§ SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTEI beg to ask the right hon. Gentleman the First Lord of the Treasury a Question, of which I have given him private Notice—namely, Whether it is trite, as reported in the daily Press, that the Duke of Argyll has resigned his Office, and that the cause of his resignation is a difference of opinion between himself and the other Members of Her Majesty's Government with regard to the Irish Land Bill?
MR. GLADSTONEIt is with the deepest concern, alike personal and political, that I have to state that it is true that the Duke of Argyll has resigned his Office, and that it is also true that the cause of his resignation has reference to the Land Law (Ireland) Bill. I ought, however, not to allow it to be supposed that his objection is to the whole of the Land Bill as it stands, because there are portions, and very important portions, of the Bill with regard to which the Duke of Argyll is quite at one with his Colleagues. There are, however, other portions which we regard as vital to the Bill, which are opposed to the known principles of the noble Duke, and his objections to those portions are so strong as to lead him to believe that they require his resignation.