The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-07 00:00:00

1.41' tcovitut

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7, 1848.

The attention of both Houses of Parliament was on
Monday night directed to the tumultuous and disorderly
assemblages that have for some time disturbed the
tranquillity of the metropolis, excited the terror of
the well-disposed and peaceable inhabitants, and ma-
terially injured the business and damaged the property
of the tradesmen in the districts where these meetings
have been held. Assurances were given on behalf of
the Government by the Marquis of LANSDOWNB in
the Lords, and by Sir GEoacs GaEr in the Com-
mons, that the most effectual means would be
adopted to prevent the recurrence of such proceed-
ings, and it was intimated that if the existing law
was not sufficient for that purpose, the attention of
the Legislature would be directed to the subject, with
a view to the creation of an effectual remedy.
Nothing can be more mischievous or silly than the
course pursued by the parties who are thus exciting
the multitude to riot and disturbance. They are
playing most effectually the game of the ultra-Tories,
and doing more injury to the cause of progressive
reform than its most enthusiastic opponents could
possibly effect. The trading and commercial classes
are thoroughly disgusted by the annoyance they
have sustained, which has at length become a positive
nuisance. The military and police, and also those
who have arrayed themselves on the side of public
order, are harassed by constant demands, not only
by day, but by night, upon their time and atten-
tion. A natural feeling of irritation has arisen
against those who have occasioned such needless in-

convenience that must be productive of evil
consequences, should any collision unfortunately
take place. One of many communications which
we have received on this subject, and which appears
in another column, clearly indicates the manner in
which these vexatious proceedings are regarded by
the great majority of the industrious inhabitants.
Indeed, all classes appear to be firmly resolved to
submit no longer to the nuisance, and should the
threatened demonstration of the 12th instant be per-
severed in, and multitudes assemble together for the
purpose of coercing their fellow-citizens, by violence
or intimidation, we doubt not that the result will be
most decisive, and such as will effectually prevent a
repetition of such untoward occurrences. We should,
however, deplore that matters should be suffered to
proceed to extremities, or that Englishmen should be
arrayed against Englishmen in open hostility, that
the undoubted right of the people to assemble
together, and to discuss:their grievances in a peaceful
and constitutional manner, should receive so formi-
dable a blow as would be the inevitable result of a
continued abuse of the salutary privilege.

vv
The law as it at present stands is, as we believe,
amply sufficient to prevent such disturbances and
to punish severely the participators therein. The
well-recognised principle "Sic utere tuo, ut clienum
non lathu," is in accordance with the dictates of
common sense, and constitutes the perfection of true
liberty. You may enjoy your own property, or
exercise your own privileges in any way you think
proper, provided no other person is in any degree
injured thereby. The comfort and convenience of
your neighbour must be consulted. You have a
right to express your -own desires, to declare your
grievances, and to ask for the adoption of such mea-
sures as may appear to be for the benefit of the king-
dom in general, but you cannot coerce others by
force, or intimidate them by threats, to join in
such views, however praiseworthy or justifiable
they may be. The attempt which you might
conceive to be in furtherance of your own liberties
would really be a direct invasion upon those of your
neighbour. Physical force can never be resorted to
under any circumstances, except for the purpose of
repelling unwarranted and illegal aggression. No
end or object, however meritorious, can justify the
adoption of such means. It is clear that any change
or improvement in the law cannot be sought by such
an auxiliary. Any meeting for the purpose of peti-
tioning Parliament or otherwise, or processions of
great numbers of persons, under such circumstances
as to excite reasonable apprehensions in the minds
of men of ordinary nerve, are therefore illegal, anti
may be suppressed by the authorities; and every
_ _

citizen is bound to render his aid for that

purpose, although he may really sympathise
with the objects which the parties desire
(we should rather say profess to desire) to advance.
Every circumstance of the case—the time, the place
and the manner of the meeting, and the state of the
country, are to be taken into consideration in coming
to a just conclusion as to the legality or illegality of
the proceedings. We do not suppose any rational
and conscientious man, if placed in a jury-box, and
regarding all these points, could say that the recent
meetings have been lawful ; the leaders have therefore
brought themselves within the scope of the law, more
especially those who have advocated assassination, or
sought to set the different classes of society at
variance with each other. Let that law be
strictly enforced—let a few of the most vio-
lent suffer the punishment they have so
richly merited, and the public tranquillity will no
longer be disturbed, and the peaceful citizens incon-
venienced by the seekers after notoriety.
As a general rule, we admit that Government
should be slow to avail themselves of the powers
they possess, or to institute what might be termed poli-
tical prosecutions, but matters have now proceeded to
such lengths that further forbearance would be an aban-
donment of the duties they are required to discharge.
There will, however, be no such dereliction of duty
on the part of the Executive. Already several arrests
have taken place, and some of those who used the
most inflammatory and seditious language will be
compelled to answer before a jury of their country-
men fomr
many of
of which they have been guilty ;
while
their wretched dupes have been com-
mitted to stand their trials at the Central Criminal
Court for breaches of the peace, assaults, and other
violations of the law occasioned by those illegal pro-
ceedings. Instructions have also been sent from the
Home-office to the several metropolitan police-courts,
that for the future persons so offending are to be sent
for trial in place of the cases being dealt with in a
summary manner. This is as it should
wbeh.iohA
theyfirm
and resolute administration of the law will teach
these misguided men the folly of
have been guilty in listening to the wicked
harangues of professional agitators. Every per-
son who takes part in, or even attends, those
illegal meetings, subjects himself to severe punish..
ment, although he might have been influenced by
motives of curiosity alone. He may be regarded as
a violator of the law, and as his presence and apparent
sanction would encourage others, he cannot complain
if he should be selected for prosecution. We there-
fore call upon every person to abstain from any even
the slightest participation in these proceedings. It is
perhaps more incumbent on those who desire exten-
sive measures of reform to discountenance by every
means the excitement, which must retard the accom-
plishment of their legimate desires. Let them recol-
lect that it was by reason and argument alone that
free trade and other great popular victories have been
achieved, and let them regard all those who may
counsel any violation of the law as the most mischievous
opponents of liberal and constitutional reforms.

No circumstance in the whole of the late French
Revolution excited so much indignation as the ex-
pulsion of the English artizans and labourers by the
citizens of a Republic whose boasted symbol was
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. In that indignation
we sympathised heartily. And yet, notwithstanding
our disgust at these barbarous prejudices of
nationality, we are inspired with feelings of not one

jot less profound indignation by the undue and extra-
vagant patronage awarded in this country to
foreigners. That a rational and proportionate amount
of homage should be paid to genius—quite irrespec-
tive of creed or race—is but in accordance with our
character as a people, and harmonises with those
beautiful principles which as applied to the science
of political economy have resulted in the perfect
emancipation of commerce. Very far, indeed, would
it be from our intention to condemn that spirit
of enthusiasm which actuated the contemporaries
of HocAstni, when HANDEL was their idol and
their pensioner. Our tendencies in criticism are alto-,
gether too catholic to allow of any isolated circum-
stance of this description agitating us with other
feelings than those of unmitigated pleasure. We
can only remember with a sense of satisfaction that
HCLBEIN was appreciated by the population of Eng-
land in the days of HENRY VIII., that VOLTAIRE
was feted in London during the reign of the Second
GEORGE, and that the illustrious and lamented
MENDELSSOHN was welcomed with an unconditional
rapture in the still more liberal age of VICTORIA.
As far as this homage for real genius is concerned it
is beyond all cavil, even in our estimation, leaving,
as we do, all kinds and forms of hero-worship to Mr.
Tuomas CARLYLE and gentlemen of that ilk, no
matter whether the painter be Flemish, the poet
French, or the musician German, so long as he
evinces merit and originality. As a system, we regard
this as wholly beyond animadversion. It is a system
which gives the loftier species of immortality their true
scope, it regards the creations of the human mind as the
universal property of man, and does by no means re-
cognise that law which would enable a single nation
to hold the fame of its children by fee simple, or in
perpetuity.
Still this system (eminently noble in itself) mays
like everything else that is good, be carried to excess,
and from being admirable in sentiment become most
pernicious in operation. It has done so with our-
selves. Not last year or a century ago e- but yester-
day—on this very day—at this very moment the
evil consequences of our national extravagance in
regard to the indiscriminate patronage of foreigners
is deplorably conspicuous. Out of the different thea-
trical establishments of the metropolis no less than
five of the principle class are already, or will be very
speedily monopolised, by Parisian or Italian artistes!
Besides her MAJESTY'S Theatre, Pall-mall, there
is a second Italian Opera in Covent-garden, there is
the St. James's Theatre devoted to the French drama,
there is the Olympic Theatre, according to all ac-
counts, preparing for the reception of the company
of the Opera Comique, and on Friday night Drury-
lane will present the extraordinary and deplorable
spectacle of a great national building, erected for
the glory of the dramatic creations of Great Britain,
becoming the arena for the display of the licentious
scenes of one of the most immoral of the many
immoral romancists of France. On Friday will be
performed, by the entire company of the Theatre
Historique, the first portion (in five acts) of the
dramatised version of Monte Christo, the whole
entertainment to be produced under the immediate
inspection of its celebrated author, Citizen ALEX-
ANDRE Dumas. And this will actually take place
in the noble theatre of Drury-lane—with the
effigy of SHAXSFERE standing conspicuously and in
mockery over the porch, and with the statues of the
two most illustrious actors who have ever trod the
boards of England looming upon the patrons of the
ex-Marquis DE PAILLETERIE from either side of the
vestibule ! Far, very far indeed, from us be the in-
tention to contemn altogether the admission of fo-
reigners among the operatic and dramatic artistes of
London. Since the days of ADDISON, the West End
has been graced by an Italian Opera ; and until AD-
DISON with his exquisite tase is forgotten, we
trust that an Italian Opera may be numbered among
the chief entertainments and attractions of our capital.
Were we to desire by any means to exclude a JENNY
LIND or a LABLACHE, a COLEITI or a GARDONI from
the precincts of the Haymarket, we should be worthy
of execration as barbarians. Were we, again, to at-
tempt to banish for ever from the purlieus of St.
James's-square the forms of RACHEL or of BOUFFE, of
ACHARD or of FREDEBIC LEMAITRE, we should in truth
be invoking upon our heads the anathemas of all
sincere worshippers of genius. Still we must protest
against the exaggeration of a system which leads to
the: introduction of a German operatic company, as
well as of the equestrian corps of FRANCONI, while it
gluts the appetite of those who cannot appreciate the
wholesome and genuine dramas of our own play-
wrights, but who have a marvellous faculty for ad-
miring the gross and pernicious balderdash, the im-
pertinent solecisms, and the audacious double entendres
of a DUMAS, a SUE, or a FREDERIC SOULIE. Lot
her Majesty's Theatre still continue to entrance the
public with the noble outpourings of the imagination
of a BELLINI, or a ROSSINI, a VERDI,
or a DONIZETTI, let the St. James's Theatre still
continue to be dedicated to the sparkling dialogues of
a SCRIBE and a MELESVILLE, but, in the name of all
that is just and decent, let such structures as Drury-
lane and Covent-garden be preserved from desecra-
tion as the haunts of Parisian melo-drama, Parisian
licentiousness, or Parisian fustian, from the babble of
foreign clowns, or the agilities of continental acro
bats ! While English literature can boast a line of
dramatists whose works may be said to vie with the
plays of CALDERON, the tragedies of SCHILLER, the
comedies of MOLIERE, and the splendid but austere
triologies of SOPHOCLES—and that too without
paling before the poetic glory of Spain, and France,
and Greece, and Germany combined—it is monstrous
to reflect that the great establishments which were
originally dedicated to the representation of our Shaks-
perian dramas—(or, as they are called in the profes-
sional slang of the day, the legitimate dramas)—are
now devoted to the display of the farces of the Palais
Royal and the buffoons of the Champs Elysees.
Against this system, then, we protest with all the
emphasis inspired by our veneration for MAssINGER,
and BEAUMONT, and FLETCHER, and WYCHERLEY,
and BEN JONSON, and OTWAY, and FAR-
clumka, and greatest and lordliest of all
SuaKsrussz ! Against it we protest also from the
fulness of our appreciation of the memories of GAR-
RICK, and HENDERSON, and KEMBLE, and SIDDONS,
and YOUNG, and DowToN, and ELUSION, and MUN-
DEN, and—EDMUND KEAN I We protest, moreover,
against the monopoly of our theatres by foreign com-
panies, while the British stage can still boast such
artists as WILLIAM CHARLES MACREADY, CHARLES
KEAN, WILLIAM FARREN, BENJAMIN WEBSTER,
HENRY COMPTON, Mrs. NISBETT, Mrs. GLOVER,
CHARLES MATHEWS, Madame VESTRIS, ROBERT
KEELEY, J. P. HARLEY, and—HELEN FAUCIT ! We
protest, moreover, against this odious, and unnational,
and irrational system from the cordiality of our ad-
miration for the living dramatic poets of England;
men such as BuLwER-LYTTON, as THOMAS NOON
TAL-
FOURD, RS JAMES WHITE, as LOVELL, as WESTLAND
MARSTON, as HENRY TAYLOR, and as JAMES
SHERIDAN KNOWLES !

RUMOURED ASSASSINATION OF
THE KING OF NAPLES.

We have just seen a private letter from Turin,
which states that while they were singing Te Deum
in the cathedral of that city, for the recent victories
of the Piedmontese over the Austrians, the Minister
for Foreign Affairs announced that he had received a
dispatch from Naples announcing that the King had
been assassinated.

SPAIN.

Madrid journals of the Ist have arrived.

It is said that the Belgian Minister has been re-
called for having permitted his house to be searched
by the Spanish police.
The Heraldo is exceedingly wroth with Sir 11.
BULWER for having caused the English arms to be
removed from the front of the English Embassy.
It is said that BERTRAN DE Lis Will retire from
the Finance Department, and be succeeded by Mort
The Bolsa was closed.

MR. WORRELL'S BENEFIT.—That useful actor and
worthy man, Worrell, takes his benefit at the Adelphi
this evening. The entertainments consist of the
Harvest Home, the Derby Day, and the Double Bedded
Room. The house will be a bumper, and Mr. Worrell
well merits
EXTENSION Or THE FRANCEIISE.—Mr. Wyld's no-
tice of motion for Thursday, the 22d instant, relating to
the extension of the franchise, is to the effect that he
will move for leave to bring in a Bill to extend the right
of election of Members to serve in Parliament in Eng-
lund, Wales, and Scotland, to male persons paying in-
come and property-tax.