'Souvenirs' De Melbourne.
Five things I wish to register: the first for shame; the second for
encouragement; the third for duty; the fourth for information; the fifth
for record.
1. We were one afternoon taken by surprise by the whole gang of turnkeys,
ordered to strip, and subjected to an ignominious search. The very
private parts were discovered and touched. 'Veritatem dico, non mentior.'
2. Manning felt very much the want of a chew of tobacco. He and Tuhey
would make me strike up some favourite piece out of the Italian opera,
and the charm succeeded. A gentle tap at the door of our cell was the
signal to get from a crack below a stick of tobacco, and then we were all
jolly. We decreed and proclaimed that even in hell there must be some
good devils.
3. Mr. Wintle, the governor, inclining to the John Bull in corporation,
had preserved even in a Melbourne gaol, crammed as it is at the end of
each month with the worst class of confirmed criminals, his good, kind
heart. With us state prisoners, without relaxing discipline, he used no
cruelty--spoke always kindly to us--was sorry at our position, and wished
us well. He had regard for me, on account of my bad health; that I shall
always remember.
4. Some day in January we received a New-Year's Present--that is a copy
of the indictment. I protest at once against recording it here: it is
the coarsest fustian ever spun by Toorak Spiders. I solemnly declare that
to my knowledge the name of Her Most Gracious Majesty was never mentioned
in any way, shape, or form whatever, during the whole of the late
transactions on Ballaarat. I devoured the whole of the indictment with
both my eyes, expecting to meet with some count charging us with riot.
The disappointment was welcome, and I considered myself safe. Not so,
however, by a parcel of shabby solicitors. They said it would go hard
with any one if found guilty. The government meant to make an example of
some of of us, as a lesson to the ill-affected, in the shape of some
fifteen years in the hulks. They had learned from Lynn of Ballaarat that
there were no funds collected from the diggers for the defence. 'Cetera
quando rursum scribam'--and thus they won some 200 pounds out of the
frightened state prisoners, who possessed ready cash.
"What will be the end of us, Joe?" was my question to the nigger-rebel.
"Why, if the jury lets us go, I guess we'll jump our holes again on the
diggings. If the jury won't let us go, then"--and bowing his head over
the left shoulder, poking his thumb between the windpipe and the
collarbone, opened wide his eyes, and gave such an unearthly whistle,
that I understood perfectly well what he meant.