On Monday the Chancellor of the Exchequer stated that as
a consequence of the vote of Friday evening, the Secretary of State for War, with whom the whole Government absolutely identified themselves, had been incapacitated from proceeding with the Army votes, and that therefore the Administration could no longer conduct the business of the House, and had tendered their resignation to the Queen, which the Queen had been pleased to accept. We may observe, however, that the Government might, if they had thought fit, have advised her Majesty to dissolve Parlia- ment, and take the opinion of the country ; and had they done so, the Opposition would have given them every help towards winding up the urgent business and carrying the appeal to the judgment of the people. Moreover, that course would certainly have been taken if the Govern-
ment had felt any hope of a decision in their favour. They were, however, quite justified by constitutional precedent in preferring resignation to Dissolution and leaving the Dissolution to their opponents, but they would not be justified in placing any obstacle in the way of the appeal to the country which their opponents desire, and we are glad to find that the rumours of such unconstitutional obstruction have no foundation in fact. Probably Parliament may be dissolved by the end of next week or the beginning of the week following.
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