NEWS OF THE WEEK.
MR. GLADSTONE'S "Manifesto," or Address to the electors of Midlothian, appeared in the evening papers of Friday. It is long, perhaps too long ; but Mr. Gladstone fiad, much to say, as he not only lays down his programme for the immediate future—which is the enfranchisement of the soil, the reform of local government in the representative direction, and the thorough reform of procedure in the House of Com- mons—but he explains his views on other and more remote topics. He will, if restored to power, accept it, though "he cannot hope to repeat in a new Parliament anything like the labours of the old one ;" but he will not touch the question of Disestablishment, he will not press free education, and he will not consider any proposals interfering with the full possession of property, such as the abolition of the liberty of bequest. Upon many subjects he has views,—he hopes, for example, that labourers may yet become proprietors of their dwelling-houses, and he favours a reform of the House of Lords through the crea- tion of a new House, in which ability, virtue, wealth, and birth shall all be represented ; but for this election he adheres to pro- posals which have been thought out, and which, indeed, may be considered arrears of beneficial work. The effect of that wise course will, we venture to predict, be to enable the Liberal Party to march forward like a wall. Up to Mr. Gladstone's dimit of action we are all united.
