The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-11 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Six,—ln the discussion last evening in the house
of Lords, on the subject of the Hyde-park meeting,
statements were made by Lord Derby and other
noble lords which were more or less incorrect to an
extent that makes it necessary for me, I think, to
comment upon them. It is not correct to represent
that I or any other leader of the Reform League
distinctly announced an intention to appeal to the
tribunals of the laud for a decision on the legal right
of the people to meet in the park for political pur-
poses, and that we afterwards acted so as to give
the Government reason to believe that we had
abandoned such intention under the conviction that
the alleged right of the Crown to prohibit such
meetings, and exclude the public from the parks,
is indisputable. I went to the park last July in
exercise of what I considered, and still consider, to
be a public right, and I demanded admittance on
the ground of such right, and for the purpose of
showing in the most distinct and unmistakable way
that such right was insisted upon, and that the as-
sumed power of the Government to close the park
gates and exclude the public, as it appears they had
some years before been advised by eminent legal
authorities they had power to do, was denied. At
the subsequent interview with Mr. Walpole, at
which the arrangements were made for the inter-
ference of the Reform League to allay the disturb-
ances which had resulted from what it now clearly
admitted, according to the opinion of other eminent
legal authorities, to have been the illegal closing of
the park gates, Mr. Walpole, on the part of the
Government, very frankly and honourably offered
to give every opportunity of trying the legal right,
and facilitating its determination. I did not pledge
myself to act upon that offer, but 1 did cause this
question to be carefully investigated, and the result
of the investigation was to confirm my own previous
view as to the right of the public, but at the same
time to convince me that I should find great diffi-
culty in acting upon Mr. Walpole's offer, and in BO
bringing the question before any court of law or
equity as to obtain a satisfactory decision either one
way or the other; nor do I think that the present
law officers of the Government will find the matter
more easy. Having come to this conclusion, I took
every opportunity of publicly stating my views. It
is quite incorrect to put forward the course pursued
by the Working Men's Association last December,
in asking permission of the Government to go to
the park for their demonstration on that occa-
sion, as an act of the League, or a waiver of the
right insisted upon by the League. This was not
a League demonstration ; we only attended it by
invitation. We were no parties to the applica-
tion to the Government, and strongly disapproved
of it, and at the meeting in Beaufort grounds I
expressly declared it to to be insult to the inhabi-
tants of the metropolis to exclude them from
Hyde-park, the proper place for such a meeting, and
drive them to be dependent upon the favour of any
individual proprietor for a place to assemble in for
the discussion of political wrongs or the assertion of
constitutional rights. At a numerous meeting of
Reform League delegates held at Radley's Hotel
shortly afterwards, namely, in the month of January
of this year, I entered fully into our position as re-
garded the park question. I stated that there were
difficulties in the way of having the legal right tried,
but that the result of investigating the subject con-
vinced me that the public were entitled to a reason-
able user and enjoyment of the park for political
meetings, and ought to be protected in such user
and enjoyment by Parliament, with whom is now
the management of the parks, as administered by
the Commissioners of Works and Public Buildings;
and I strongly denounced the attempt that had been
made to exclude them in the previous July. 1 fur-
ther expressly stated that it was not then a con-
venient season to hold our intended demonstration
in Hyde-park or elsewhere in the open air, and that
therefofe we should go to the Agricultural Hall, but
that nothi❑g done either then or in the previous July
must be held to prejudice the right of the people to
meet in the dark. Accordingly, early in March last,
we gave notice of our intention to hold a meeting
in Hyde-park either on Good Friday or Easter
Monday. On the 30th of March we had an inter-
view with Mr. Gladstone, at which, in consequence
of a request made by him and Lord Shaftesbury and
other gentlemen, we agreed to waive an intention
which had been come to as regarded Good Friday,
in deference to the religious scruples of those who
objected to a public meeting on that day. I, on
that occasion, expressly asked if there was any ob-
jection to the place of meeting, and the answer was,
that the objection applied only to the day. Finally,
the day was altered to the 6th of May.

Surely the Government could not be ignorant, or
ought not to have been ignorant, after all this, that
the League had not waived their determination to
insist upon their right to meet in Hyde-park. Lord
Russell did me only justice in saying that I never
retracted my opinion on the subject of the public
right ; but he somewhat mistakes me in supposing
that I have suggested the holding a meeting in the
park weekly. What I have suggested is, that the
dispute might be amicably terminated, in a way to
allay all class irritation and soreness on the point,
by some one day in the week being fixed upon as
the day upon which the people might, when occa-
sion
required it, or some political crisis arose, as-
semble there in public meeting. It is not probable
that they would do this weekly, or scarcely at any
time when no matter of public interest existed to
induce them to make the sacrifice of their time for
the purpose, and I think it might be safely left to
their discretion as suggested by the same noble
lord.

With regard to the letter referred to by the Lord
Chancellor as having been written to me by Sir
Richard Mayne on the 2d of July last, with the
concurrence of Sir George Grey, to the effect that
the police had instructions not to interfere with the
meeting announced for that evening in Trafalgar-
square, I must observe that such letter was written
in consequence of a letter published by me in the
Star that morning, copies of which were sent to
both Sir George Grey and Sir Richard Mayne, in
which, after referring to rumours that it was in-
tended to interfere with that meeting, I stated the
law on the subject, and declared that the Govern-
ment had no right or power to interfere with the
meeting. I have never had or expressed any doubt
either on the general question of public meetings,
or on the particular point of holding them in the
park. Nor do I see the propriety of attempting to
prevent persons from preaching then-, to the people,
or acknowledge that they can be so rightfully pre-
vented.

As to the threatened proceedings against myself
and others for what took place last Monday, when
the people are admitted to have acted so admirably
—as they would have equally acted last July if
they had been themselves unmolested and admitted
within the park—l have little anxiety. The notice
served upon me at the delegate meeting at the
Sussex Hotel was not, in point of law, worth the
paper it was printed upon. Looking at the posi-
tion of the Crown, and the Government as repro-
senting the Crown, with regard to the tenure of
Hyde-park, and at my own position and rights as
one of the public in respect of that park, I view
with much indifference the alleged intention of my
friends, the law officers, to attempt to convict me
of trespass. Moreover, I do not believe that the
Queen herself wishes the public rights to be inter-
fered with.—l am, 8Z3., EDMOND BEALES.
Lincoln's-inn, May 10.

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