The Express.
London, England, 1867-05-06 00:00:00

TUC HYDE-PARK MEETING ANL. THE GOVERNMENT.

The Times, announcing the abandonment by
the government of its opposition to the meeting in
lipleo-park, abjures any wish to dispute the soundness
and the diaeretion which has tempered ministerial valour,
but nevertheless comments with much severity upon
the eircensetanoes which have brought us to the present

position, and the further descent which we now witness
in the downward course of ministerial abnegation. The
govenaneen, which was in too emphatic • sense the other
day on the door of the House. is now on the turf of Hyde-
park, and where next it is impossible to say. Mr. Beale@ and
his colleagues will reign in Hyde.park this evening, and
may be considered the actual government of the country.
Had fatal accidents occurred, her Majesty's ministers and
their political friends might hays found themselves ostra-
cised from all power and place till the end of the century,
cad so far it is • relief, though not of the most heroic kind,
to know that this will be spared us. But the feeling is
mixed with that which will be shared by nearly every re-
spectable householder, namely, of vexation that, haring
screwed ourselves up to a crisis, it has been found all at
ono, that the effort has been wasted. However, there
will no doubt be the same preparation against the
disorders which are apt to arise in • crowd from
causes beyond all human controL The " roughs" will
be there, and all the classes that prey on •
crowd of men with parasitical vigour and alacrity.
Whole trades are on the " strike," pickets are posted at
every corner, and there are in everyone's month the names
of obnoxious mestere and obnoxious men. Of course
there is danger here, and it is a danger that immediately
threatens property in its most tender form. Unless go-
vernment, then. has some more security for the public
peace than we are acquainted with, and by some secret of
policy has changed foes into friends, it will have to keep as
sharp • watch, and to make as careful preparations, as if
it were still a trespass to talk politics in Hyde-park.
Under the new circumstances created by the decision
of government. the comments of the other journals, which
are for the moat part ignorant of it, become of less signi-
ficance.

The Daily New declares the silence of the ministers
when pressed in the House of Commons to declare their
intentions, to have been little less than criminal, and as it
produced a very general impression that the meeting will
not be interfered with, it ought to prevent them from
malting any attempt to interfere with the League or its
followers. It is hard that the whole country should be
humiliated in its government ; but the indignity may be
wiped out, while blood spilt can never be removed. The
Daily New mentions various illustrations of the impru-
dence and feebleness of the government—characteristics

which may be changed at any moment to violence. It is
Idle for men who retain their places simply by a series of
concessions to their opponents to claim for themselves the
full measure of respect which a government ought to be in
a pakten to demand. Their very position invitee attack.
The government journals have, as usual, been left in the
dark. Both the Herald and the Standard this morning enter
into elaborate arguments to show that the government
have the perfect right both to prevent political meetings
from being held in the park, and to clear the parks when
they think tit. Showing the necessity of preventing the
meeting from taking place, the Herald rather imprudently
observes that no government could be worthy of the con-
fidence of the nation that allowed itself to give way. It
is too late for the government to concede anything to those
who are bent on provoking a collision, and those who
trespass on the park must be removed. The League
throughout has been treated with only too much indul-
gence.

The Standard assures its readers that " the government
have made ample arrangements both for asserting the po-
sition they have taken up. and for repressing any attempt
to repeat the outrage of July last. Every m►n who enters
Hyde-perk this evening will do so in opposition to the
warning of the constituted authorities."
The Star has some story about an arrangement based
upon a legal settlement of the right of public meeting in
Hyde-park, which is likely to be entered into between the
Reform League and the authorities. If the police do not
interfere, the proceeding., the Stu,- says, are certain to be
tranquil.
The Past says a resolution has been hastily taken and
as hastily abandoned by the government, and the con-
sequence is a thorough want of confidence in its executive
as well as its legislative power. At Lord Derby's meeting
to-day the intermediate explanation of the treatment of
the Hyde-park meeting is not likely to smooth over the
obstacles which are so conspicuously threatening to arrest
the present apparent progress.
The Trlrmaph says that the opinion given by the law
officers of the Crown is, that legally the extent of the
powers of the government to prevent the meeting is
limited to a civil action. If a crowd be assembled at a
fixed spot f w the purpose of listening to the delivery of
opeeches, the authorities can inform the orator that he
must leave the Ouse which he occupies. Should be insist