more cautious in the libel business, and steered clear of the breakers of the law until early in the following year, when on the 4th April Mr. Wilson was committed by the Police Court for trial, as the publisher of a libel on the Resident Judge (A'Beckett). The article complained of was not an ordinary newspaper attack, but a speech delivered by Alderman Johnston in the City Council on the 1st December, 1848, in which a judgment of the Supreme Court, in a Corporation mandamus case, was virulently assailed in a manner very uncomplimentary to the esteemed gentleman who then filled the invidious and highly responsible office of sole Judge. The defendant was admitted to bail in a personal bond of £200, with two sureties of £100 each. The prosecution was not persisted in, as no bill was ever filed, most probably in consequence of the peculiarly embarassing position in which Justice A'Beckett would be placed by presiding at a trial in which he should figure as judge and virtual prosecutor, i.e., supposing it to be competent for him to legally do so, of which, however, the Crown lawyers of the time appeared to entertain no doubt.
The Argus was now fairly in the race, and as it had two dailies, the Daily News and Herald, to compete with, to have any chance of holding ground it should appear before the public on the same terms, and it was accordingly changed from a tri-weekly, which it had been for some time, into a daily paper on the Waterloo Day (18th June) of 1849. As a mouth-piece of public opinion it was by far the most outspoken and uncompromising of its contemporaries, and no one conversant with the conditions of those early times, and capable of forming an unbiassed opinion, can honestly refuse to Edward Wilson the meed due to one who served his country with a sincere zeal for its true welfare, and an enterprising energy rarely equalled. 1850 was an eventful year as the harbinger of the emancipation of Port Phillip from New South Wales, the birth of the new colony, and the discovery of the gold-fields.
On the 1st April, 1851, the Gazette became a daily, so that Melbourne then had its four morning journals; but a three months' trial was more than enough for Mr. M'Combie, who succumbed before the force of competition, and the last was seen of the second eldest Port Phillipian newspaper. Towards the termination of the year, and in the glare of the early splendours of Ballarat and Mount Alexander, The Argus bought up the Daily News, and in so doing improved upon the mythological monster who fed on his children by devouring generations of its journalistic ancestors. It had already swallowed the old Argus and Courier, and now rolled up in the Daily News, it had the Patriot, the Gazette, the Standard, and the Weekly Register, yet compared with The Argus of to-day, it was a slim, delicate-looking customer. 1852 opened with only the Herald and Argus as Melbourne daily newspapers, and there was never in the colony a period when an organ of public opinion stood more in need of talent and sagacity to enable it to do its duty to the Commonwealth. The Herald exercised considerable influence, but between the two principal motors, Cavenagh and Wilson, there was a world of difference. Cavenagh, though possessed of managerial aptitude of a secondary kind, was devoid of literary ability. He was also defective in the faculty of enterprise of the continuous sort, for spasmodic fits of energy would not now suffice. He had no financial resources to speak of at command, and the handicap of a large family to provide for, made him reluctant to incur liabilities, which might, or might not, recoup themselves. In fact, he had not the pluck to cope with the extraordinary changes which every advancing week brought about, and like a timid mariner in an uncertain and troubled sea, he carried as little canvas as he could, trembled at the helm, and often wished to be well rid of the ship. Wilson, on the other hand, had dash and enthusiasm, and launched out on the ocean with as much sail as his craft could possibly carry. He was unhampered by some of the obstacles surrounding the other, and though the difficulties through which he had to force his way were numerous and formidable, a brave heart and strong unswerving will ultimately wafted him to victory. 1852-3 was the maddest of the mad years in Melbourne, and it was no easy task to work a newspaper through the shoals and quicksands of the times. Though the incomings were considerable, the outlay was enormous. The wind, if it did not blow favourably, had to be "raised" in some way, or else the ship would be stranded. The Wilson-cum-Johnston station speculation was not a paying one, and Johnston, apprehensive that the same fate awaited The Argus, into which he was believed to be instrumental in involving Wilson,
