Two days afterwards, on March 3, 1894,
Mr. Gladstone resigned. In the light of recent revelations, we
know now that his failing eyesight was but a pretext. Lord
Spencer, then First Lord of the Admiralty, had framed his Naval
Estimates, and declared that the shipbuilding programme outlined
in those Estimates was absolutely necessary for the national
safety. Mr. Gladstone, supported by some of his colleagues,
refused to sanction these Estimates. Some long-headed Members of
the Cabinet saw clearly that if Lord Spencer insisted on his
Estimates, in the then temper of the country, the Liberal party
would go to certain defeat. Accordingly, Mr. Gladstone was induced
to resign, as the easiest way out of the difficulty. I do not
gather, though, that those of his colleagues who, with him,
disapproved of the Naval Estimates, thought it their duty to
follow their chief into retirement.
I am amused on seeing on contents bills of news-papers, as a rare
item of news, "All-night sitting of Commons."
In the 1886 Parliament practically every night was an all-night
sitting.
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