Mr. Gladstone was admitted on Wednesday to the freedom of
the Turners' Company, one of the oldest and poorest Guilds in the City of London. He made an amusing speech, alluding to his own acquaintance with the use of the axe which the Com- pany bears in its arms, and his own boyish achievements in turnery, "which he should be very sorry indeed to exhibit at any of 'their competitions ;" and defended his policy towards the London Guilds by the example of the Universities, whiett had been aroused to almost feverish exertions by the istierference of the State. He denied that the present members of the Guilds were responsible for mis- management, but clearly reaffirmed his opinion that there were many new wants which they ought to supply. He concluded by an eloquent tribute to the latent powers of the people of this country, whose greatest danger, he seemed to think, arose from the suddenness with which wealth grew upon them. He had no fear of democracy, but he had of the growth of the passion for luxury and enjoyment.
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