NOTE 67, p. 289.—Mr. Gladstone’s praise of Mr. Playfair’s qualifications was not extravagant. Playfair first became eminent as a chemist, having been a successful student under Liebig at Giessen, and subsequently Professor of Chemistry in the Royal Institution at Manchester and in the University of Edinburgh. In 1844 he was appointed chairman of a commission to examine into the sanitary condition of English towns, and in 1851 was sent by the government into the manufacturing districts to prepare a classification of the various objects of industry. At the World’s Exposition he was placed in charge of the department of jurors, and so well did he perform his work that at the next World’s Exposition, in 1862, he was entrusted with the selection of the jurors, some six hundred in number, to be drawn from the most eminent men of all countries. In 1874 he prepared the elaborate scheme for the reorganization of the English civil service, a work which he was well fitted to perform by reason of his labors in 1873–4 as Postmaster-General. During his visit to the United States he delivered an important address in Boston on the civil service in England as compared with that in the United States. NOTE 68, p. 293.—The development of Manitoba has quite justified the predictions of Beaconsfield, which Mr. Gladstone seemed to make light of. NOTE 69, p. 297.—In the second Mid-Lothian speech, Mr. Gladstone had spoken at length on the tenure of land and the land laws. Among other statements, he said concerning the law of entail and settlement: “I believe that you view that law with disapproval, as being itself one of the most serious restraints upon the effective prosecution of the agriculture of the country. Gentlemen, I need not dwell upon that matter. I heartily agree with you on the point at issue. I am for the alteration of that law. I disapprove of it on economic grounds. I disapprove of it on social and moral grounds. I disapprove of the relation which it creates between father and son. I disapprove of the manner in which it makes provision for the interests of children to be born. Was there ever in the history of legislation a stranger expedient? * * * The law of England is wiser than the Almighty; it improves upon Divine Providence.”—Gladstone, “Speeches in Scotland,” 83. NOTE 70, p. 306.—In the preceding April, Lord Bateman had moved in Parliament “That, this House fully recognizing the benefits which would result to the community if a system of free trade were universally adopted, it is expedient, in all future commercial negotiations with other countries, to advocate a policy of reciprocity between all inter-trading nations.” The policy was opposed by Lord Beaconsfield, because, as he said, he was convinced it was “a proposition which can lead to no public benefit.” Lord Salisbury, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in the course of the summer appeared to favor it.