You have probably seen in the newspapers that a Commission has been issued for inquiry into the treatment of children in the factories. My friend Leonard Horner is one of the Commissioners, and as he is to take the Warwickshire, Gloucestershire, and Wiltshire districts, I have given him an introduction to you, and have desired that he will not fail to take some opportunity of paying a visit to Easton Grey. The visit, I am sure, will be equally interesting and agreeable to both parties.
I do not know if you have heard of a windfall to Lord Lansdowne, by the death of his brother’s widow, of her jointure of £3,000 a year. You will be sorry to hear that the ministerial prospects are not favourable. The vote of last night for reducing the malt tax must embarrass our friends very much, and perhaps may lead to a change of Government, certainly to a property tax.
