NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE past week has witnessed a Ministerial crisis as sudden and as tragic as any in our history. Mr. Bonar Law resigned on Sunday last and on Tuesday Mr. Stanley Baldwin was offered and accepted the office of Prime Minister. The appointment of Mr. Stanley Baldwin to the Premiership was inevitable. The Unionist Party holds a majority in the present House of Commons over all other parties, and within the Unionist Party in the House of Commons Mr. Baldwin commands a larger allegiance than any other member of the Party. Further, we must add to our diagnosis of inevitability the follow- ing facts :—(a) It was necessary that the Prime Minister should sit in the Commons. (b) Mr. Baldwin has led the House of Commons since Easter. (c) Mr. Baldwin held the place which comes next to that of Prime Minister in importance in the Cabinet. (d) Mr. Baldwin is an expert in finance, and finance must for the next year or two be the determining consideration in all policy. In these circumstances, though the occasion was one where the Constitution gave him a free right to act without the advice of Ministers, the Sovereign had in fact only one choice, provided that he was going to act with the reason- ableness and sense of duty which are always to be expected from King George.
