A number of Manchester and Liverpool merchants have requested Mr.
Gladstone to permit himself to be nominated as the third repre- sentative for South Lancashire in the event of Sir George Lewis's bill for assigning vacant seats becoming law.
Leeds is no longer alone in the field of "Reform Agitation." Bir- mingham has sprung forward. The masses were summoned to attend a meeting—"the men of Birmingham were invited to demand Reform." They have not responded. On Tuesday the leaders of the movement, Mr. Baldwin and Mr. J. Taylor, found themselves surrounded by at least a hundred persons, "of that loose sort of the population who are always hanging about assemblies of this character.' So much for the desire for Reform pervading Birmingham. In the course of his speech Mr. J. Taylor informed his hearers "how justly incensed Mr. 'Bright was with Lord John Russell's proceedings;" and one orator proposed that the -Sunday-school teachers should be enlisted to propagate the principles of the League.
The Anti Paper Duty League, or Association for Promoting the Repeal of Taxes on Knowledge held its annual meeting on Wednes- day, Mr. William Ewart in the chair. Among the speakers were Mr. Augustus Sala, Mr. Ayrton, Mr. George Thompson, and "Mr. Smith, the engineer of the Bitumenized Paper Pipe Company !" That the meeting passed resolutions in favour of a repeal of the duty before any other tax is remitted, is a matter of course.
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