Lord Herschell dilated in a speech of much humour on
the subjects which he was virtually prohibited from touching, and on the inappropriateness of the Lord Chancellor's pre- sence at such a banquet. Mr. Asquith, who seemed inclined to resent the rumours of the weakness of the Government, de-
dared that the one thing on which the new Parliament is abso- lutely unanimous, is the resolve to deprecate and prevent a "premature" dissolution. No doubt; but the two parties do not, perhaps, entirely agree as to what would constitute a "prema- ture dissolution." Mr. Asquith probably means by a premature dissolution, any dissolution which would diminish the chance of a complete triumph for the Gladstonian Party at the polls. We mean by a premature dissolution, any dissolution which would not find the country fully and accurately informed as to what Mr. Gladstone's Home-rule policy in Ireland really is, and what are the Unionists' reasons for rejecting and con- demning that policy. There are beings who regard their own dissolution as always premature, whether it come at the first hour or at the eleventh.
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