Another " demonstration " in favour of Arthur Orton was
arranged for Tuesday, and attracted some attention, its leader, Mr. De Morgan, having threatened to march 100,000 men to the House of Commons to claim the right of petition. No notice was taken of the matter in the House, and very little in the Press, but the Home Secretary thought it best to accumulate a considerable force of police, and request that the soldiers should be confined in barracks. The meeting was ac- cordingly held in Hyde Park, but the weather, as usual, was on the side of order, and only about 5,000 persons attended. Mr. De Morgan harangued them in a very violent and very feeble speech, and led them to Palace Yard, where the police told the -crowd to go back again. Mr. De Morgan, however, and nine others were admitted into the lobby of the House, and were asked to tea by Mr. Whalley. Next day they were received by the Home Secretary—who acted throughout with firmness, but without fuss—wandered, of course, in their talk, and were finally told that the proper way to make known their grievances was through their representatives. The affair shows a decline of interest in Orton, and was most creditable to the tact and temper of the Home Secretary and his subordinates. Nobody was hurt, and what is better, nobody was ridiculed, but the movement was, nevertheless, quietly put down.
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