The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-20 00:00:00

THE TORCHLIGHT M EETING

Last night was held an open-air meeting, organised by
what is called the Anglo-French Intervention Society,
which consists of a war section of the Democratic as-
sociations in the metropolis. It was announced to be
a " torchlight demonstration," and the place fixed for
its operations was a new one, namely, Palace-yard.
Choice was made of New Palace-yard, but, in the
event of obstacles being made to the use of that area,
the gathering was to be in the unenelosed
space of Old Palace-yard. However, the former
was left open to the meeting, and accordingly it
took place there. It was arranged that the members of
the society should assemble at Clerkenwell-green, and
about seven o'clock some 150 persons, with a single •
banner and a few torches, gathered there, and proceeded
to Westminster. At the same hour persons begafi to
gather in Palace-yard, and the numbers thickened
until there may have been, perhaps, 1,200 present.
These were slightly increased when the procession, so
called, came in ; but at no time was the area full.
Pending the arrival of the principal actors in
the demonstration, the people gathered into knots,
some listening to the recitation of the inevitable mock
Litany which is a feature of these gatherings, while others
formed an audience for an unmusical chanting of the
" Marseillaise." The conduct of the crowd was nothing .
particular—not very noisy—and they were more given to
horse-play than anything else, much of the movement and
crying out being contributed by irrepressible young lads,
who mingled largely in the assemblage. Soon after
eight o'clock a movement and some shouting, which was
not exactly cheering, signalled the arrival of the proces-
sion, which, with its few torches and its one banner—an
Italian one, with the words " La Liberte " inscribed on it ,
—threaded it way to the central gateway of the Speaker's
Court. There the leaders formed up, and,
having obtained a cab from a driver, who, dur-
ing the proceedings, was in a continual state
of remonstrance against the weight which was
imposed on it, it was converted into a platform, and
from its top the various speeches were made. Messrs.
Riddel, Oliver, M. Sweeney, Wieber (a Prussian), Fagan,
and A. SOlomons were the speakers. Resolutions to the
effect thut the meeting indignantly recorded its disappro-
bation at the apathy and indifference shown to the mis-
fortunes of a tried ally, urging Mr. Gladstone to give ex-
pression to the feelings and sympathies of the English
people by at once officially recognising the de facto French
Republic, and calling upon the Government at
once to convene Parliament to consider the
duty of the country at this especially event-
ful crisis, were of course carried unanimously.
The effect which the oratory produced was not very re-
markable. Those who were near enough to hear what
was said cheered at intervals, and the sound was duly
caught up by the more distant auditors. Soon, how-
ever, the majority of the crowd began to form into small
sections, and there was some outside speaking hear and
there. But in a short time the numbers began sensibly
to decrease, and by the time that the proceedings were
over probably not more than a third of the
original spectators remained. Once only was there any show
of disturbance, and that was caused by an attempt
to put out some of the torches, the bearers of which, all
lads, had flashed them about in the faces of the crowd too
much to be agreeable ; but this soon subsided, and on
the whole the proceedings were, if not exactly constituting
an enthusiastic demonstration, were orderly in every
other respect, except noise. There was a supposition that
after the meeting there would be a march to the houses of
Mr. Gladstone and the Prussian Ambassador, but if there
was such an intention it was abandoned, and the meeting
dispersed rapidly.