THE LAND QUESTION IN VICTORIA.

Colonist, Issue 25, 15 January 1858, Page 4

THE LAND QUESTION IN VICTORIA.

The following is. the address of the central com- ! niittee of the Victorian Land and Reform convention to the people, on the opening of the second session of the first Parliament of Vic..'.tqria:—- , . ~ ~ , , r . Fellow Australians,—The second session of the first Parliament of Victoria has just been opened. The moment is one of critical interest \6 you Fair promises to .reform the governiijfrit, • and legislative machinery of the Stale, 'Which -will c-iuse b/>th to be truly and adequately representative of fthe .people^ are held ou" to you now, as they have; been on former occasions... The^e promises pay be kept. ;•. it is. not impdsible Bat thos^. which have hitherto .been made to you from the same quarter have not been observed in good f lith. It is natural, ■ therefore, ihiit-y<ai should distrust the. fairsoundinur words of politicians, who have already tanished. their honour by violating their "plighted troth." They promised you " manhood suffrage," anct they gave it you disfigured and crippled by the double franchise to pro 7 perty. They promised you a fair land bill, arid they gave you a measure which, under the guise of a temporary adjustment of the question, would have effected a permanent confiscation of the en? tire soil .of the country,from the people into the hands of a few hundred squatters!! Hitherto they have conceded to the people in words what they have refused to them in acts. By circumvention, by deceitful'and indirect courses, by seeming openly to comply with what, they coveit'y opposed, they have endeavoured to bring sinto operation a system of government hostile to popular interests, but which they . were too cowardly to avow. The authors of. this sneaking, treacherous policy are just, objects of suspicion when - they come forward with such specious promises. These promises must be taken just for what they are worlh; not more. ■•You Will not allow,yourselves to be deceived by them. If a good measure results from their promised reconstruction of the electoral districts of the country you Will accept it;, but you will suffer the mere promise to lull you into false security a?id inaction. You will watch closely their legislative proceedings. This attitude of vigilance on .the part of the pe.ple i$ what the present crisis demands; it is what the experience" of'th'e past session of; Paiiiametit will lonsr be memorable for in our political annals. It was jthe first session of the, first free Parliament of Victoria.. Ijh_sat exactly, "twelve months—a period of extendeif'duration almost unprecedented in British parliamentary history. Has that long session been signalise!" by any great legislalive effort ..commensurate in 'impor'ance with its protracted duration ?*--Has it fulfilled your expectation, of popular advantage flowing from i epresentative institutions ? if -has indeed been signalised by a legislative attempt of lofty and ambitious aim; but it was an attempt, which for the audacity of its treason to the interests of the people, for unscrupulous betrayal of the cause of patriotism, for public dishonesty, stands alone in its baseness, unparalleled, in the history of National Robberies. But it was likewise an unsuccessful attempt—most fortunately so. • Otherwise its revenge by the strong hand, nerved by the indignation of an outraged people might, iiay, would—have crimsoned the golden soi} of this I .glorious land. Yes, these sons of Belial, who planned the spoliation of your adopted country with such premeditated effrontery would not have shrunk from sanguinary violence to retain the;national plunaer, orice they bad got it within: their monopolist grasp. The government which has hitherto represented, arid still represents, that small class, instead of the who'e of the community, did not hesitate just three years ago, to. shed the blood of your fellow-citi-zens at Ballariit, in support of an equally unconstitutional and unjust system, which subjected the miners to the mo3t harrassing arid oppressive misrule. As they, did in support of " digger hunting," so would they have done to uphold squatter spoliation. Had they succeeded in investing in with Jegislative sanction they would have shed your blood, in case of your not submitting to the robbery, as ruthlessly as they shed that of the diggers. at the Eureka Stockade. .Had they succeeded in their efforts the era of political violence arid .oppression would have been begun in Victoria. . The country, has been saved by that calamity.' v The squatters and their ministry-have-been foiled. The mere sound of your voice in anger at the vile attempt has sufficed to scare them from the spoil. Their infamous, land bill, by which they sought to confiscate into their own hands the entire, soil of this noble territory has been defeated. This magnificent public domain, still in great part, remains the undlienated birthright of you, and your children, and of your children's children, and of all the future comers from the thronged down-trodden nations of the Old World. But the danger of spoliation has not. been yet wholly averted. The squatter still glares with the unsatisfied lust of monopoly on "the broad lands of fair Victoria. The parricidal hand, which has been raised against your independence is still ready to strike the assassin blow, if you, but for a moment, relax your vigilance, before the victory of the freesoil policy of the people is secured by the complete emancipation of the public domain' from even temporary Squatter domination, and by its appropriation to the purposes 6'f Providence in furnishing independent homes to you—the masses—-to you, the multitudinous throng, who have come hither across two oceans as to a land of refuge. Reln'eiriber, the victory is not yet won'; no.l not, v. As long $s millions Bhall kneel down To ask of thousands for. their own, Whilst thousands proudly turn away ' And to the millions answer'nay.''• No—whilst this endures the victory is not wen. And while yet the contest is pending the men who were your most hostile opponents hitherto, and whom you have as yet always defeated, on the battle-ground of constitutional right, come forward with flattering offers' of advantage'as hough they were your styuuch allies,' Here is

ground for suspicion—herei is causei for'vigilance. This is the iesson which the experience v pf the first, session of Parliament teaches to the people of Victoria—-a lesion enforced by the bitterness, the exa&peiation of popular disappointmerii;:. • The Second session of that same Parliament, succeeding ,the! first iri the lapse of. but a few days, has already begun;. What will be the result, to your. interests of th\s second session ? Will it be of more of Jess, advantage, or of any advantage to you? During its progress are.you to find iri your much-vaunted .constitution a "mockery, a delusion, a :snare"-?-or. does it give promise of true freedom and of .social prosperity to ali the , people ? The. answer rests with, you—you, the miners of/ the gold-fields, and the operatives of the towns—^yoii; the ceaseless workers, the indusiiious producers.of national wealth, the energetic soils of toil, who Uphold at once the dignity of labour; and the power Of the State; and with whom alone rests Ihe supremacy 6f the popular will within the State, as well is the external greatness an.s glory of the State aniongst the nations of the world. You alone can.give the answer.. ,;' • Tell your representatives in Parliament at this, the commencement of its second session, that before they vote away to tHe Executive the pecuniary supplies for the services of the coming year; they must tajce the same course here, which the history of constitutional; freedom iri England tells, us that the English Parliament, which wrung the pretition of right from Charles the First, took, viz., demand and obtain a ." redress of •. grievances-' before granting one fraction towards the expenditure: of the State. That " redress of grievances " is for the present embodied in a measure of Parliamentary reform, which will give you one hundred representatives in the Legislative Assembly, elected by universal suffrage, and chosen,in electoral divisions of the country, which shall be formed and clas3ed.for represented upon the basis of population. . The Ministry ho doubt promises reform—but that Ministry is composed of men of broken pledges —men whose word no man believes —men alike stupid and" sho; t-sighted—-men who are a reproach to the name of statesmen—mean, quibbling, purblind politicians, who neither perceive their own littleness, nor comprehend the noble destinies of this yreat Southern Land. They will probably, seek to give you but a sham reform. They will palter and peddle with the question, and put off its settlement until they get their own.salaries, and the salaries oftheir attendant drones, voted to them, and when once they clutch the gold, or rather the authority to seize on it, which is the sole object oftheir vile desires, they will snap their fingers in the face of those tl:ey have " done" out of their uibiiey. No, they will not promote, they will rather obstruct real reform1. They will do so from the instinct of self preservation! ,For reform is their natural enemy.; They' will try to cheat you on, this as they did on the laud question. Assembie then at once in thousands.in.your respective localities-—in the towns and, on the gold-fields—at Ararat, at Ballarat, at Bendigo, at Castlemaine, at Dunolly, at Maryborough, at the Ovens, and at the out-diggings of all. and each of these guld-fields—assemble in public meeting within the next teniduys, and transmit i your voice io Melbourne iul,the foimofpetir tions to parliament thai; first'; and before.all other business—before thei estimates are voted —a. measure embodying' reform of the kind already mentioned shall be passed into l&w; If the Government are sincerein their, promises of reform' they will accede to the prayer of that petition; : ; ! ; 1 . :. . ....:. Success in the emancipation of the land is at hand if you are but true to yourselves. ..Let your watchwords be the Convention, Reform, the Land. . .'":^Jr.^ ■-•■' Melbourne, Dec. 10. 1857^ "• M