NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE Bishop of Gloucester, in a letter to Mr. G. Mitchell, one of the Secretaries of the Agricultural Union, protests that ." although he expressed himself strongly, but good-humouredly, as to the itinerant agitation," he loves the labourer very much. What he objects to is his demand for more pay. The Union asks for sub- scriptions, consequently the men ask for wages, consequently the farmers get "sullen," "and I fear the resolution is taken to re- adjust when winter is upon us." We deeply regret to be forced to believe that this threat is well founded ; that in Gloucestershire, 'Oxfordshire, Essex, Dorset, Herefordshire, and probably in other counties, the farmers, encouraged by such speeches as that of the Bishop, intend to lock out the Unionists during the win ter; and that the labourers, hearing that physical force is allowable, will resort to it, and appeal to the torch against the horse-pond. That " good- humoured " speech has done mischief past belief to the country, as wellas to the Church. No labourers' meeting everseparates now with- .out a demand that "the Bishops, who have starved the curates so long, and now want to starve the labourers," shall be abolished, or without some most regrettable reference to "sterner and sharper" weapons than words. As we have endeavoured to show elsewhere, it is high time that some of the:statesmen spoke out, and convinced the labourers that the upper classes are not banded together against them.
