NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE chief event of the week was the Prime Minister's statement on Thursday night, in which he announced his complete surrender to Mr. Redmond. In his Albert Hall speech just before the elections Mr. Asquith used language about assurances which the country generally took to mean that he would not continue in office unless he obtained them. As soon as Parliament met, Mr. Asquith in effect explained that he was only speaking in an Asquithian sense, and that the notion of asking for such assurances in the existing circumstances was absurd. Mr. Redmond then began a process which can best be described as bullying the Prime Minister back into the position of bluff which he had taken up at the Albert Hall. Mr. Redmond, in fact, though not in words, said : " You may have meant only to bluff, but no matter what your intentions, I shall hold you strictly to your words." Mr. Asquith was at first recalcitrant, but he has at last come to know his master, and after a running fight, conducted, we are bound to say, with a very considerable amount of dialectical skill, he hauled down his colours at half-past ten on Thursday night.
