LONDON, August 20.

The past six weeks have been of a stirring nature in this great metropolis.  It commenced with the Peace Congress, the proceedings of which have long since reached you.  And although that event has passed off, it may not be out of place here to venture a remark or two upon its deliberations.

A meeting upon the subject of Peace, with the support of the monied and influential men who rally around the Peace standard, could scarcely have been held in Exeter Hall without creating some sensation.  From all parts of the world flocked delegates to this practical protest against war.  And among those who took part in the proceedings, were many men whose names alone would, even on ordinary occasions, have filled the great hall.  The speakers were chosen from among the representatives of the various countries, without regard to dialect or complexion; and the only fault which seemed to be found with the Committee’s arrangement was, that in their desire to get foreigners and Londoners, they forgot the country delegates, so that none of the large provincial towns were at all represented in the Congress, so far as speaking was concerned.  Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle, and all the important towns in Scotland and Ireland, were silenced in the great meeting.  I need not say that this was an oversight of the Committee, and one, too, that has done some injury.  Such men as the able Chairman of the late Anti-Corn Law League, cannot be forgotten in such a meeting, without giving offence to those who sent him, especially when the Committee brought forward, day after day, the same speakers, chosen from amongst the metropolitan delegation.  However, the meeting was a glorious one, and will long be remembered with delight as a step onward in the cause of Peace.  Burritt’s Brotherhood Bazaar followed close upon the heels of the Peace Congress; and this had scarcely closed, when that ever-memorable meeting of the American Fugitive Slaves took place in the Hall of Commerce.

The Temperance people made the next reformatory move.  This meeting took place in Exeter Hall, and was made up of delegates from the various towns in the kingdom.  They had come from the North, East, West, and South.  There was the quick-spoken son of the Emerald Isle, with his pledge suspended from his neck; there, too, the Scot, speaking his broad dialect; also the representatives from the provincial towns of England and Wales, who seemed to speak anything but good English.

The day after the meeting had closed in Exeter Hall, the country societies, together with those of the metropolis, assembled in Hyde Park, and then walked to the Crystal Palace.  Their number while going to the Exhibition, was variously estimated at from 15,000 to 20,000, and was said to have been the largest gathering of Teetotalers ever assembled in London.  They consisted chiefly of the working classes, their wives and children—­clean, well-dressed and apparently happy:  their looks indicating in every way those orderly habits which, beyond question, distinguish the devotees of that cause above the common labourers of this country.  On arriving at the Exhibition, they soon distributed themselves among the departments, to revel in its various wonders, eating their own lunch, and drinking from the Crystal Fountain.