If any could suppose that the Protectionists are gaining ground
as a party, their "demonstrations" might serve to explode the fancy. The greater the effort to be impressive, the more effectual is the exposure of weakness : a Metropolitan "aggregate meet- ing " seems to exhaust the party without filling the Hall of Com- merce. It is the old familiar faces that you meet in the old parts : as it is " Shylock, Mr. Charles Kean" in London, "Shy- lock, Mr. Charles Kean" in Dublin or Liverpool, " Launcelot, Mr. Keeley" here, " Launcelot, Mr. Keeley " there, so it is "the Duke of Richmond in the chair" all the world over ; "Sir John Tyrell moved," and " Mr. Robert Baker of Writtle seconded," in every part of the circuit. You know every man of the chorus, be the bills varied as they may. The aggregate meeting mus- tered perhaps a thousand,—the nucleus of that party which feels itself getting strong enough for office I A party so small that its proper leader holds aloof from its parades, as Falstaff blushed to march with his men through Coventry. It passes resolutions "unanimously "—by dint of keeping out dissentients. It cannot take its stand in the market-place and claim to possess the country. It may indeed vanquish the Whig Government; but how will it fare in a general election ? The great "aggregate meeting," and the "League" which it formed, do not look very formidable.
