ordered to be circulated, and the question was adjourned till next day. The amended Bill was read a third' time in the Assembly by a large majority. But when it reached the ^Council the squatters fell upon it in a fury, and struck out the most important provisions; and when it came back to the Assembly a deadlock seemed inevitable. But the Ministry were not men for strong measures, and we soon saw that the majority of them would let the Council have its way, if they dare.
A secret of success in politics is to give leading men individual work of which they would be proud, and I endeavoured to distribute the business of the Party in this spirit. Let one, I said, take up the interest of the agricultural settler, another of the miner, a third public education. Publicists would be more powerful if they embraced each of them a task which he resolved to accomplish. If one should say, "I will not rest while there is a pauper in Victoria," another, "I am resolved, Heaven helping, that the larrikin shall become as rare amongst us as the moa, or I will aim to make the enjoyments of the people simpler and more healthy; and if there be any reefer, or squatter, or merchant, burdened with the care of more wealth than he can use, let us teach him how the merchant princes of the Italian Republics used their opulence." But politics were so engrossing that it was difficult to divert attention to social questions. The Australian pioneers of democracy had genuine sincerity and enthusiasm. They felt they were righting the battle of public principles against powerful interests without any personal object, and often with the drawback of scanty rations at home. The contest in which we were engaged looked a very unequal one. The community were preoccupied with money-making and apathetic on public questions; and on the other side, there was an organisation of men with immense resources, who were in occupation of the public territory. They were knit in commercial relations with the principal banks, and they had close social relations with the professional and business classes. But the democracy never doubted of its final success, and hoped indeed much more than was ever accomplished. Political life was seasoned, as it always is in civilised countries, with banter and badinage. B. C. Aspinall
