y the concentration of troops and police at Ballarat, would
be taken possession of by rioters from the country districts, and Sir
Charles Hotham made hasty application to Sir William Denison, the
Governor of Tasmania, for military assistance. Very soon, however, the
feelings of orderly citizens asserted themselves. Special constables
were sworn in at Melbourne and Geelong, marines from two men-of-war
stationed at Port Phillip guarded the prisons and the powder stores,
wealthy men volunteered to serve as mounted police, and the arrival of
the Ninety-ninth Regiment from Tasmania on December 10th dealt a final
blow to the hopes of the insurgents. Even before this event, all the
respectable classes in the community had rallied round the Governor, and
he felt himself in a position to defy further outbreaks.

But the ugliest feature of the whole affair was yet to be revealed. Out
of the large number of prisoners taken at the capture of the stockade,
only thirteen were committed for trial, the magistrates being instructed
to commit only when the evidence was of the clearest nature. It being
considered impossible to obtain an impartial trial by a local jury, the
prisoners were brought down to Melbourne, and, after various delays, the
charges were proceeded with on February 20, 1855. A Boston negro, named
John Joseph, and a reporter for the Ballarat _Times_, named Manning,
were first tried. The latter may have been merely led away by
professional ardor in the pursuit of "copy," though the fact that he had
been openly drilled and instructed in the use of a pike by the
insurgents would seem to show that his zeal was somewhat excessive.

In the case of Joseph, the evidence was overwhelming; he had actually
been seen to fire upon the troops, and he was captured in a tent which
had been used as a guard-room by the insurgents. No counter-evidence was
offered, the prisoners' counsel relying entirely on the alleged absence
of treasonable intention. Nevertheless both prisoners were speedily
acquitted, and, although the Government wisely withdrew the remaining
cases for the time, subsequent trials produced similar results.
Ultimately, however, the difficulties of the situation were allayed by
the reforms introduced on the recommendation of the commission appointed
to consider the whole subject of the gold-fields. This body presented,
on March 27, 1855, an extremely able report, in which it recommended the
abolition of the license fee and