The Express.
London, England, 1866-12-04 00:00:00

OUR CONTEMPORARIE&

(THIS DAY.)

Till WORM DEMONSTRATION.

- _
Admitting that unnecessary apprehensions were
entertained, owing to the looseness of statement on the 1
part of the originators of yesterday's demonstration, and
placing the numbers in the procession as short of 25,000
men, the news proceeds to express its admiration of the
behaviour of all who actually took part in the day's pro•
°ceding,. Indeed, considering that towards the end they
had been standing and walking for many hours, that they
were under a cold, drizzling rain, and covered with the
mud which they splashed up at every step, their patience
and good humour were beyond praise. What was done
yesterday, though on a comparatively small scale, is amply
sufficient to show that a large number of the artisan class
desire the franchise ; and assuming that the time has
come for the question to be finally settled, the TiVita
thinks that the London working men may be satisfied
with the gatherings of the last few months, and be content
to await, like other classes, the action of parliament.

The Daily News observes that by curious inoonsisteacy
the theorists who announce that numbers are of no ac-
count in politics are strangely gratified when they find
that the numbers mustered spinet them on any occasion
are not so great as they had anticipated. Without dwell-
ing on the obvious causes which made it a matter for
wonder yesterday that the procession and meeting took
place at all, it should be remembered that the artisans
who defiled through the streets exceeded in number the
electors who return a sixth pert of the House of Commons,
though an equally respectable and trustworthy body.
Can anyone who saw the procession affect to believe that
the enfranchisement of the men who formed it would de-
teriorate the constituencies? That the 25,000wh0 have no
member are inferior to the 25,000 who have a hundred
members ? Perhaps if Mr. Lowe had been present to
observe from some coigne of vantage what passed even he
might have been half converted, and as it is the impression
which was made upon some tory and Adullamite lookers-
on seems to have been very salutary, and therein lies the
justification of the demonstration. The resolutions which
they adopted are to be held as conveyingthe ideal to which
they would gradually approximate, and show the desire
to leave the details of the large measure which is required
to advisers of the crown and to parliament. As to the
ordinary employment of similar means of political action,
our climate is against them, and as the proportion of
electors increases they will become less necessary. Pro-
cessions through the streets, which are part of the
public life in America, will only be adopted here in crises
which do not occur once in a generation. This fact gives
them their importance, and deprives them of their danger.
The Herald compliments the committee of organisation
and the working men themselves on the remarkable punc-
tuality sad the success of their arr►ngements, and doubts
if an equal number of the best trained troops in Europe
could have been marched in less time. But the demon-
stration has by no means proved the universal prevalence
among the working classes of an intense desire for reform..
The Post treats the subject in a similar way, while the
Telegraph and Star place great stress on the political sig-
nificance of the spectacle. The latter adds that there must
be no more attempt to hold a meeting in a private ground,
but the right to meet in the parks must be conceded.