The army refused to submit to the decree of the captive Assembly impeaching the President of the Republic; but the High Court of Justice obeyed it. The five judges composing it, sitting in the midst of Paris enslaved and in the face of martial law, dared to assemble at the Palace of Justice, and to issue a process beginning criminal proceedings against Louis Napoleon, charged with high treason by the law, though already triumphant in the streets. I subjoin the text of this memorable edict:
"The High Court of Justice, considering the sixty-eighth article of the constitution, considering that printed placards, beginning with the words 'The President of the Republic,' and bearing at the end the signatures of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte and De Moony, Minister of the Interior, which placards announce among other things, the dissolution of the National Assembly, have this day been affixed to the walls of Paris; that this fact of the dissolution of the Assembly by the President of the Republic would fall under the case provided for by the sixty-eighth article of the constitution, and render the convocation of the High Court of Justice imperative, by the terms of that article declares that the High Court is constituted, and names M. Renouard, counsellor of the Court of Cassation, to fill the duties of public accuser; and to fill those of greffier, M. Bernard, Greffier-en-chef of the Court of Cassation; and, to proceed further in pursuance of the terms of the said sixty-eighth article of the constitution, adjourns until to-morrow, December 3d, at the hour of noon.
"Done and deliberated in the Council Chamber. Present, M. Hardouin, President; M. Pataille, M. Moreau, M. de la Palme, and M. Cauchy, judges, this second day of December, 1851."
After this textual extract from the minutes of the High Court of Justice there is the following entry: "(1) A procès-verbal announcing the arrival of a commissaire de police, who called upon the High Court to separate. (2) A procès-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 from New South Wales, and recommended a government mineral survey there. Little attention might have been given to the matter then but for the discovery of gold in California. From the excitement caused by that the "gold fever" spread over the world. Nothing was done in the way of discovery of the metal in Australia until many months had elapsed; but finally results of the utmost importance were obtained.
The story of the great Australian gold discovery is here told in an authentic and highly interesting manner by the historian of the Australasian colonies.
In the year 1851 Edmund Hammond Hargraves, an old settler in New South Wales, returned thither from California, where he had spent about eighteen months in the search for gold. His efforts in California resulted in no immediate prosperity, but he gained much useful practical experience. More than this, as he looked at the natural features of the California gold-fields, a great idea grew up in his mind. Though not a geologist, he appears to have had a quick eye for stratiform resemblances; and the more he studied the peculiarities of rocks and soil in California, the more he became convinced that he knew, in his own colony, a district which presented the same features and which, therefore, might be expected to produce the same results.