As regards the land, Mr. Gladstone desires to preserve "free-
dom of bequest, and freedom of possession "—the last words may refer either to expropriation or tenant-right, or both—but he also desires to "deal freely with the transfer of land, the regis- tration of land, the taxation of land during life and upon death," and the custom of primogeniture, which he dislikes not only upon economic, but upon moral and social grounds. He believes the balance of taxation between movable and immovable pro- perty requires readjustment ; and he will rejoice if the new means provided, "or other means in themselves commendable," shall largely extend the numbers "of those interested in the possession and produce of land, but most of all in the pro- prietorship of their own dwellings,"—an unexpected remark, which may foreshadow a great change.
