1850.] Resignation of Sir Robert Peel to his Death. 361 of an attempt to intimidate the Government and the Legis- lature.* Parliament met to resume business on the 3rd of February. The revolutionary movement in France had already begun. The reform banquet fixed to take place in Paris on the iQth of January, had been interdicted by the authorities/ and postponed in consequence by the promoters. It was to be held on the 22nd of February, and in the interval directions were issued as to the mode in which a procession was to be formed, and the National Guards were invited to attend in uniform, " for the purpose of defending liberty by joining the demonstration, and protecting order and preventing all collision by their presence." The meeting was again for- bidden by the Government on the 2ist of February; on the 24th the King abdicated the throne, a provisional government was formed, and the republic established. This rapid and successful revolution excited the imagination and aroused the energies of the people in nearly every nation in Europe, and thrones fell and constitutions arose as if by magic. The wave of feeling reached England now, as it had done in 1830, but its effect was the less extensive because the advance made in
- What Buncombe thought of these proceedings may be seen by the following
letter : " Sidmouth, April 6, 1848. "Mv DEAR FEARGUS, "Though absent, I am not an inattentive observer of passing events, and it saddens me to see a cause for which I have so perseveringly struggled and I think in the right direction now likely to be damaged by folly. " I can, of course, make every allowance for reasonable excitement, but I cannot reconcile to my mind the folly of jeopardizing a good and just cause by extravagant language and foolish threats, which, as of old, can only have the effect of retarding progress and disarming its best friends. "Nothing in my mind could be more ridiculous or cruel than to hazard the long-looked-for prospects of the people by any rash collision with the authorities, and those who adopt such a course will impose upon themselves a fearful responsibility. " THINK ! THINK! THINK ! and remember that one false step may seal the fate of millions. ' ' Faithfully yours, "T. S. BUNCOMBE." Life and Correspondence of T. S. Duncombe, vol. i. p. 375.
