Mr. Gladstone having announced that he considered the rental a
vital part of the Bill, the announcement he promised for Tuesday was expected with eager interest. The Houses were thronged, members apparently forgetting that no announcement of importance could be made without communication with the Queen, six hundred miles away. Earl Russell in the Lords simply announced that he must open such communication, while Mr.. Gladstone added that the conduct of Ministers was based upon all the divisions w,hich had marked the progress of the Bill—a very significant remark. Out of doors this was understood to imply that Ministers had resolved to resign, an opinion confirmed when the Lord Chancellor postponed certain cases because he "should certainly not sit after Saturday," but the initiated seem to have entertained from the first a strong doubt whether Her Majesty would accept the resignation. There has been a rumour that she has even requested them to withdraw their resignation "by tele- graph," but as the Queen's 4Alegrams are not usually seen by
newspaper editors, this rumod - probably been evolved from human consciousness.
