The great Conservative demonstration at Manchester came off on Saturday
with very tolerable success. The Manchester papers all agree that in the Hall of the Pomona Gardens there was nothing like the number present at the Liberal demonstration; but this was possibly because the Conservatives had a very hot day, while the Liberals had a very wet one, and consequently, the Liberals crowded under shelter, while the Conservatives pre- ferred what were called the " overflow " meetings in the open air. The total numbers present in the Pomona Gardens are estimated by friendly observers as not above 50,000, and these included a good many Liberals ; but it would be uncandid to deny that the Conservatives got together a very substantial gathering to sustain the Lords in their rejection of the Franchise B.11, and managed to impress a good many, including a corre- spondent of our own,—who rightly styles himself rather un- sophisticated as a politician—with the Constitutional character of their excuses for rejecting a Franchise Bill unaccompanied by a Redistribution Bill. The truth is, of course, as un- sophisticated politicians are not aware, that to produce a com- plete scheme would have been proof positive of indifference to the passing of any measure. Even the Franchise Bill was not carried in the Commons by all the efforts of the Government till June 26th; and the Franchise Bill, without a Redistribution Bill to alarm Members for their seats, was carried at least months earlier than a Franchise Bill with a Redistribution Bill to stimulate dilatory discussions of all sorts on all possible sub- jects except the Bill, could have been carried. Politicians who know the world, know perfectly well that the Lords, in rejecting a scheme of Reform because it was not complete, rejected the only scheme of Reform which had any chance of success at all, and knew that they had done so.
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