Street, and the approach was kept by a body of special constables. The point of endurance had been at length reached, and there was about to be an explosion, when Major St. John, the Police Magistrate, galloped up the street, waving a policeman's truncheon over his head, and followed by Captain Dana, the chief of the native police, with four white and six sable troopers. St. John had tact in dealing with a mob, for he was not devoid of presence of mind and good humour in emergencies; he had also a stock of mixed bounce and blarney, which went well together, the treacle and vinegar forming an amalgam which was taken with a degree of relish, where either dose by itself would be rejected. He said something in this strain:— "Well now my men, you know I am your friend, and come, like good fellows as you all are, have sense, and let there be no rowing; for, if you get up afight,by • it will be worse for you ! T h e election is n o w over, and what's the use of losing temper about it ? T h e thing is settled now, and no amount of broken heads can unsettle it. I have always found the Melbourne m e n good-humoured, decent fellows, and I don't want them to m a k e fools of themselves noyv. All of you had, therefore, better disperse peaceably, for if you don't I'll precious soon m a k e you. Noyv, like good fellows, do go h o m e quietly, and G o d bless you !" T h e Major was patiently beard to the end of his oration, when he yvas astounded by a stunning bombardment of yelling, groaning, and other indescribable vociferations, which infuriated him to a white heat. Soft soap was no longer at his c o m m a n d , and, pulling a copy of his favourite "Riot Act" from a breast pocket, he read it in loud and angry tones. T h e clamour continuing, on a signal from St. John, Dana and his troopers drew their swords, andfiercelybrandished them, as iffightingwith the air, but, beyond a little flashy pantomime, did nothing more. A n attempt was m a d e to unhorse the troopers, w h o shoyved m u c h forbearance, and in only one instance, where a half-mad " d r u n k " endeavoured to pull one of them to the ground, yvas a slight flesh-wound inflicted. Whilst all this was going on in front, Mr. Curr, obtaining an entrance at the rear of the building, appeared at one of the windows, and earnestly besought the people to separate peacefully, as the declaration of the poll would not be m a d e until Monday, the second day after. H e yvas received yvith loud cheering, intermixed with some groaning; but no disposition yvas shoyvn to comply with his entreaty. In a m o m e n t a storm of distant howling swept over the building, and it became knoyvn that some of the Condellites were undergoing corporal punishment at the rear of the Institute, in Little Collins Street. A w a y started the greater portion of the m o b , round by Russell Street, to the back lane, and off with them also galloped the Major and his whity-black pacificators ; but the actual shindy yvas over, and, after a hasty council of yvar, the leaders decided upon a plan of campaign. It was decided that the evening's amusement should take the form of guerilla scouting through various quarters of the town, the army to be told off in battalions offiftiesfor the expedition. A maddened m o b m a d e sectional forays through the several Wards, yelling like wild beasts, throwing stones, smashing yvindows, and insulting and assaulting wayfarers. T h e Police Magistrate sent couriers everywhere for assistance to enable him to abate or stamp out the increasing popular fury. A detachment of the military then in Melbourne were quickly turned out under the c o m m a n d of Captain Lewis, and every possible policeman was on the streets. F r o m bullying and blackguarding to house-yvrecking is only a step, and this small advance on the road to extreme violence yvas soon made. There lived at the northern side of Collins Street West, a few yards from the Elizabeth Street corner, a M r . David Young, the keeper of a grocer's shop. Whether from any deficiency in himself or in his scales I do not know, but he yvas known as " light-weight Davey." His active interference on behalf of Condell rendered him very obnoxious, and his establishment was thefirstto receive attention. O n e of the brio-ades already mentioned paraded in front of his place, stoned the yvindows (the age of plate-glass had not yet arrived), and doing m u c h damage. Young was most pressingly invited "to come forth ;" but " Davey" had not the courage to rush into the lion's mouth, and instead he was cute enough to remain as quiet as a cathaunted mouse until the storm bleyv over. T h e angry wave rolled up Collins Street, and next vented its fury upon Williamson's drapery mart (where Curr and Willis yvere so near playing the g a m e of fisticuffs), but the attack was discontinued, as it became known that Mr. Williamson had recorded his vote for Curr. T h e Imperial Inn, a little further up on the other side, was next attacked. This yvas a tidy, yvell-conducted hostelry, kept by a small barrel-bodied individual knoyvn as Henry Baker, whose peculiarities of temperament did not personally attract people toyvards him, but yvhose shilling dinners—a good square meal—yvere yvell worth thefigure,and went d o w n more pleasantly with his patrons than he did himself. His political proclivities were, however, on the yvrong side, and he, or rather his Imperial," was now in for it. T h e place yvas fusilladed, and one huge wedge of rock, propelled with catapultic force, dashed through a large window, and landed amongst a general state of smash. N o n e of the inmates were injured. Another contingent operated in Elizabeth Street, at the auction mart of one T h o m a s Greene, situated about half-yvay on the yvest side betyveen Bourke and Little Collins Streets. Greene, or someone from inside, retaliated by firing a pistol into the crowd, and, as mostly happens, hitting an innocent, or at least an unoffending, m a n named Patrick Murray. W o u n d e d in the back he fell to the ground, whence he yvas lifted on a door unhinged in a hurry, and borne like a martyr from the field. T h e mart yvas now cannonaded yvith m u c h fury, the missiles bursting through the window-shutters and making piecemeal of the crockery, glass, and other breakables stored within. S o m e inmates retreating to the upper region discharged three shots in quick succession from one of the yvindows, without killing or dangerously wounding anyone. T h e only casualty happened to a Mr. R. Curie, a clerk of the Returning Officer's, w h o received part of one of the discharges in the foot. T h e m o b , goaded to fury by resistance, m a d e an ineffectual attempt to force the street door, and lynch anyone found inside. Stones and brickbats yvere freely resorted to, until the Police Magistrate yvith some soldiers, and mounted and foot police arrived. Major St. John succeeded better on this than on the prior occasion at the Mechanics', and displayed m u c h judgment and determination. Obtaining a parley with the ringleaders, he premised if they would disperse to force admittance to Greene's house and arrest all he found within ; so the m o b accepted this assurance, the siege was raised, and something like order restored. T h e Major kept his word, and, insisting upon an entry, was admitted, yvhen Greene and two other persons yvere apprehended, marched away amidst a din of derisive shouting, locked u p for the night in the watchhouse, and refused bail. T h e residence of the successful candidate, in Little Bourke Street East, was also interviewed, but escaped with trifling loss. Further up the same street was a tavern knoyvn as the Elephant and Castle, kept by Mr. Matthew Cantlon, against w h o m the m o b had what is colonially termed a " down," and thither they moved on from Condell's. T h e place was attacked, the bar windoyvs broken, and some interior injury inflicted, when a shot yvas fired without taking effect. About ten o'clock the rioting had died out, and nothing of the tempest remained save occasional drunken quarrelling and the tittering of loud vows of vengeance. A s precautionary measures against a possible violent reaction, all the hotels yvere peremptorily compelled to shut up their "drinkeries" until morning, and the police patroled the highways and byeways until far after "cock-crow." Through all these scenes of tribulation, the Rev. Dr. Lang, mischief-maker-in-chief, and principal factor in producing this outbreak of popular incendiarism, was at the private residence of his fiius Achates, Mr. William Kerr, in West Lonsdale Street, convivially enjoying the company of a select coterie of "brither Scots," little recking the direful consequences, which might have sprung from the civil commotion they yvere instrumental in fomenting. Dr. Lang had been advertised to preach on the following evening (Sunday) at the Collins Street Independent Church ; but though there was a numerous and expectant congregation, the pulpit knew him not. It was rumoured that he had received a mysterious premonition not to attend ; and his friends averred that there was a banditti of three or four disguised bravoes in the gallery, with secreted weapons, in waiting to assassinate him. There is little doubt that this was a cleverly got up canard to cover the Doctor's retreat, or veil bis cowardice. If met with on the polling evening he might have had a crack on the head or a knock over; but that there was any deliberate plot to shoot or stab him either in the dark or light is simply a fiction. In truth his courage failed, he showed the " white feather," and although he ostentatiously vaunted himself a missionary of " peace and goodwill amongst all men," his practice and his preaching yvere as disuniting asfireand water. O n the M o n d a y morning, three individuals, viz, T h o m a s Greene, Christopher Greenaway, and William Martin, were charged at the Police Court with discharging firearms, intending thereby to do bodily harm. There was no evidence yvhatever against t h e m — n o t a shred of proof as to identity : and under the circumstances, the Bench of Magistrates ordered them to be released unconditionally. T h e official declaration of the poll yvas m a d e at noon the same d a y - t h e ceremony yvas a mere formula, the monotony of yvhich yvas only relieved by a protest against the return on certain technical grounds, to test which a petition would be duly transmitted to Sydney. Nothing further was ever done in the matter. T h e excitement would have soon blown over but for an unpardonable indiscretion of the defeated candidate, yvho would be no party to an early burial of the hatchet. M r . Edward Curr was one of the most trusted public m e n and prudent advisers of the District in its early agitations; but, with all his shrewdness and ability, was not a Nestor either in Council or newspaper. A day or two after the closing of the election, Mr. Curr published one of the most inflammatory and injudicious epistles that was ever penned. In it he inveighed with truculent bitterness against the sectarianism infused into the contest by the presence and the actions of Dr. Lang, and the virulent attacks levelled against the R o m a n Catholic portion of the population by the Langite organ, the Patriot. T h e following extracts were deemed so presumptuous, unauthorised, and ill-timed, that their writer was never forgiven by either friends or foes :— " For the sake of peace and harmony, I will retain m y position (of leadership) during the good pleasure of m y Irish supporters. They will have a leader against " Orange" ascendancy, and they can find a thousand worse than myself before they obtain one w h o is better; and Melbourne yvould be laid in ashes on the first occasion if the leadership of that warm-hearted and insulted people were transferred from an English Conservative to an Irish agitator.
I have not sought m y present bad eminence, but there are those in Melbourne w h o must consider themselves as yvearing their ears through m y mediation, and I wish them to remember that the unlettered m o b w h o should crop them are not one whit more overstepping their bounds than are those wicked and heartless men, w h o wantonly set up the detestable flag before which I have for the present been vanquished." Though but a mere youth at the time, I had better opportunities of knowing more of the Irish feeling and Irish temperament then prevalent in Melbourne than Mr. Curr. I have as m u c h knowledge of the same subjects n o w possibly as most m e n in the colony ; therefore, calmly looking back over the current of time which a period of forty years has traversed, I can safely declare that any " English Conservative " who, from the White Settlement of the country to this day, ever fancied that he could hound on the Irish colonists, like so many wild Indians, to worry and scalp any other section of society, must be the victim of some wicked hallucination begotten by cerebral disturbance, or disarrangement of the nervous system, sufficient to exclude him from the class of beings presumed to be morally and legally accountable for their actions. A n d so ends a narrative of the First Parliamentary Election held in Victoria, as written by a spectator of some of the incidents therein described. At a time yvhen it was a matter of supreme importance to Port Phillip to be ably represented in the Legislature of N e w South Wales, the defeat of Mr. Curr was little short of a public calamity ; and though everybody in his conscience felt it to be so, everybody was far from openly acknoyvledging it. Mr. Condell, on the opening of the Session, bade good-bye to his Little Bourke Street Malting, and set off to attend to his neyvly-born Senatorial duties, bearing with him to Sydney neither social weight nor ordinary ability. H e was a dummy—barely a respectable one ; a mere voting machine. His absence from business soon told on him, the listlessness of Sydney life to a m a n of his mental capacity quickly tired him, and in February, 1844, he resigned his seat. Mr. Ebden and Dr. T h o m s o n for private reasons folkmed suit a few weeks after, thus extinguishing for the time all resident representation. T h e election for the town vacancy so created was held on the r2th March. T h e only candidate offering yvas Mr. Joseph Phelps Robinson, a Sydney merchant, and largely connected with banking interests. H e was proposed by Captain Cole, seconded by Mr. H . G. Ashurst, and returned as a matter of form. Mr. Robert Fennell, a relative and his Melbourne agent, briefly returned thanks on his behalf, and all was over in ten minutes. Mr. Robinson continued to represent Melbourne until the Earl Grey election, and, with the exception of Dr. Lang, was one of the best of the many non-resident members that followed in subsequent years. H e was an Irish Quaker, born on the banks of the Suire, a romantic river, in that yvell-known county of Southern Ireland, Tipperary. H e was a liberal benefactor ofthe Mechanics' Institution and the Melbourne Hospital. T h e seats vacated by Ebden and T h o m s o n werefilledthe month after, and, singularly enough, called forth an acrimonious contest, got up by some of the most rampant of the Curr opponents at the first election, who, in the most ludicrous manner, changed not only sides, but colours on this occasion. N o local m a n could be induced to stand ; and as for Curr, like a modern Achilles, he retired to his tent at Abbotsford, and sulked his time away. H e was therefore out of the question. T w o officials of the N e w South Wales Government offered themselves, for there was no such awkward stumbling block as an " Officials in Parliament A c t " to bar the yvay. They yvere Sir T h o m a s Mitchell, the Surveyor-General (the only rejected candidate at thefirstelection), and M r . Adolphus William Young, the Sheriff. They were influentially supported, and up to the nomination day (16th April) it was believed there would be no opposition. At the eleventh hour, however, a rival was brought forward in the person of another Sydney gentleman, Captain Maurice C. O'Connell, without either his knowledge or consent. This was a factious movement (instigated by an antipathy to the squatters), by Messrs. William Kerr, J. P. Fawkner, H . W . Mortimer, and others w h o yelped most loudly in the anti-Irish cry raised by Dr. Lang on behalf of Condell. These gentry n o w saw no inconsistency in "jumping Jim Crow," and because the "Captain" was a namesake and cousin of Daniel O'Connell, then at the zenith of his Irish political career, they acknowledged that a good deal after all might be m a d e out of a name, and through its agency the Irish vote and Irish influence could be m a d e to serve their purpose. T h e " O r a n g e " banner was consequently muffled, the " G r e e n " substituted, and the Orangemen of Melbourne for the nonce became apparently as ardent admirers of the detested colour, as the Prince of Orange yvas in reality at the " Battle of the Boyne," when he issued an order that his soldiers should pluck the green branches off the adjacent trees, stick them in their caps, and fight under the cognizance of the green cockade. M r . William Verner was appointed Returning Officer, and the nomination was held on the 16th of April, on a hustings erected in front of the new (now old) Court House. Sir T h o m a s Mitchell was proposed by Mr. James Simpson, and seconded by Dr. M'Crea; M r . A. W . Young, by M r . J. L. Foster and Major Firebrace; Captain O'Connell by Messrs. Samuel R a y m o n d and T h o m a s Wills ; Mr. Edward Curr, mirabilc dictu, quite unexpectedly advocating the Captain's election. Mr. Y o u n g was the only candidate yvho appeared in person and delivered a short address, and a poll was appointed for the 23rd at Melbourne, Geelong, and Portland. A n d now, by one of those extraordinary political card tricks yvhich some yvhim of chance occasionally effects, a coalition was evolved as incongruous as any political shuffle that has been accomplished since. To compare it yvith the veering of a weather-cock would be incorrect. Here was Edward Curr, the self-dubbed leader of " the warm-hearted and impulsive people " (the Irish), whipping in his " unlettered m o b " to obey the behests of the malignant slanderers of everything Irish—the firebrand factionists w h o had put him out of the representation of Melbourne—the m e n who, according to his o w n empty bravado, "wore their ears through his mediation !" This gross tergiversation was never satisfactorily explained, and there could he no other supposition than that it originated in a vindictive desire to gratify some deeply buried private grudge towards one or more of the other candidates. T h e intervening week yvas a busy one. The "O'Connellites" were attended by Kerr, Mortimer, Fawkner, and a picked retinue of Scotch and North of Ireland body-guards. Curr, though yvorking privately, as if conscience-stricken, kept himself apart from the public demonstrations. T h e Irish Southerners generally m a d e up a large portion of the assemblages, and Kerr and his confreres used to ladle out to them like soup, a counterfeit soft sayvder—some drippings from the Blarney stone, put through afilterof Caledonian burr. T h e Irish Catholic element, before so shamefully reviled, was n o w lauded to the skies ; and it was noyv not only Erin-go-bragh, but everything that by any possibility could have direct or indirect connection yvith it, that yvas to be held in honour and respect. T h e Fawkner-^«z-Kerr " O r a n g e " organ, the Patriot, rang out in loud and shrill notes, the glories of the land of the Milesians ; cracked up to the skies the great Irish Liberator, the " Father of his country," and declared the Irish to be not only thefinest" peasantry," but the " greatest people " under the sun. If they only helped to return the Australian O'Connell, they would be securing the services of a second Liberator, and one who, following in the footsteps of his illustrious kinsman, would obtain for Port Phillip that yvhich the other in a similar sense was agitating for at H o m e , viz, a " Repeal of the Union " with New South Wales. T h e credulous, good natured, impulsive Irish colonists, in their ardent hero-worship of one they trusted and revered, actually believed the arrant trash that was thrown to them like chaff. The polling was held at the Lamb Lnn, and the excitement in town was considerable. About noon there was a large gathering in Collins Street, opposite the Royal Exchange Hotel (now the Bank of N e w South Wales), where Mr. Kerr mounted on a table, and in a loud Aberdeen patois, essayed the role of an Irish stump orator. H e was rapturously applauded and rushed by a Celtic guard of honor, hoisted on their shoulders, and carried off in triumph to the Patriot office. It was the most humiliating exhibition of h u m a n weakness that could be witnessed, and the Irish afterwards had good reason to repent it. It was bad enough at the first District Election, by unhorsing Ebden's carriage; but for a number of decent, well-to-do Irish Melbournians to get under Kerr and be " sat upon," was a self-imposed enthusiasm, as undignified as the author of it was unworthy. T o any reflecting person having a knowledge of the Municipal and Political cabals of the period, this complimentary manifestation must have appeared a compound of the most grotesque ingredients, so unsurpassably absurd as to provoke only wonderment and laughter. The ringmaster of this political circus, was a crazy tailor, w h o had been accused by the very individual so exalted to the "pride of the place," of having put up a trio of would-be assassins to murder Dr. Lang at thefirsttown election, and who, one day, some time after the present event, knocked Kerr into the channel for writing of him as "a half-hanged ruffian." O'Connell was beaten, the result being:—Mitchell 195, Young 134, O'Connell 94. T h e declaration was m a d e on the 29th, when Mr. Simpson returned thanks on behalf of Mitchell. Young yvas called for but did not appear, for though in Melbourne, it was said he was not ayvare of yvhat was taking place. T h e O'Connellites were loudly discontented with the issue, though they derived some poor consolation by Mr. Mortimer handing in a protest on behalf of their protege. Though the general interests of Port Phillip were identified with those of the whole colony, there were special issues apart from them in which this Province was particularly concerned, such as an Equitable Participation in the Punds appropriated to Immigration, the Expenditure of the Revenue on Public Works, and otherfinancialconsiderations; and occasions would arise in the Legislative Council when it was necessary in order to do justice to their constituents, that the non-residential representatives should consider Port Phillipfirstand N e w South Wales after. This was often embarrassing. There were, besides, times when the powerful opposition brought into existence, waged war so determinedly against the Government, that the fact of two of the District Representatives being Government office-holders proved very inconvenient; but Sir George Gipps soon let them knoyv that contingencies might occur in which "open questions" could not be recognised, that salaried employes of the Executive, in choosing which of the two masters they should serve, should not ignore the quarter from which they drew their annual stipend, and that they were expected, on all questions of importance, to vote with the Government benches. T h efirstintimation of this kind conveyed to Sir T h o m a s Mitchell, clearly convinced him that he could not preserve his independence as a Port Phillip m e m b e r and his Surveyor-Generalship together; so as an honourable and upright m a n should do he resigned his seat. T h e choice of his successor was m a d e in Melbourne on the ioth September, 1844, a n d , without opposition, Mr. Benjamin Boyd, a gentleman largely concerned in the mercantile and marine interests of Sydney, " yvalked over the course " almost in solemn silence. A blank of nearly a year n o w occurs without a single ripple of the Electoral waters, until the spring of 1845, when Messrs. T h o m a s Walker and A. W . Young resigned. T h e nomination for their successors yvas presided over by Mr. Verner, as Returning Officer, on the 7th August. Though the only candidates offering were Sydney men, it yvas known that for one of the seats there would be opposition. Mr. Archibald Boyd (another Sydney merchant and squatter) was proposed by M r . Archibald Cunninghame and seconded by Mr. Peter Inglis; Mr. J. P. Fawkner proposed, and Mr. Richard Ocock seconded, Captain O'Connell (the gentleman previously defeated); and Mr. Edward Curr, w h o was prone to creating surprises, and, to the astonishment of most present, declared he had risen from a sick bed to offer his strongest opposition to Mr. Boyd, w h o m he (metaphorically) tomahawked in an unmeasured style. O n a show of hands O'Connell had more than half in his favour, whilst there were only threeforMr. Boyd, who was not in attendance to demand a poll, and his "bottle-holders," unable to muster six electors to do it for him, Captain O'Connell yvas declared to have been duly elected. For the second vacancy there yvas no opposition, and Mr. T. E. Boyd yvas proposed by Major Firebrace, seconded by the Mayor (Dr. Palmer) and elected. This Mr. Boyd wasforyears manager of the Union Bank of Australia, and subsequently of the Colonial Bank. H e was an expert in working Bank " screws," but was otherwise unknown, and it yvas only the impossibility of then procuring any other local m a n that permitted his return. A s far as he was personally concerned, it was little more than a sham, for it is doubtful if he ever consented to be nominated. H e was absent from the nomination and never performed any service for the " greatness " so forced on him during the three months he was a member, for he never even condescended to be a "sitting" one. Mr. Benjamin Boyd resigned his seat in little more than a month, and on the 19th September the nomination of a successor took place. T h e loss of Mr. Edyvard Curr's eloquent advocacy of "Separation," the watch-word of the Province, yvas often acknowledged, and efforts were noyv m a d e to bring him forward. By this time he had rubbed off the fretfulness occasioned by hisfirstundeserved discomfiture. Atfirsthe "could not think of it," then he hesitated, and when a politician does so, he woos the fate of the proverbial hesitating lady. Finally, he yvas prevailed upon, and for a second time very scurvily treated, though not defeated. It yvas generally supposed Mr. Curr yvould be unopposed; but Mr. J. P. Fawkner nominated Mr. Neil Black, w h o was seconded by Mr. A. Sprot. Mr. Edward Curr was proposed by Mr. T h o m a s Wills, and seconded by Mr. E. E. Williams. Mr. Black was not in attendance, and had never sanctioned the unpardonable liberty taken with his name; but Mr. Curr addressed the assemblage, and there was a large show of hands in his favour. Six electors, however, were mustered to ask for a poll, which was appointed for the 26th. Mr. Black, on ascertaining what had been done, very properly withdrew his candidature, so there was virtually only a nominal contest. The gross number of votes recorded at the three polling places—Melbourne, Geelong and Portland—were: For Curr, 50; Black, 12 (all in Portland). Mr. Curr was at last a member of the Legislature, and the Fawknerian freak, which wantonly occasioned so much annoyance and expense, was much deprecated. Mr. T. E. Boyd resigned at the beginning of 1846, and on the 16th January Mr. E. J. Brewster was returned in his place without opposition. His electoral sponsors were Messrs. D. S. Campbell and Robert Fennell. The ceremony occupied less than ten minutes, and there were just twenty-two persons present, including five newspaper reporters, with the officials of the Supreme and Insolvent Courts. Mr. Brewster did good service in Sydney, where some measures of a practically useful nature were passed through his exertions.
Notwithstanding the desire of Mr. Edward Curr to serve his adopted country in the Legislature, and the obstacles surmounted in placing him there, Providence willed that his tenure of the trust should be of short continuance, for, owing to a deep family bereavement (the death of his son), he was constrained to resign in May, 1846, and on the 22nd June Mr. John Leslie Foster succeeded without opposition to the vacant seat. The candidate was proposed by Mr. James Simpson, and seconded by Major Firebrace. The proceedings were conducted by Mr. R. W. Pohlman, appointed District Returning Officer, vice Mr. Verner, who had left the colony; and the public were represented by five electors, with twelve "strangers," including four reporters and as many Supreme Court subordinates. Towards the end of 1847, Dr. Lang, beset by financial troubles, tendered his resignation; and about thirty persons assembled on the 15th December to elect Mr. John Moore Airey, of Geelong, to the position. Mr. Brewster resigned in 1848, and, on the 8th March, Mr. C. H. Ebden was returned unopposed in his place.
A Political "Coup de Maitre."
The quinquennial Legislature of New South Wales expired by effluxion of time in 1848, and there was a general election in July. Hitherto, through the difficulty of obtaining the services of local politicians, the representation of the Province resembled a corpus—a "subject"—for Sydney would-be Statesmen to make experiment upon, and the present afforded a grand opportunity. A quintette of Sydneyites, like so many modern Assyrians, came down as "wolves on the fold." They were Messrs. J. P. Robinson, W. S. Boyd, Adam Bogue, Archibald Boyd, and Samuel Raymond. The first and last named were favourably known in Port Phillip—Robinson as a courteous and attentive member for the town, and Raymond as the first Deputy-Sheriff here, and one of the Provincial Bar. Mr. Leslie Foster, a late member and a resident, was satisfied to accept a renewal of his seat, and he, with the Boyds Bogue and Raymond, made up just the District number, whilst Robinson was again a candidate for the suffrages of the Melbournians, now by the favour of Her Majesty swollen to full-fledged citizens. The plan was nicely arranged, but, as the sequel will show, it was blown away like a house of cards.
The political representation of Port Phillip in the Council at Sydney was pernicious. The Separation movement was thwarted, the transportation question trifled with, financial injustice continued, and the interest of the Southern were always made subservient to those of the Middle District. If Port Phillip had had as its members half-a-dozen Pitts, Peels, or Gladstones, instead of as many mediocre, shifty and shifting self-servers, with whom ex necessitate she was obliged to be satisfied, even they would have been outnumbered as one to five, and, in voting power, nowhere. The difficulty was to cope with this state of things and in this fermenting process of dissatisfaction the election campaign opened. The District nomination was fixed for the 20th July, and a few of the leading public men held a consultation, and decided that an effort should be made to return an empty writ to head-quarters as the most emphatic mode of demonstrating the absurdity of continuing a system which was universally regarded as a "mockery, a delusion, and a snare." At noon, Mr. R. w. Pohlman, the Returning Officer, was in attendance in the Supreme Court porch. The writ was read and the proposition of candidates invited, when Mr. Thomas Wills proposed, and Mr. E. E. Williams seconded, the nomination of Mr. J. L. Foster. Mr. J. P. Pawkner then popped forward, and entreated the meeting to pause before going further. H e asked them to consider whether it would not be better to do nothing than continue the sham of sending members to Sydney — a course which had been more injurious than beneficial to the District. One of two things ought to be done: Elect no one under the writ, or return five Port Phillippians, who would pledge themselves not to attend the Legislative sittings. To go on doing as had been done for years was helping the Sydney Legislature to plunder this Province of the money to which it was equitably entitled. This suggestion was received with a loud expression of approval, and Mr. Edward Curr, whilst agreeing with Mr. Fawkner, was disposed to make exception in favour of Mr. Foster on account of past services. This view was also upheld by Messrs. Colin Campbell and C. H. Ebden, whilst Dr. M'Arthur, Mr. W. Kerr, and others submitted that the principle sought to be established would be destroyed if Mr. Foster were elected.
Mr. J. B. Were moved an adjournment of the proceedings, which was seconded by Mr. Fawkner. Mr. Foster spoke in opposition to adjournment, and was followed by Captain Cole, who, in an energetic strain of brusque and uncompromising energy, went in strongly for absolute and total non-election. Several gentlemen gathered around Foster (who appeared considerably chagrined and disappointed at the turn of affairs), and prevailed upon him to consent to the withdrawal of his nomination. Foster acquiesced with both a wry face and a bad grace, and Mr. Edward Curr, advancing to the verge of the hustings, in a loud voice exclaimed: "This day has produced the most gratifying act of public virtue ever witnessed in Port Phillip, when every man did away with his ambition either in duty to himself or his friends in Sydney. He was truly proud of it."
The Returning Officer at length peremptorily demanded if there were any candidates to be proposed, and was answered by loud and general shouts of "No, no." He then declared it to be his duty, it being an hour after the time, to make his return accordingly. The day's doings terminated with cheers for the Returning Officer, cheers for "Non-election," and cheers for everyone, a species of shouting "hands all round."
As soon as people had leisure to quietly reflect, public opinion was divided as to the effect of such a line of policy. It was most unequivocally condemned by some as a mere Quixotic freak, calculated to retard instead of promote the interests of the Province; whilst others, and certainly the sounder thinkers of the time, approved it as a strategic feat, the important results of which yvould yet more than amply justify it. A difficulty now arose as to how the "Non-election" theory could be successfully applied at the approaching election for the City. If unanimity prevailed of course it could be easily done; but divided counsels would render this impossible, for any two electors could place a candidate in nomination, and any six could force the same, nolens volens, to a poll. As a general consent could not be procured, it was agreed, if possible, to nullify the election by the indirect mode of returning some person who would be unable to take the seat; and this is the way in which Melbourne attained the distinguished honour of having for its first City Member no less a personage than
Earl Grey.
Dr. Palmer (the Mayor) acted as Returning Officer, and the nomination was held at the site of the present Town Hall, on the 25th July, 1848. Dr. Greeves (then an Alderman) opened the ball by speaking in eulogistic terms of the late member (Mr. Robinson), and regretting that, under existing circumstances, it would be extremely impolitic to re-elect him to the position, a compliment otherwise well deserved. But, as he thought it was their bounden duty to uphold the principle enunciated and acted upon at the District Election, he begged to say that if any person proposed a candidate he (Dr. Greeves) should most assuredly nominate Earl Grey, the Secretary of State for the Colonies. This intimation was received with loud cheers, intermingled with expressions of dissent.
Mr. J. P. Fawkner spoke to the same effect.
Mr. Edward Curr, in strong and eloquent terms, entreated the meeting not to destroy the moral effect of what had been done in reference to the election for the District.
After a brief delay, Mr. A. F. Mollison, in the midst of a hurricane of hisses and cheers, proposed Mr. J. L. Foster, which was seconded by Mr. John Duerdin. Mr. Thomas M'Combie then proposed, and Mr. J. P. Fawkner seconded, the "Nomination of Earl Grey, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, as a fit and proper person to represent the City of Melbourne in the Legislative Council of New South Wales." There were many friends of Mr. Robinson present, but they had the tact and good taste to withdraw him from the now inevitable contest. A show of hands was asked for, and announced to be most unmistakably in favour of Grey. Foster was not in attendance, and for some time it was hoped a poll would not be demanded; but six electors were found for the purpose, and it was appointed for the following day. The half-dozen citizen-electors who thus nailed their colours to the Fosterian mast were Messrs. Henry Moor, James Hunter Ross, A. F. Mollison, John Duerdin, Frederick G. Dalgety, and Dr. Thomas Black, or three attorneys, one squatter, one merchant, and one physician. A vote of thanks was, on the motion of Mr. W. Kerr, passed to Mr. J. P. Robinson, the late member; and no one ever deserved it more. The gathering then separated with loud cheers for "Grey" and "Non-election," and a round of hissing for the Foster followers.
As an evidence of the prevailing apathy it may be mentioned that, out of a constituency of 935, only 397 votes were recorded, viz.:—For Earl Grey 295, Foster 102; majority 193. On the 27th the official declaration was made, when the Right Honourable Earl Grey was declared duly elected. A protest, setting forth various technical objections to the return, was presented, which the Returning Officer promised to transmit with the writ to Sydney.
Mr. M'Combie returned thanks for the high honour conferred on his nominee, and so ended the queerest election episode that ever occurred in the colony.
The Greyites, elated with what they had done, considered it advisable to get up a public demonstration, and an influential meeting was held at the Mechanics' Institution on the 31st July. The Mayor was in the chair, and in addition to a resolution vindicating the action taken at the election, a memorial to Earl Grey was adopted, setting out in detail the reasons which led up to his Lordship's return. This document was in fact an elaborate statement of the case for Port Phillip. It was from the pen of Mr. Edward Curr, and characterized by all that gentleman's clearness of diction, calm logical reasoning, and fulness of information. It was ordered to be transmitted through the usual official channel, accompanied by a letter to the Governor of New South Wales, asking His Excellency to reserve the revenues of Port Phillip in the Province, pending a reference to the Secretary of State.
Nomination of "Noble Lords."
Geelong was ever watching Melbourne with a jealous eye, and whenever a chance offered, the Geelongites were only too glad to have a slap at the capital. Whatever public step was taken in Melbourne, some local counter demonstration was made there. Geelong, therefore, would not permit the "Non-election movement" in the district, and accordingly a public meeting was held there on the 2nd August, 1848, to remonstrate against such "high-handed doings." Mr. Charles Sladen was Chairman, and resolutions were unanimously passed protesting against the disfranchisement of the District, and memorializing the Governor to issue a new writ, in which Geelong should be notified as the chief polling place. The Executive in due time complied, and the newspapers entered on an excited typographical warfare; the Argus, Patriot, and Gazette, going in strongly for "Non-election," the Herald, Geelong Advertiser, and other Western journals going as strongly the other way. Meanwhile a public meeting of "Non-electionists" was held in Melbourne, whereat it was proposed that in order not to embarrass the Government, five British Peers or members of the English Cabinet should be nominated; and the reason for so doing was that unless "some sort of members" were elected for the District, there were strong doubts as to whether the Legislature of New South Wales would be legally constituted. After some discussion the proposition was agreed to, and the notabilities selected as candidates were the Duke of Wellington, Lord Brougham, Lord J. Russell, Lord Palmerston, and Sir Robert Peel. Furthermore, a delegation, consisting of Captain Cole, and Messrs. J. S. Johnston, and J. P. Fawkner, was commissioned to proceed to Geelong and effect the necessary nominations. A contra meeting was convened at Geelong, where it was determined that there should be a bona-fide election, and a committee was named to select five suitable candidates. The nomination under the second or new writ came off at Geelong on the 21st September, when the "pro-electionists" put forward the following candidates, without the consent of more than one of them, viz., Messrs. Lauchlin, M'Kinnon, James Williamson, John Dixon, J. F. Palmer, and E. Curr. The "Non-electionists" started the five distinguished English personages already named, and Mr. William M'Arthur, of Camden, in New South Wales, was also proposed and seconded. The show of hands was in favour of the first bunch of candidates, and on a demand for a poll it was fixed for the 3rd October, at Geelong, Melbourne, Portland and Belfast. The local candidates were in high favour and polled about three to one as against the others. The official declaration of the poll made on the 10th October, was as follows:—For M'Kinnon 239, Williamson 234, Dixon 232, Palmer 226, Curr 189, Duke of Wellington and Co. (each) 58, M'Arthur 25.
Mr. M'Arthur had virtually withdrawn before the polling.
The Returning Officer declared the five "pro-electionist" candidates to be duly elected, and Geelong, now supremely happy, continued to be the chief polling place for all subsequent District Elections until the separation of the province in 1851.
The team thus yoked like bullocks to the lumbering waggon of legislation, worked no better than their predecessors, and some of them soon tired of their newly-imposed labours.
In the beginning of 1849 Mr. Williamson resigned and Mr. William M'Arthur, the gentleman withdrawn at the preceding election was proposed as his successor. Mr. J. P. Fawkner was also nominated. Mr. Fawkner did not care about the proffered dignity, but, in declining it, proposed the Duke of Wellington. Fawkner's nominators refusing to withdraw him, he obtained the show of hands, whereupon the M'Arthurites demanded a poll, which was appointed for the 27th. Few cared a straw how this polling went. Fawkner retired, and as an evidence of the manner in which it was viewed in Melbourne, it need only be stated that though there were 236 district electors on the roll for the County of Bourke, only 14 votes were recorded, viz, for the Duke 9, and for M'Arthur 5. Geelong went in, of course, for the colonial, and the gross poll showed M'Arthur at 87, and the Dukee 10.
Mr. Edward Curr was the next to resign, and Mr. J. L. Pfoster, on the 11th June, was elected in his place. Dr. Palmer immediately after did likewise, and was succeeded by Mr. Henry Moor on the 5th July. About the same time Mrs. M'Kinnon died in Sydney, and her husband determined to withdraw from public life. The nomination for a fresh election took place on the 19th July at Geelong. M'Kinnon, after resigning, was persuaded to change his mind, and agreed to re-offer himself, but Mr. Fawkner was again on the look-out on behalf of the "Iron Duke," whom he nominated. He was also nominated himself. M'Kinnon had the show of hands, and the result of the polling on the 31st July was:—For M'Kinnon 139, Duke of Wellington 3, Fawkner 1.
The next election was held at Geelong on 30th May, 1850, consequent upon the resignations of Messrs. Foster and M'Kinnon. Dr. Lang having extricated himself from pecuniary involvements, his Port Phillippian friends made an effort to get him returned; but the Doctor's popularity had died out—his sun was set, and there would be no other rising. The following candidates were nominated:— The Rev. Dr. Lang, Mr. C. H. Ebden, Mr. L. M'Allister, and Major Mercer.
Messrs. Kerr and Fawkner went down specially from Melbourne to kick up a row, but failed. Lang and Mercer had the show of hands; but at the polling on the 11th June, Ebden and Mercer were returned by large majorities.
Earl Grey, though he did not accept the Representation of Melbourne, was in no hurry to decline it, a fact which in itself proved his election as a master stroke of political manoeuvring. It was not until after the Separation Act had passed the Imperial Parliament that His Lordship declined the compliment paid him. A writ to fill the vacancy caused by the non-acceptance was issued, appointing the nomination for the 6th November, 1850. The election was held in the porch of the Supreme Court, when Mr. William Westgarth was returned without opposition; and no man in the colony was more entitled to recognition of valuable public services. In returning thanks, Mr. Westgarth declared that within his own personal knowledge Earl Grey had rendered much service to the colony; and as to His Lordship's return for Melbourne, so far from having done injury, as some persons supposed, it had exercised a vast beneficial influence in favour of Victoria. If Earl Grey had had his own way, Port Phillip would have been an independent colony long before.
There were no more elections in Port Phillip.