The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

TIMES.—We trust that Mr. Beales and his friends
are satisfied with the success of their demonstra-
tion yesterday. They have succeeded in keeping
the West-end of London in a state of disorder for
a whole evening, in causing great damage to the
Park, and in producing a dangerous riot, accom-
panied with serious injury to several persons. They
have also made perfectly evident, what more sen-
sible people than themselves expected, that they
have no power to insure the good behaviour of such
a crowd as their proceedings were sure to bring
together. The orators and their political sup-
porters did, indeed, retire after summoning Sir
Richard Mayne to surrender his stronghold ; but
the London " roughs," who came for mischief,
would not be content until they bad prised up and
thrown over the old railings which defend the Park
on its northern and eastern sides. The Reforming
host has had the honour of calling into active service
for an hour or two a part of her Majesty's House-
hold troops ; they have shown conspicuously how
useless such gatherings as these are for political dis-
cussion, and how easily they might produce serious
danger to the public peace. For the last week the
working men of London and the provinces have
been invited by placards to come "in their thou-
sands" and assert their right to hold a meeting in
spite of Sir Richard Mayne. The assurances of
their immediate leaders, and the instigations they
received from other quarters, confirmed the various
committees in their resolution to assemble and to
make their demonstration, unless actually prevented
by force. Against this purpose the Commissioners
of Police have been preparing for the last few days.
With their general arrangements we have no fault
to find. It having been determined that the Park
should not be given up to this monster demonstra-
tion, a large force of police and a few of the Life
Guards were placed within the enclosure or held
ready in the neighbourhood. Mr. Beales and the
various leaders of the agitation were informed that
they would not be allowed to harangue the people,
and that, in fact, no assemblage at all for a politi-
cal purpose would be permitted. But it was a
mistake, we think, to close the gates and to make
the total exclusion of the public the means of pre-
venting the meeting. It should have been remem-
bered that there is no effectual means of keeping
people out of the Park. It is easy to defend the

gates, but it would take our force of police ten
times told to man the whole length of the Park
rails. If even the Park were defended by high
walls, they might be scaled, but, as it is, the only
obstacle to the entry of the crowd is an old
rusty railing resting on a dwarf wall, and a few
prises of a lever are sufficient to throw down
several yards of it. When notice was given that the
crowd was to be excluded by the shutting of the
gates one could not but expect some such incident.
However, at some parts of the Park all went quietly.
Between six and seven o'clock one or two processions
presented themselves on the southern side, and,
being refused admittance, quietly went off. We are
obliged to add that the multitude brought together
was not of that decent and respectable character
which the promoters of these gatherings would lead
the public to expect. The processions did, indeed,
contain a certain number of decent mechanics, and
some persons who, from their dress and appearance,
seemed to belong to the middle class ; but these were
almost lost in a surrounding and interpenetrating
mass of the coarsest mob. The great majority of
the people in the crowded streets were the usual
slouching, shambling man-boys who constitute the
mats of the ordinary London multitude. Beyond,
however, a great deal of groaning and hissing, there
were no demonstrations of opposition to authority,
and as the bands struck up and the heads of the pro-
cessions were turned eastward, it seemed that the
Reformers would be content with their formal demand
of entry, and, reserving the legal question for future
trial, would go and hold their meeting elsewhere.
But, whatever the wishes of their leaders, the break-
ing down the rails and the forcible entry into the
Park were too easy for the mob to resist the temp-
tation of such a victory. On the northern side of the
Park, where the meeting was to be held, the crowd
gathered strongest, and while the police were ready
to prevent them from entering at the Marble Arch
and the neighbouring gates they simply pulled up
the railings in Park-lane and the Bayswater-road,
and made their way in. Attempts were then made,
it is said, to hold meetings, and resolutions are said
to have been carried, but nothing approaching to
discussion was possible. For two or three hours,
however, the neighbourhood of the Park was in an
uproar. The streets were impassable. People had
to get out of carriages or cabs and walk to their
homes. The groaning and hooting of the police, who
took it all very quietly, the rush of the crowd when
once or twice a few horsemen passed through them,
and the general blockade of traffic made the streets
scenes of disorder until nearly dark. The occur-
rences of the evening show bow undesirable it is
that these gatherings should be tolerated in the
metropolis. When the Reform League summoned
thousands of " working men" to a " demonstration"
in Hyde Park they simply desired to make a dis-
play of numbers which should overawe the Legisla-
ture, and what they are pleased to term " the ruling
classes." They did not desire to teach or discuss, for
the multitude whom they expected to attend could
not possibly hear the voice of any speaker. When
it was announced that they would be refused ad-
mission to the Park, they gave orders that the pro-
cessions, on failing to obtain an entrance, should
march to Westminster, where the Legislature is in
session, and then back to Trafalgar-square, to hold
their meeting. The whole purpose of these schemes
is unmistakable. One excess leads to another. First,
members of Parliament are hooted and mobbed ;
then, houses and clubs are assailed ; next, we have
a forcible breaking into the Park. There is even in
the coarsest London crowd so much good-nature that.
one need fear no serious disturbance, and certainly
no act of savageness or cruelty ; but it is not at all
impossible that, under the instigations which are
evidently applied to them, these people may do
something which will make their more respectable
associates regret that they have joined in such de-
monstrations. With respect to the right of meeting
in Hyde Park, the leaders of the agitation tell us
they intend to try the question at law, and so we
may wait to learn what one of the superior courts
decides on the subject. Certainly, if the Govern-
ment have the right to prohibit field preaching or
cricket on the ground that they interfere with the
purposes for which the Park is kept up, it can hardly
be maintained that any body of men have:a right
to go in and do what they please simply because
they are a part of the public. Whatever the law, it
is reasonable that there should be restrictions placed
on the use of the Parks, or, instead of being places
of recreation, they will become simple nuisances.
Parliament has endowed London with a number of
these pleasure-grounds ; there is Hyde Park for the
West-end, St. James's Park for Westminster, Vic-
toria and Greenwich Parks for the east and south-
east of the metropolis, Regent's Park for the north,
and Battersea for the south. If political agitators
did really wish to harangue m Parks, one would
think they might be content to use those which are
nearest to them. But. here we have the extremest
regions of London placarded with invitations to the
lowest class of their inhabitants to occupy a Park
which is the ordinary place of recreation for the
people livinc, in the west of London. It is against
all reason and all justice that motley crowds from
all parts of the metropolis should take possession
of Hyde Park, and interfere with the enjoyments
of those to whom the Park more particularly be-
longs. It is no infringement on the right of public
meeting that the Parks should be kept for their
legitimate use, and we trust that Parliament will
support the Government in not abandoning this
principle.
HERALD.---The Chancellor of the Exchequer gave
an unexpected interest to the supplementary budget
statement which he had to make yesterday after-
noon by an eloquent explanation of the principles
which will guide the financial policy of the new Go-
vernment. The figures with which the right hon.
gentleman had to deal were comparatively unim-
portant. Mr. Gladstone had calculated upon a
surplus of £286,000 after defraying the proportion

of charge occasioned by his proposed conversion of
permanent into terminable annuities which would
fall to the current financial year. That surplus,
however, is turned into a deficit of £209,000 by the
supplementary estimates which the house is now
asked to vote—£49s,ooo in amount, for nearly half
of which, as Mr. Gladstone penitentially admitted,
the late Government are responsible. The ques-
tion arose, therefore, as Mr. Disraeli observed,
whether this estimated deficit should be covered
by the imposition of a new tax—an expedient,
he added, not likely to find favour with the house
or the country ; whether its ultimate satisfaction
should be left to the chance of an excess of revenue
sufficient to cover it, and be supplied for the pre-
sent by a further issue of Exchequer bills or bonds
--a recourse which the right hon, gentleman showed
is,under the peculiar conditions of the money market,
much better left untouched ; or, finally, whether
the Annuities Conversion Bill should be dropped,
and by the saving of the five hundred and two thou-
sand five hundred pounds which the operation it
authorises would have cost for the current year, a
surplus of two hundred and ninety-three thousand
five hundred pounds be obtained. The Government
have decided in favour of the adoption of the latter
plan, and Parliament and the country will endorse
their decision. Mr. Gladstone's scheme has never
yet been fully discussed, and very strong objections
are entertained to it by many high financial autho-
rities, quite as anxious as the right hon. gentleman
can be that some systematic effort should be made
to reduce the debt. The passage of the bill would
have been out of the question, even if the supple-
mental estimates had not made it difficult to spare
the money it requires. By general consent the
order for the second reading of the bill will be dis-
charged. and we will hope that the increase of the
revenue will leave the whole of the half-million still
applicable to the reduction of the debt after the old-
fashioned and, as it seems to many people, the best
mode of appropriating the surplus of income over
expenditure to that purpose. Passing from this
short statement of figures, the Chancellor of the
Exchequer proceeded to express his concern that his
first act as Financial Minister should be to propose
an addition to the expenditure of the country. He
reminded the house that four years ago, when the
expenditure had reached its culminating point, he
drew attention to its excessive character and urged
its reduction, an effort which resulted in a pledge
to Parliament from the Ministry of the day that
it should be reduced, and which pledge the right
honourable gentleman allowed had been kept. The
principles which he had urged from the Opposition
bench, with the entire concurrence of Lord Derby
and most:of his present colleagues, would be the
principles upon which he and they would act now
that they were called to
_power. Whilst deter-
mined to maintain the army and navy of the
country in a condition which the needs and
the duties of England require, the Govern-
ment will bear in mind that, in a period of specu-
lative armament like this, foresight is as important
as zeal. Our financial reserve, said the right hon.
gentleman, is of more importance than the boasted
military reserves of which we hear so much, and by
it England can afford, whenever the maintenance of
her honour or the protection of her interests call on
her to go to war, to continue the struggle until she
has secured her rights and satisfied her honour. The
principle of the Government will therefore be a
judicious economy, not the negligence, inefficiency,
and imperfection which have too often cloaked
themselves under that good name, but the prudent
and severe application of the national resources to
necessary and useful ends, and to those ends alone.
Mr. Gladstone could of course offer no opposition to
the proposal of the Chancellor of the Exchequer to
let his conversion scheme drop for this session ; but
he intimated his assent in so captious a manner as to
deprive it of all grace or merit. The original reso-
lution of 1862, in favour of a reduction of expendi-
ture, was, no doubt, proposed by Mr. Stansfeld, in
concert with some of his friends below the gangway,
and the resolution of Mr. Walpole was really an
amendment, and not, asmight have been understood
from Mr. Disraeli's speech, a substantive proposi-
tion first inviting the house to pronounce its opinion
on the question ; but Mr. Gladstone knew very well
when he dilated, with so much unction, on what he
called the inaccurate statement of Mr. Disraeli, that
it was the speech of Mr. Disraeli, that famous de-
nunciation of bloated armaments, which kindled the
economic zeal, such as it was, of the Radicals of
that day, and that Mr. Stansfeld's motion was in
truth not so much a genuine effort to enforce the
principles of retrenchment as a dodge to catch the
Tories, and as was hoped to create division amongst
them. Sir S. Northcote put the matter right in a few
words, and the incident is only interesting in so far
as it shows how eagerly Mr. Gladstone will catch
at any chance, however slight, of damaging an op-
ponent. Mr. Gladstone, as is natural now that he
is out of office, comes forward in the character of
an economist. He has had seven years in which to
show that he really cared for retrenchment, and has
given in that time but the faintest signs of any such
economic fervour. Forced by public opinion in
1862 to abandon the outrageous and wanton expen-
diture to which he had been privy, he has no doubt
presented smaller estimates in the succeeding years,
but certainly he has done nothing to justify that
solemn profession in which he indulged yesterday,
or to warrant the alarm he professed at General
Peel's announcement of his intention to convert in
the course of the next three years, at the cost of a
quarter of a million per annum, all our rifles into
breech-loaders. However, Mr. Gladstone's alarm
is not likely to stop the Secretary at War in his ex-
cellent purpose. If there were any probability that
it would, an alarm far wider and deeper than that
of Mr. Gladstone and his friends would grow up.
The nation has been reassured by the energy with
which the new War Minister went to work to sup-
ply the army with breech-loaders ; and any hint as
to an intention not to carry out these promises
would excite the greatest alarm, and we may even
say indignation. Mr. Gladstone professed even
greater alarm at the discussion of last Tuesday, in
which, as it ?vill be remembered, there was a pretty
unanimous expression of opinion from authorities
on both sides of the house of satisfaction at the re-
turn of Sir John Pakington to the Admiralty, and
besides attributing to the right hon. baronet a de-
sign to at once raise our navy to a strength equal
to that of all other maritime powers combined,
charged him with having in 1859 wasted a large
sum of money in the conversion of sailing vessels
into steamers. Sir John Pakington showed how
unfounded was this charge, and that the course
which he took was the only course open to a Minis-
ter desirous of maintaining for England a fleet fit to
vindicate her interests. If Mr. Gladstone is going
to show his economic zeal by protests against all
measures which may be taken by the Government
to make our army and navy thoroughly efficient,
he will find work enough to do in the coming ses-
sion, but it will not be work that will pay him as a
politician. The country desires economy, but it will
not sacrifice efficiency to economy ; and if Mr.
Gladstone, after having neglected to effect real re-
trenchment by compelling an economic application
of money in the different public departments, comes
forward and preaches the starvation of those de-
partments, he will certainly get but few followers.
The economy which the country asks is that which
Mr. Disraeli has promised, and for which that pro-
mise and the character of his colleagues supply a
sufficient guarantee.
Extensive Swindling Operation.

CANADIAN BANKS VICTIMISED BY A YANKEE BOGUS BANK-
S2OO,OOO IN SPURIOUS DRAFTS ISSUED.
(From the Toronto Globe, June 21.)
The particulars of one of the most gigantic swindling
schemes ever concocted on the other side have just been
revealed in this city by the arrest of some of the princi-
pals at Lockport, N.Y., where several of the villains had
retired to spend their ill-gotten gains, in the expectation
of undisturbed felicity. The facts, as detailed, present a
scheme so skilfully planned as might have insured success,
but for the circumstance that their victims, once on the
alert, were as sharp as the swindlers, and now, with the
aid of detectives, have succeeded in bagging the greater
number of them. About eight or ten months ago an
establishment, styled the Canton Banking House, was
started in the town of Canton, St. Lawrence county, N.Y.
The persons engaged in the undertaking-30 in number -
obtaining all the paraphernaliaof a legitimate institution, had
made their business notice sufficiently public in Thompson's
Bank Note Reporter, and took other precautions to en-
deavour to assure the public that they were on a sound
basis. Meanwhile their swindling operations were set on
foot, persons being despatched in all directions with drafts
on the Second National Bank of New York, drawn by a
Mr. Clarke, who has since turned State's evidence in the
hope of escaping from the wob so completely woven
around his confederates. He has stated that no loss than
$200,000 is this worthless paper was issued, all payable
at the bank named, where for a few days the sum of $5OO
lay to the credit of one of the parties concerned, but that
it was all, with the exception of $12.50, withdrawn a few
days subsequently. The many agents of the concern here
then flooded the country with this worthless trash ;
$200,000 was a largo stake, and if they only won occasion-
ally there was yet a large percentage over the rewards of
honest labour.

In Buffalo a considerable sum was cashed, New York
was slightly bitten, while even as far South as Kentucky
and Alabama the rascals are said to have pursued
their unlawful scheme. It is estimated that by this
means fully $lOO,OOO of the waste paper was disposed
of to the duped victims. Tho first intimation of
the affair in Canada was made in December last, when Mr.
11. B. Forbes, broker of this city, was asked to cash a draft
for $3,500 on the bogus concern, to a party representing
himself to be a cattle buyer in want of money, and had
been introduced as such by Mr. Palmer, of the Albion

Hotel here. Mr. Palmer had been assured of the relia-
bility of the fellow only by a confederate, a man named
Hezekiah S. Bennett, on whom the weight of the law is
now likely to fall in full force as one of the principals in
the affair.

Mr. Forbes consulted the detector, found the houso ad-
vertised, and the party, a man named Toomis Willard, ap-
pearing to answer his own representations, he cashed the
draft immediately, but scarcely had he done so when he
thought something was wrong. Telegraphing to the bank-
ing house, ho only received an answer from an operator,
stating that Mr. Clarke, the drawer of the draft, was in
New York. This heightened his doubts to a well-founded
suspicion, and telegraphing to the Second National Bank,
their presumed agents, he was informed that they had
only $12.50 to their credit. He immediately went to
Lockport, and on reaching there was informed that
one of the drafts for $1,500 had been presented at
the Exchange Bank of that city, and was about being Paid
the clerk having retired to obtain the sanction of the ma-
nager, when the operator, suspecting that he was detected,
made off, leaving the draft in the possession of the clerk,
who only then became aware of the narrow escape from
being victimised.
Mr. Forbes' visit to Lockport was almost on the same
day, and he had just entered the First National Bank of
that city when they informed him that a draft for 800
had been cashed, fully believing that it was genuine. The
doubts of Mr. Forbes changed their tone,
and by the aid
of a detective they shortly recovered the full amount. Mr.
Forbes, however, found Willard worth nothing ; but, after
some trouble, succeeded in connecting Bennett with the
scheme—the former having been acting as Bennett's tool,
he receiving $5OO of the money for his services as "stool
pigeon," while Bennett retained the lion's share. The Wail
C. E. Clarke, who has "peached" on the rascals, appears to
have been fully as guilty as the others; but, not obtain-
ing his expected share in the proceeds, as well as fear
of the State Prison, induced him to reveal his schemein the transaction and help to bring the others
to justice. Several other parties in Canada have lost more
or less by the swindlers. Mr. J. W. Murton, of gamd
ton; Mr. Patterson, of Port Hope, and others being
named.
It is also said that the Bank of British North America
at London has lost $l,OOO b 3 one of the parties having
deposited a large sum there for collection, and obtained an
advance to that amount. In Buffalo several extensive
hauls were made, and Detroit and many sections of Penn-
sylvania were visited ith the same intention, in many cases
successful. One party in Buffalo, a few days ago, recovered
$4,500, an amount sufficient to cover all loss and damage'
besides a bonus from a man named Chappel, the agent,
negotiating there.
A serious difficulty has, however, presented itself with
regard to the two prisoners. Bennett and Willard, arrested
at the instance of Mr. Forbes, they having committed th:
act in Canada, while the conspiracy to defraud, on which
they are held, was concocted in the United States. st“
strenuous efforts will be made to bring the perpetrators
of the scheme to their full deserts, and, if possible, they
will be held to account for their action. The trial com-
menced at Lockport on Tuesday last, the arrest havg
been made a few days previously.