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

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The great political Demonstration: of the
London Trades, which was to be the crown and
chief of all the Reform gatherings, has passed over,
and beyond the inevitable interruption to business
no inconvenience has taken place. A more orderly
set of people never came together in any country.
There was no complaining, no irritability, no press-
ing or pushing. The men halted at the bidding of
their commanders, and would stand for a quarter
of an hour together without stirring, and then
patiently move forward a score or two of yards
only to be brought to another stop. The people in
authority did rightly in closing Beaufort House
Grounds before they had become densely and
dangerously full. The proceedings were thus
brought to an early termination. If the grounds,
instead of being a patch of 8f acres, had been ten
times the size, the whole procession could not have
entered through the front gate before dark ; as it
was, the word was no sooner given to turn the heads
of the advancing column towards Parson's-green
than the crush was ended, and in a reasonable time
pafetrehnavpasrdtshethmeorperorceefledecitningg of the working mens were all concluded.
themselves will admit by this time that a Monster
Demonstration such as was proposed would have
been more difficult to manage than they expected,
and that the inconvenience it would have inflicted
on the public would have been unattended by any
corresponding advantage. What was done yester-
day, though on a comparatively small scale, is amply
sufficient to show that a large number of the artisan
class desire the franchise, and that there is no reason
to believe they will abuse it. All classes are anxious
for a fair settlement of this question, and the work-
ing men ought to be disabused of the idea that there
is any order or party in the country which • would
deny them a share of political power. What the
middle classes shrink from is, not from giving a part,
but front giving the whole power of the country
into the hands of the class which is numerically the
largest. But after the discussions of so many years
the time has come for the question to be finally set-
tled, and we think that the London working men
may now be satisfied with the gatherings of the last
few months, and be. content to await, like other
classes, the action of Parliament.
POST.-1% e are sincerely pleased to be able to
congratulate the committee which managed the Re-
form Demonstration, not less than the public in
general, that the demonstration of yesterday passed
off harmlessly. The events of yesterday teach more
than one lesson well worth learning, and which it is
to be hoped will not be lost sight of. They show
that the working classes can safely be trusted to
meet and march through the streets of the metro-
polis, at any rate, in certain numbers—though, as
this was never seriously denied, it perhaps is not
necessary to insist upon it. 'they also show that the
interest taken by the working men of London in
the question of Reform is much less than was sup-
posed by those who know them best ; and they
finally show that, while it is possible to manage a
demonstration composed of 25,000, it would have
been utterly impossible to manage 250,000 ; and it
is to be hoped that the proper inference will be
drawn by the promoters of such things—that it is
better for the cause they seek to promote to assem-
ble a comparatively small and orderly, rather than
a large and unmanageable, body of men, when the
object is to display their sympathies without a viola-
tion of law and order.

HERALD.—Not even Mr. Beales, M.A., will, we
should think, venture to argue that a muster of
19,200 men for a "Reform holiday" is evidence of
any such deep and universal feeling as the Reform
League would fain have us suppose. Reform may
be very advisable and very necessary, but if the
working classes of London were very violently bent
upon anything very speedy and very sweeping, a
canvass so skilful and so energetic as that to which
the metropolis has just been subjected would turn
out more than 19,200 men. W hat the gathering
of yesterday really has demonstrated is something
very different. It has shown that, whatever may be
the political feelings of the real working man, he has
nothing in common with either the rioters in Hyde-
park or their friends and patrons the unscrupulous
demagogues of the Reform League. Obedient to the
call of their chiefs, and in many instances, no doubt,
agreeably to their own
political prepossessions, nearly
20,000 men yesterday gave up a day's work and
marched a long and toilesome march of many miles
over a muddy road to declare in favour of Reform.
But they went quietly, orderly, good-humouredly.
The mob which four months ago smashed the win-
dows of obnoxious statesmen, and wrecked the fairest
of our London parks, stood by to gaze as they passed.
The Reform League, which had done its little best
to discredit the cause, followed humbly in the rear.
Between them they had managed to arouse from his
ordinary condition of passive acquiescence in a not
uncomfortable state the working man, whose name
they had so long taken worse than in vain, and once
the lion shook off his slumber the ass quickly dropped
the Royal skin, and slunk quietly away. Let all
true Reformers be thankful that it is so. The work-
ing men of London have done much to retrieve the
discredit which the roughs of London had thrown
upon the cause, and if the demonstration of yester-
day has not shown any very overwhelming zeal for
Reform, and can hardly put the question exactly
where it was before the disgraceful riots of last sum-
mer, it will at least have done something to efface
their recollection.
DAILY NEWS.—The artisans who defiled yester-
day through the streets of London in peaceful ex-
pression of their desire for the franchise exceeded in
number the electors who return a sixth part of the
House of Commons. More than a hundred mem- I
hers of Parliament are chosen by five-and-twenty
thousand voters. If the electors of 75 of our smaller
boroughs had been brought forward together and '
marshalled by their representatives or patrons in the
Mall they would not have formed a more numerous,
nor, we may venture to say, a more respectable and
politically trustworthy body than that which was
assembled there, craft by craft, after our old Eng-
lish fashion yesterday.. Can any one who saw the
procession affect to believe that the enfranchisement
of the men who formed it would deteriorate the
constituencies? That the twenty-five thousand who
have no member are inforior to the twenty-five
members. Was there
so strangely selected
himself is shocked,
tLat
hhnooaywut se
signwanh hasde
inwndthethisol
eceyhr aibsva
vast
e3redt e a
array
, todeor hundred e
sdt
hh
ee qualities which Mr.
and protests that he is libelled by having the ideas
they convey imputed to him?. Any one " who wanted
venally, who wanted ignorance, who wanted
eisntis
drunkenness and facility. for. being intimidated"—
thisnow reversed, and a
the. favourite accusation;
dispositioncount ofto thei tii
or who " wanted even impulsive, unreflecting, and
violent people," would assuredly not have found
what he wanted at the Reform demonstration. Tt
is sufficient to contrast the election scenes at many
of the small boroughs to which we hay, alluded,
mndidleattme.
their riot and drunkenness, with the demeanour and
appearance of the artisans yesterday, in order to
appreciate what Mr. Lowe admires, and what he
fears. Perhaps if he had been prea:2±l I; yesterday to
observe from what some coign of vantage what
passed, even he might have been half-converted.
The impression made upon some Tory and Muria-
mite lookers-on seems to have been very salutary.
ADVERTISER.—The working men of this metro-
polis may be variously estimated at from 500,000 to
800,000. Had 200,000 of them taken part in this
demonstration, the fact would have been an impor-
tant one, Of the absentees, many would have been
kept away by positive hindrances, their presence
being necessary in various factories, &c. Others