into the conflict, and, unlike Freemasonry in time of war, the tie of brotherhood possessed no influence, so no quarter was given or taken. Patterson, Dickson, and Clarke were candidates for Civic dignity, the first-named being booked in certain quarters as the maiden Mayor of Melbourne, and King was intriguing for the billet of T o w n Clerk. All the early Municipal Elections were so many pitched battles, in which the Scotch and Irish Northerners were pitted against the English and South Irish. T h e former contingent was inferior in numbers and social influence ; but the deficiency was m a d e up by a power of combination, electioneering tact, and an interest in the issue at stake, not possessed by their opponents. A n d thus was engendered that acrimonious spirit of partyism, which, under various shapes and transformations, flourishes in Victoria at the present day.
As the year advanced, and the elections terminated, Christmas saw the Society denuded of members who, under ordinary circumstances, might be regarded as its most valuable components. T h e Episcopalian and Presbyterian members became conspicuous by their absence from the monthly meetings, and things were decidedly in a state of retrogression. However, the next anniversary of the Irish Saint placed matters in a more encouraging condition, and a public procession on St. Patrick's Day, and the enthusiasm such an event evoked considerably swelled the muster roll of adherents. Great preparations had been m a d e for the ovation, and no exertion was spared to render it a success. A pair of green gold-gilt banners had been m a d e to order; green scarves and rosettes were procured, and there was such a demand for the colour that by the evening of the 16th March, the few drapers' shops were cleared out of their limited stock of finery.
The First Irish Procession
Marched through the streets of Melbourne on the 17th March, 1843. The Town Band made its appearance at an early hour, and commenced operations by striking up "St. Patrick's D a y in the Morning." This was a signal cheerfully responded to from all quarters, and hundreds of people (men, women, and children), flocked to where the musicians were holding forth, and a perambulation of the principal thoroughfares commenced, the moving mass having the politeness to pull up opposite the residences of any special Irish resident in the line of march, where the compliment of a serenade was executed in a very rough-and-ready style. T h e publichouses were open, and as the Irish pockets were not closed, the liquoring-up at frequent short intervals could only yield in intensity to the cheering and boisterous merriment that prevailed. It was the pre-larrikin era, and as nothing but good humour prevailed, the few police on town duty were too considerate to interfere, and not a single Paddy or Paddyess figured on the drunkard's list at the police office next morning. At 10 a.m. the Society's members assembled in theirflaringgreenery at the Royal Exchange Hotel, when a procession was formed. T h e banners, on one of which was a large gilt emblem of an Irish harp, and the other garlanded with poorly-painted yellow shamrocks, were proudly unfurled, backed by a brace of Union Jacks borrowed pro tem. T h e Band, more remarkable for its noise than the measure of its music, was followed by an old Masonic Celt, well known as H u g h y Cain, half smothered in ribbons, armed with a formidable-looking w e a p o n — a hybrid of the mace cum cudgel genus, green wreathed all over—which he twirled like a fighting shillelagh in the hands of a drunken Irishman at Donnybrook fair. This operation was resorted to, to keep in order a troop of Irish school pupils (his juvenile "numbers" he styled them) whose guardianship was, for the occasion, entrusted to him. T h e youngsters trotted on next, proud of their green adornments, and looking forward with admiring apprehension at the wonderful aerial manoeuvres in which old H u g h y and his picturesque staff were indulging. T h e President and Vice-President, indued from neck to heels in robes of green silk, fashioned like ladies' dressing-gowns, with capes reaching to the elbows, then advanced with measured step; and were succeeded by the members of committee scarved and rosetted, the main body similarly decorated, bringing up the rear. In a line of two deep, and keeping m u c h better walking time than our m a m m o t h modern processions, they paraded the streets, their minds recalled to the Shamrock Land of their nativity by the fondly cherished tunes of " St. Patrick's Day," " Garryowen," and "Faugh-a-Ballagh." Advancing along Collins Street westward, they m a d e a circuit of St. James' Church, passing which all hats were off and the banners lowered as a compliment to the house of
