Late on Monday night, after the adjournment of the House
had been moved, Sir John Gorst made a personal statement in reply to the observations on his position which had fallen from Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman on the previous Friday. Sir John contrasted his position with that of Mr. Acland, who was head of the Education Department, and declared that on all major questions he was in entire accord with the Duke of Devonshire. There was nothing unusual in the Department being overruled by the Government ; and if that were to necessitate resignations, the Lord-President should set the example, not himself. As to the charge of ridiculing his Department and chief, Sir John asserted that he had always tried to enliven dull speeches with harmless pleasantry, but indignantly repudiated the insinuation that he had ever sought to discredit either his Department or his chief. Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, in reply, stuck tet his gunS, and, after giving instances of Sir John's inopportune irony and his ostentatious silence, invited the Government to find him a more congenial post. Mr. Balfour good- humouredly replied that it was not the function of the Opposition leader to nominate persons for Government offices, and the matter dropped. But it cannot be said that the situation is improved by so unconvincing an explanation as that given above.
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