urt to
separate. (2) A _proces-verbal_ of a second sitting held on the morrow,
the third day of December (when the Assembly was in prison), at which M.
Renouard accepts the functions of public prosecutor, charged to proceed
against Louis Napoleon, after which the High Court, being no longer able
to sit, adjourned to a day to be fixed hereafter."

(1851) DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN AUSTRALIA, Edward Jenks

EDWARD JENKS

It was a remarkable sequence in successful enterprise that brought to
light and developed the vast gold deposits in Australia within three
years after the great discovery in California. This event "was to
change, if not the entire character, at least the rate, of Australian
progress." The date of Captain James Cook's exploration of the eastern
coast (1770) marks the beginning of a new era in the history of
Australia. Cook took possession of the country for Great Britain. From
the resemblance of its coasts to the southern shores of Wales, he called
it New South Wales, and this name is still retained by one of the States
of the Commonwealth of Australia (inaugurated January 1, 1901). The
first English settlement (1788) was a convict colony at Port Jackson
(Sydney). From the establishment of this colony the development of
Australia as a British possession was gradual, but progressive, up to
the discovery of the gold-fields, by which it was so greatly
accelerated. At first a few pastoral groups occupied the lands near the
coast. Many of the newcomers were mere squatters, bent on making money
and then returning to England. But gradually small towns and settled
industries grew up. Increasing numbers of farmers immigrated, squatters
were pushed toward the interior, and a state of social organization
began. Up to 1850, however, this nucleus of a new commonwealth had
reached no great development.

As in the case of California, long before the great discovery of gold in
Australia there had been rumors of its existence in that country. Most
of the early stories told by persons said to have found specimens of the
metal were scouted. In 1844 the distinguished geologist, Sir Roderick
Impey Murchison, having compared specimens of Australian rocks brought
to him with other specimens from gold-bearing lands, declared that he
found in the former no trace of gold. Two years later, however, Sir
Roderick declared his belief in the existence of gold in Australia, and
in 1848 he announced that he had seen specimens of gold