The Sun.
London, England, 1831-11-08 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The intended meeting at White Conduit-fields,
which was to have taken place yesterday, was hap-
pily prevented by the decision of the Government,
arid, we may add, by the vigilance of the Press. - It
no other precaution bad been taken than that of up-
pealing to the different parishes to provide, by the
appointment of special constables, for the preserva-
tion of peace and the protection of prop( sty, the
readiness with which the call was obeyed, and the
extent to which it was carrel in the way of pre-
paration, and might have been called into action at
a moment's novice, would, we doubt not, have been
-sufficient of itself to put down any attempt at out-'
rage which the profligate and the base, disguising
themselves under the name of " the working classes," ,
would have dared to perpetrate. The precaution,
however, was not limited to that measure. Every
arrangement was made in the police department to
render it available to the full extent of its capabili-
ties, should the occasion require them to he put
forth. The - military too had their orders, and,
if outrage had raised its head but fir one mo-
ment (we speak not in the spirit of prophecy,
but on the calculation of previous arrangements),
the next moment would have crushed the rash
attempt. Our readers are already aware that
the meeting had been formally postponed by
those who were instrumental in convoking it.
Still there were some persons unwilling to be dis-
appointed. Accordingly they repaired to ate 'scene
of discussion ; but it did not prose h scene of
outrage, for none but idle bore and curious and
foolish spectators contributed with the evil-disposed
Individuals to make up the group, which never, in
the course of the day, exceeded two thousand, The
working classes were not amongst them. The in-
dustrious men of the metropolis were otherwise and
much better engaged ; so that the field was left en-
tirely to the idle, the diteolute, and the unthinking;
but they were well watched. We believe that not
even an ordinary disturbance, not a single street
frolic, took place on the occasion, which is likely to
come under the jurisdiction of a police Magistrate.
This is a happy result. It shows how little chance
there is for the emissaries of mischief, in the pre-
sent sober, settled, and determined state of the public
mind. Will the Anti-Reformers take no lesson
from such a fact ? Perhaps not—but,
.if not, they
must take the consequence. There is another
class of politicians who will do well to meditate
on the same fact—we mean the political unionists
The attempt at such a meeting was cne of the
first fruits of the political unions. Is the cause
of Reform so desperate as to call for the establish-
ment of institutions which, in their very commence-
ment, threatened the metropolis with a visitation
that roused the indifferent from their repose, and
put every man upon his guard, as if to ward off
some approaching calamity ? Again, is the cause
of Reform so desperate as to require that those
unions should be armed bodies, as some of our con-
temporaries would recommend ? It is not difficult
to foresee the consequence. Those who reason,
sword in hand " will sometimes find a shorter way
to victory than argument. The attempt to organise,
or rather disorganise, society by the introduction o
this new system of popular combination, of which
we have heard so much of late, is as dangerous as it
is absurd. We have already received one lesson ;
it is to be hoped that lesson will not be lost upon
those who have influence enough to apply it.—
elforning Herald.
The precautions taken by Government to pre-
-vent a disturbance of the peace, in consequence of
the intended meeting of the working classes at
White Conduit-house, yesterday, were called for by
the occasion, and were such as the public safety de-
manded. We do not say this because we put the
least faith faith in the reports that the mechanics
and workmen of London contemplated any enforce-
ment of their opinions by a violation of the law, but
because the congregating of large masses of people
at the present crisis would, in all probability, have
been taken advantage of by the apostles of mischief,
who care nothing for the working classes or their
wants, but who eagerly watch for an opportunity to
make the prevailing excitement relative to Reform
subservient to guilty projects of violence, disorder,
and confusion. We do riot believe the avowed and
visible leaders of the " working' classes" had any
intentions of this sort; but if the current of
mischief had once, by accident or contrivance,
been put in motion, the acknowledged leaders
moat have swam with the stream, or have been
swept away. As to the charge of high-treason
made against the meeting by Lord Melbourne, we
must, with all deference to the law officers of the
Crown, dissent from the opinion. The doctrines oi
Annual Parliaments, Universal Suffrage, &c., which
the late Duke of Richmond, and after him Sir
Francis Burdett, so zealously advocated, are neither
treasonable nor seditious, though they are very
foolish. They are ridiculous and impracticable
theories, which we wonder any man of the least un-
derstanding could ever have seriously entertained or
propounded. But while the working classes are
censured for adopting such visionary notions, let us
recollect that those notions were not generated
among the poor and ignorant, but descended to
them from the higher grades of society. The hands
of rlch and titled men planted this tree of specula-
tive folly, which bears such bitter fruit. The meet-
ing, then, if treasonable at all, could only have be-
come so by adopting the proposition that " all lie.
reditary distinctions of birth are unnatural, and op-
posed to the equal rights of man, arid therefore
ought to be abolished." But the merely adopting
this sentiment, even if it were of a treasonable na-
ture, would not be treason, unless sorne step were
taken in furtherance of it ; for words cannot be
treason ; but it is necessary that crime should
be manifested by some overt act. But what
is this opinion in reality ? As it is expressed in
the words of the very intellectual leaders of the
Wittenagemote of White Conduit-house, it is rank
nonsense. When we are told of hereditary distinc-
tions of birth, we should like to know what heredi-
tary distinctions there are which are not of birth.
But leaving the words " of birth" out, the sentence
will then read thus :—" a'l hereditary distinctions
are unnatural." This is nothing but a mere truism,
nor can the utmost refinement of Crown-law inge-
nuity make it any thing more. Are we to be told,
as a novelty, at this time of day, that no hereditary
distinctions came from nature ? Is Lord Melbourne
to be startled by such a proposition ? All here-
ditary distinctions are the artificial creation of so-
ciety. However necessary in the social state some
of those distinctions may be, they are all the off-
spring of positive law. We never heard of nature
creating an order of Peers. But to say that here-
ditary
distinctions should be abolished, because they
are not derived from nature, is as absurd as to say
that the whole system of society should be abolished
because man, as a social being—enjoying the lights
and performing the obligations which society
imposes—is no longer in possession of the wild
freedom and savage ignorance of a state of na-
ture. We dislike to hear speculative folly of
this sort dignified by the name of high trea-
son. We would as soon see the fires of Smith-
field lighted against religious fanatics, as wit-
ness the axe of a State prosecution uplifted
against every silly theorist in polities. There can
be no treason in England but what is clearly and
precisely defined by some Statute. There is no
Statute in existence which makes an abstract ah-
simlity, like what we have quoted, treason—and
we hope never to see, on any pretext whatever, the
doctrine of constructive treason revived. As to the
word "aboWhed," it may mean " abolished by
law." We said the other day that a Government
which allowed voluntary associations to take out of
its hands the protection of the public peace, would
thereby acknowle e. 'teelf virtually deposed: We
are glad to find .14 ~_ eekurne took
.this view of
_.....,
the subject when:heel e e ekb:tletraders of the White
Conduit-house CeOlitien , Pat if Government
allowed th* meetings'liiil. scA, , it might he COnSi' ,
dered defaiii4,'" One ofiiiie f ers hiss since issued ,
his procterfliirion to the to how mail Soye-1
31
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