NEWS OF THE WEEK.
Air R. GLADSTONE has come back to power with an unchanged in Cabinet, and has disavowed any existing intention of dissolv- ing Parliament as soon as circumstances will permit, while retain- ing of course his freedom of action for the future. He ex- plained on Thursday evening,—in that guarded manner which our statesmen always adopt when informing the House of the advice they tendered to the Queen and its results,—that on Friday week he had heard from the Queen that Mr. Disraeli had declined fo take office, and that in reply to the expression of a doubt whether that refusal was quite final, he had learnt from the Queen on the same day that it was so. Mr. Gladstone had then submitted to the Queen a memorandum, written in fear- fully and wonderfully constructed sentences, the tendency of -which was to urge on the leaders of the Tory party their grave obligation to exhaust every combination by which an efficient Government could be constructed, to replace the Government they had defeated. Indeed, he supported by elaborate reference to pre- cedents his view of the responsibility incurred by parties inflicting such defeat-, and intimated to the Queen that Mr. Disraeli's " summary refusal " to attempt to form a Government was not in conformity "either with the exigencies of the case or with Parliamentary usage." This memorandum was presented on Saturday, and on Sunday night he received at Cliefden a letter from the Queen intimating that in spite of his representations, the leaders of the Tory party had finally determined not to form a Government,—whereupon he placed his own services at the Queen's disposal once more, and after consulting his colleagues, the whole Government, though with evident reluctance, returned to power. The Prime Minister's tone was restrained and anxious. He intimated expressly, indeed, that the " lost colours " of his army could not be replaced by the mere recall to power.
