NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE Pall Mall Gazette caused great sensation on Wednesday by announcing in its fourth edition that Mr. Gladstone had "fully decided to resign office almost immediately," and that "-this decision was due to a sense of his advanced age and to the great strain of the late arduous Session." The statement, however, was soon corrected from Biarritz ; bat corrected in language which has alarmed his supporters in the 'country much more than the Pall Mall Gazette's unsupported assertion had power to alarm them. Sir Algernon West, who is with Mr. Gladstone at Biarritz, is authorised to say that "the statement that Mr. Gladstone has definitely decided 'or has decided at all, on resigning Office is untrue. It is true," however, "that for many months past, his age and the condi- tion of his sight and hearing have in his judgment made relief from public cares desirable, and that accordingly his tenure of office has been at any moment liable to interruption, from these causes—in their nature permanent." These words give very explicit notice that Mr. Gladstone's Administration hangs by a thread which may be snapped "at any moment," and on Friday the Pall Mall Gazette repeated very positively its assertion that Mr. Gladstone's retirement is really ilUminent. Be that as it may, the urgency of the case had never been realised by the great Gladstonian Party till Wednesday last, and the statement therefore, that no .decision on the subject has yet been arrived at, is of the cature of a great blow. The sword of Damocles is not the kind of canopy that a great political party can exactly enjoy. The vision of it makes them start and shrink at every breath.
