1 DECEMBER 1866, Page 1

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

'SHE Demonstration in favour of Reform proposed by the Trades' Unions of London has been organized, and will come off next Monday. The difficulty of finding an open space in the south or west of London large enough to hold two or three hundred thousand people has been obviated by Lord Ranelagh, who has lent the workmen Beaufort House, the rifle-ground of his Volunteer regiment. The Government has refused to allow the Unions to swear in some of their men as special constables, but expresses a firm hope that there will be no disorder, a hope which, considering that Mr. Walpole has paralyzed the Unions, that the procession must be at least ten miles long,—a mile to every 10,000 walking six abreast,—that it will return after dusk, and that the police must be on duty the whole day, is a trifle sanguine. The workmen will be orderly enough, but to every man in the procession there will be at least three sight-seers, of whom one will be a lad "out for the spree," and ready for any niischief short of arson or manslaughter. We trust Mr. Walpole will not have to repent his weak distrust of popular aid, and that Mr. Potter will be able to control his camp followers as well as his soldiery. If he can, the scene will be a most striking one, the first grand display of popular physical force since Chartism expired.