The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1884-10-18 00:00:00

THE BIRMINGHAM DEMONSTRATION.

RIOTOUS PROCEEDINGS.

Sir Stafford Northcote and Lord Randolph Churchill
arrived in Birmingham on Monday afternoon for the
purpose of addressing a meeting of Conservatives in
the Aston Lower Grounds, a recreation ground in
the suburbs of the town. Sir Stafford and Lady
Northcote reached New-street Railway station about
three o'clock, having travelled from Exeter. He was
met on the platform by the Hon. A. C. G. Calthorpe,
Mr. R. J. B. Stone, president of the Midland Con-
servative Union, Mr. J. S. Hopkins, president of the
Birmingham Conservative Association, and a local
reception committee. Sir Stafford was loudly cheered
both in the station and outside, where a considerable
crowd of persons had assembled, and where a carriage
was waiting for him. The right hon. gentleman
bowed his acknowledgments, and then drove off to
Perry Hall, near Birmingham, the residence of the
Hon. A. C. G. Calthorpe. About half an hour after-
wards Lord Randolph Churchill arrived from London,
and was enthusiastically received.
The meeting at Aston was intended as the first of
a series of political gatherings which the local Con-
servatives have organised. The hall in which the
meeting was announced to be held is a largo building
capable of accommodating about 6000 persons, and is
situated in the centre of an extensive garden and re-
creation ground, well known as a local place of holiday
resort. The grounds were thrown open to ticket-
holders at three o'clock in the afternoon, and the
tckets of admission to the grounds also gave access to
the hall, to a large skating-rink, an assembly room,
and other places in the grounds where it was intended
to hold four or five separate meetings simultaneously.
The object, in fact, was to hold a monster demonstra-
tion under the auspices of the Midland Conservative
Union. Medals of Lord Randolph Churchill had
been struck specially for the occasion, and were worn
with rosettes by most of the local Conservatives. A.
number of the Liberals got up a counter demonstra-
tion, several processions were organised, and marched
to a piece of waste ground adjoining the Aston
Grounds, and there at four o'clock a meeting, at-
tended by some thousands, was held. This
meeting over, the mob endeavoured to effect
an entrance into the grounds, and a number of per-
sons scaled the walls. A large portion of one of the
walls was b: .ken down, and some thousands rushed
into the grou ads, and made their way for the build-
ings where the meetings were to be held. Others
set fire to some firework devices which were to
be let off at the close of the meetings, one of them
being a portrait of Sir Stafford Northcote. It then
became evident that fears which had been entertained
as to a probable disturbance of the meetings were
well grounded. The mob forced an entrance into the
skating rink, where Mr. E. Gibson was announced to
speak, and created so much noise and tumult that it
was impossible to hold the meeting. The riotous mob
took possession of the platform, and on the Conserva-
tives who had tickets for the platform making their
appearance, a violent struggle took place between
them and the roughs. Chairs were brandished about
freely and blows were struck. lathe midst of the
melee the platform collapsed, and a scene of the
wildest confusion followed. The chairs were
smashed to pieces, and as much damage as possible
having been done many of the rowdies retired. The
platform having been partially restored, several of
the speakers endeavoured to address the meeting, but
found it impossible in consequence of the storm of
yells and groans with which they were received.
Little personal violence was attempted, and so far as
could be ascertained no one was injured, although
several had narrow escapes through the falling of the
platform, which collapsed a second time. The meet-
ing was eventually broken up in confusion.
In the large hall, where Sir Stafford Northcote and
Lord Randolph Churchill were to speak, a still greater
disturbance took place, and it had all the appearance
of being specially organised with a view to breaking
up the proceedings. No sooner had the doors been
opened to ticketholders at six o'clock than there was
a dreadful rush on the part of the riotous mob to
obtain admission. The doors for reserved ticket-
holders were burst open, and a number of roughs
forced their way into the hall in front of the plat-
form. There appeared to be no police or officials
present to keep them back or to maintain order.
Indeed, if there had been, the inrush was so great
and overpowering that it was impossible almost to
resist it. The reporters' table in front of the plat-
form was first besieged, and was mounted by several
dozen roughs, who by this means made for the plat-
form. The Conservatives who had already taken their
places on the platform offered a resistance which was
unavailing, as they were unable to keep the mob
back. Their resistance, indeed, only seemed to pro-
voke the riotous multitude, and the reporters were
compelled through sheer force to retire on to the
platform. For a few moments there was a violent
struggle between the occupants of the platform and
the crowd. At last the roughs managed to get a
footing on this vantage ground, and then a most
disgraceful scene ensued. Some one flourished a
stick in the face of the mob, and a desperate struggle
followed. The roughs, apparently exasperated by
the efforts made to keep them back, made a deter-
mined charge and carried all before them. Sticks
were freely used, and blows were dealt on both
sides with these weapons and with chairs. Matters
now began to assume a serious aspect, and for some
time a free fight was kopt up on the platform
and in several places in the body of the hall.
Women were heard screaming and making frantic
efforts to escape from the platform, and for a time a
scene of the wildest excitement was witnessed. Many
persons had narrow escapes of serious injury through
the crush. In the fight a number of persons received
ugly wounds on the head and face. One man was
felled by a blow from a chair and lay for a few
moments as if stunned. Several others were seen
with blood streaming down their faces, presenting a
ghastly appearance. The fight only ceased when the
supply of chairs was exhausted by the whole of them
being broken into matchwood. The hostilities then
terminated, and those who had received broken heads
set to work to bind them up.
The disturbance lasted from shortly after six until
about seven o'clock, whoa the mob had got complete
possession of the platform. The hall was now filled
in every part, persons passing in and out of the build-
ing indiscriminately. At seven o'clock something
approaching to order haying been secured, the
audience lustily struck up "Rule Britannia." Several
local gentlemen then appeared on the platform and
endeavoured to address the meeting., but without avail.
Shortly afterwards Sir Stafford Northcote and Lord
Randolph Churchill made their appearance, and were
received with mingled cheers and groans. There being
no chairs left, they were obliged to stand on a small
raised structure in the middle of the platform.
Sir Stafford Northcote made an attempt to address
the meeting, but the scene was a veritable pande-
monium, and not a word could be heard at five yards
distance from the speaker. Portraits of the Premier
and Mr. Bright were held up from the reserved seats
at the end of an umbrella and were received with
applause by those around, but at this moment Lord
andolph Churchill appeared on the platform, and
was greeted with immense cheering. Ile, however,
thared the fate of Sir Stafford Northcote. The up-
roar created by dissentients drowned every word he
uttered. Oratory by dumb show being neither
amusing to the audience nor pleasant to the per-
formers, it was quickly brought to an end, and Sir
Stafford, Lord Randolph, Sir Henry Wolff, and Mr.
Mintz withdrew, their supporters having almost to
fight a way for them to an ante-room.
After Sir Stafford Northcote, Lord Randolph
Churchill, and the leaders of the Conservative party
had left the hall they proceeded to the hotel at the
entrance to the grounds, where a meeting was held in
the assembly-room, and Sir Stafford Northcote briefly
addressed his supporters, remarking that their oppo-
nents had met with force what they were unable to
answer by argument.
Lord Randolph Churchill also addressed the meet-
ing, reproaching the Radicals of Birmingham for the
stigma they had brought upon the town by the insult
they had offered to so able and esteemed a statesman
as Sir Stafford Northoote-

An examination of the interior of the Great Hall,
skating rink, and grounds at Aston on Tuesday morn-
ing at once revealed only too plainly the serious
nature and full extent of the rioting that had taken
place on the previous night. An ugly gap in the wall
in the Wittons-park-road marked the spot where the
mob forced an entrance into the enclosure at the con-
clusion of the demonstration. The breach varied in
width from Oft, at the top to 3ft. or 4ft. at the base,
while for a distance of some 60ft. or 70ft. along the
coping of i.l,e wall, with its broken glass, had been
swept away. The brickwork which had been thrown
down was to be seen lying in a confused heap, while
round were scattered the poles, splintered and
broken, with which the excited crowd had battered
down the wall. Amongst other subject to be seen was
the ladder which had enabled many of the ring-
leaders to enter the enclosure in the first instance.
The course taken by the mob as it rushed towards the
cluster of buildings constituting the hall, skating
rink, and aquarium is marked by the uprooted
poles and broken woodwork lying around where
the fireworks stood. From this point they seem
to have made for the skating rink, into which they
effected an entrance by brcaking through the glass
windows of the monkey house. The platform, which
had overnight been twice levelled to the ground by the
rioters, layalmost in the centre of the rink a confused
mass of timber planks, beneath which glimpses could
be obtained of chairs smashed to atoms. There do
not seem to have been more than fifty chairs in the
rink, and they were, without exception, all broken up
in the furious melee which took place. In the Great
Hall itself, where the rioting was more extensive, the
destruction of property is far greater; scarcely a
sound door remains in the building. North, south,
east, and west the entrances wera forced. In two
instances the doors were bodily torn from their hinges,
the &us fittings of the bars were wrenched from the
walls, and the chairs along the galleries destroyed.
At the conclusion of.the meeting the mob swarmed
into the landscape garden, trampled down the flower
beds, and demolished a portion of the west wing of
the open-air structure cverlooking the ornamental
waters."

The campaign was continued on Tuesday. In the
morning Lord Randolph Churchill opened a bazaar in
aid of the enlargement of St. Jude's Schools, and
aniznadverted !loon the atolls of tlle Radical party to

exclude thbial and religious training from tlie cit
scheme of education.

In the afternoon: a largii number of gentlemen
belonging to the Fair Trade Union assembled at the
Conservative Club and presented Sir Stafford North-
cote with an address in which they urged the appoint-
ment of a Commission to inquire into the present
state of trade. Sir Stafford Northcote declined to
pledge himself to any particular line of action, but
said the subject had and was engrossing the attention
of the party to which he belonged. They must,
however, be sure that in any steps they took they did
not get the worst of the bargain, as they had hitherto
done. Sir Stafford, in conclusion, said:

Now, with regard to the questions of the home
trade, there is no doubt whatever that it is for the
interest of all classes that all our home trades should
be in the most flourishing condition possible. The
agriculturist feels directly the sufferings of the manu-
facturing classes, because that diminishes the demand
for his produce. In the same way, when the agricul-
turist is in difficulty there is no doubt that the home
demand is affected by it, that it must have a very
injurious effect upon all our industries; therefore
what we desire as far as possible is to improve the
home trade in the first place. I will speak of other
trades afterwards. Now, with regard to the home
trade, it is, I think, a matter for very serious
consideration. It may be a matter for a solemn
inquiry as to what are the causes, and what is the
extent to which the home trade is affected by any
recent legislation • for I cannot help feeling that it is
not merely the admission of foreign products without
duty, but that there are other questions, such as the
burdens laid upon particular interests, the burdens
that have to be borne, and other conditions which will
seriously affect the home trade. With regard to the
foreign trade it is most important, if we can manage
it, to bring about a state of things by which we shall
get from foreign countries those privileges and those
rights which we have been so ready to give to them.
(Hear, hear.) The only question is whether we can
succeed in doing it, and you must not plunge into an
attemptof that sort without taking very good care to
see that you can see your way through it. We must
have some proposal that will be of a character that
will hold water and bear examination all round.
Everybody naturally looks at the immediate interest
of his own particular branch of business, but re-
member this, that if you have anything in the
nature of protection you will have to give that
protection all round. You will certainly have to
give it to the agriculturists as well as to the
manufacturers. (Hear, hear, and applause.) But
you must take care that you see your way to a
state of things in which that will be obviously for the
advantage of the nation that you would be able to
overcome the very great cry that will be raised against
anything in the nature of attacks upon the people's
food. I am just putting these matters before you
because you are gentlemen who are attending to this
subject in a business-like spirit. lam anxious to im-
press upon you not to move in a matter of this sort
without well considering how you can go through with
it, and how you can carry it through, and what sort
of proposals you can make that will have anything
practical in them. Then there is the third branch of
our trade, the Colonial trade, and on it I wish to say
a few words. You are aware how very important
the colonial trade is in proportion to the foreign trade,
and how very much more important it is every year
becoming. I looked at some returns on the subject
yesterday, and I observed that the value of British
and Irish manufactures, of British and Irish pro-
duce, exported last year, to the British possessions was
exactly, as nearly aspossible to a fraction, equal to the
whole of our exports to France, Germany, Holland,
Belgium, and the United States of America taken
together. I observed also that there has been for the
last fifteen years a very large steady increase in our
exports to our colonies, whereas there had been a
very trifling increase in the exports to foreign
countries. I think in the fifteen years that are re-
ferred to in the statistical abstract, the increase in
the exports to foreign co-antries is only 10 per
cent. whereas the increase to the colonies is no
less Alan 72 or 73 per cent. You see by that how
extremely important it is that we should encourage and
develop, and retain for ourselves as much as possible the
trade with the colonies. You cannot do that by force ;
that was the old colonial system, which has long 'since
broken down. You have got to see what you can do
to make it to the interests of the colonies, and the in-
terests of the people of this country, to extend and
strengthen our home and colonial trading relations.
That is a question that, like the other, lies beyond the
mere action of the Homo Government. It is a thing
we cannot absolutely do for ourselves. Just as you
cannot compel foreign countries to take off their duties
by any action you may adopt here, so you cannot
compel the colonies in this matter, and you must con-
sider very well what the proposals are that you can
submit and what is the manner in which this question
is to be approached. It would be very unfortunate
indeed if you were to drive them to that, which one of
the speakers said just now is taking place, that is to
say, the opening of direct relations between foreign
countries and themselves and giving England the go
by altogether. It would be very unfortunate if any-
thing of that sort occurred, and you must take care in
any system adopted that you do not attempt that.
I will only say with regard to that and the whole
question, that it is a matter that seems to me to require
very careful and impartial consideration. In
what form that consideration may best be given,
whether by Royal Commission, or any other way is a
matter I will not now pronounce offhand upon at this
moment. It is a subject upon which I and others
who are associated with me, and who are friends
politically, are considered as to the possibility of any-
thing being done; but this I will say, you must take
care. There was a saying once of Lora Beaconsfield's
that " expenditure depends upon policy," and I think
you may say in the same way, "trade depends upon
policy." If we don't keep the Empire properly
together, if we don't keep our proper relations between
ourselves and the colonies, if we don't show that we
are determined to maintain this great empire, we
shall lose the advantages which undoubtedly we now
possess. Let me say this with regard to the home
trade in all its branches. What are the advantages
which England has? In foreign countries, one has
climate and another soil, and so forth; but in Eng-
land the great advantage is the great capital you
have and the great confidence you have acquired, and
the credit that results from it. Take care that
in what you do you don't shake that confidence
in the security and stability of your system;
don't encourage anything that leads people to sup-
pose that they cannot have the same confidence in
this country as their ancestors 'had in your ancestors.
(Hear, hear.) Strengthen your own country, strengthen
*the confidence in all your business matters, strengthen
the tie that you have with your colonies and your
great Indian Empire—(hear, hear)—which I ought
not to include roughly under the word colonies.
Strengthen your relations with your colonies by show-
ing that you attach a real value to the connection and
that you are determined to maintain and support it.
(Applause.) I will not say more now, but I can
assure yon that this is a subject which has long been
in my mind and to which I shall always be ready to
give my attention. lam much obliged to you for the
opportunity you have given me to hear from you what
pi' have to say on this subject. (Cheers.) The in-
te•view than terminated.

In the evening a banquet took place at the Exchange
Rooms, which was largely attended. Lord R.
Churchill proposed "The Constitution," and objected
to its being handefl over to the "pinchbeck Robes-
pierre, Mr. Chamberlain, or to the renegade Demo-
crat Sir Charles Dilke." The toast was acknowledged
by Lord Carnarvon and Sir S. Northcote, the former
remarking that the House of Lords, while accepting
the principle of the Franchise Bill, objected that
piecemeal 'legislation was fraught with danger to the
community. Sir S. Northcote urged the necessity of
organisation in the Conservative ranks, observing that
'.l:4.ution could not be far off, and, however hope-,
less the task might appear, even in Birmingham the
cause was in their own hands. He attached little
importance to the proceedings of the previous night,
except as showing that the Liberals were afraid to
have politics seriously discussed in their town. No
constitutional change, however, should be made with;
out free discussion, and without the people knowing
what was meant.