opular cry just now,
when some Electoral Reforms were believed to be in contemplation.
Fortunately they had a Home Secretary whom they might reasonably hope
to find sympathetic--he thought they should ascertain his views before
taking any other steps.

A Guy in a Pink Mask said he had organised till he was sick of it. As
for the Home Secretary, he happened to have headed a deputation to
the Home Office that very afternoon--and what did the Meeting think
was the result? Why, the Home Secretary had declined to receive him!
(_Shame!_) Ah, he might call himself a Radical--but did he treat a Guy
as a Man and a Brother? Did he recognise that, creatures of rags and
shavings as they were, they had their feelings? Not he! they were all
alike, these politicians, directly they got into office. How long, he
asked them, were Guys to be chivied, and harried, and moved along into
back-streets by the brutal minions of a corrupt middle-class? If they
wanted to get their rights, they must make themselves a nuisance to
the Authorities, like other people. It was all very fine to talk about
the Franchise, and "One Guy, one vote!" and all the rest of it, but
they all knew that Home Rule blocked the way at present. They must go
to Trafalgar Square in their thousands; it was the finest place for a
bonfire in all London, and they had been kept out of it long enough.
_He_ meant to go, if he had to be carried there! (_Loud cheers._)

A Guy in Spectacles and a Tall Hat, said that a demonstration in
the Square would, no doubt, be an excellent way of drawing public
attention to their wrongs. He advised that when they had succeeded
in capturing the Square, they should proceed to pass a resolution
calling upon the London County Council to find instant and permanent
employment for such Guys as were out of work. (_Cheers._) They could
do it easily enough if they liked, and he would tell them how. All
over London, nay, in the very Square itself, there were innumerable
pedestals at present usurped by Statues which were a disgrace to the
Metropolis. All the Council had to do was to remove those Statues from
positions they had so long abused, and promote the most deserving and
destitute Guys to fill their places. (_Uproar._)

A Guy in Fustian and a Red Comforter rose excitedly to protest against
the last speaker's proposals, which he declared were an insult to
their common Guyhood. They might have come down in the world, but
hitherto, whatever might be s