The Sun.
London, England, 1848-03-13 00:00:00

EVEN IN G, MARC EI 13, 1846.

GREAT
CHARTIST MEETING
ON KENNINGTON COMMON.

(THIS DAY.)

It will no doubt be within the recollection of our
readers, that the meeting which followed the abortive
one of Mr. Charles Cochraue, in Trafalgar-square, on
Monday last, broke up, or rather the speakers left the
arena, on the understanding that a great demon-
stration should take place this day, at twelve
o'clock, on Kennington Common. At the meetings
since held in various parts of the metro-
polis and its suburbs, it was announced that
the meeting to-day was to be an aggregate
gathering of the Chartists of London, for the treble
purpose of considering the best means to be devised to
obtain the passing of the Charter and the repeal of the
income tax, and to congratulate the Parisians on the
great and glorious revolution they have so successfully
accomplished. The neighbourhood of the common by
nine o'clock evinced unmistakeable signs that something
out of the ordinary course of things was ou the eve of
enaction. Streenes of people, the majority of whom
were working men and boys, from that hour until twelve
o'clock kept pouring towards the scene. The majority
of the shops in the vicinity were closed, and business
was altogether suspended.
Pending the hour of the meeting the crowd—and
amongs% it there were thousands of the lowest classes—
not the hardworking man, but the coarse, brutal ruffian,
too idle to labour, eager enough to steal, and pleased at
any time to play a dangerous part in any crowd, whether
it be a brutal tight or a great national demonstration,
and with just power enough to make a respectable con-
gregation disreputable—pending the meeting, we say,
these persons committed themselves in the most dis-
graceful way. First of all, a baker's trop in a street
running out of the Camberwell-road, we heard, was
stripped of its contents, terrify jug the inhabitants almost
ut of their lives. An innocent pieman or two were
knocked down on the common by 50 or 100 scoundrels
who joined hands, and ran them down, scattering their
ware far and wide. The bread in the one case and the
pies in the other were soon devoured by the hungry
multitude. In order to keep themselves warm, for the
morning was cold and damp, the mob ran to and fro
with much rapidity and humour—now running down a
baker-man, and quickly employing his basket, anon
bonneting a respectable person, plucking off his hat,
and sending it high up in the air amidst boisterous
cheers and laughter.
At twelve o'clock about 5,000 'persons had stationed
themselves cut6de and inside the Common, and at half-
past twelve—the hour at which the proceedings were
placarded to commence—there wore between 7,000 and
8,000, including those in the streets in the vicinity.
The utmost exertions were used on Saturday and
yesterday by the Commissioners of Police, in order to
devise the best means to prevent a breach of the peace,
it having been currently reported that the parties pro-
moting the meeting would march to the Common in
procession. Constant communication was kept up with
tke Home Office, and at length the following arrange-
ments with respect to the police were come to :
" 1. All the mounted men who are not at present attached
to the head divisions of their respective quarters, are to
repair to them on the 12th (this day), at which places
the superintendents are requested to arrange for the men
and horses being properly quartered for the night. On
Monday morning the several parties, under the direction
of an inspector and sergeant, will proceed to take up
their post at Ball's livery stables, Kennington-cross, at
9 A.R.
"2. The officer in charge of each party will report his
arrival to Superintendent Williamson, of the T
who will be there to take command of the whole, and
wait for further orders.
"3. The superintendents must be particular to ob-
serve that men and horses sent from each division are
properly equipped.
" 4. The number of mounted men from each division,
at present ordered, will be as follows :-11 8, R 13, 0 8,
N 10, T 15, V 14, P 12.
" 5. The several detachments will move forward froai
the different stations at such an hour as to enable them
to arrive at their destination at nine a.m.
" 6. Superintendents Butt of the L, Robinson of the
P, and Bicknell of the V divisions, are to communicate
with the churchwardens and other authorities in their
respective parishes, in order that steps may be taken to
swear in as large a body of special constables as has
been done in other parishes.
" 7. The magistrates will attend at the several police
courts at nine o'clock on Monday morning, and have re-
ceived instructions from the Secretary of State to swear in
those parties willing to become special constables."
These instructions were carried ,out to the letter, and
with the greatest secrecy. A detachment of the 1)
division was stationed in Mr. M'Kelly's school room,
Bowling-green-lane, and detachments of the other
divisions were kept in ambush in the unfrequented
streets immediately adjacent to the common. The
churches and chapels in the vicinity were also called
into requisition. We were informed, on good authority,
that a detachment of the Foot Guards were quartered in
Kennington Church, and a detachment of the Life
Guards (horse regiment) in the vitriol works adjoining
the common. Our reporter passed round the sacred
edifice, but the gates of the churchyard, and the doors
of the church, were closed. There was nothing to denote
in the exterior that there was a living soul inside. The
same remark applies to the manufactory. The gates
were closed, and the works, except from a meagre
quantity of smoke, appeared suspended for the nonce.
There could be no doubt about the presence of the mili-
tary in the immediate neighbourhood: at half past
twelve, about fifty of the horse patrol, each armed with a
brace of pistols and a cutlass, passed by the common
and took up their position near the church. Altogether,
there were one hundred mounted police in readiness,
and about two hundred and fifty of the military, and
fe,ur thousand policemen io attendance. Many were
dispersed about the common in disguise.
It is right to mention that the following placard was
posted about in all directions:—
" CAUTION.--KENNINGTON- COMMON. °—"."
" Whereas a meeting is called to assemble on Kenning-
ton-common on Monday next, the 13th instant, ;and
certain information has been received that large bodies
of persons intend to proceed there from place to place,
whereby the peaceable subjects of her Majesty are
likely to be alarmed, and the public peace to be en-
dangered.
" Notice is hereby given, that persons will not be
permitted to march or move in procession through the
public streets in large bodies at any unseasonable hour.
" And caution is hereby given to all well-disposed
persons not to attend or join any such procession.
" And notice is further given, that all necessary mea-
sures will be adopted to prevent persons from marching
or moving about in large bodies, and effectually to pro-
tect the public peace, and
to suppress any attempt at the
disturbance thereof.
A. By order of the Commissioners of Police of the Me-
,ropolis.
" Metropoliian Police Office, Whitehall,
March 11, 1848."
The meeting was called by the following placard:—
" PEACE—ORDER—MORAL AGITATION.

"A grand meeting will be held on Monday, March
13, at Kennington-eommon.
The chair will be taken at 12 o'clock by G. W. M.
Reynolds. Objects of the meeting:—Sympathy with
the French, Universal Suffrage, Total Abolition of the
Income. tax.
:Nlr. G. W. M. Reynolds, and some other persona
acting with him, appeared on the scene at half past
twelve, and were loudly cheered. They immediately
took up their position in one of the two waggons which
had been provided, in the middle of the common. Im-
mediately after, a van full of people arrived from the
direction of the Elephant and Castle. A tri colour flag
was borne by one of them and was loudly cheered. The
vehicle was driven on the common alongside the others,
and the tri-colour was Placed at the back of the speakers.
Mr. REYNOLDS tnen opened the meeting, and after
declaring its object, implored those present not to com-
mit any act of violence, he proceeded to say, that the
presence of so vast a number of police showed that
those who had sent them there knew that the people
were in the right, and that they were wrong, for they
intended to put them down by force.—(Cheers.)
He addressed the meeting at some length on the French
Revolution, universal suffrage, the rights of labour, and
concluded amidst loud cheers.
Mr. JOSEPH WILLIAMS moved the first resolution—
" That this meeting expresses its most heartfelt sym-
pathy with the brave people of France, who have anni-
hilated the throne of a tyrant, and established a form of
government founded on natural and national rights."
Mr. ALEXANDER SHARPE seconded the motion, which
was agreed to unanimously.
The second resolution was to the effect " That this
meeting demands that the Ministry will immediately in-
troduce a measure for the extension of the suffrage to every
male adult having attained the age of twenty-one years,
and who is in the enjoyment of his intellects, with such
provisions for securing the efficient working thereof as
was contained in ' The People's Charter.' "—Proposed by
Mr. JOHN CLARKE, seconded by Mr. THOMAS CLARKE.
Mr. Dutoe proposed the third resolution—" That this
meeting requires at the hands of the Government the
immediate recognition of the rights of labour, and the
principle of a fair days wages for a fair day's work,
'
and of every man who I,s able and willing to work, hav-
ing work found for him.
a speech of considerable length,
Mr. AVG-RATH, in
seconded the motion, which like the previous ones was
carried unanimously.
Mr. STILLMAN then moved the appointment of a
committee to communicate these resolutions to the Mi-
nisters, with a demand that in case the Ministers shall
refuse to accede to the propositions set forth in the
second and third resolutions, they be requested imme-
diately to surrender the reins of power into other hands.
A WORKING MAN seconded the resolution, which was
also unanimously agreed to.
Some person, whose name we could not catch, then
proposed, that Messrs. G. W. M. Reynolds, henry
Walker, John Clark, Thomas Plume, Joseph Williams,
Edward Stillman, and Nathaniel Braham be nominated
a permanent committee, with power to add to their
number, for the purpose of communicating with her
atujesty's Ministers, in pursuance of the preceding reso
lotions, and likewise for the purpose of organizing any
sense and objects of these re-
future meetings which the
lutions may render necessary.
(The mover had not concluded his address when our
report left.)
Some of the mornin' papers have the following. The
'
statement is in some degree correct:—lndependent of
the followi g regulations, the Commissioners have cent
an order to the several oilmen in the metropolis that
they will abstain from selling powder or shot to any
perso* to-lay, and by 80 doing they 1,411 roa-