30 SEPTEMBER 1876, Page 2

Lord Derby's reply was so little to the liking of

the Guildhall deputation, that on retiring from the Foreign Office they held a meeting, in which they passed unanimously—Mr. H ubbard, M.P., who deprecated any direct opposition to the Government, having first retired—resolutions declaring Lord Derby's reply unsatisfactory, and the policy sketched in it not in keeping with the convictions of the nation. Dr. Abbott then moved and Mr. Lawrence seconded a resolution, which was also carried unani- mously, declaring that "the present agitation must be con- tinued and enlarged in order that the country may not be allowed to be committed by her Majesty's Ministers to a policy which cannot issue in a permanent peace." And accordingly, the ferment, which seemed to subside at the end of last week, is beginning again with fresh force, crowded meetings of indignation having been arranged for in some of the great provincial towns, which will still further weaken the weakened hands which are now carrying out a weak policy. We note with pleasure that some leading Conservatives are pressing on the Government in the same direction, though abstaining of course from all direct blame of Lord Derby. The Marquis of Bath's speech at Frome on Wednesday amounted to a very heavy in- dictment against Lord Beaconsfield. 'The tone of the Radical speakers has not always been so good ; Mr. E. A. Leathern, for instance, turned his speech on this great question into a mere party tirade,—clever, of course, Mr. Leathern is always clever,— but thoroughly unsuitable to a moment of such danger and suspense.