'A friend in need is a friend indeed,' that's true,
But love now-a-days is left on the shelf,
The best of friends, by G—— in serving you
Takes precious care first to help himself.
Ancestors, learning, talent, what we call
Virtue, religion—MONEY beats them all.
"I must now try the power of my old quill, perhaps it has not lost the spell—
"In Rome, by my position in society, and thorough knowledge of the English language, I was now and then of service to Englishmen THERE; in my adversity is there a generous-hearted Englishman HERE who would give me the hand and see that the government enjoins the restitution of the property I was robbed of at the Camp. Let the restitution come from a Board of Inquiry, a Poor-law Board, a Court-Martial, or any Board except a Board (full) of Petitions. The eternal petitioning looks so 'Italian' to me! And, especially, let the restitution of my new water-tight boots be done this winter!
"As for the ignominy I was subjected to, my immense sufferings during four long, long months in gaol, the prospects of my life smothered for a while, we had better leave that alone for the present.
"Were I owned by the stars and stripes, I should not require assistance, of course not; unhappily for the sins of my parents, I was born under the keys which verily open the gates of heaven and hell; but Great Britain changed the padlocks long ago! hence the dreaded 'Civis Romanus sum' has dwindled into 'bottomed on mullock.'
"CARBONI RAFFAELLO,
"By the grace of spy Goodenough Captain of Foreign Anarchist.
"Prince Albert Hotel, Ballaarat,
"Corpus Christi, 1855."
——-
No one did condescend to notice the above letter. I do not wonder at it, and why?
I read in the Saturday's issue of 'The Star', Ballaarat, October 6th, 1855, how a well-known digger and now a J.P., did, in a 'Ballaarat smasher,' toast the good exit of a successful money-maker—an active, wide-awake man of business certainly, but nothing else to the diggers of Ballaarat—'Cela n'est pas tout-a-fait comme chez nous.'