The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-04 00:00:00

with the crowd pressing both shafts, and the horses' lowed speedily by the Hatters' Society, who
heads turned first one way and then another, until marched well and quickly, headed by their
the number of persons who had taken re uge in the band, and then another squadron of Farriers,

rear of the vehicle became numerous enough to push
it and horse together through the c owd on both
sides. A brewers' drayman drove two heavy horses
an 1 a large covered waggon into the crowd about
the time when matters were at their worst. These
passages of vehicles, however, afforded temporary
relief by carrying off numbers who were glad to
escape in their rear. In the crowd there were men
of all ages, and many women and girls, and their
continued calls and shouts produced a Babel of
sounds. The roughs increased the confusion by
rushing to and fro in bodies, and their endeavour
seemed to be on each occasion to carry off a respect-
able person, and, by quite surrounding him and
almost lifting him off his feet, to render it impossible
for him to protect himself. One young man, well
dressed in black, was seen to be literally swept away,
backwards at such a rate and by such an overwhelm-
ing number of thieves that he was plundered with-
out resistance. The bystanders were quite power-
less to assist. A slight gap in the crowd, occasioned
by the great speed with which the victim was pro-
pelled, revealed a dozen or more hands at his pockets.
• Soon afterwards the same gang returned and passed
the gate in the opposite direction, and immediately
after they had done so a middle-aged man backed
out of the crowd and exclaimed that the fellows had
robbed and cleared out all his pockets. At another
moment, a tall, powerful, well-dressed man, on
discovering that his pocket was being tampered with,
turned round and attempted to defend himself with
a short whip. The roughs met the attack with equal
promptitude and resolution, and the gentleman was
surrounded and put hors de combat as quickly as if
all about him were privy to the plot. Others took
his part, and there was a short, sharp, and general
fight before the ruffians retreated. A little later
two or three mounted policemen came up and rode
to and fro. Looking down upon the crowd from
the midst of it, they rendered pocket-picking opera-
tions a little more difficult One officer was seen to
point in a certain direction and beckon to another,
and in a minute they unkennelled and drove out of
the crowd half a dozen men and lads who were un-
mistakeably of the criminal class. This exciting
scene lasted about an hour. Once or twice a pick-
pocket was caught and carried off a prisoner. About
half-past 4 o'clock, when all the advancing proces-
sionista had been turned back, and the ranks of
those leaving the ground became thinned, the crowd
diminished and the tumult gradually ceased, and
towards 5 o'clock it was a relief to know that the
ground was all but cleared, and that, so far as was
known, no serious accident had occurred.

also with their band, which on reaching the platform
struck up the National Anthem. It was now a
quarter to three, the rain continued, and the pro-
cession was making its appearance in rather meagre
driblets, and there were still no signs of Mr. Potter.
Several thousands of persons were gathered round
No. 1 platform, and Mr. Beales again apologised for
keeping them waiting, adding, however, " There are
two things which are worth 100 speeches—viz.,
Manhood Suffrage for the franchise and Hyde Park
for the meeting " Again lould cheers broke forth,
with a voice, " I should like to dine with you in
Hyde Park at Christmas," followed by general
laughter. One dissentient voice was here raised on
this point by an elderly working man in a wide-
awake, who wanted to know why gentlemen on the
platform should desire to stir up a mutiny about the
parks ; but, being only jeered and derided for his
interrogatory, he made no further attempt to argue
the matter. Several more fragments of the proces-
sion then presented themselves, among which the
Glassblowers, carrying specimens of their own in-
dustry, and having on their banner, " United we
stand ; divided we fall," and the Stonemasons, with
their leathern aprons trimmed with blue, and who
marched round by the rear of No. 1 platform. The
crowd had n3w grown denser, and was surging and
swaying rather wildly to and fro against the frail
barrier which railed off the reporters from the gene-
ral multitude. This structure soon began to rock
ominously, and its occupants managed in time to
mount the platform before it went down. The sway-
ing still continued, the flowing tide seeming only to
gather force by the additional few feet it had won,
and some fears began to be entertained lest the plat-
form itself should give way—a catastrophe, however,
which was happily averted. All this time the ground
was not more than half covered, there being several
great open gaps in its centre. In fact, though there
were undoubtedly many thousands present it was
only round about the different platforms, and
especially round platform No. 1 that the masses of
the people were seen swarming. It was past 3 o'clock,
Mr. Potter bad not yet shown himself, the rain
was falling pretty fast, and some impatient spirits
reminded the gentlemen on the chief platform that
they were not under cover, and hinted that they
would like to hear something to keep them quiet.
Mr. Beales promised that if Mr. Potter did not
come soon be would take the chair himself ; and
after the lapse of a few minutes more, relieved only
by the appearance of the London Operative Rope-
makers, he was as good as his word.
When the speeches at six of the platforms were
over the crowds about them, which for half an hour
had been gradually thinning, dissolved as if by
magic.
It was quite dark, and a magnesium light which was
promised was not forthcoming. The apparatus was
on the ground, but the only man who could work it
was nowhere to be found. So, as platform after
platform was vacated, those who were still gathered
round it decamped rapidly, and at ten minutes to
five only the speakers on one platform continued to
address an audience of about 300. At five o'clock
there were not more than 1,200 persons left on tho
ground, and these were chiefly around the counters
where the beer was dispensed under a few flaming
jets of gas. In the ball of the headquarters, which
was used as a sort of superior refreshment-room for
the committee and their friends, about 100 lingered,
but take it altogether less than 1,500 remained at
five o'clock. That there would at this hour have
been several thousands was only to be expected ;
but Mr. Potter, finding that the bulk of the pro-
cession could not have entered the grounds in any
sort of time, had ordered that only the first section
should be admitted. This caused a great deal of
grumbling, and Mr. Potter was very freely spoken
of in consequence ; but it must be confeseed that in
this matter he showed a good deal of judgment even
at the cost of making the finale in the grounds flat,
tame, and commonplace. What the end would have
been had all the members of the procession gone
into the grounds of Beaufort House after dark, and
in the absence of the magnesium light, we had
rather not speculate. As it was, the end came
speedily and pleasantly—except as it was affected
by the weather ; and before half-past six the
grounds were fully cleared, and the men, drenched,
and muddy, were on their way to their several
residences. But in the roads outside there was a
good deal of confusion, and, consequently, in addi-
tion to a division of police quietly held in reserve
all the afternoon, in case of accident, another divi-
sion was called for and kept in hand. There was
no occasion, however, for their services ; for only
once were any of themsummoned to Beaufort House,
and then it was, we believe, the constable of the beat
who removed in custody a pickpocket captured by
some of the working men, and held in durance until
the " guardian of the law" took him in charge.
The Guards, whose officers were all, we are in-
formed, on duty yesterday, were never heard of,
and an order issued that all the officers of the South
Kensington Museum, which lay upon the route,
should remain on duty till ten o'clock turned out to
be a useless though undoubtedly a wise measure of
precaution.
Yet, whether it was that the working men, once
out of the gates, felt themselves relieved from a re-
straint imposed by their leaders, or whether, which
is more probable, it was not the working men pro-
per at all, but the rabble following the banner of the
League, certain it is that several bodies of men on
the march home became very noisy. They attracted
attention to the uncultivated character of their
minds by singing or rather shouting the chorus " As
we go marching home," not once or twice, but for
two or three miles. One or two of the smaller
bodies when they saw, which was but rarely, a
policeman, changed their song into " We'll hang
Sir Richard Mayne on a sour apple tree," and their
chorus into " Glory, Hallelujah." These people—
and we firmly believe they were working men in no
good sense of the term—made frequent halts at
public-houses, and after each halt waxed more noisy.
But this is hardly to be laid to the charge of the
artisans—or, indeed, to be wondered at in the case
of those who so wound up the day, for—as Dr.
Watts has not previously remarked, though he
is supposed to have said—" it is their nature to."
Nine out of ten of the shops on the roads home
were closed, and there were few spectators of the
march back of the now rather disorganised body.
We have heard,of no accidents more serious than
that above referred to, and the fall from his horse of
one of the farriers. There must have been some
influence wielded by the sweet little cherub that,
sitting aloft, looks after the life of—farriers ; for in
the earlier part of the day several of these artisans
had anything but good seats or an apparent ac-
quaintance with the back whatever they might
know of the heels of a horse. However, " All's
well that ends well"— which is emphatically true of
such demonstrations as that of yesterday.

Recent news from New Zealand brings the wel-
come intelligence that a telegraph cable had been
successfully laid between the North and Middle
Islands. The speed and ease with which communica-
tion can now be maintained with the seat of Govern-
ment will be beneficially felt over the entire colony.
The gold fields on the West Coast were receivinff
a large influx of mining population from Victoria.'
The steamers from Melbourne, full of
passengers
and freights, immediately after discharging return
for more, instead of going on to the East Coast, as
formerly. For years to come Westlandwillfnoorttbhee
able to grow sufficient food for its population ;
great advantages are, therefore, anticipated
eastern portions of the province from the close
proximity of 40,000 people unable to raiso food for
themselves. Gold is also reported in the Mackenzie
country. Two men from the Wanaka Station,
after an excursion of three months to the West
Coast, have proceeded to Christchurch, to commu-
nicate to Government some important discovery
made on their journey. Whether a gold discovery,
or an important tract of country available for set-
tlement, has not yet transpired. A valuable diamond
has been found at the foot of Mount Cook. Mr.
Blake, of Blaketown, River Grey, struck with the
appearance of the stone, bought it from a digger
for £l. He took it to Melbourne, where he was
offered £lOO for it, uncut. It has since been
valued at £7,000.