The Gladstonians are making a great effort to " capture
" London by the old means,—public meetings, platform ad- dresses, and speeches from leading men. Sir George Trevelyan and Sir William Harcourt have recently ad- dressed considerable audiences, the latter on Wednesday speaking in Whitechapel a Whitechapel sort of speech, and it is understood that the Unionist leaders are about to accept the challenge. We rather doubt if the method so successful in the rural districts quite suits London. The Labour leaders, the Socialists, and the Irish agitators, all tell the same story, that London is the least impressionable of cities, Its people listen to political speakers in meetings very much as they do to tub-orators in the parka, endure the most extravagant rhetoric without either praise or blame, and go- away unconvinced to make up their minds in their own way. The vastness of London seems to steady opinion, and it is as difficult to create an enthusiasm as to get up an insurrection. As a rule, too, the Londoner usually attends only meetings on, his own side, and though he goes away perhaps a little more convinced, the speaker has no more votes than before. The body of London workmen, too, who are never seen parading the streets, hopelessly outnumber the class which enjoys political meetings. It is by organisation rather than eloquence that London is to be carried,—that is, by persuading every man with an opinion to record it at the poll. His instinct is to- undervalue his ten-thousandth share of the right to elect one six-hundredth of the great National Council.
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