If matters had ended here, there would have been nothing
very strange in the transaction. A Minister had blundered. He had confessed his blunder and had resigned so as not to involve his colleagues. That is the accepted method. Then came the surprise of the evening. The Prime Minister, when be rose to wind up the debate, after he had administered a well-merited rebuke to the Radicals and Labour men for attacking the King for interfering, and had declared that his Majesty bad "observed every rule which comports with the dignity of his high position as a Constitutional Sovereign," made the announcement that Colonel Seely's resignation had not been accepted, and that he was still Secretary of State for War. Colonel Seely had been temporarily sacrificed in order to appease the Radical wing of the Liberal Party, and then at once taken back to office in order to prevent the break-up of the Ministry, for Lord Morley could clearly not have allowed Colonel Seely to be sacrificed without resigning also, and with two resignations the Ministry must have fallen.
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