28 JULY 1866, Page 2

The Hyde-Park mob, whatever else it was, did not seem

to be irreligious. A Mr. Coffey, who addressed them, and abused Lord Shaftesbury for what he had said in the House of Lords about the meeting, went on to treat it as an additional grievance against the noble Earl that he tried "to cram tracts down their throats and give them prayer-meetings," adding that "a good many of them managed to get on without prayer," on which the crowd recommended him to stick to politics, and not meddle with prayer. They probably felt that they could "manage to get on" without either prayer or Reform, but that the wish for Reform was not quite consistent with mere "managing to get on," and implied wants deeper than could be satisfied by that rather widely diffused pro- cess. We doubt whether any Reform would be worth having, for which men would be ashamed to pray.