The Queen wffl be glad to hear Mr. Gladstones opinion on this question^ & to learn whether the Government contemplate the introduction of any measures or propose to take any steps to obtam more precise information as to the true state of affairs in these overcrowded, unhealthy & squalid abodes. She cannot but thmk that there are questions of less importance than this wi' are under discussion & might wait tUl one involving the imssion^ named Shaw had beea arrested in April, 1883 by the TOmpirifenf expressed their regret and paid a sum of 1,000 as 1883] PRIME MINISTER 251 very existence of thousands, nay millions^had been fully con sidered by the Government. 1001 [Copy] Mr. Gladstone to Qusen Victoria

Hawarden. October 31. 1883. Your Majesty may remember having graciously encouraged Mr. Gladstone at Osborne, last summer, to procure the insertion in the periodical caled the Nindemth Century of some compre hensive and carefully written account of the strange proceedings which had recently taken place in Hungary and elsewhere against the Jews. Mr. Knowles, the Editor of that Review, readily and thankfully accepted Your Majesty's suggestion, and he has forwarded to Mr. Gladstone a copy of the November number which contains, he says, an ably written article on the sad subject. The author is Dr. Wright, an Irish clergj^man, known for his talents, and for his acquirements as a Hebraist. At the request of Mr. Knowles, Mr. Gladstone herewith transmits the number and lays his humble duty before Your Majesty.

1002 Queen Victoria to Mr. Gladstone [Nov, 3.1883.] . . . Have read the article. He tells the story plainly without any dressing up, which I like. The second part dealing with the superstitions against the, Jews is very curious and shows up some German Professors very well. 1003 {Copy) Mr. Gladstone to Queen Victoria Letters of Queen Victoria, (2) III, 452-3.) Hawarden. Nov. 3.1883. . . . Your Majesty's observations onSocial courtesy as affected by the abolition of dueling open a field of wide interests on which he can hardly trust himself to enter, so difficult does he find it, amidst the manifold variations of the phenomena of life, to trace effects to their causes with any degree of precision. The suddenness, with which dueling disappeared, was remarkable, and more probably than the coarser natures could bear, so that the bad results on wffiich Your Majesty comments so justly were to be expected. On the whole and within the narrow circle of his

252 THE QUEEN AND MR. GLADSTONE [1883 own experience Mr. Gladstone clings to the belief that a great balance of good has been obtained from the change.