The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-25 00:00:00

NEW WRIT.

On the motion of Col. TAYLOR, the Speaker was au-
thorised to issue a new writ for the borough of Galway, in
,he room of Mr. Morris, who had accepted the office of So-
icitor-General for Ireland.

The house adjourned at 4 o'clock.
The house resumed at six o'clock.
THE DISTURBANCES IN HYDE-PARK.

will form my apology for not having given Mr. W. OSBORNE —Perhaps the urgencye nnootifeethtoo casehe
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house, with reference to the meeting proposed to have been
held in Hyde-park last evening,
,what instructions were
i t
given by the Home-office to Sir R. Mayne ? (Hear, hear.)
Mr. AYRTON believed that the unfbrtunate state of
things which had taken place, and which all must regret,
had arisen from causes that might have been entirely pre-
vented. Exclusive privileges in the parks having been
conceded from time to Limo to particular classes of society,
the people in their turn thought they too had a right to use
what they regarded as public property for their purposes.
This right having been put forward, the Government ought
to have issued a well-considered and temperate proclama-
tion, explaining what were the exact rights of the people
in respect of the royal parks. In that case they would not
have had the scenes of the previous night. Instead of that
they had published a notification, which actually suggested
that the meeting proposed to be held was likely to be at-

tended with violence and disturbance. It was a principle
of the constitution that this country was not to be governed
by force. To have appealed to force, therefore, and not to
have met the people on the ground of right, was that which
had really led to the events they now deplored ; and he
trusted the Government would take an early opportunity
to issue a proper notification explaining the state of the
question, and not persist in the disastrous course of endea-
vouring to keep order by an exhibition of police on the one
hand and of soldiers on the other. In conclusion, he asked
the Home Secretary to produce the notification issued by
Sir R. Mayne, and to state what steps had been taken to
disabuse the minds of the people of the erroneous impres-
sion that they had a right to hold political meetings in
Hyde-park, and to preserve the peace of the metropolis.
Mr. WALPOLE—In the trying circumstances in which
the metropolis is placed at this moment, I think I should
not be exercising a wise discretion in following the hon.
gentleman who has just sat down in some of the remarks
he has made. At the commencement of his speech he
drew a contrast between different classes of society, and he
tried to make out, and to represent to the house, and through
the house to the country, that there was a different ad-
ministration of the law to those whom he calls the higher
and richer classes, and those whom he calls the poor.
Nothing of that kind was present in any notice issued with
my'sanction, and nothing of that kind, I am equally sure,
was ever present, or ever will be present, to my mind.
(Hear, hear.) I believe that all classes of society should
be:treated alike in this matter which is now before us. It
was because that notice was founded on the principle of
securing to all classes the full benefit for which the parks
are appropriated that it was issued. (Cheers.) The hon.
gentleman has found fault with the notice as a notice con-
taining a false proposition, and he has followed that up by
remarks which seemed to be responded to by partial cheers
of gentlemen opposite, as if there was any false suggestion
contained in this notice, as if the matter of right to which
the hon. gentleman has referred is not perfectly well known
to this house and to the country by proceedings which
have heretofore taken place, and which it was convenient
for the hon. gentleman to forget. (Ministerial cheers.)
In the year 1855 there was a great stir made in this metro-
polis about a bill brought in by a noble lord now a peer in
the upper house, but then a member of the House of Com-
mons, with reference to Sunday trading. At that time
great meetings were held in the park, great meetings
were actually held and great disturbances took place,
and the Government of the day—not the Government
of my friends sitting near me, but a Government con-
sisting of gentlemen on the other side of the house—in
consequence of those proceedings appointed a commis-
sion to inquire into those proceedings, into the conduct
of the police, and into the rights that were claimed. I
will refer only briefly to a part of the report of the com-
missioners who inquired into that subject to show that the
matter is not so entirely new as the hon. member would
represent it to be, and that the present Government have
not commenced a course totally unknown to the house,
totally unknown to him, and totally unknown to
the country. The commission consisted of Sir James
Stuart Wortley, Mr. Baynes Armstrong, and Mr. Gilbert
Henderson, who went into the fullest invesfiga-

on of the subject, and I find this paragraph in their re-
port : —"After the proceeding in Hyde-park on Sunday,
the 24th of June, it was fit and proper that measures
should bo taken to secure to all classes the undisturbed ex-
ercise of their rights, the right to ride or drive in the
park. The arrangements for this purpose seemed to have
devolved on the first commission according to the distri-
bution of the duties sanctioned by the Secretary of State
for the Home Department. With the prospect of the re-
currence on the Ist of July of the tumults of the 24th of
June it was right to issue some warning to the public, and
to apprise the unwary that such proceedings were illegal
and would be checked by the police. Police notices were
advertised, and also printed and placarded, which had in
view those objects, and also, as we understand, the pre-
vention of a public meeting in the park at which it was
anticipated the Sunday Trading Bill would be discussed,
and the assembled multitude addressed by the speakers in
the usual form. An attempt to hold such a meeting had
been foiled by the police on the 24th of June. It semrs to
us that meetings of this nature might properly be inter-
dicted and suppressed, as novel and not sanctioned by
usage or the regulations of Hyde-park. To make Hyde-
park an arena for the discussion of popular and exciting
topics would be inconsistent with the purposes for whichit
is thrown open and used by the public. Whether the hold-
ing of such meeting was contemplated or not it is difficult
to say, but it was understood by many not as interdicting
the meeting in a limited sense, but as prohibiting all as-
semblages for such purpose in Hyde-park on the Ist of
July." Now that is the report of the royal commission
to inquire into a proceeding similar to that which oc-
curred last night. In the following year another ques-
tion was raised, whether bands of music and preachings
were to be allowed in Regent's-park, and one or
two other matters. On that occasion an opinion of the law
officers of tho Crown was taken, which I hold in my hands-
For that opinion three questions were put. The first was
"Is there any authority to close the gates of the enclosure
and to exclude the public altogether during the day?" The
answer is, " We think that there is a right in point of law
to close the gates, and to exclude the public from the park.''
The second question is, "The gates of the enclosure being
open, is there any authority to prevent those persons who
are present, and conducting themselves properly, in their
attempt to obtain ingress ?" The answer was, "We think
that the gates being opened there is a right on the part of
the Crown to exclude persons attempting to obtain admis-
sion, but we do not think that right should be exercised
against particular individuals unless in case of previous mis-
conduct." I beg to call -.he attention of the hon, gentleman
to the third question and the third answer :—" Supposing
persons to have entered to preach or play upon musical
instruments, or to sing ; does any authority exist to have
persons so singing or playing or preaching put out of the
park, suppose they do not obstruct the thoroughfare or
cause a disturbance? and if so, you are particularly re-
quested to state what is the nature of the authority and
how it is derived." The answer is, "If persons have
entered to preach or to play, they could not be turned out
without proper notice. The permission of the Crown to
the public to enjoy the parks is conditional only, and does
not apply to persons who so conduct themselves, and the
best way of giving such notice is by posting it up at the
entrance to the park. The authority to close
and to exclude the public from, the park is that which
every landowner has to prevent trespassing on his land,
and we are of opinion that the public has not acquired any
legal right to use the park by reason of the continual user,
and by favour of the Crown." The law officers, who wrote
that, opinion were Sir Alexander Cockburn, the present
Chief Justice; Sir Richard Bothell, now Lord Westbury;
and Mr. Wills, an able lawyer. I have now answered the
question with a view of dealing with the matteras a matter
of right. As a matter of right I conceive that it is perfectly
clear that the opinion given by those law officers is the true
opinion, on which any person holding the situation I have
the honour to hold is required to act. As to the mode in
which he should act, as to the discretion which he should
exercise, I frankly and fairly admit any advice must be
given subject to the responsibility of the Minister to Par-
liament. But Ido beg the hon. gentleman to understand
that instead of issuing this notice on the ground which he
supposes, we issued it solely on the ground to which I have
adverted, namely, the parks, being parks appropriated by
the Crown for the benefit of all classes of her Majesty's
subjects, ought not to be interfered with, and so all my
predecessors have held—ought not to be interfered with by
any meetings which are likely to be the occasion of political
excitement or religious agitation, and thereby to interfere
with the recreation of the people. (Ministerial cheers.)
Now, for myself, I can truly say that if any meeting is to
be held for political demonstration, or for religious agita-
tion, that is so entirely opposed to the purpose for which
the parks are open to the public, that until corrected by
this house and by Parliament, I must take leave to think
that we are bound to exclude such meetings from the
park. (No.) I hear some hon. gentleman say " No." If
that be his idea, I hope ho will bring the matter distinctly
before the house, and lot the house discuss it temperately
and calmly. I have given my reasons why I
think the line ought to bo drawn between meet-
ings of that description and the free admission
to the parks of all classes of her Majesty's subjects.
I believe that distinction to be sound, and as I said before,
until prevented by parliament, I shall certainly feel it my
duty to act upon it. In acting upon it let not the hon. gen-
tleman suppose that I do it in the tone or in the spirit which
he has so unjustly imputed to me. (Cheers.) Let him not
suppose—l hope it is not in my character, and lam sure it
is not in ray disposition—that anything like coercive au-
thority should be exercised over any ono,unless to,enforco
obedience to the law. But then the hon. gentleman goes
on to say that public opinion and moral influence is that to
which the government ought to bow. Most cordially do I
agree to that. No other test do I wish to be judged than
alnwtahopiupesldcoalnutenovtryethr.e right-minded public opinion of the coun-
try, to that moral influence which I trust will always exer-
coifse its duo weight over every person who is an inhabitant
cats
in
no ffoorrcealnyreppurudpiantsenietxennetpirtetlyo acquire
obedience obedience to the law, but if the law is likely to be violated,
if the public peace is likely to be broken it is a very grave
responsibility, let me tell the hon, gentleman, for any
person occupying the position I have now the honour to
hold, if ho has not the moral courage to exercise it and put
it in force. (Cheers.) Having said that let me assure the
house that if any words of mine uttered in the most conci-
liatory spirit would allay the alarm which has prevailed in
the public mind for the past 48 hours, I would utter them
from this place or anywhere. I have no desire that any
public meeting should be checked, held at the proper place
and at the proper time for discussing any subject what-
ever, political subjects, of course, among others. All I say
is, that for the reasons I have stated I think, and shall
continue to think until I am contradicted, that the royal
parks are not the place for such discussions. Now, the
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in
re-
gard to the exact course which I thought it my duty to
take with reference to the meetings announced to be held
in Hyde-park. The notice which I issued, or rather the
notice which was issued by my authority, does not contain,
I believe, a single word that any peace-loving subject of
the Crown can really take objection to. It states that the
parks are open for the recreation of the public, and there-