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IPAKLIAIENTARI JOTTINGS.

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IPAKLIAIENTARI JOTTINGS. IN London during tlie past week nothing has been talked about so much, both within the Houses Parliament and without, as the riots in Hyde- park. Every well-thinking person concurs in the feeling that it is a pity such a thing should have occurred. It was not the desire of the Eeform League that riotous proceedings should have attended their meeting. It was not the wish Government that free discussion upon political Matters should be prevented. It was not the ptisan, or those who may properly be called the ''working man," who took part in these riots. | ;t -lacards announced that a meeting would be held 111 Hyde-park to consider the question of Eeform, ^hich was followed by an official notice from Sir Richard Mayhe, as Chief Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, that such meeting would be ^egal. As we all know, the gates of the park closed, the park railings were thrown down, rabble, the scum of London, rejoiced in an ^Pportanity for mischief, and hence the result. J; ^0 not think that members of the Eeform League °°k any part in the work of devastation, but father prevented it whenever they had an oppor- newspapers have given so fully, but I may a little insight into the manner in which it ^as brought about by my own observations on second day of the riot. I entered the park in I,, However* it is not my purpose to record what Jfte morning; there were the iron railings lying length on the ground all the way from the Jptble Arch down Park-lane almost to Apsley S^use, and, in fact, wherever it was possible, on the I aJswater-road and the Knightsbridge-road, the fiuciag was rased to the ground. The flowers in ornamental grounds were in many parts ■Stapled down, young trees torn from their roots, general havoc was observable amongst seats, ^rdles, &c. I looked round me and saw a crowd young urchins, perhaps averaging fourteen of age—none older than eighteen. Many of ij*ese belonged to what are termed street Arabs;" J16? had made profit during the night of the occur- "W"ith chisels, hammers, an d such like instru- r^ts, they had extracted the lead from the mortice oles where the iron rails had rested, and disposed of plunder to marine-store dealers, who were H^ite ready to purchase. Some boasted that they gad made two shillings, others eighteen pence, j?^e a shilling, &c. Strange to say, the policemen ij not interfere with the lads whilst this abstrac- i,0tl Was going on. At midday about 1,000 of „ ese idle boys mustered in a body, the leaders I ^fymg sticks, and those wno possessed such an icicle as a pocket handkerchief floated it as a ^aer. I did. not see a man amongst them. As as they quietly marched from one end of the Dtil °^er no notice was taken of them, presently they commenced knocking down the which had not previously been interfered then they espied a water-cart on the bank .the Serpentine. This they seized, and with 34 hurrahs backed it deep into the water, tli ee P^icemen coming up at the time, many of u 6 young wretches fled, but presently you heard voices shouting, "Keep together," "Keep y&ether, lads," "Here's a lark," &c. Then a hob- of about seventeen called out, "Sticks— .fire! and away went about fifty of those at the devoted heads of the policemen, tn*?' ^ding they could not hold their ground, I loot■ ^eir heels, followed by this juvenile mob, L 113S like so many hares before a hungry pack of baf ^s* policemen had not gone far, however, thpthey were me^ by about half-a-dozen more of i • force. They then made another stand, but the Q Were too much for them, and drove them fairly fa -°^ ^ie Par^- After tliis" the little rascals icied they had the park to themselves, and, sur- some young trees, they fairly twisted them yhortly after this about 30 policemen made appearance, wheg the lads formed in lines pelted them with sticks and stones until they \r*Q °bliged to seek further assistance. Matters s becoming serioas; the police had tried to take °f the ringleaders into custody, but they ju re invariably rescued by their fellows. At this fJjctUre Captain Harris iappeared on horseback, hnv°We(^ trough the Marble Arch by about 60 licemen. On they came full trot, and drove the i th0 youtlis before them some hundred yards, ft85! halted. They had no sooner done so than 1^, *ads, who had got behind the hurdles, pelted em with sticks and Btenes; they had formed J*einselves into two attacking parties, and when J10 policemen directed their attention to the 8nt the missiles came from the left, and vice ffs«. A further number of the force having ar- ^ed, Captain Harris ordered the whole lot to ^large with their staves the mob, and follow them P* It was a curious sight; over the hurdles ent the policemen, and any one in their way ( turned over or pushed along without ^nicting punishment; but some of the youths behind, and away flew sticks and cones. Captain Harris then gave orders for policemen to pick up the missiles when .^own, and armful after armful were safely eposited. This seemed to have the desired effect, I thought all was over; not so, however, in a minutes up came about 2,000 or 3,000 boys, all 'med with stic&s or brickbats, and again charged _7'6 Policemen, who were then ordered to use their a*Ves effectively, and some very ugly blows were pven, the unfortunate part of it being that the had to suffer with the guilty, for every ^e who stood in the way had a chance of being locked down. Your correspondent, I ean assure *0ll> had as much as he could do to keep out of Ganger, and after looking round at bloody noises, "tinging of arms and legs with pain, and sundry Cries of agony, I thought it best to depart. I Merely, however, give you this sketch to show how 111 population like London the evil-disposed ?r6ate mischief and the well-regulated get blamed it. A friend of mine suggested that if Sir ^chard Mayne had ordered so .many fire-engines ?° be brought and deluged this unwashed lot of f^ya with pure water, they would have driven '^m away as from the face of an enemy they c°ild not withstand. ent the policemen, and any one in their way ( turned over or pushed along without ^nicting punishment; but some of the youths behind, and away flew sticks and cones. Captain Harris then gave orders for policemen to pick up the missiles when .^own, and armful after armful were safely deposited. This seemed to have the desired effect, 4]ad I thought all was over; not so, however, in a few minutes up came about 2,000 or 3,000 boys, all 'med with stlCKS or brickbats, and again charged _7'6 Policemen, who were then ordered to use their a*Ves effectively, and some very ugly blows were pven, the unfortunate part of it being that the had to suffer with the guilty, for every ^e who stood in the way had a chance of being locked down. Your correspondent, I ean assure *0ll> had as much as he could do to keep out of Ganger, and after looking round at bloody noises, "tinging of arms and legs with pain, and sundry Cries of agony, I thought it best to depart. I Merely, however, give you this sketch to show how In a population like London the evil-disposed fl'eate mischief and the well-regulated get blamed it. A friend of mine suggested that if Sir ^chard Mayne had ordered so .many fire-engines ?° be brought and deluged this unwashed lot of f^ya with pure water, they would have driven '^m away as from the face of an enemy they %u.Id not withstand. As to what occurred in Parliament the news- Papers have given a faithful record of the debates, ^lace-yard, however, had a peculiar aspect on Monday night. There was an evident feeling that Embers of Parliament were in danger, and every ^b and carriage was carefully examined to see if 'be occupant was a veritable member, before he ^as admitted to the entrance of the House. One ^ost fancied that a Guy Fawkes' conspiracy was ?bout to be enacted. The members themselves la.ughed at this extreme caution, and, seeing no l'()\Vd and only a number of policemen, they won- dered what it all meant. The reporters were the ^°rst off. A ticket is given to each privileged Member of the press, which admits the bearer ^Pon all occasions to the gallery of either Lords or Commons; but as they are all well known it is not ellatomary to carry these tickets with them, and as ne after another was challenged as he attempted o enter Palace-yard on this occasion he became lndignant, and it ended in some instances by the reporter turning back, in others by the policeman Accompanying him to the door to be convinced by the messenger of the right of entrance. The night ^ore on, however, without anything being said in Parliament. Ominous whispers there certainly ^ere, and the members' smoking-rooms were more than ordinarily filled. Here the meeting in Hyde- Park was discussed, and many an exaggerated tale Reached the ears of members, so much so that they began to fear the danger of a drive home. It was not till 'the Tuesday's sittings that any notice of the riots took place. All the Ministers were in their places at an early hour, and Mr. Bernal Osborne was the first to break the ice. In a sarcastic tone, he asked the Home Secretary if he would be kind enough to state to the House what had occurred in reference to the meeting proposed to be held that evening in Hyde-park. Before Mr. Walpole could answer, Mr. Ayrton moved "the adjournment of the House," in order to enable him to make a speech upon the subject, in which he carefully avoided all approval of the rioters, but mischievously suggested that their acts had been provoked by the unfair, special appropriation of the park to the upper classes. He then made an onslaught upon the Government for attempting to close the gates against the people. Oh, ohs" were uttered from the Minis- terial benches, whilst cheers greeted him from Opposition members below the gangway. Mr. WaJpole then rose very nervously. He was visibly affected, and as he proceeded his voice trembled, and at times he almost lost his power of expres- sion. I thought he was going to break down, but the right hon. gentleman gathered courage as he proceeded, and at every sentence the House cheered him lustily, as if to indicate that his motives were above suspicion. His reference to Mr. Bright's letter, which he said had encouraged the people to act in defiance of the Government, with- out daring himself to be present, was loudly ap- plauded, whilst sundry "Oh, ohs" were heard from Opposition members. Mr. Oliphant followed Mr. Wal|>ole, and spoke with authority as an eye- witness. He was all for the people and all for the police, but all against the authorities, upon whom, he eontended, rested the blame of bring- ing the people and the police into conflict. Mr. Cochrane thought the Government were right, but Mr. Layard had quite a contrary opinion, and said a great deal about the people's rights and privileges, but in such an unconnected manner that he lost his point, whereupon a con- stant laugh was kept up by the Ministerial side of the House, which caused the hon. gentleman to sit down quite disgusted. Sir George Grey did his best to gallantly support his successor in office, and considered that Hyde-park was not a proper place to meet for political purposes. Ar. Cowper thought the people should have some place where they could assemble for such purposes, and sug- gested Primrose-hill. Mr. Mill was very indig- nant with the Government, and got into such a passion, that his voice, never very loud, could scarcely be heard by reason of its guttural accents. He denounced the Ministers for having perpe- trated a job which it would take much wiser heads than theirs to put right." Mr. Disraeli, in his happiest manner, approved of public meetings generally, because when held at a proper time and place they conferred an advantage upon society, but he repudiated, with indignation, the feelings and motives attributed to the Government by Mr. Mill. The opinions which they had expressed with regard to the illegality of using Hyde-park for the purposes of public meetings had been equally expressed by the highest authorities on the other side of the House. The working classes, he said, were sensible and loyal subjects, but there was a floating scum in every large town, composed of persons always ready to take advantage of such circumstances as that afforded on the previous evening. He asked only for the fair consideration of the House. When the subject was again brought on in the forthcoming evenings, members were in better humour; even Mr. Mill apologised for Mr. Beales, and the Government and the Reform League agreed to submit the right of entering the public parks to the legal functionaries of the Crown-the latter undertaking to hold no more meetings in these places until something definite had been settled. Mr. Hughes (Tom Brown) took the bold step of saying he would withdraw his subscription to the League and be sworn in a special constable if this determined conflict was to continue.

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