The world was startled on Wednesday morning to hear that
Mr. GImistone had been relieved from the responsibility of his pair with Mr. Villiers at his own request, because he did not wish to be bound by it during the discussions in Committee on the Welsh Church Disestablishment Bill, the provisions of which, in relation to the conditions of Disestablishment, he did not altogether approve. The Times, which brought the world this information, represented the case as a decided breach between Mr. Gladstone and the Government, and a breach which would of course seriously stagger the admirers of the great Liberal leader. The editor of the Westminster Gazette has, however, telegraphed to Mr. Gladstone and has received an answer which implies that the breaking of the pair is due to the scruples of the Liberal Whips, not to any in- structions received from Mr. Gladstone. It appears that Mr. Gladstone's reluctance to support some of the provisions of Mr. Asquith's Bill,—at least as it originally stood,—was known to the Government, and that they thought it more honourable to relieve him from his engagement to support that Bill in Committee than to hold him to it; though whether as a mode of showing the Welsh Members that the Government had sufficient reasons for the various and somewhat important concessions which Mr. Asquith has made to the Opposition daring the week's debates, as we have suggested elsewhere, or for other reasons, we cannot, of course, determine. Un- doubtedly, however, Mr. Gladstone would have wished a closer adherence to the precedents of the Irish Church Disestablish. ment Bill; and undoubtedly also that was just what the
Welsh Members had no inclination to allow. On the other hand, Sir William Harcourt has evidently made up his mind to a conciliatory attitude since the Whitsuntide recess, and it may have well suited his convenience to let it be generally known that Mr. Gladstone is on his side. Probably, however, the impression of panic actually made has been greater than he would have desired.
