TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE PROCESSION OF THE UNIONS.
THE procession of the Trades Unions on Monday, was a manifes- tation, not of power, but of weakness. In the first place, if their object was to obtain the pardon or a mitigation of the punishment of their Dorchester brethren, they could not have taken any method more certain to frustrate it, than one which had every ap- pearance of an attempt to bully the King and his Ministers by an array of numbers. The attempt might have proved very mischie- vous as well as foolish. As it turned out, perhaps on the whole good may be the result. The Unionists must have ascertained the folly of their conduct. They are the principal sufferers by it. The Times does not, probably, overrate their loss in money at 12,000/. In addition to this, many of' them have been dismissed by their employers, and will have to depend for subsistence upon the poor- rates, or upon precarious instead of regular wages, for some time to come.
It has been said that the orderly and sober conduct of the poor men who dragged their weary limbs along the streets from Copen- hagen Fields to Kennington Common, proves that they are fit to lie intrusted with the elective franchise. Certainly, if abstinence from riot and drunkenness for a day is evidence of the capacity rightly to fulfil the duties of an elector, the Unionists have made out their claim to the franchise. But on the other band, if readi- ness to be most grossly gulled is evidence of the unfitness of any class of men to be the depositaries of the right of voting, the Unionists have afforded it in abundance. Indeed very many of them appeared conscious of looking like simpletons. Then as to the idea of the physical force of the Metropolis being lodged in the hands of the Unionists, Monday's muster showed it to be ridicu- lous. Not to speak of the Police or the Military, the mere by- standers, who formed the lines on each side of the streets as they passed along, seemed strong enough almost at any point to have broken in upon and crushed the feeble and squalid creatures who absurdly thought a display of their numbers would intimidate the Government. It was melancholy to see how large a propor- tion of the Unionists were in wretched condition. Their appear- ance altogether awakened sensations of pity, or of contempt, ac- cording as the lookers-on might be of a kind or a proud nature, but certainly nohing like fear. The conduct of the Government and the Magistracy was com- mendable on the whole; and we trust the same discreet course will be adopted on any future similar occasion. There was scarcely a policeman to be seen in the streets, and not a single soldier. Every care was taken to avoid giving unnecessary irritation by the open display of force; at the same time that every one knew there were powerful bodies of soldiery and police ready to restrain and punish disorder and riot. It is to be hoped that the Unionists will profit by the lesson they have received. They have been treated with extreme forbearance by the public guardians of those laws which they in some measure violated, and by their fellow townsmen, whose business they inter- rupted and whose families they alarmed. By their peaceable con- duct, they prevented any thing more serious than annoyance and Harm. Had they been riotous or disorderly, they would them- selves have been the principal sufferers. It now is tit they should ask themselves, what have they gained and what have they lost by their display ?
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