The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-09 00:00:00

ARLIABIEN r
to which I will not say the present Government, but to
which no Government, and no statesman who can ever be
called upon to conduct the affairs of this country, would
ever consent ; because we are told that that which alone
will satisfy these vast assemblages and their leaders is the
adoption of manhood suffrage and vote by ballot, which,
' combined, would absolutely and entirely destroy the Con-
stitution of this country. (Cheers.) Well, what encou-
ragement has Parliament for entering upon the course of
deliberating and considering how far it should extend the
' franchise and increase the liberties of the people if it is
told, " All you do is nothing, is of no use whatever. Here
we bring together a demonstration of our ph3sical strength
and our numbers, to show you, the Parliament, that unless
you do that which we know it is impossible you can ever
consent to do, all your labours will go for nothing—they
will produce no gratitude, but will only lead to fresh de-
monstrations and exhibitions of force, until we obtain that
which would be a practical revolution in this country ?"
(Cheers.) My lords, I have not so poor an opinion of the
House of Commons as to believe for a single moment
that any demonstration of this sort will intimidate
them or lead them to consent to extreme move-
ments. (Hear, hear.) On the contrary, 1 only hope
it may not have the opposite effect of deterring them from
fairly and candidly considering the merits of the case, and
that they may not be induced to refrain from giving
that which may safely, reasonably, and justly be given,
owing to exhibitions of physical force and of numbers on
behalf of that which is whollyalien to the Constitution and
the spirit of the country. (Hear.) lu regard to the noble
earl's inquiry as to what the Government are going to do
in respect to the proposed procession,it is only necessary to
say that they will confine themselves within the limits of
the law. We have carefully considered what measures it
might be in our power to take to put a stop to this demon-
stration and interfere with its progress ; and we are in-
formed that this procession, however mischievous, inju-
rious, and liable to produce loss of property and of life, is
not in itself illegal, and that we should not be justified in
interfering with it so long as it conducts itself poacably,
and only passes quietly through the streets. There are
two Acts of Parliament which bear on this subject. One of
them, passed in the reign of Charles 11., prohibits any per-
sons, under a penalty, from attempting to present petitions
to Parliament in greater numbers than ten together. There
is another Act of the time of Geo. 111., to which, I suppose,
the noble earl referred, in respect to assemblages within a
mile of Parliament. It provides that if any persons shall
assemble within a mile of Parliament for the purpose of
either passing resolutions, petitions, or remonstrances with
regard to matters concerning the State, in that case the
assembly shall be an illegal assembly, with all the penal
consequences attaching to it as such. But then) is nothing
in the statute to say that persons shall not meet within a
mile of Parliament for the purpose of there forming a pro-
cession, not to come down to Parliament with a view of
intimidating it, but, as it said to be intended in this in-
stance, with a view of proceeding exactly in an opposite
direction—to Islington, there to hold a meeting in the
great Agricultural Hall. There is nothing absolutely
illegal in that. The duty of the Government, therefore,
must in this case be confined to taking care to have an
ample amount of force ready to interfere, if necessary,
for the preservation of the public peace, or for its restora-
tion, if that peace is disturbed. Further than that it is
not within our legal competence to interpose. But the
noble earl said, and it is a point very well worth considera-
tion, that the constant repetition of these processions and
demonstrations might render it necessary to make some
alteration in the law. (Hear, hear.) I trust that nothing
of the kind will be required, because we know that such
an alteration of the law, however just or necessary, would
meet with very great resistance, and might be thought an
undue interference with the liberty of the people—an in-
terference which could not be justified except by a general
feeling on the part of the country that these demonstra-
tions had become quite intolerable, and a source of evil and
mischief so grave as to render the interposition of Parlia-
ment imperatively requisite. (Hear, hear.) Therefore I
can only say that, while deprecating the holding of this
procession, we cannot stop it legally except to prevent a
disturbance of the peace. We much regret the course
about to be pursued by its promoters, and we think it one
which is liable to lead to the most unfavourable conse-
quences, and likely to create a feeling of bitterness between
the different classes of the community, and we therefore
deem it to be the duty of every good citizen to use his in-
fluence, if possible, to stop it. (Cheers.) •
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGH—I speak in the pre-
sence of noble and learned lords who aro able to correct
me, but the impression on my mind from what has taken
pla-e in Parliament and elsewhere, and from the decisions
of the Judges, is that any great assemblage of people held
under circumstances producing fear—reasonable fear—on
the minds of firm men, becomes of itself illegal, whether
actual violence be committed or not.
The LORD CHANCELLOR—My noble friend has not
exactly stated the proposition correctly. It is true, it has
been frequently decided by the Judges of the land that
large assemblages of persons, in tern oreliz populi, would con-
stitute an unlawful assembly, but no mere assemblage of
numbers would make it illegal. There must be a fear of
violence or disturbance of the public peace in order to con-
stitute an unlaWful assembly.
The Earl of ELLENBOROUGII—But this is not a mere
assemblage of persons, but an assemblage sufficiently drilled
.o carry a column of 40,000 or 50,000 men in military array
rough the streets of London. That is not au ordinary

meeting of men.
The LORD CHANCELLOR—As I understand it, they
are sufficiently drilled to be able to proceed peaceably in
procession through the streets.
The subject then dropped.
Their lordships rose at ton minutes to seven o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS-LAST EVENING.
The SPEAKEit took the chair at four o'clock.
NEW WRIT.

On the motion of Colonel TAYLOR a new writ was
ordered to issue for Colchester in the room of Mr.
Taverner Miller.

THE ADDRESS.

The Comptroller of her Majesty's Household brought up
her Majesty's answer to the address of the house on the
opening of Parliament. Her Majesty thanked the house
for their address, and said that the house might rely upon
her co-operation in all matters to strengthen the free in-
stitutions and to promote the welfare and prosperity of her
subjects.