7 AUGUST 1886, Page 1

Mr. Gladstone has *ritten to Mr. Arnold Morley to express

the hope that the relations which they bore to each other in the last Government may be continued in Opposition ; but he declares his need of a certain amount of rest after "the strain of the last six years," "whether in or beyond this country," and intimates that at least as regards his correspondence, he can no longer,—now that he is deprived of official assistance,—undertake to give any sort of answer to the twenty thousand correspondents or thereabouts who send him letters daring the year. The letter appears to us to indicate Mr. Gladstone's intention, first, to lead the Opposition,—for the present, at all events,—next, to secure himself a very early holiday, even though the Session just begun should prove to be stormy ; and lastly, to say pretty plainly that if he still discharges his public duties as Leader of the Opposition he shall be obliged to ignore letters from mere strangers. There is nothing in this letter which ought to have brought down upon him the bitter sarcasms of the various journals which appear to think that hatred of Mr. Gladstone is more than an equiva- lent for moral sagacity and political convictions.