23 OCTOBER 1875, Page 2

A curious correspondence has been published between the Earl of

Darnley and one of his tenants, Mr. Lake, the Mayor of Gravesend. The Earl quarrelled lately with the officers of the West Kent Yeomanry, and resigned his command. He expected his tenantry to follow him, and moat of them did so, but Mr. Lake's son did not, and the Earl, resenting this as a breach of the "feudal tie" between them, gave Mr. Lake notice to quit his holding, which he had kept for thirty-three years, as his landlord acknowledges, "in good care and culture." We have commented on the state of feeling revealed in this correspondence elsewhere, but must add here, what is the Earl's best excuse for his im- periousness, that the whole of his tenantry have disclaimed Mr. Lake, and expressed their "unabated confidence" in their land- lord. How can a man think his own claims oppressive, when all those whom they affect proclaim them fair?