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The Moreton Bay Courier (Brisbane, Qld. : 1846-1861) (about)
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Cite: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3715500
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< THE
SATURDAY. DECEMBER 16.
LATEST NEWS.
Thi City-of .Melbourne brought Sydney papers to the 7th of tho present month,
and news from Melbourne to the 3rd. In the absence of further intelligence from Europe, the event of the greatest interest was a serious outbreak amongst the gold diggers at Ballaarat, and which threat- ened still more serious consequences. It appears that some of the delegates and ringleader« of the diggers had waited upon the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir Charges Hotham, with a " demand"
that the three rioters sentenced to im-
prisonment for the burning of the Eureka Hotel, should be pardoned. This inso- lent demand was of course refused, and the deputation returned to Ballaarat. Subsequently it appears that the diggers resolved to pay no more license money, and vast numbers of them burned their licenses. On the commissioners proceed- ing, with the assistance of armed police, to search for unlicensed minera, they wore resisted by a crowd of armed dig- gers. The commissioners caused the Riot Act to be read, and called in the as- sistance of the military. Shots appear to have been fired, on both sides, but with what results is not authentically known, for while one' account states that only a horse was wounded, another says that there were six or seven men wounded, and a third that a soldier had died of wounds received. The Government seemed determined to act firmly. The following extruot 6howB the latest aspect
of affairs:
From the statement made in the Legislative Council yesterday by the Colonial Secretary, it will be seen that a coliition had taken place"be- tween tho rioters and the military, although hap- pily without loss of life on either side. Trio state of things on the diggings ha» indeed become most critical, and any hour may bring us intelli- gence ol tho most serious nature. The govern- ment is thoroughly aroused, and is concentrating toe whole military and police torce of the colony .t Ballaarat. All the available men of the 40tb nnd 12th regiments bare lett town for that local- ity. A body of 300 rank and file of the former regiment, with band, were marched out yosterduy afternoon under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Vaillant, and the whole of the officers of the regiment. Tbey took with them four field .pieces, two six and two twelve pounders. All [be officers and the men of the 12th regiment-, with the exception of Uapt. Vereker, and the necessary guard, have left for the same place. They num- ber about thiee hundred. Twenty-four men-of war's-mca and about twenty marines from U.M. ship Electra, have also been sent oh". Fifty horse, una about tbe same number of toot police, were lo be despatched yesterday afternoon. A large number of liaggage and ammunition waggons were sent with the military. We also hear that Sir Robert Nickle, Commaader-in-Cbief of the Forces, and Colouol Macartney, Adjutant-Gene- ral, ¡atended to sturt for Hallaurat at three o'olock this moruing. 'I be amount of tho force, military and polite, to be assembled al these diggings, will
be little short-of a thousand men.
Next in interest is the return of the cutter Oberon, from the search for Mr. Boyd, bringing a report of that gentle-
man's death. On tho arrival of the Oberon at the Island of San Christoval, tho previous reports of Mr. Boyd being alive at Guadalcanar were repeated by all the natives, who ktated that the black boy who accompanied that gentleman was the only person killed; but after tho cutter Bailed for Guadalcanar, the native who was on board contradicted his former story. Ho stated that Mr. Boyd had been killed, in revenge for the death of some natives, shot by the crew of the Wanderer, and that the head of the de- ceased gentleman was hanging up in the
hut of a chief named " Tubula." He declared moreover that his reason for telling the former story was fear that the Chief* would kill him if he told the truth. The Oberon went on to Guadalcanar, and there, after some difficulty, induced a chief to come on board, and offered him a hundred tomahawks if he would sur- render Mr. BoTDalive. After some hesi- tation this chief also said that he was
dead, but promised to give up the head for twenty tomahawk». The subjoined extract contains an account of what fol ljwed :
At half-past Ino, another' canoe carno along- side, and the enquiries as to the fate of Mr. Boyd ¡wwre related, and from this canoe the fallowing particulars were obtained. The natives stated, ihat when the Wanderer eame to the island, Mr. Boyd landed and went into the bush to shoot with one of tho chiefs ; that, during the time he '»as ashore, tho people on board the Wanderer shot some ot the nulives who had come alongside, and then went ashore, when they killed some more ot tfce natives. The chief who was with Air. Boyd was informed of tin-Be occurrences, and i« i ¿ported to hate asked Mr. Boyd, in the language of the interpreter, " Why you white men come here to kill black man ?" The native« thon said that, in consequence -of ibis attack on the islander« by the civw ot the Waiulerei-, Mr. Boyd was taken to Klug Tubula's settlement, seven miles to the south-east trom ttltere the Wanderer anchored. That tour of the chiefs of the island thon ordered that the white man should be killed. One of the chiels assembled said that they should let tbe »hito man live, and make him the fjreat chief of the island ¡ but the others told him that if be
did not kill, or help to kill the while mau, they would kilt him. iiaung arrived at this deter 'miration, -Mr. Boyd was speared, and his bead eui off, and hung up iu a OMnoe-hoiiHe belonging to King Tubula. They said that if the Oberon Auuld luy olf the island during the night, thoy 'would bring the bead lo them io the morning.
Next day, accordingly, the skull was brough* uti board, and the cutter carne 'on 11 Sydney. But after all there ap- pears Atronif leason to believe that it is not the skttU «f Mr. Boyd. It fcas been
examined 'by -Dr. Bknnet aud Dr. MvKsixar, luth of whom know the de
ceased, and express their belief that the skull was not his. Mr. Wall, also, of the Sydney Museum, expresses his full be(lief that it is the skull of * an island native,, and all agree that the story of its having been hung op must be 'false, as1 it had plainly been lying on the ground for two or three years at least, under ¿11 the circum&tances, the Chamber 'of Commerce urges upon the Government the duty of immediately proceeding in
the further search.
A conversation had taten place in the Legislative Council, relative to the right of Mr. STUTCHBURY to collect specimens of Natural History on his own account, while employed on a Government Survey at the public expense. The subject dropped, without any specific motion hav- ing been made.
Mr. Martin brought forward a series of resolutions condemnatory of the con- duct of the Attorney General, in failing to prosecute the proprietor and publisher
of the Freeman's Journal for a seditious
letter signed " A Tipperary Celt," which had appeared in that paper. A debate ensued, after which the resolutions were withdrawn. The Attorney General's defence was that, having obtained ample apologies, and a guarantee that such a thing should not occur again, he deemed this better than a prosecution, which would arouse very angry feelings among certain portions of the colonists, and after all, might fail. We do not, however, think it very dignified to truckle to the prejudices of any class, where the Ad-
ministration of the law is concerned.
The Council was proroguod on last Saturday week, to the 16th January next. The closing speech of his Excel- lency the Governor-General, contained the following passage :
I bavo recently been informed by the Righ* Honourable the .Secretary of Stato that an expé- dition is being fitted out by Her Majesty's Go- vernment for the exploration of the interior of this Continent. lam not without hope that ad- vantage may bo taken of this expedition, which will probably rendezvous in the first instance at Moreton Bay, to carry oat the recommendation contained in "your address of 12th July last, namely
to endeavour to ascertain the ultimate fate of Dr. Leichhardt and his party.
With reference to certain proposed pub- lic works, and, amongst others, to the
scientific examination of the Brisbane
River bar, his Excellency stated that he should leave the initiation of these mat- ters to his successor.
The markets present no new feature of importance. Tia o next English mail was
looked for with anxious interest.
THE STORMING OF SEVASTOPOL.
Few men owning the sovereignty of Eng- land, however long may bo the time since Colonial idoas began to supersede their British notions, but must feel great in- terest in the expected intelligence by the steamer whieh will probably arrive from Sydney to-morrow. The English mails to the 4th of October will, in all probability havo arrived, and will fur- nish us with intelligence from the Black Sea to the end of September. We shall learn the progress of a military enterprise before which the operations against Badajoz, San Sebastian, and Ciudad Rodrigo, sink into insignificance, In the last named cases the British troops had to contend against fortresses, great in strength it is true, but garrissoned in haste, and almost surrounded, in some instances, by country whose population was inimical to the defenders. But hore, in this stronghold of the Russian power in the Black Sea, we behold a barbour probably unequalled in the world in the facilities which nature has given to it for defensive purposes, and with all that art has been able to effect during fifty years of earnest and uninterrupted application, to make it impregnable. Surrounded in almost overy part by steep and inacces- sible cliffs ; defended by six hundred and thirty guns, from ten torts, and probably eight hundred more on board of eigh- teen ships of war moored across the harbour; guarded, moreover, by strong chain cables drawn across tho entrance, and by a permanent garrison of six- teen thousand men, besides an extra army of at least sixty thousand chosen Russian troops, to defend the vi- cinity of Cape Khersonese-the strong- hold of Sevastopol presents an aspect that might well appal hearts less stout than those which animate the allied troops But those troops will, we doubt not, prove equal to the emergency. Notwithstand- ing that the enemy has the great addi- tional advantage of being backed up by a vast territory occupied by his own people, whose military services ho can command to any extent, and that the attacking forcos, after suffering from sickness and privation in a foreign country, during the period necessary for their concentration, have to bo removed threo hundred miles across sea to tho point of aswuilt.ye t the arms of England ana Franco, so long used against M3hothcr,oannotfailtobctriumphantnow th it they are united for a common cause. It has been well remarked by a leading English journal that the Caar's sense of security in the Black Sea must havo been founded, not only upon the vast strength of the fortifications that protect his fleet, but also upon his belief in the impossi- bility ef the allies collecting a sufficient land force, with all necossary munitions of war, to second any attack by sea, which he well knew must fail if made alone. Yet a few months have sufficed to show the Autocrat the shallownoss of his re- liance. Thirty-six thousand French aud twenty-five thousand EnglUh troop«, the flower of tho armies of those warlike countries, together with ton or twelve thousand Turkish soldiers, whoso sei vices the victories of Omah Paoha havo ena- bled him to dispense with for tho present, had embarked for the scene of danger, and, long ore this, must have poured like
an irresistible torrent on the const of the. Crimea. Perhaps the world never saw a moro formidable array' for attack. Strengthened by all the improvements of modern noienoe, the destructive imple- ments of warfare .have been brought to
a condition oí deadly perfection, and fear- f¡ ful must.be toe »hock, and mighty indeed 1 the power tíat can resist, when the on- set ocqurs. ^Oiio feeling 'seemed lib per- vade toe French and English troops. For the <firjst time arranged on the same side n a , great contest, the> only struggle between the Alhe3 will bo for ; tue foremost place in the bat l tie-the greatest raepd' 'of honour.» Con-
fusion and disaster must await the foe who, in opposition to this ennobling sti- mulus, cau| only rely upon coercion and the dreai^of punishment. Either the French or the English army might suc- cessfully hare opposed the troops of the Russians, on equal terms; but the9e great military rivals united, must bear down befomithem any force which the power of Bussia can oppose to them in the Crimea. That the loss of life must
be great no person can doubt. The vast ness of the preparations for attack «re proportioned to the magnitude of the dangers to surmount. Bussia, on one side, hasl at stake no less than the ex- istence ot her power in the Black Sea, aud her ambitious views of future, ag- grandisement, while the allies, on the other, place upon the issue the glory of their ami, the prestige of the war, and
their own influence in the affairs of the East. As the prizes are great, bo must the struggle be bloody.
We cannot be accused of vain glory or unfounded confidence, in anticipating a successful issue to the intended enterprise. It had been ascertained that at the pro- posed place of landing our ships of war oould approach within such a distance of the shore as to cover with their guns the landing of the invading anny j and when we consider that the English and French troops have for their chief commanders the first men in either country-with an English General whose tutor was the late illustrious Luke of Wellington, and a French Qeneralissimo who has abandoned the post of Minister of War to assume the command in the field, we cannot doubt but that the bravery of the troops will be supported and directed by the
wisest of counsels. Blockaded at the Bame time by a portion of tho allied fleets, the Russian squadron cannot escape. If once the citadel is gained, the ships of the Czar must be at the mercy of the allies. Their guns cannot then avail against troops and artillery placed upon the heights abo.cth«m, and they must either be sunk or destroyed in their own harbour, or yield themselves up, to add
to the fleets of the victorious allies.
Probably the next mail may not apprise us of the complete success here anticipated) and we may have to wait for another month before the results of the enterprise are fully before us; but of ultimate victory we have no shade of doubt Such a victory would leave the western powers at liberty to conduct fur- ther opeiations against the common foe, and would probably be followed by ano- ther visit to Odessa, moro harmful than the last, when the fato of the Tiger might bo avenged,"aVdx the Russians, retreating
from the Danube before the victorious troops of Omar Pacha, might find another and still more formidable enemy to con- tend with, in the triumphant conquerors of Sevastopol. Well grounded confidence and patriotic feeling form tbe basis of these anticipations, and the cause of civi- lization and freedom imperatively depends upon their fulfilment.
A STCr IN ADVANCE!.
Duiusra the present session of the Legis- lative Council, an incident has occurred 'which should not be passed over without prominent notice It is not often that the legislature of New South Wales takes a step in advance of the mo- ther country, or ignores old prejudices
which still find root in that land. Far
more frequently do we find the legislators of this infant country clinging with blind tenacity to gqthio forms and old world tinsel, which have been long since exploded and ridiculous in England; and it there- fore behove3 us to note a circumstance in- dicative of a degree of Civil and Religious liberty not yet established in the old country.
We alludo to the last election for the
County of Roxburgh, when a member of the Jewish faith was, for the first time in the annals of this colony, returned as the representative of a popular constituency This gentleman has since taken his seat, and subscribed the required oaths, in whioh there was nothing that could offend the conscience of a person of his religious profession. When wo contrast this fact with the stubborn resistance of the British House of Lords to a similarly liberal policy, that ancient and venerablo insti- tution does not gain much honpur by the comparison Repoatódly have the Peers rejected measures passed by the House of Commons for the complete political eman- cipation of the Jews. The, power of the Press and the force of popular epin;on< havo been vainly enlisted on the sido of progress. With pa&sivo resistance tho Lords have beaten back the vanguard of the " progressibtas," and hug with re newed fondness tho bigoted and useless laws which esoludo from political power so many thousands of their fellow country-
men.
There is scarcely any class of Religion-
ists who could show better causo for the cstenbion to them of their full «rights as citizens, than the Jews, Even tho plea that was so long urged against Roman Catholic emancipation^ cannot be of any force in the\r ca.se. It cannot be alleged that tho Jews have a design to overthrow the established religion of, England, or to sot ayide the succession' of Sophia of Brunswick ."¡Bayoud somo fanciful aspi-
rations for the restoration of their ancient
dominions in the east, w« apprehend that
the Jews of modern times havo no desire
for conquest or j>rosolytism ; and there can bo no plea but such as is fbnndotl upon more bigotry, for their continued exclu- sion from political power.
In taking credit to this ejlony for an advance, iu liberal view«, we must not tot
get that the Act under which the late Roxburgh election became valid, was pass- ed by the Parliament of the United King- dom; but it must also be remembered that the counoil and people of this colony never made any! objection or protest against the Arrangement. If New South Wales had, û some of her pseudo-patriots desire, a mock House of Lords in the form of a Chamber of Life Nominees,
those gentlemen would probably have thought it a point of honour to imitate their noble models at Westminster, and would have been as ob'stinately immovea blo on this point as the sturdiest old Tory among the peer3. They would have in- veighed against the latitude of the exist- ing Constitution Act, and the ancient cry of " The Church in Danger " might have been revived in Australia. But, fortunately, this country is |not yet bur- dened with such an incubus, and we trust that it never will be. Notwithstanding all the false and unreasoning conservatism of the House of Lords, there ia much in the historical recollections, the territorial influence, and the dignified station ofthat body, which makes it of great value in the State, and renders its abolition un advibable. But it is far different with
the proposed creation of an imitative toy in Australia, which would possess more than all the disadvantages of the Peerage House, without one of it3 recommenda-
tions.
IMMIGRATION DEPOSITS.
We perceive that the Immigration Report of the Select Committee of the Legisla- tive Council, notices the fact that an application had been made by some in- fluential and respectable persons, for an alteration in the Immigration Deposit Regulations, so that private individuals making the necessary deposit in money for the purchase of land may be entitled to select and despatch emigrants by means of private agency irrespectively of the Emigration Commissioners. This is precisely the principle of the system long ago proposed and partly acted upon by Dr. LANG, in the case of the vessels despatched by that gentleman to Moreton Bay, and we are glad to observe that the Council Committe recommended its adop- tion, even at this late hour. Hitherto the beneficial operation of these regula- tions has been most vexatiously inter- rupted by counter regulations and cus- toms on the part of the Commissioners in London. Either the desired emigrants have been rejected in many cases, or they have been despatched to a port of Austra- lia many hundreds of miles from the place which they sought to reach. Nor have these been the only drawbacks. We have lately heard of a case - and there may be many such - in which the pre- sumed benefits of the regulations were most unreasonably set aside, and a depo- sitor called upon to pay down a large sum of money in advance, a second time, for the same immigrant. A gentleman well known on Darling Downs, and who has frequently availed himself of the Deposit Regulations, paid a sum of money into the Treasury for the purchase of land, and then nominated certain persons, in due form, for free passages to Moreton Bay. The immigrants arrived by the Genghis Khan, but instead of being forth- with discharged to their employer on ar- rival, as he had justly cause to expect, he was called upon a second time to pay their passage money, under the provisions of the "Assisted Immigrants Act" We look upon this as a case of flagrant injus- tice, and one which, of itself, must suffi- ciently prove that great reforms are re- quired in the administration of these re- gulations. The necessity for such re- forms has been so repeatedly pointed out in this journal, that the subject may have become tiresome to our readers; but it concerns one of the most important of our immigration arrangements, and one which, if properly carried out, would secure a con- tinuous supply of labour, of the requisite description, for these districts. It cannot, therefore, be too often brought under public notice, until, by continued exposure of the abuses existing, the Government shall be induced to step in and reform
them.