NEWS OF THE WEEK.
NOBODY pretends to deny that so far as a procession can prove anything, the reform procession which paraded Lon- don on Monday, and which took about three hours in passing any one spot, was one of the greatest political demonstrations which the world has ever seen. The people who constituted it were cheer- ful, business-like, and perfectly good-humoured. They cheered the Prince and Princess of Wales,—who with great tact showed themselves as interested observers of the demonstration in White- hall,—with the greatest enthusiasm, the people being obviously pleased by the gracious recognition they received. Mr. Bright, again, when they passed his house in Piccadilly, met with enthu- siastic cheers from the procession ; and Mr. Gladstone, who had to cross the course of the procession in going down to the House, was, as a matter of course, made the object of a great demon- stration. There is a great controversy as to the number of the procession itself. The Times puts it at about 30,000; the Daily Telegraph at 100,000. We believe that the average row con- tained about six men, that on an average about sixty rows passed the same point in a minute, and that the whole procession passed in about three hours. If these data be correct, the pro- cession itself must have numbered about 60,000, and that is the -opinion of the closest observers. There was no breach of order. None of the flower-beds in the Park were injured, no one was insulted, and the only point on which the Conservatives seem to be agreed is that with so much good humour as the procession showed, there could not have been much sense of indignation against the Peers. You might as well argue from Mr. Lowther's jolly manner that he feels no resentment to the Prime Minister, and would not breathe fire out against him if he could.
