The Times of Monday contained the most cynical article we
ever remember to have read even in its columns. Writing about a speech made by Mr. Goldwin Smith, it declares that the tenure of land in this country is unalterable ; that " everything here fits into the system of a landed aristocracy ;" that ancient seats and patrimonial estates are "the unfailing source of pure and simple pleasures to thousands who are content not to call an acre of land their own ;" that an immense proportion of our people " wish no- thing better all their lives than domestic service with the gentry, and regular employment on their estates ;" that if they do not like it they can emigrate, and that Mr. Goldwin Smith's example in quitting England is " excellent." In other words, the fitting destiny of the English people is to be the servants of the 30,000 families who own the land I And this is written within six months of a change in the Constitution which makes this very people thus contemned sovereign in the Empire. Domestic service or exile, those are the alternatives the Times offers to the masters of the State !
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