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

BEAUFORT GROUNDS.

These grounds form a long and rather narrow
strip of meadow land in Old Brompton, now used
as a shooting ground by the 2d or South Middlesex
Rifle Volunteers, a range of butts with a steep
bank immediately behind it, surmounted by a high
brick wall, forming its furthermost boundary. On
one side it is adjoined by large nursery grounds, and
on the other by private gardens, from which it is
separated by a low and irregular fence. The main
entrance to the ground is situated in the North-end
road, Fulham, not far from St. John's Church.
Were, through a single gateway only about 13 feet
wide, leading into a passage of the same width and
some 60 yards in length, access had to be obtained
to the grounds by the procession and the great ma-
jority of the spectators ; and a glance at this ex-
tremely narrowpassage made everybody wonder how
the vase numbers expected could ever find ingress
before nightfall. The committee and other privi-
leged visitors were admitted by the private entrance
to Beaufort-house, a fees dozen yards further on.
The meadow is about 9 acres in extent, or some 400
yards long by 110 yards wide, and it was calculated
that in order to make it contain anything like
200,000 persons, it would be necessary to pack four
men in every square yard—an amount of com-
pression, it need hardly be said, which flesh and
blood could not endure. Seven small wooden
platforms were erected at different points upon the
ground, the principal, or platform No. 1, being im-
mediately in front of the row of butts ; and here it
was intended that seven separate sets of speakers
should simultaneously address as many groups of
listeners. Refreshment stands were also scattered
about the field here and there, the large mess-room
of the South Middlesex Rifle Volunteers being also
appropriated in a similar manner by the committee
and their friends. Frern an early hour the multi-
tude began to congregate near the place of meeting,
and by 11 o'clock a considerable number of persons
had entered the ground. Everybody who had secured
a ticket, the price of which was 2d., could claim ad-
mittance, and most of those who came displayed
their tickets in their hats, or wore some badge
denoting their adhesion to the cause of Reform. It
was long, however, before the concourse was large
enough to do more than sparsely dot the ground ;
and for several hours the assemblage formed, as it
were, but a narrow fringe round the refreshment
stands. The four mounted marshals of the grounds,
with stars on their breasts and purple and orange
sashes, were seen galloping up and down at inter-
vals throughout the morning, making their final
arrangements ; but little else occurred to interest
the early corners. At length, about 2 o'clock, the
sound of music was heard in the distance, indicating
the approach of the procession, and a general hum
of expectation arose from the assemblage within the
grounds, now consisting of, perhaps, 10,000 men,
mostly of the working classes. The sky for an hour
or two previous had been dull and leaden, and a
mizzling rain now set in. In some ten minutes
more the van of the procession seemed to have
reached the narrow gateway, and loud shouts were
raised to welcome it. A small detachment of the
Farriers, preceded by three outriders, in bright blue
uniforms relieved with yellow stripes, and accom-
panied by one large and two or three of their smaller
trade
banners, was the first portion of the great
array to
make its appearance and it slowly ad-
vanced towards Platform No. 1
, at the further end
of the ground, where it took up its position. Some
considerable time elapsed before it was succeeded
by any other contingent, except the deputation
), Colonel Dickson, Mr. Dresser
composed of Mr. Beales
(thefrom
iRr
me f
ao
nr League,
Rogers, and Mr. Howell (secretary). These gentle-
men were greeted with loud cheers as they ascended
Platform No. 1, round which the
multitude gra-
dually clustered thickest. It was now 20 minutes
past two, and a further instalment of the procession
was eagerly looked for ; but there were few signs
of its coming, and it was plain that the fragment
first on the ground had been widely separated from
the main body, which it could only be conjectured
was encountering serious impediments to its pro-
gress by the defile-like narrowness of the end of its
route. At length the We
West London Horse-shoe
Society came to reinforce their brethren, with rather
newer and gayer banners, exhibiting a similar de-
vice ; and they were soon followed by the London
Working Men's Association, whose bright yellow
flag proclaimed their object to be ,‘ to procure the
political enfranchisement and promote the social and
general interests of the industrial classes." Their
band accompanied them, and played a lively air as
they took ground to the right of No. 1 Platform.
Next came the bearers of a white banner on which
was inscribed " Residential Manhood Suffrage and
the Ballot," the arrival of which drew forth from
the chairman of the League the exclamation, " That
is the banner ; there is no humbug about it," a
sentiment which elicited vehement cheers. Mean-
while the rain had very considerably increased, very
few were provided with umbrellas, and the crowd
began to manifest slight symptoms of impatience.
Mr. George Potter, who was announced to take the
chair at the principal platform, had not yet arrived,
and the proceedings were, consequently, at a stand-
still. The tedium of waiting was, however, partially
relieved by a parley between the gentlemen on the
platform and certain members of the crowd. A
"Voice" called out, " The Times said the procession
never would get here at all, Colonel." To this
Colonel Dickson
replied, " I said myself it never
would." 'thereupon
Mr. Beales observed, " Hyde
Park is the right l
p ace, and what we have seen
to-day shows that." Loud and general cheering
greeted this remark. Next came a white
banner bearing the motto " E 1 "
xee stor, fol-

lowed speedily by the Hatters' Society, who
marched well and quickly, headed by their
band, and then another squadron of Farriers,
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 lonld 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 now 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 had 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 he 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, be 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
bad 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 the
ground, and these were chiefly around the counters
where the beer was dispensed under a few flaming
jets of gas. In the hall 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 them summoned 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 receiving
a large influx of mining population from Victoria.
The steamers from Melbourne, full of passengers
and freights, immediately after discharging return
for snore, instead of going on to the East Coast, as
formerly. For years to come Westland will not be
able to grow sullicient food for its population ;
great advantages are, therefore, anticipated for the
eastern portions of the province from the close
proximity of 40,000 people unatle to raise food for
themselves. Gold is also reported in the Mackenzie
country. Two men from the IVanaka 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. lie took it to Melbourne, where he was
offered £lOO for it, uncut. It has since been
valued at £7,000.