The journals of the week record more public meetings in
the country than have occurred in any one week lately. A few Tory Members of Parliament have gone to meet their friends and exchange speeches with local orators at "Conservative demon- strations"; but, excepting JoSEPH BROTHERTON, whose people are always very assiduous in dining, no account has yes reached us of
any Liberal who has met his constituents at the political dinner- table. The proceedings at the Tory dinners, exasperated as the party may be by exclusion from office, and especially by so tanta- lizing an exclusion as that which the feeblest of Ministries main- tains against them, have been tame and insipid to the last degree, uninspired by the smallest novelty of invention or illustration to diversify worn-out invectives against Ministers or little peddling talk about local canvassings. The attempt to get up some poli- tical excitement here and there, only serves to throw a dull light upon the deadness of politics everywhere. The sole subject that seems to possess any genuine attraction for public meetings, is the repeal of the Corn-laws—or rather an alteration of the Custom-duties, for there is a very general dispo- sition to extend the purpose of the agitation to a reform of tat. whole tariff. Deputations from the League are conferring with the electors in several parts of the country ; and it is observable, that Chartist opposition to this species of agitation seems less obtrusive and pertinacious than it has been. A meeting at Bury in Lan- cashire was an example of this unanimity ; and indeed a working- man took a very prominent and effective part in the proceedings.
But the remarkable meeting of the week is one at Liverpool, on the special occasion of Commodore NAPIER'S return to England after his achievements in the Levant. Parties threw aside their animosities for the day : even the question which gave rise to the war itself seemed forgotten, in the universal desire to welcome the bold sailor who had so dashingly borne the country's flag by flood and field. The Commodore landed amidst music, and the waving. of flags, and the shouts of the assembled townsfolk, which resounded as he passed from the quay to the Town-ball, and then to his hotel, and back again to the Hall; and ever and anon he disbursed a speech to the multitude. The day seems to have passed like a continuous public meeting. A dinner in the Amphitheatre crowned the whole. The drinking of Commodore NAPIER'S health drew forth a lively speech, including a sketch of his career in Syria and Egypt. He stood up stoutly for the merits of his old opponent MEHEMET ALI ; and the reckless hero must have staggered some of his auditors not a little, by borrowing divers economical re- marks which the Pasha let fall, to have a side-hit at the Corn-laws. The occasion, however, made it impossible to spoil the triumph of the day by checking the unseasonable outburst of politics. Per- haps, indeed, commercial Liverpool was more pleased than other- wise by the rough sailor's libation to free trade.
