Lord Granville has written a very good letter to the
Secretary of the Committee for arranging the meeting of yesterday in Guildhall,—a meeting which we went to press too early to report,—in which he says that the national feeling which has been shown would have been enough to influence a Government
of absolute power, and that it must be irresistible in this country. Possibly. But there are cases in which a Constitution acts rather as a safety-valve which protects the Government against the neces- sity of obeying any national movement appearing to be only temporary or spasmodic, rather than as a means of enforcing the national will. In a constitutional country you may put off doing till Parliament meets, what in a despotic country you could hardly dare to put off at all ; and if, when Parliament meets, the opportunity of action is over, there is no redress possible, though there may be an expiation.
