The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-06 00:00:00

WESTMINSTER.

DAB ING ROBBERY WITH VIOLENCE.—TITO men, well
knows. to the poPe', ono of whom is a convicted thief,
givi-ig their names Richard Conden and James Ryan, were
charged with being concerned with three or four others
in tlic following daring robbery :
J Imes Besley, a cabman, sztid that at 2 o'clock this
mo .wing he was passing through a passage iu St. Anne-
str iot, Westminster, when the prisoner Conden and four
or fivo other men rushed upon him, knocked him down,
eat him, and took from his pocket a purse containing
.E 1 10s. After robbing him the whole party ran away,
and ho followed until ho overtook Condon after going a
co'lsiderable distance.

Police-constable Baker, 114 B, said ho heard a cry, and
immediately afterwards some men who were running were
pointed out by prosecutor, who came up and complained
of ill treatment and robbery. Witness followed and suc-
ceeded in capturing Condon, who denied all knowledge of
the robbery.
J. Richards, 72 B, said that immediately after the
robbery he saw Ryan running from the direction in
question. lie called to him to stop, but lie would nos.
Witness secured him, when ho offered him a shilling to
lot him ago. Some time before this ho had seen the two
prisoners together.
William Burnett, 285 A, said that he saw Condon in
Great Peter-street, at llarlack's last night.
It was proved that when Condon was apprehended ho
said he had just come from Lambeth, where ho had been
spending the evening.
Ryan said ho was at the Trevor Music-hall, Knights-
bridge, at the time he was said to have been seen iu Peter-
street.

Mr. Selfe remarked that the men had both given their
address at the same place.

Prisoners wero remanded.

THE DEMONSTRATION IN HYDE-PARK.

The council of the Reform League having deter-
mined to organise a demonstration in Hyde-park,
especially directed against the Royal Parks Bill,
called upon the working men of London to assemble
in their thousands at seven o'clock last evening. At
half-past six nothing unusual was apparent at Hyde-
park-corner, and at the Marble-arch no large crowds
had collected ; the only thing observable at that
hour was that some few hundreds had collected in
the vicinity of the trees, not far from the barracks,
and that under a clump of trees between that and
the Albert-gate a couple of gaming tables were set
out, and doing a small business. Vendors of fruit
and lemonade and sherbet moved about, and one or
two enterprising individuals had established the
popular game of " knock 'em down," but business
seemed very slack indeed. In the barracks were a
large force of police, and the Grenadier Guards
were also in readiness in case they should be called
on. Among the traders were several sellers of
ballads, some of whom established themselves in a
ring, and sang in chorus a song about keeping the
people out of Hyde-park, ending the verse with
"We will have our rights in England. Here they
are, a halfpenny a piece." Some others started the
Reform League songs, and kept up singing till Mr.
Beales came up to platform No. 1. At 7 p.m. pre-
cisely Mr. Beales took his place, and commenced
speaking, and at that time there were not very many
present; but about 20 minutes later the Clerkenwell,
the Fitzroy, the John Bright, and other northern
branches of the League, with their banners and
bands, entered the park by the Marble-arch, and at
the same time the South London, Shoreditch,
Poplar, and Pimlico branches came in by way of
Hyde-park-corner, making also a goodly show of
banners and marching in tolerably close array.
These two accessions to the assemblage raised the
numbers to what must have been a high rigure. They
might be estimated at above 10,000. The Lambeth
contingent marched from the obeli.k and halted
at the boarded avenue to the House of Commons,
where the band played " God save the Queen."
They then swept round Palace-yard, and in front
of the House of Lords, where they loudly groaned;
in Pall-mall, where they responded to the welcome
of the Reform Club with lusty shouts, and evinced
their disapprobation to the members of the• Carlton.
In the park there were no doubt a certain number
of roughs, and a little business was done in the way
of transferring property dexterously, but on the
whole good order was observed. Notices had been
posted on some of the trees, which were as follows:
—" Working men of London,—Preserve peace and
order at the meeting in Hyde Park on the sth of
August." It had been arranged that 10 separate
platforms should be spoken from, the chairmen
being as follows :—No. 1. Mr. Edmond Beaks,
president of the League ; 2. Mr. J. Baxter Lang-
ley ; 3. Dr. P. W. Perfitt ; 4. Mr. George Mantle ;
5. Mr. B. Lucraft ; 6. Mr. W. R. Cremer ; 7. Mr.
George Odger ; 8. Mr. R. A. Cooper ; 9. Mr.
William Dell ; 10. Mr. J. Weston. An 11th plat-
form was improvised, at which Mr. Bannister pre-
sided.

At No. 1 platform, Mr. EDMOND BEALES, who
was received with loud cheers, said—My friends, we
arc met here to-day in vindication of a right of
which the Government is seeking to deprive you
most arbitrarily, most vexatiously, and most un-
reasonably. (Cheers.) By the Parks Regulation
as it is called, but which may be more fitly en-
titled the the Parks Prohibition Bill, it is proposed to
enact that no meeting shall be henceforth held in
this or any other park for the purpose of any
political or religious demonstration, or for any
political, religious, or public discussion ; and any
person taking part in any meeting held in contra-
vention of this enactment is to be guilty of a mis-
demeanour, liable to a penalty not exceeding £lO,
on summary conviction by Mr. Knox or any other
police magistrate, or to be committed for trial for
the misdemeanour. (Shame.) It is difficult to
conceive anything more arbitrary, more un-
precedented—for this is the creation of an
entirely new offence--more unconstitutional,
or more repugnant to the feelings of every
Englishmen not dead to all true independence of
character, and all sense of real political and religious
liberty. (Cheers.) This park has been for centuries
dedicated, more or less, to the use of the public,
cannot be sold or otherwise disposed of or diverted
from such use, is under the management of officers
appointed by Parliament as representing the people,
is maintained at your (the public) expense. Where
is the right to exclude you from meeting on this,
your own property, as it were, for political discus-
sion, as well as for the thousand other purposes for
which you may now freely meet in it ? One of the
very Ministers who are seeking to force this bill
through an expiring and unreformed Parliament,
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, admits the right
of public meeting to be the safety-valve of the Con-
stitution. (Cheers.) Why then seek to close up
that safety-valve in the quarter in which it can be
brought into operation most conveniently and most
effectively, and without an attempt to substitute for
this locality any other equally central and conve-
nient ? Ono of these precious reasons or excuses is,
that there is danger of your being disorderly your-
selves or allowing disorderly or riotous persons in
your train, so that there will be risk of the tasteful
and ornamental flowers and shrubs being trampled
upon or injured. Seeing that you were here in tens
of thousands last May without the leaf of a flower
being damaged or the twig of a shrub injured, and
that the same order and care will distinguish, I
trust, your meeting this evening, and that the meet-
ing hero last July would have been equally well and
peaceably conducted if the gates had not been ille-
gally and insultingly closed against you, this may
be dismissed as a somewhat insolent and certainly a
very idle calumny. (Cheers.) But then it is alleged
that you disturb the traffic or alarm the neigh-
bourhood by your processions through the streets,
and meeting in such large numbers. Well, sup-
posing there were any truth or force in this ex-
cuse, it would not apply to this park alone, but
would be an argument against your meeting any-