position in the City Council, the clannishness of the old Scotch party, and the Orange sympathies of the North of Irelanders, added to the political influence he undoubtedly commanded, might have made him a power in the land, if employed sagaciously and within reasonably prudential limitations. But this was not to be. For a Scotchman, Kerr's rashness was unaccountable. He was merciless to his foes, and as for quarter, there was no such word in his vocabulary. Still, he could cringe at times, when it suited his purposes, and once, whilst Town Clerk, accepted a free gift of £100 from Mr. J. T. Smith, the Mayor, whom he heartily detested, and libelled a hundred times in his newspapers. His friends now resolved to give him a fresh start, by sending round the hat to raise money to enable him to establish a new journal, and amongst the subscribers was Mr. Henry Moor, the old well-known Mayor-yet he was one of the first against whom Kerr turned, viper-like; but the eleemosynary paper was afterwards smashed up by verdicts obtained by Moor in libel actions. The new project was a bi-weekly newspaper known as the Melbourne Argus, and garnished with the "Conscience to Speak the Truth" motto, the copyright of which Kerr brought away with him when he left the Patriot. It made its first appearance on the 1st June, 1846. There never was a more personal paper in Melbourne, for Kerr could not exist as a journalist without offensive personalities, and during his two years' editorship of it, he was never out of trouble. Moor was vilely assailed, and the particulars of the two libel actions brought by him are given in a previous chapter. On the 8th May, 1848, there was a Sheriff's sale of the paper to satisfy the verdict and costs of action No. 1, and the property was bought in for £350, by Mr. John Duerdin, one of the old Attornies. Kerr was given another chance by his too-trusting friends; but, instead of his first rebuff bringing him to reason, it only made him worse. The Moor libel racket was recommenced with increased bitterness. Another action followed, and the satisfaction of another verdict led to another knocking down. On the 26th August, 1848, the press and types were again in the clutches of the Sheriff, who was to sell off again in a few days. It is stated in a Melbourne paper that, prior to the second levy, the property had been transferred to Mr. Edward Wilson. An interpleader was taken out, and the question argued in the Supreme Court, when judgment was given affirming that, in the then existing state of the law, the press and types by which a libel was sent out on the world were liable to be disposed of to cover the verdict. The Sheriff's sale was held on the 2nd November, Mr. David Lyons, late of Brighton Road, officiating as auctioneer, and the lot was knocked down to Mr. Wilson for £300. And so died the Melbourne Argus in Collins Street East, where it was born, and in the place occcupied by its successor to the present day.
"The Argus"
The Argus made its first appearance under Wilsonian auspices on 15th September, 1848. From its figurehead the word "Melbourne" was effaced; it was simply The Argus, with the John Knoxian declaration about truth-speaking, beneath the fabled hundred eyes. It was at first a bi-weekly, and Kerr's name continued on the imprint for the first twelve numbers (six weeks). Edward Wilson's name was imprinted for the first time in No. 13 (27th October, 1848.)
Previously there was little known of Mr. Wilson, except that he was an estimable English gentleman, settled near Dandenong, on a small station, which he held with Mr. J. S. Johnston, a Melbourne innkeeper, who, by smartness of tongue, and a happiness of repartee, had made a position for himself in the City Council, and as an effective speaker at public meetings. Wilson's first essays in print were some lengthy, well-written letters to the Melbourne Argus, under the pseudonym of "Iota," which attracted considerable attention; and now that he had assumed the editorial mantle his friends predicted of him a future which was fully verified. His station partner joined him in the new speculation, and the newspaper firm was known as that of Wilson and Johnston. Mr. Kerr continued some literary connection with it, but Wilson was the animating spirit as well as principal writer. It was worked very much upon the same lines as the original Argus, but broader in its political views, more decently conducted, yet often as personal, though much less slanderous, for the new proprietary had taken over some of Kerr's sympathies and antipathies. But it was far
