Victoria._

DOWNING STREET, _10th April 1848._
(2 P.M.)

Lord John Russell presents his humble duty to your Majesty, and has
the honour to state that the Kennington Common Meeting has proved a
complete failure.

About 12,000 or 15,000 persons met in good order. Feargus O'Connor,
upon arriving upon the ground in a car, was ordered by Mr Mayne[14] to
come and speak to him. He immediately left the car and came, looking
pale and frightened, to Mr Mayne. Upon being told that the meeting
would not be prevented, but that no procession would be allowed to
pass the bridges, he expressed the utmost thanks, and begged to shake
Mr Mayne by the hand. He then addressed the crowd, advising them to
disperse, and after rebuking them for their folly he went off in a cab
to the Home Office, where he repeated to Sir George Grey his thanks,
his fears, and his assurances that the crowd should disperse quietly.
Sir George Grey said he had done very rightly, but that the force at
the bridges should not be diminished.

Mr F. O'Connor--"Not a man should be taken away. The Government have
been quite right. I told the Convention that if they had been the
Government they never would have allowed such a meeting."

The last account gave the numbers as about 5,000 rapidly dispersing.

The mob was in good humour, and any mischief that now takes place will
be the act of individuals; but it is to be hoped the preparations made
will daunt those wicked but not brave men.

The accounts from the country are good. Scotland is quiet. At
Manchester, however, the Chartists are armed, and have bad designs.

A quiet termination of the present ferment will greatly raise us in
foreign countries.

Lord John Russell trusts your Majesty has profited by the sea air.

[Footnote 14: Mr Richard Mayne, Commissioner of Police,
created a K.C.B. in 1851.]

_Lord John Russell to Queen Victoria._

CHESHAM PLACE, _15th April 1848._

Lord John Russell has a letter from Lord Clarendon to-day in better
spirits, but somewhat fearing an outbreak in Dublin to-night. He
speaks confidently of the disposition of the troops.

Lord John Russell cannot wonder that your Majesty has felt deeply the
events of the last six weeks. The King of the French has brought
upon his own family, upon France, and upon Europe a great calamity.
A moderate and constitutional Government at home, coupled with an
abstinence from ambitious projects for his family abroad, might have