Lord Elcho on Tuesday made a speech at Winehcombe, near
Cheltenham, upon the Land question and Imperialism. He held that the first reason for agricultural depression was that English agriculturists "were living in a sort of leaden coffin, and a coffin which would not even keep out water." If English agriculture is dead, that is a good illustration. Everybody had his panacea for the depression, from the man who recom- mended easier transfer—which he Should not oppose—to Mr. Parnell, "who wanted to shoot the landlords,"—a remark of which Lord Elcho will hear more. Advice to refuse rent, though bad enough, is not advice to commit murder., He thought the one thing to be avoided was that the State should interfere. The landlord was merely a trader in land. He fixed his own condi. tions, and hitherto had commanded the market; but now the turn might be going the other way, and the customers would command it,—which is quite true. As to peasant-pro- prietorship, the English gentleman of intelligence made the land yield 60 per cent. more than the French peasant. As the petite culture is not in question, Lord Elcho's astounding assertionon this subject, which is abso- lutely without foundation, need not be discussed ; but his general view amounts to this, that greater freedom of transfer is all that is wanted. Well, if he will only grant perfect free- dom of transfer, so that land may be as saleable as Consols, the rest may wait a while. As to Imperial politics, his view and the worth of it may be estimated from this, that he was quite sure that in a little while it would be seen that the Afghan question was "amicably settled" (sic, in Times' report), and " that there was life in the old dog yet," the "old dog" being either England, or Lord Beaconsfield.
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