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1866.] A MINISTRY FORMED BY LORD DERBY. 287

to the borough franchise, which was carried by & majority of eleven;-looking, I say, at all this the government found it impossible to carry on the bill, and we had no alternative but a resignation, and a persistence in our resignation.'

Mr. Gladstone said there was no alternative but that of resignation. But there surely was another course open to him and his colleagues, which, though he was silent with respect to it, was much in the minds and apprehensions of his hearers, the alternative of an appeal to the country by a dissolution of parliament. But this alternative was really excluded by the disunion which prevailed in the cabinet itself, containing as it did members of the old whig party, who had given a reluctant assent to the introduction of the measure, but who shared to some extent the feeling that was entertained against it by the party to which they belonged, and were not therefore prepared to make strong efforts or great sacrifices in order to force the measure forward.

An administration was formed by Lord Derby, of which the following were the principal members constituting the new cabinet:

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While England was engaged in watching these events, a war, short, fierce, and decisive, had been waged between Prussia and Italy on the one hand, and Austria on the other, which raged and swept-by like a tornado, ending in a peace dictated by Prussia; so that parliament, occupied

by the reform question, had hardly time to consider the bearings of the contest on the interests of this country before it was terminated.

It was not till Monday July 9th that Lord Derby had so far overcome the difficulties attendant on the formation of a conservative administration as to be able to make his ministerial announcement in the House of Lords. On that day the gilded chamber of the peers was filled with an illustrious audience, for among those who had come to listen to the opening statement of the new premier were the Prince and Princess of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh. Lord Derby had lost much of that buoyant and impetuous vigour which in former times obtained for him the title of the Rupert of debate.' His voice, his manner, and his whole bearing proved that age and infirmities were coming on him, and that in taking office he had yielded reluctantly to an overwhelming sense of duty. However, he girded himself up resolutely to the work that was before him, and with great skill and tact made the announcements which his position required him to make. Referring to the reform question, he said that he and his colleagues were entirely free and unpledged on that subject, and that he should be especially observant of an axiom laid down by Earl Russell, that no government should undertake a measure of reform without seeing a fair possibility of being able to carry it; and this he believed could only be done by an understanding and a joint action between the two great political parties in the state. He added, that he did not deny the existence of anomalies in our constitutional system, and that there were many persons who did not possess the franchise that were fairly entitled to it; but he was afraid that those who professed to be most ardent in the cause of reform would not be contented with any measure which was likely to be carried in parliament. He should be glad, however, if any opportunity occurred for passing a safe and satisfactory measure. He promised the earliest attention of the government to the law of bankruptcy, the administration of the poor-law, and the condition of workhouses-a question to which public attention had recently been drawn by a gentleman who, for the sake of obtaining information with regard to it, had disguised himself and passed a night in the casual

1866.]

ATTEMPTED MEETING IN HYDE PARK. 289

ward of one of these establishments amidst the vagrants who happened to tenant it on that occasion.

Under the circumstances in which ministers were placed, their best, indeed their only, course was to wind up the business of parliament as speedily as they could. But this was not effected till the 10th of August, on which day it was prorogued by commission, with the usual formalities.

While ministers were thus engaged, demonstrations were made outside, which probably exercised a considerable influence on the policy that they determined to adopt. The failure of the franchise bill of the late administration made it abundantly evident to those who regarded themselves as unjustly excluded from the franchise, that their claims would never be conceded by the legislature unless, as in 1832, they took the matter into their own hands, and showed in an unmistakable manner both to friends and foes that they were thoroughly in earnest, and that whatever conservative reaction there might be among the enfranchised classes, it did not extend to those who were denied a share in the election of representatives to the House of Commons. Several associations were formed for the purpose of giving a plain and practical contradiction to the statement industriously circulated that the people were indifferent on this question. The most active and important of these associations was the Reform League, which owed much of its efficiency to the energy of Mr. Beales, a highly respectable barrister, who had been appointed to be its president. This body endeavoured, by holding outdoor meetings and in other ways to agitate in favour of the measure from which it took its name. Unfortunately, as generally happens in such cases, meetings that were composed of peaceable, orderly, well-intentioned persons, who assembled only to press in a constitutional manner a claim which they conceived to be founded on manifest justice, were also attended by a multitude of roughs, pickpockets, and other bad characters, ready to take advantage of the meetings and to serve their own criminal purposes by creating disorder and confusion. The council of the league thought that one of the most effectual means they could adopt for promoting their own views was to display their numbers and determination to the upper and influential classes by holding a monster meeting in Hyde Park, and Mr. Beales

VOL. III.

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assured his colleagues and associates that this might be done without any violation of the law. On the other hand, the government determined to prevent the proposed meeting from being held. A notice forbidding it was issued, signed by Sir Richard Mayne, the head of the London police. Mr. Walpole, an excellent, accomplished, amiable man, but somewhat deficient in the firmness required in the holder of the office he filled, especially at a crisis like the present, thought, and his colleagues thought with him, that the purposed demonstration was likely to disturb the public peace, and lead to riot and disorder. However, Mr. Beales and his associates conceiving that they had a legal right to hold their meeting in the Park, determined to disregard the notice of the chief commissioner and the prohibition of the government. Accordingly, on the 23d of July numerous processions with bands of music converged on the Marble Arch. The gates had been closed at five o'clock. A large body of police guarded the Park, and an immense crowd of spectators assembled about the arch to see what would occur. The appearance of the first detachment of the procession was welcomed with loud cheers, showing that the crowd sympathised with the reformers, and a line was at once opened through it, by which Mr. Beales, Colonel Dickson, and other members of the council of the league advanced towards the gate and made a formal demand for admission, which was refused. Mr. Beales then asked by whose orders he was excluded? and he was informed that it was by the authority of Sir Richard Mayne. Seeing that farther remonstrance would be useless, he turned away, and led the procession towards Trafalgarsquare, where a meeting was duly held, and resolutions in favour of reform, and votes of thanks to Messrs. Gladstone and Bright for their fidelity to a cause which others had basely deserted, were carried unanimously. The meeting then dispersed, and those who composed it quietly retired. Nothing could be more orderly and praiseworthy than their conduct. They had asserted what they had been advised to be a legal right, and they had adopted what they conceived to be the best and most practical mode of exposing the falsity of the statement which had been made over and over again, that the working classes were indifferent to the franchise. They hoped and believed that their example

1866.]

THE PARK RAILINGS.

291

would be followed in the other great towns of the kingdom, and that parliament would be made to see that not only in the metropolis but throughout the kingdom the exclusion of the working classes from the franchise was really regarded as a substantial grievance, and that they were prepared to use all legal and constitutional means to enforce their claim to it. But while the procession was on its way towards Trafalgar-square the crowd that remained behind was not disposed to allow the matter to end in this peaceful manner. On either side of the Marble Arch they laid hold of the Park railings, which were not very strongly fixed, and swayed them to and fro till they succeeded in overturning them. They then rushed over them into the Park, bearing down the resistance which the comparatively small number of police within it offered to them, did much mischief to the flowers and shrubs, and remained masters of the Park till the approach of night obliged them to retire to their respective homes. The conduct of these persons was, somewhat unjustly, attributed to the league. No doubt their procession was in some degree calculated to produce the consequences that actually resulted from it; yet it is only just that a distinction should be drawn between the orderly conduct of the persons who took part in the procession, and the riotous behaviour of sympathising onlookers. But it is probable that the latter had more influence than the former. It opened the eyes of the government more than all the numerous peaceful demonstrations that were made at the time, and convinced them that a settlement of this great question could not much longer be delayed, and that if they wished to retain office, they must make up their minds to grant a considerable extension of the suffrage. As we said with regard to the reform bill of 1832, that it was really carried by the mob of Birmingham and the other parts of the kingdom, so we may say with equal truth of the reform bill of 1867, that it was mainly carried by the Hyde-park rioters. Parliament had trifled with this question till the people showed in an unmistakable manner that it could not be trifled with any longer without serious danger; and after having rejected Mr. Gladstone's bill it ended by passing a much stronger measure under the auspices of men who had all along displayed their hostility to every attempt at reform. And

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