At the beginning of August, 1853, a petition had been presented by the
Bendigo diggers, in which they urged the reduction of the license fee
and the grant of representation to the diggers. The Lieutenant-Governor
returned a pacific reply, but the delegates in charge of the petition
were evidently bent on arousing strong feelings, and they held meetings
in Melbourne which went the extreme length permissible to loyal
subjects. Still, the Lieutenant-Governor shrank from strong measures,
and endeavored to remove one ground of complaint by appointing, as a
nominee member of the Legislative Council, a gentleman who was believed
to possess the confidence of the diggers. The nomination was at once
repudiated by the delegates of the latter, and at the end of August an
organized attempt was made to resist the renewal of licenses on the old
terms. Hundreds of diggers pledged themselves to pay no more than a
third of the sum previously demanded, and those who were inclined to
yield to the Government's demands were warned that the agitators would
not "be responsible for their safety" if they remained at the diggings.
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