REACTION.—We noticed in the second edition of our last Number,

the meeting of members of Parliament at Willis's Rooms on Saturday. The result of that most gratifying meeting will be found recorded in our Parliamentary summary. On Saturday, also, at six o'clock in the evening, a Common Council was held, to express the opinion of the Council on the subject of the rejection of the Reform Bill by the Lords ; when resolutions, approving of the Bill and the Ministers, were unanimously passed. Short as the notice for assembling was, the meeting was very fully attended, and be-

low the bar the court was crowded to excess. An address to the Ring, founded on the resolutions passed at this meeting, was carried up by the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs on Wednesday.

On Saturday night, a meeting as important as that of the Common Council, though not sanctioned by charters, consisting of delegates of the several parishes of London and Westminster, took place at the Crown and Anchor. Mr. De Vear was in the chair, and Colonel Evans and several other influential persons were present. On the suggestion of the Chairman, a Committee of the Delegates was appointed to sit de die in diem, to watch over the progress of Reform, and to adopt such plans as the exigency of the case might from time to time require.

On Monday, one of the most numerous, respectable, and enthusiastic meetings of the people of Westminster, that ever took place within walls, was held at the Crown and Anchor. It was called by the meeting of Delegates above mentioned : the hour named was two o'clock, for three ; but long before two, the great room on the second floor was crammed ; and whenSir Francis Burdett, at half-past two, took the chair, not only the room of the meeting, but the stairs, passages, and the whole of the inn, was crowded to suffocation. The meeting was ad- dressed by Sir Francis, by Sir John Hohlmuse, Colonel Evans, and several others. The resolutions, and the addresses to the King, and to Earl Grey calling on his Lordship not to resign, were carried by accla- mation.

On Monday also, agreeably to a requisition numerously signed and presented to the Lord Mayor on Saturday, a Common Hall was held, partly for that purpose, and partly to receive the report of the decision of the Aldermen on the election of Lord Mayor. The latter business ended, on the motion of Mr. Coates, seconded by Mr. Taylor, an address was voted to the King, and a petition to the House of Commons with an unanimity and a zeal of which the Common Hall has exhibited few parallels.

On the same day, the great and wealthy parish of Marvlebone met at the Horse Bazaar in Baker Street, but it was soon found that the area, ample as it is (it was not half filled at the previous meeting), was quite insufficient to contain the crowds that thronged to it ; and an adjourn- ment was proposed, to Hyde Park. Some doubts, ho —ever, having been started of the legality of meeting out of the parish, it was finally arranged that the parishioners should meet at Regent's Park, in a field belonging to Mr. Maberley. The number which assembled there amounted, it is calculated, to not less than forty thousand. Mr. Hume, who was in the chair, Mr. Maberley, and others, addressed this vast as- semblage. An address to the King was carried by loud and unanimous acclaim; and with three cheers to his Majesty, the meeting separated. On Monday also, the inhabitants of Clerkenwell—the inhabitants of Chelsea—the parishioners of Allhallows—the operatives of Spitaltields —the inhabitants of St. Luke's, presided over by the Rev. Dr. Rice— the Reform Union of Clerkenwell—the inhabitants of Newington—of St. Anne's, Soho, in which parish a preliminary meeting had been held on Saturday—of St. Clement, Danes—met, all for the same object, and with the same zeal and unanimity of purpose.

On Tuesday, there were meetings of the parishes of St. Pancras—of St. Giles and St. George's, Bloomsbury—of Cripplegate Ward Within —of Bishopsgate Ward—of Cripplegate Without—of St. Botolph's Without—of St. Bride's, Fleet Street—of St. Luke's, Chelsea—of St. Andrew's Holborn—of St. Paul's, Covent Garden. On Wednesday, there were meetings of the parish of St. George, Hanover Square—of St. George the Martyr, Southwark—of St. An- drews, 'Holborn—of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields—of the members of the

National Union of the Working Classes—of St. OlaVe's, Southwark—of Shoredith.

On Thursday, the meeting of bankers and merchants took place in the Egyptian Hall : there were also meetings of the inhabitants of Farring- don Ward—of St. George's, Hanover Square—of St. Mary's, White- chapel—of St. Mary, Islington. On Friday, the people of Lambeth met. Walbrook—Southwark- Kensington—Brompton—St. Mary, Whitechapel.

In the country, the number of meetings almost defies calculation. Liverpool, Sheffield, Bristol, Nottingham, Manchester, Dover, Bris-hton, Hastings, Carlisle, Stamford, Newcastle, Lynn, Canterbury, Plymouth, Coventry, Bath, Boston, Newport, Norwich, Loughborough, 1ps Mein, Yarmouth, Chelmsford, Worcester, East Betio'], Deptford, Greenwich, Chatham, York county, Tamworth, Wolverhampton, South Shields, Leicester, Kendal, Hinckley, Poole, Dublin, Margate, Portsmouth, Frome, Devizes, Salisbury, Colchester, Greenock, Dumfries, Annan, Edinburgh Union, Edinburgh merchants, Evesham, Wilts county, Essex county, Worcester ; these are a few and but a few of the names of the towns where meetings have been held during the week. Every day's post swells the list.

It is quite impossible to give even the scantiest account of what was said at all these meetings ; we can only notice one or two in town and in the country, and content ourselves with a general statement, that in the whole of the instances enumerated—with one exception, which we shall advert to by and by—there was but one thing done,—namely, resolu- tions were passed, more or less determined, of the steady resolution of the meeting to stand for the Bill and nothing less than the Bill ; of their unabated hope in Iris Majesty; of their continued confidence in his ; and of their trust in a speedy termination to the fears as well as hopes of the public, by their adoption of the only constitutional method of carrying their great measure to its accomplishment, by creat- ing such a number of Peers as would neutralize the Oppositions by which it has been defeated.

The Common Council, as matter of right, claim to present their addresses directly to tire Throne, and are thus at all times certain, that their complaints, whatever they may be, reach the Sovereign's ear. Their address was carried up on Wednesday, and presented to his Majesty at the Levee; and the following answer was returned-

" You may be assured of my sincere desire to uphold and to improve the securi- ties afforded by the constitution, for the maintenance of tbejust rinints of my people; and you may rely on my continued disposition to further the adoption of suele mea- sPres as mar/ seem !jest calculated for that purpose. For the safe and successful accomplishment of such measures, it is above all Mugs necessary that they- should be discussed with calmness and deliberation ; and I earnestly recommend to yea to use all the influence you justly possess with your fellow-citizens, for the purpose of preserving the public peace from any interruption by acts of violence and com- motion."

The meeting on Thursday at the Egyptian Hall deserves a distinct notice. The gentlemen who signed the requisition to the Mayor, and who made up the meeting-, were the same who had met with the same

object on two recent occasions. The Lord Mayor was in the chair; Mr. Pascoe Grenfell, Mr. H. Thomson, Deputy-Governor of the Bank, Mr.

G. Grote, Mr. B. Wadden, Mr. Crawford, Mr. Tooke, Mr. G. Norman, and Mr. Stone moved and seconded the resolutions. We can spare room for but one extract from the speeches ; and we shall take it from that of Mr. G. Grote, because it goes directly to the point.

" It was not," Mr. Grote observed, " for that meeting to say what would be the proper course for his Majesty to take to protect Iris people in the great emergency ; but there was one method by•which that object could be effected—by the legal and constitutional exercise of the preroga- tive of the Sovereign. By that method alone he believed the present difficulty could be overcome. There certainly were some persons who looked with a superstitious horror at the idea of a new creation of Peers ; but of what avail was that prerogative if it was never to be employed for the benefit of the great mass of the people ? Never could it be employed

to greater advantage than now. Where was the Peer who had been made a Peer for the purpose of saving thecountry from a revolution, and of pre- venting bloodshed and tyranny ? Innumerable were the dignities which had theirrise in corruption. It was said that the creation of new Peers would degrade the order. For his part, if their Lordships •were degraded ever so much, they had nobody to thank for their degradation but themselves. But how would the creation of Reform Peers degrade the order ? If 100 Reform gentlemen were added to the list of Peers, their Lordships would be much higher in the estimation of everyman whose opinion was worth a farthing than they now were. The people had, now that the Bill was rejected, to look for the double blessing of a Reformed House of Lords, as well as a Reformed House of Commons. The Lords said they cnuld not cooperate with a Reformed House of Commons ; but he hoped that his Majesty would prepare their Lordships for such coopera- tion, by giving them a round of vigorous recruits from the Commons." The Southwark meeting, which took place yesterday, was very numer- ous. Mr. Ellis was in the chair, in consequence of the illness of the High Bailiff. Mr. Calvert and Mr. Brougham were both present, and ad- dressed the meeting. The latter related an anecdote respecting the rejection of the Bill, which shows the deliberation with which it was gone about. He was in the House when the bill was discussed, and heard an active Anti-Reform Peer make a curious observation to a friend of his. his friend said, " Well, I understand you are sure of a majority." The Peer replied, "Yes, I suppose we are ; but I should like to know what we are to do with it when we have got it." (Great laughter and cheers.) Of the country meetings, that of Sheffield, on Monday, and the meet- ing at York, which took place en Wednesday, have been singled out from the rest, not less from their magnitude and respectability, than from the speeches delivered at both by Lord Milton, whose remarks upon the character and composition of the majority in the Lords seem to have caused grievous offence to their humble and zealous clients in the Com- mons. We give the extracts, on which so much angry comment has been bestowed, in another column. The meeting at Taunton was no- ticeable as being enlivened by the brilliancy of wit and cogency of argu- ment of the Rev. Sidney Smith. His comparison of the labours of the Lords to those of Dame Partington is doubly good—it is illustrative and argumentative at the same time ; the humour of the parallel is not more conspicuous than its logic. We said there was one meeting that came out from the rest—.-it was the meeting at Manchester. It stands, indeed, a solitary exception among all the meetings, in town or in country, to the harmony with which the Bill has been received, and the confidence with which its ori- ginators have been regarded by the people at large, as well those who were its immediate objects as those who were only to derive an indirect benefit from its enactments. The meeting was called by the Borough- reeve ; and it was intended to be held in the Manor Court-room ; but the people insisted on an adjournment, which took place in consequence, to the Market-place. There an amendment was put on the original re- solution, calling for annual Parliaments, universal suffrage, and vote by ballot ; and was carried by an immense majority. The Tory prints, we see, are in ecstasy at the carrying of this amendment. The victory of the Radicals is assuredly due to the majority of Friday morning. Had not the.Lnrds interposed to delay Reform, the plan of Ministers would have been thankfully received : having delayed it, they will pro- bably be compelled the next time to accept a Bill of a much more exten- sive kind. This comes of trifling with the Sybil.

Among the scheduled boroughs, Evesham has set an example which deserves particular commendation.