The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-21 00:00:00

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LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 19, 1849.

Another of those dastardly burlesques of high
treason, which have already rendered the names of
Oxford, Francis, and Bean at once infamous and
contemptible, threw a shadow of alarm and horror
over the loyal rejoicings of Saturday. The affection
with which the Highest Personage in England is
regarded by the masses of the population was
severely tested on that evening—an evening comme-
morated as the birthday of our august SOVEREIGN.
We can hardly command patience to comment upon
an occurrence, in every respect marked by the cha-
racteristics of idiotism and atrocity.

According to the accounts furnished by
the different eye-witnesses the prisoner Hamiltton
fired a pistol at her MAJESTY at a few minutes
before six o'clock P.M. on Saturday, as the royal
carriage was driving up Constitution-hill on its re-
turn to Buckingham Palace. Her MAJESTY was
unattended by the PRINCE CONSORT, who had passed
about ten minutes previously in the same direction
on horseback. In the carriage with the QUEEN were
three of her children. And it was upon that anni-
' versary, in the midst of her domestic happiness, in
the capital of her dominions, iu the bosom of a people
to whom she has become endeared by the twelve
years of her beneficent supremacy, that the noblest
Lady in the land was assailed by the hand of this
wretched miscreant ! Our indignation is beyond the
expression of language, because it is an indignation
arising from the thought that the repetition of these
execrable acts may tend to dissipate in the heart of
her MAJESTY that sentiment of profound security with
which every man amongst us yearns to see it impressed.
Very recently it was conjectured by a great living
historian, that as we are accustomed to speak of the
golden days of good Queen ELIZABETH, so our posterity
will speak in ages yet unborn of the golden days of
good Queen VICTORIA. But it never occurred
doubtless to the mind of that renowned annalist that
it would be said too, by our posterity, and said in
tones of unutterable disgust, that in the golden days of
VICTORIA, the good QUEEN was again and again sub-
jected to dismay and disquietude, to grief and anxiety
by ruffians, the like of whom were unknown to her
less generous and less benignant predecessor. It will
be said by future generations that with every claim
upon the devotion, upon the affection, and upon
the admiration of her people, the good
Queen VICTORIA was perpetually harassed, on
passing through the streets of her metropolis, even on
the anniversary of her birth, and in the midst of the
joyful demonstrations incident to that national jubilee,
by the reflection that same miserable reprobate might
raise a furtive weapon against her life like Oxford,
like Francis, like Bean, or like the ruffian (now in
L custody) Hamilton. It is from such considerations
as these, it is from the fact that one wretched unit may
at any moment bely the loyalty of millions, that we are
altogether at a loss to find words adequate to express
our abhorrence of such offences.

It is consolatory, however, to remember that the
very outrage which took place on Saturday evening
only evoked the most enthusiastic evidences of the
love with which the good Queen VICTORIA is re-
garded by the population. The miscreant who
brought a bitter pang to her noble and virtuous
bosom was only with the greatest difficulty secured
from the avenging hands of the bystanders. Nor
was the emotion confined to those who had the
misfortune of witnessing this flagrant attack
upon the peace of mind of our beloved SOYEREIGN.
From her august husband—who exclaimed, while he
assisted her to alight from her carriage at the gates
of her palace, " Thank GOD you are safe !"—down
to the poorest of her subjects, the emotion was the
same in character though it might be different in
degree : an emotion variously composed of horror,
disgust, and gratitude. The intelligence spread with
extraordinary rapidity over the capital, and cast
a gloom over the preceding joy of its inhabit-
ants. About our own office throughout
the rest of the evening the excitement to
obtaining information was something remarkable.
Even in the public thoroughfares the crowds who had
gone there to gaze at the illuminations could not re-
strain their feelings, but cried out repeatedly " Long
live the QUEEN !" In the clubhouses the news of her
MAJESTY'S safety was received with joyful acclama-
tions, and there, as well as at the different Ministerial
banquets, the loyal toast was welcomed with more
than ordinary enthusiasm. At the various theatres
the audience rose with one accord and shouted for the
National Anthem. In the Mall, where a vast multi-
tude had assembled opposite the palace, the glorious
tones of that hymn of loyalty resounded in full
chorus ; and the voices of her people chaunting
" Gon save the QUEEN," may possibly have conveyed
to that illustrious Lady the best and sweetest conso-
lation.

While these things happened, the miscreant, whose
folly or viciousness had thus dared to outrage the
tranquillity of the SOVEREIGN, and to insult in
so doing the affectionate devotion of all true English-
men, was forinslly passing under examination. As
far as circumstances have yet been explained to the
Attorney-General, to the Home Secretary, and to the
Bow-street Magistrate, it would appear that the
fellow fired no bullet, and that he merely dis-
charged the gunpowder in the pistol in the hope of
rendering' himself notorious. Thanks to that most
judicious law, the sth and 6th of Vict., cap. 51,
the judicial authorities will be enabled to forward
the views of the ruffian rather more di-
rectly than he had probably anticipated—that
enactment rendering any such culprit liable, at the
discretion of a jury of his countrymen, to be sen-
tenced to imprisonment, with the addition of being
publicly whipped at the cart's tail. This Hassilton,
according to his own acknowledgment, was anxious
to render himself notorious; the law can generously
aid him in that anxiety, and render him notorious
with a vengeance. The feelings of the nation, in-
deed, require that he should suffer some condign,
summary, and ignominious punishment. We
are no longer going to witness unmoved
the escape, almost scot-free, of such in-
famous violators of the public tranquillity. The
national indignation is no longer to be quieted
with such stuff as the plea of insanity. Whether the
criminal be an idiot potboy or a ruffianly bricklayer—
let him be whipped and hooted through the streets at
the cart's tail, and we shall no more hear of the
emulation of his heinous guilt. The repetition of
these execrable attempts will then no longer be
recorded, and our beloved SOVEREIGN may repose
in confidence on the love and loyalty of the great
people whose happiness is her own.

PRINTERS' ALMSHOUSES.—The foundation stone of
this institution, we are informed, will be laid at Wood-
green, Tottenham, on Monday, June 11th, by Viscount
Mahon, M.P. This instituti:in was most honourably
originated by subscriptions among the journeymen
themselves, and has since received the sanction and sup-
port of moot of all the metropolitan printers.