Mr. Gladstone made a speech to his tenantry at Hawarden
on Thursday on the state of agriculture, and the various specifics- for relieving it. He had hardly any occasion to warn them against Protection,—a kind of heresy which the Flintshire farmers do not affect,—but he strongly advocated the simpli- fication of the Land Laws, and the passing of a good local government measure for the counties, which, as he assured his tenants, would probably be the first measure to occupy the Government, after the reform of procedure, an indispen- sable preliminary to any great measure. He was not disinclined to countenance some contribution from the Imperial revenue to the local taxation, though he greatly objected to the mode in which this had been effected by the Tory Government. The speech was a graceful and interesting one, but not one of first-rate political importance.
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