The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-09 00:00:00

4; 44

LONDON, THURSDAY, AUGUST 0, 1866.

The Reform meeting at Guildhall came off last
night with great success. As was anticipated when
the Corporation decided upon letting the working
men have the use of the Guildhall, and the Lord
MAvort consented to preside over the assembly, the
greatest order and good temper prevailed through-
out the evening, and the meeting, which this time
was really composed of working men, showed
throughout the best characteristics of their class.
The speakers, whether working men or not, were
listened to with attention, and did not find their
eloquence so suddenly cut short as at the Agri-
cultural Hall. The audience had really a
chance of being an audience, and were not
obliged to guess at the speaker's meaning
from his gesticulations. The Lord MAYOR, who
on taking the chair was warmly applauded, reminded
the meeting that three things were necessary for a
successful public meeting at which there should be
free and independent interchange of opinions, and
those three things were good temper, good judg-
ment, and moderation, and these three things were
fairly attained last evening. The Lord MAYOR ap-
pealed to those present to support him in his posi-
tion as a guarantee for public order, but he had no
occasion during the whole course of the meeting to
exercise his authority or his influence. The meeting,
as a fairly constituted English public meeting
always will do, showed itself fully capable of self-
government, and though there was, of course, occa-
sional extravagance of language, there was nothing
that passed the fair bounds of debate, or interfered
with the arrangements of the evening. Perhaps we
should make one exception in regard to the
speech, not of a stonemason or cordwainer, but of
Mr. MASON JONES, who, in seconding one of the
regular resolutions, attempted to introduce one on
his own account, and who appeared to think that
any extravagance of language would do for working
men. His great idea seems to be to displace the
present Govenment, by fair means or foul, and the
great object of his appeal was to " raise such a
storm of indignation in the coming winter as would
for ever drive the Tory party from office." The
greater part of the meeting, however, was not
disposed for such wild heroics, being appa-
rently better informed than Mr. JONES
of the nature of political parties, and
being by no means inclined to reduce Englishmen
to a dead level in which only one opinion can be
expressed. Quot homines, tot sententix is a maxim
with which Mr. JONES is apparently unacquainted,
arid he can only tolerate those persons who
think precisely like himself. Such was not the
prevailing opinion, and several of the speakers very
sensibly said that, for their part, they looked to
men rather than measures, and would accept a
good Reform Bill, from whichever side it came.
We have already lost seven years by this party
spirit, for had the House of Commons of 1859
given a hearing to Lord DERBY'S Bill in a really
liberal spirit, they could have greatly enlarged and
amended its provisions, and have given the people
what they wanted. The working men of to-day
are old enough to remember that all this eloquence
about the wickedness of the Tories was rehearsed
seven years ago, only accompanied with ex-
ultation over their downfall instead of
Jeremiads over their accession to office. But, I
in spite of the flourish of trumpets with which
the return of the Liberal party was hailed in 1859,
it was not until 1866 that any attempt was made
to bring in a Reform Bill. It is this wholesale pre-
judice and party spirit which does so much harm and
distracts attention from the real points at issue, and
helps to defeat itself. We are glad to see that the
working men of London generally are getting be-
yond this, and are inclined to concentrate their
efforts on really tangible and practical aims. It is
in one sense fortunate that the meeting of last
evening should have been fixed after the Hyde Park
demonstration, to afford a specimen of the manner
in which our mechanics and artisans behave them-
selves, in contrast to the performances of those
gentry who so greatly distinguished themselves at
the West-end, but who found the proceedings last
night too tame for them.