The first remark that we shall make with reference to this statement, is, that it is _utterly incorrect_. We do not know from what source Mr Gladstone ordinarily draws his figures, but if any one will consult the official tables of returns for the year 1835, he will find that the average of wheat was 39s. 4d., and not 35s., as Mr Gladstone has unwarrantably asserted. We have gone over the weekly averages for the whole of that year, and we find that wheat was _never once quoted_ so low as 35s. In a matter of this kind, accuracy is a cardinal virtue, and we cannot allow such a statement as this to pass unnoticed. The following are _the lowest_ weekly and aggregate averages for the whole year, taken from the official tables, and we have purposely selected these in order that Mr Gladstone may have the full benefit of the nearest approximation to his figures. LOWEST WEEKLY AND AGGREGATE AVERAGES THROUGHOUT THE YEAR 1835. 1835. Weekly Aggregate average. average. _s._ _d._ _s._ _d._ January, 40 1 40 7 February, 40 4 40 10 March, 39 8 40 0 April, 39 3 39 1 May, 38 6 38 11 June, 39 8 39 5 July, 40 5 40 1 August, 40 4 42 5 September, 37 7 39 2 October, 36 11 37 3 November, 36 7 36 9 December, 36 0 36 8 What, then, are we to think of Mr Gladstone's averment, that, in 1835, we had wheat at 35s., "and this not only for a short time, but for the whole year?" Not even for the week have we a vestige of any such quotation! This is blunder the first, and it is so serious a one, that, on his own showing, it is enough to invalidate the whole of his argument. IT IS NOT A FACT "that, at the present time, we have prices 5s. per quarter higher than they were in 1835." The difference is a fractional part of a shilling; and if Mr. Gladstone wishes to find a time when the prices were five shillings lower than at present, he must go back to the year 1779; and, in travelling towards that period, he will meet with some startling facts in the financial history of the country, which are well worthy of observation. In 1779, he will find wheat at 33s. 8d., the produce of such a harvest that the export of grain exceeded the import by 217,222 quarters. But he will also find that the national debt, at that period, was just one-fourth of what it now is; and that the poor-rates of England, instead of touching eight millions, were considerably short of two.