COUNTRYSIDE CRACK  I.
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The extraordinary political demonstrations which have  distinguished the
Parliamentary recess are being fast brought to a close. They  will end with the
early days of the in-coming week. The great strife will then  be contained to a
limited area; although the nation will view the proceedings in  Parliament
with as much interest  as it has shown in listening to the long  series of
outside harangues.

 Last Saturday was a terrible day for talk. The talk has never ceased  since.
It will be continued to-day at sundry unfortunate places, including  Newtown,
in Montgomery, upon which town, and upon Denbigh on Monday, Mr. Joseph  
CHAMBERLAIN, one of the most inveterate talkers of them all, will turn the tap  of
his inexhaustible rhetoric.

 The flow of words has been as abundant as it is at the time of a  general
election. Never, perhaps, since the Corn Law agitation has so strong an  effort
been made to arouse public feeling on a political question; and the  effort
has not been without results, as was manifested at Carlisle last week  and, more
emphatically, at Birmingham on Monday night.

COUNTRYSIDE CRACK  II.
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Lord Randolph CHURCHILL is sure to produce a commotion wherever  he goes as
the distinguished lady of Bamborough Cross. There is a good deal of  force in
his lordship, although it is not exactly of the refined or etherealized  sort.  

 It is somewhat in the character of the behaviour of the Birmingham  mob on
Monday night - it is rough. Three hundred and forty chairs were smashed  at the
Birmingham place of meeting, several doors were reduced to splinters,  many
panes of glass were broken, and altogether much damage was done. - £500  worth,
it was said - in the buildings and on the grounds; though the damage has  
since been officially put at £126  18s  11d.

 How many craniums were broken is not known with any degree of  accuracy; but
I find it stated that next morning “at least one hundred mutilated  hats were
found in the hall around the platform where they had been trampled  upon
amongst the shattered remains of the chairs.’ It was a night of actions as  well
as words.

 Lord Randolph’s Carlisle meeting very nearly became the scene of a  like
disturbance from the same cause. People who go to a meeting armed with  tickets
of entry do not like to be insultingly refused admittance; and they have  a
still stronger objection to being ignominiously “chucked” out after access has  
been obtained. Summary treatment of this kind is liable to produce tokens of  
resentment, as manifested in different degrees in Birmingham and Carlisle.

 Birmingham was ripe for a row on Monday night; and a row there would  have
been under any circumstances. The explosive material was there in abundant  
quantity, and a touch at any point was sufficient to cause an out break. There  
will be many a row yet before Lord Randolph CHURCHILL and Colonel Fred BURNABY  
become the accepted of Midland Capital.

 They are a plucky pair; but Lord Randolph will sometimes have cause  to wish
that he could be backed at Birmingham by a few of the bayonets wherewith  
Blenheim was won by his great ancestor, and the gallant hero of “The Ride to  
Khiva” will find occasions for reflecting on the serviceableness of the double  
barreled shot gun with which he “potted” the wild Arabs at El Teb.

 Plucky fellows they are, I repeat, to attempt to capture of a  constituency
wherein the Liberal voters at the last election were in the  proportion of
more than two to one of the Conservatives.

COUNTRYSIDE CRACK  III.
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The Whitehaven demonstration, on Saturday, not being a county  affair, was
consequently not so large as either the Carlisle or the Lowther  gatherings. It
fell on a wintry day, too, in weather so bitterly cold as to  render the
fireside the most desirable locality in which to demonstrate. Only  the more fervid
supporters of the Reform movement, with hearts aglow with  radical feeling,
would care to encounter the inclement atmosphere.

 The procession, moreover, was shorn of a considerable part of its  expected
proportions by the failure of the Cleator contingent to arrive in time  to
take up a position on the line of march; but, take it for all in all, we have  
rarely had an opportunity of looking upon its like in Whitehaven.

 A very significant feature of the procession was the presence of some  
hundreds of the Whitehaven colliers, who boldly marched behind the banner, by  the
way, and unfurled, I believe, for the first time on Saturday. Hitherto the  
Whitehaven miners have been regarded as the peculiar possession of Mr. BANTINCK;
 and any attempt to interfere with the hon. Member’s political party has
always  been effectual to arouse the warm indignation of Mr. BENTINCK and his more
 immediate supporters. It is therefore probable that the action of the not  
inconsiderable section of the miners who took part in Saturday’s demonstration  
will cause the right hon. Gentleman considerable disquietude.

 People were not slow to assert that the Lonsdale miners would not  dare to
take part in the demonstration; but by joining, in their hundreds, the  ranks
of the Reformers they have emphatically given the lie to these assertions,  and
shown the world that they have the courage to proclaim their opinions  
openly, in the face of day.