The Press.
London, England, 1856-09-20 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

Lions, such as " The alliance of the peoples; " " The
Archangel is here ; his name is Democracy; "
" Frost. Williams, and Jones, the victims of tyranny,
restored to their homes;" "The sovereignty of the
people ;" " Hail, brother victim !" " The political
victims of 1848 ;" " God speed our cause ! " and
" Disobedience to a tyrant is honour to God." The
rear was brought up by several pleasure-vans, laden
with women and children, and an immense number
of the roughs of London. The procession, thus
made up, started from Finsburysquare at half-past
twelve, passing along Moorgate street to the Man-
sion-house, and so on through Cheapside, up the
Strand, Regent-street, and Portland place to Prim-
rose-hill. With but few incidents to relieve its
tedium, the cortege, which had swelled to some
20,000 persons, reached Primrose-hill about thr-e
o'clock. Here a struggle and a row ensued for
some time, till at length, for a brief interval, order was
restored, and Mr. Ernest Jones availed himself of it
to address the crowd. He said that men desiring to
be free had come to pay homage to a tyrant's
victim, and never were they met on a nobler occa
sion. There (pointing to Mr. Frost) stood a man
who united the energy of youth with the experience
of age, after spending fifteen years of villainous op-
pression in a colony of England. He had worked
in the chain gang during those long years, and was
now ready to break the chains that bound the work-
ing men of his native country. Mr. Ernest Jones
continued much in this strain, and asserting that
the rights of labour• had been for years shamefully
confiscated, was interrupted by the question
" whether lie lab mred." This gave rise to great up-
roar. Mr. Jones replied that he laboured with his
brain and pen, that he had ruined himself for the
cause, and was now ready to offer up his life. After
a short time he read a congratulatory address to Mr.
Frost:—

We congratulate you that yon were able to sustain the
trials and indignities of that exile with such exalted and
dignified composure—such composure, indeed, whtch it is
seldom the lot of humanity to witness. The heroic vindi
cation of your deeds, the exposure of the misdeeds of the
people's enemies, of those who became your enemies be-
cause you championed the interests of those whom they
oppressed, are acts which still hold a prominent place in the
memory of your countrymen. It is refreshing, sir, in this
day of blasphemy and reproach, in this day of political
apostacy and compromise, to know that while we have had
men who publicly recognised our cause, and who have
since succumbed before the fiery blast of persecution, or
forfeited the future greatness of being true for the present
advantage of being rich, that we have you among the
number who have bravely endured the cross, desptsed the
shame, and still foster fealty to that faith which our doc-
trines, the doctrines of the poor, have engendered, and
which, sir, the sufferirge of all have sanctified. Permit us,
then, to bid you welcome.

Mr. Frost replied :
Forty ',cars ago I became convinced that the miserable
state of our country, and of its industrious inhabitants, was
occasioned by the lawgiver—by the corruption of the
House of Commons—and I did all in my power to point
out to my neighbours the cause of the evil and the remedy.
The only remedy, as it then appeared to we, was to recur
to the principles of our ancient Constitution, which prin•
ciples are embodied in what is now called the Charter.
saw in tny native town the demoralising effects of the pre-
sent mode of electing members of the House of Commons.
In the year 11487, on the accession of Queen Victoria, 1
was the mayor of our borough, and therefc re the returning
officer. At that election I believe that 20,0001. were spent,
principally in bribing the electors, he corrupting society at
its very foundation, and I was obliged to receive the votes
of those whom 1, with good reason, suspected had received
money from both candidates. During the agitation for
the Reform Bill I warned my countrymen thut the thing
was a humbug ; that it would put the same sort of men
into the house as those who occupied the seats under the
boroughmongering system, and 1 have lived to see the day
vilifni the ablest writers in England have declared that
since the Reform Bill became the law of the land the
members elected under it were greater imbeciles and more
dishonest than any elected under the whole system.

His hatred against the oppressors of his country had
been stimulated by his visit to the Antipodes :
Bitter as was the hatred which I formerly felt for the
men who oppressed and impoverished my country, it was
nothing in intensity compared to what I feel at present;
and base indeed must I he if, after witnessing the suffer-
ings and depravity of my countrymen in Van Diemen's
Land—those, too, the work of the lawgiver—l did not
ezett every power I possessed to change a system which,
unless altered, and speedily ton, will bring down on the
nation the vengeance of that God who, for crimes of a
similar kind, destroyed the fairest spot in the world.
For the future the Chartist organisation was to be
revived :

We play for a great stake, life or death ; let that game
be played kkilfully. Let us be cool, but determined; pru-
dent, but fearless; giving up no principle, satiated with
nothing less than our doe, and we may yet live to see oar
country once more bearing and deserving the name of
" Merry England."

Previous to the address being read a parody on the
National Anthem, written for the occasion by Ernest
Jones, was circulated among the crowd and sung
by them. It was entitled "The Workmen's Song to
the Rich," and contained the following stanza:—

SATURDAY,

With bloodstained despots' shame
You link our country's name,
And aid their crime;
God! hear thy people pray,
if there's no other way,
Give us one glorious day
Of Cromwell's time.
The demonstration was protracted until nearly six
o'clock, and at its conclusion the immense concourse
of people gradually dispersed.

A French writer in the Union, M. Fontaine, after
detailing the circumstances of the meeting, makes
the entertaining reflection :
Although these Saturnalia, for the present at least, have
no great political aignificance, they cannot but disclose in
its nudity a bleeding, and perhaps mortal wound of English
society!

THE NATIONAL SUNDAY LEAGUE held a meeting
on Monday evening at St. Martin's-hall. Sir Joshua
Walinsley, M.P., occupied the chair, and in opening
the proceedings repeated the usual phrases in favour
of innocent recreations on Sundays. The Sunday
League believed that the best method of providing
this recreation was " to obtain the opening of the
various museums, gardens, and public institutions
throughout the kingdom on the Sunday." A resolu-
tion accordingly was proposed, but a Mr. Sindon,
amidst tremendous uproar, moved an amendment, to
the effect that the meeting, thankfully accepting the
late derision of the House of Commons on the sub-
ject of opening places of public amusement on
Sunday, pledged itself to promote the more frequent
opening of those places at times on week days, whin
those who had to work for their bread could fully
avail themselves of the benefits those places afford.
The amendment was negatived by a large majority,
and after a second resolution, that the Sunday bands
bad been productive of great moral good, had ken
proposed and passed, the meeting separated.
THE FINSBURY-PARY COMMITTEE having been Ili
quested by Lord Palmerston to furnish a plan and
estimate of the proposed undertaking, have cora-
menced a survey of the land near Highbery station
The Islington vestry voted 1001. to cover the exper sea .
CHRIST'S HOSPITAL will be attended by the Lord
Mayor and Al letmen, according to annual custom,
on Monday next, Sunday being St. Mattliew's-day
The four orations will be delivered in Latin by
William Foster, in English by Ernest Montague, in
Greek by Mark Shattock, and in French by Thomas
Pullett. Five poems will also oa recited by other
senior scholars.

A Mn. ARMSWORTH, who had lately purchased
some land in the Lea Mar-dies between Temple.
mills and Bow, drove over to visit his property last
week. Ou his way back, while driving along the
banks of the Lea, he upset his tax cart into the
river and drowned himself.

THE revision of the lists of voters for the city of
Westminster will take place before John Fraser
Macqueen, Esq., at the Lords Justices' Court, West-
minster-ball, commencing Thursday, the 9th day of
October, at eleven o'clock.

A PRELIMINARY MEETING to protest ag,ainst Sir
Benjamin Hall's prevention of park preaching, was
held at Freemason's hall, on Tuesday night. The
Rev. Mr. Crybbace explained the object of the meet-
ing :

They wished to do everything in peace, and with this
view they proposed to address a memorial to Lord Pal-
merston, fur the purpose of getting all the parks opened
for public preaching on the Sabbath, wit'. the exception of
St. James's and the Green parks. They proposed tc erect
pulpits where the platforms for the bands now stood, and
hom them to preach God's Word. He should have ell
them that the clergymen preached the Word of God at the
gates of Victoria-park, and that their preaching was at'
tended by thousands of persons who never attended church
or chapel.
A rather strong discussion ensued upon the terms of
the letter of September 2nd addressed to Sir Ben-
jamin Hall, and of a memorial to Lord Pahnerston,
the first of which was declared to be withdrawn and
the second to be reconsidered. Resolutions in sup-
port of opening the parks for public preaching,
and nominating a deputation to present the memo-
rial to Lord Palmerston, were unanimously adopted
and the meeting separated.
THE REGISTRAR-GENERAL'S RETURNS for the week
show a rate of mortality below the average, 1,087
deaths only being registered. The births annunted
to 1,553.
DR. LETHEBY, in his report to the City Commis-
sion of Sewers, on Tuesday, called attention to the
great nuisance, especially to the boys at Merchant
Taylor's School, resulting from the constant escape
of naptha vapours from a warehouse in Suffolk lane.
This nuisance, however, was not the only evil—there
was the imminent danger of fire from so inflammable
a spirit. The spirit is stored in wooden vats, two
with a capacity of 1,100 gallons each, and a third of
1,700 gallons. The naptha is usually received in.
puncheons and hogsheads, and from these it is met
cured off into tin cans of twelve gallons each. 'flies
operations, together with the leakages from the
vessels in which the naptha is kept, cause a large

SEPT. 20, 1856.

escape of vapour into the atmosphere of the pre-
mi.es, whence it passes into the surrounding neigh-
bourhood :

That (observed Dr. Letheby) which appears to me to
be the most serious, and theretbre the most important,
part of this case is the storing of so inflammable a matter
as wood naptha in the very heart of the City ; for I can
scarcely imagine a more frightful result than the ignition
of something like a thousand gallons of this spirit, in the
midst of warehouses crowded with all sorts of combustible
matter. It is true that every precaution is taken by the
owners of the property to guard against the occurrence of
fire; but still an accident might happen from without, to
say nothing of what may occur from the carelessness of
workmen within, as the smoking a pipe. or snuffing a
candle, or treading on a luoifer match, and so setting the
whole of it in a blaze. If such a disaster were to happen,
the mischief of it would be enormous, for the burning
naptha would flow about like a river of fire, which nothing
could extinguish. The substance of my opinion therefore
is that the storage of wood spirit in any warehouse in the
City is exceedingly dangerous; and in cases like the pre.
sent, where the vessels containing toe spirits are fre-
quently opened, the danger is increased by the diffusion of
the naptha vapour, which is peculiarly offensive it it is not
absolutely injurious to health.

A discusgion occurred upon this report, and an im-
meliate inquiry was ordered.

A YOUNG WOMAN, one Georgina Toulmin, a flower-
maker, met her lover on Sunday walking with another
girl in Victoria-park. She brooded over the circum-
stance till Wednt ■ lay, when she deliberately drowned
herself in the Regenes.canal.
A SERVANT GIRL living in Tonbridge•place, New.
road, was detected the other night in some dishonest
act. Her mistress, threatening her with the police in
the morning, locked her up in the garret for the
night. In the morning the girl was found lying in
the area, frightfully injured, and insen4bie. She
had either attempted to escape by the window, or
thrown herself out. She lies at University Hospital
in a dangerous state, having broken her leg, and
suffered severe internal injuries.

THE CONSERVATIVE LAND SOCIETY held a general
meeting on Wednesday at Exeter-hall, under the
presidency of Colonel Knox, M.P., and attended by
Viscount Inges re, Hon. R. Bourke, Rev. Dr. Wor-
thington, Mr. N. W. Winstauley, Mr. R. Steven, Mr.
Adams, Mr. R. N. Fowler, Mr. W. Sangster, Mr.
Stemdale Bennett, Mr. Asthury, and other members
of the society. The most important points in the
report, which was read by the chairman, were the
finances of the society and its recent disposals of land.
Its total receipts from its formation to the 13th in-
stant amounted to 254,7521. 17.4. 10d.; the total with-
drawals from September, 1852, to September 13,
1850, to 33,0721. ss. 2d ; and its receipts for the
quarter from June the 24th to September the 13th to
13,5001. 3s. The total number of shares, both in
progress and completed, up to the 13th instant had
been 12,482, and the returns up to the same date of
the register of the order of rights had been 5,808,
of which 3,305 bad been rights exercised on estates.
The total amount received for land sold from the
formation of the society up to September 131.11 had
been 101,7621. 12s. Bd. and the sale of land during
the quarter had realised 14,2241. Bs. 6d. Nineteen
leased plots on the Brighton estate had been offered
to the holders of rights, and taken within the first
120 numbers on the register; the whole of the
Malden estate, in South Essex, had been disposed of,
and the magnificent mansion on the St. Margaret's
estate sold to the Royal Naval Female School. An
excellent estate had been acquired at Maidstone, and
no time would be lost in offering it in plots to the
members. In moving the adoption of the report, the
chairman referred particularly to every point of it,
and hoped that next. year the report would be equally
satisfactory, and that the committee would have ex•
tended largely the area of their exertions. In
seconding the adoption of the report, Viscount In-
gebtre expressed a wi4h that working as well as opu-
lent men should be tenants of the society's plots of
land, in order that they might exercise the franchise,
and be benefited personally as well as politically,
inasmuch as their property would produce them at
least five per cent.