The Saint Paul globe., 1903-10-06
DEVoNsHIRE RESIGNS.
Premier BaIfour Shows the Duke to
Be inconsistent.

LONDON, Oct. 5.-The Duke of
DeVonshlre, who was leader of the
conservative party in the house of
lords, has resigned the office of lord
president of the council and the king
mas accepted his resignation. The duke
wrote TO Mr.. Balfour, giving his rea-
sons Tor his resignation, which he at
trlbuted, among other things. to the
spremlers speech at Sheffield and his
panphlet on insular free trade. The
duke has not yet made his letter pub.
nc, but the following letter of ac-
acknowledgement from Mr.. BaIfour was
published tonight:
received this afternoon two tele-
grams IN quick succession, the first
rom you asking how soon your resig-
nation might be announced and the
second giving a full summary of the
reasons which moved you to resign.
L am not sure which of these 1Inex
pected communications surprised me
most. On the whole, perhaps, 1t was
the second. The first, however, was
sumc!ently strange. Do you remember
the circumstances? 1t was on Sept 16
that you informed me of your resolve
TO remain in the government. This
decision was preceded by much con-
ndential correspondence much inti
mate conversation. There was no
phase of policy which I was not pre-
pared to discuss and which 1 did not
IN fact, discuss with perfect frankness,
Men ana measures alike were sur
Veyed from every point of view bearing
on the present course and future for
tunes of the party. The decision ar
rived at after these preliminaries 7
mad a right to consider final. and final
l certainly considered 1t. ACCORDINGLY
consulted you as far as the cfrcuTn-
stances OF time and place permitted
on the best mode of filling the vacan-
ctes in the government of which Won
are the most distinguished member.
You were good enough to express some
weighty judgments on the delicate mat
tiers submitted to you. You even in
1tlated proposals of your own, which I
gladly accepted. Our last communica
ton on the subject was in the letter
dictated during my journey to Shelf
field on Thursday afternoon. Less
than forty-eight hours thereafter 1 re-
ceived in Edinburgh the kilograms
which first announced your intention to
resign and your desire to see the pro-
cess Of resignation consummated with
out delay and without discussion. The
principal occasion for this singular
| transformation was, you tell me, NV
| Sheffield speech. This is strange in
deed: In intention, at least, there was
no doctrine contained in that speech
which was not contained in my. note on
insular free trade and in my published
letter to Mr.. Chamberlain.
The first of these documents YOU
| had In your possession before the gem
| erality of the cabinet. The second YOU
saw the manuscript Of before it an
| peared In the newspapers. With both
therefore, you were intimately ac-
quainted during the whole fortnight in
which you lent your countenance to the
| government after the recent resigna-
tions. l must suppose, therefore, that
1t is some unintentional discrepancy
oelWeen the written and spoken words
which now drives you to desert the
administration you so long adorned
Such unintentional discrepancies are
without doubt hard to avoid. Not ev-
eryone. certainly not 1, can always be
! sure OF finding on the spur of the mo-